Why Fatigue is a Necessary Part of Training and How to Manage It
\nWritten by Coach Jeff – Get free updates here<\/p>\n
Training is like trying to walk a tight rope. You need to balance putting in grueling workouts and mileage with the ability to let your body recover. Favor one aspect too heavily and you\u2019ll either have a poor performance from lack of training or get injured and overtrained from doing too much. Why Fatigue is a Necessary Part of Training and How to Manage It Written by Coach Jeff – Get free updates here Training is like trying to walk a tight rope. You need to balance putting in grueling workouts and mileage with the ability to let your body recover. Favor one aspect too heavily and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":104247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11500],"tags":[17042,17043,5889,5672,8465],"class_list":["post-104246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-training-2","tag-fatigue","tag-necessary","tag-part","tag-training","tag-why"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104248,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104246\/revisions\/104248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThat\u2019s why learning how to manage fatigue, and understanding the role it plays in endurance training, is critical to improving as a runner. In this article, we\u2019re going to outline why a certain amount of fatigue is necessary to improve as a runner, how to strategically implement it, and how to find the right balance.
\nWhy fatigue is necessary
\nThe basis for all training theory is the what we call the workout and recovery process. Running first breaks down your muscle fibers. The harder you run, the more muscle fibers you damage. Your body then works to rebuild these damaged muscle fibers and if the recovery process goes well, these muscle fibers are repaired stronger than before. That\u2019s how you become faster and stronger through training.
\nBut, as you may realize, it\u2019s nearly impossible to fully recover from a workout in 24 hours. It might be possible following a very easy day of running, but any type of speed, tempo or long run is going to require anywhere from 2 to 14 days to fully absorb and recover (here\u2019s a breakdown of what research says about how long it takes to recover from different workout types).
\nThat means, unless you want to only run two or three times per week, training while fatigued is a necessary part of training; especially since we know slow, easy mileage is the best way to build aerobic endurance and is the foundation for running performance. The trick is finding that balance between running enough miles to build you aerobic capacity without overdoing the fatigue.
\nHerein lies the \u201cart\u201d of training.
\nHowever, there is also a way that we can utilize this fatigue to make your training more effective.
\nHow to utilize fatigue to run faster
\nIn training vernacular, coaches use a term called \u201caccumulated fatigue\u201d. Basically, this theory posits that fatigue from one workout accumulates and transfers to the next run so that you\u2019re always starting a workout or a long run a little tired from your previous training.
\nThis is important for longer distance races like the marathon because it\u2019s nearly impossible to run the full distance of the race in daily training. Furthermore, if you were to start every workout fully recovered and fresh, it would be difficult to simulate how your body feels late into a race.
\nAs such, we can strategically implement the theory of accumulated fatigue to better target the specific demands of your race.
\nFor example, during marathon training, one of my favorite methods for introducing accumulated fatigue is to buttress the long run against a shorter, but steady paced run the day before. As an illustration, you would run six miles at marathon pace on the Saturday before your Sunday long run. Because of the harder running on Saturday, you start Sunday\u2019s long run not at zero miles, but rather at six or eight miles, since that is the level of fatigue and glycogen depletion your body is carrying over from the previous run.
\nYou can even apply this theory to 5k training. Using what we know about muscle fibers and the recruitment and fatigue ladder, I often have athletes run a short, explosive hill workout (something like 9 x 60 second hills at 5k pace) two days before a 5k specific workout (12 x 400 at 5k pace with 60 second quick jog rest). The hill session fatigues and depletes the fast twitch muscle fibers so that during the 5k specific work, your intermediary Type IIa muscle fibers (the ones primarily responsible for running at 5k pace) have to handle more work and thus are more specifically targeted.
\nHow to find the right balance
\nTraining would be much easier \u2013 and runners much happier \u2013 if you could just train hard and fatigued all the time. But, you can\u2019t simply continue to accumulate fatigue and run these types of workouts all the time (although some runners certainly do try). There needs to be a balance…… >>>> rest of article on >> http:\/\/runnersconnect.net\/coach-corner\/how-to-manage-fatigue-and-why-it-is-necessary\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"