7th Golden Rule of Running: Recovery Times

(This is number 7 in our periodic series of the Golden Rules of running: time-tested guidelines and best practices that experienced runners have agree work for them.)

The Race-Recovery Rule

For each mile that you race, you should plan to allow one day of recovery before returning to hard training or racing.

That means no speed workouts or racing for six days after a 10-K or 26 days after a marathon.  The rule’s originator was the late Jack Foster, the masters marathon world record holder (2:11:18) from 1974 to 1990. Foster wrote in his book, Tale of the Ancient Marathoner, “My method is roughly to have a day off racing for every mile I raced.”

So when you run in a race, whether it’s a 5K that you do with your girlfriends, or a grueling marathon that taxes and challenges every fiber of your muscles, you’ll want to keep this in mind.  Give yourself time to recover.  This rule has been proven and tested by runners of all ages and at all levels. 

The Exception: If your race effort wasn’t all-out, taking fewer recovery days is okay.  But don’t race back to the starting line before you (and your coach) are ready.  And consider when you are taking those days off, you are doing it in-step with Foster, one of the great masters of running.