Changes

The diagram below represents a personal hypothesis based on my observation that [[Long Run|long runs ]] and speedwork can be combined. After a long run, it is quite practical to perform speedwork and gain benefits, when doing a long run at that point in the recovery would produce serious fatigue or injury. My hypothesis is that the long run primarily affects the endurance fitness and speedwork primarily affects aerobic fitness. Thus a long run triggers the endurance supercompensation curve (red), but does not have much impact on the aerobic supercompensation curve (green). Likewise, the speedwork triggers the aerobic supercompensation curve (green), but does not have much impact on the endurance supercompensation curve (red). In practice, things are probably a lot more complex than this, but I believe this is a useful model. (As George P. E. Box said "[[All models are wrong]], but some models are useful".)

I am a big believer in running four days a week, as it allows for tough training and good recovery. However, different levels of training stress will require different rest periods. To make matters more complex, different systems ([[Muscle|muscles]], cardiovascular, tendons, bones, hormones) are likely to require different rest for a given training stress. This means that the optimum amount of rest is likely to vary significantly. However, it is generally accepted that doing ‘quality’ or ‘hard’ workout every day is too much. The idea of alternating hard and easy days is based on the need for more than 24 hours rest. I believe it is reasonable to conclude that the ‘easy’ days do nothing more than interfere with the rest that is needed, and hinder fitness, rather than improving it. Hence the idea of training four days a week.