Rest Day in Training Plan

[AK_Skeeter]

Most marathon training plans have a rest day after the weekly long run.
Yet on a hunt typically the rest day is before a grueling 2-day pack out.

My personal record for endurance have been with a rest day before,
but a rest day after allows the body to repair any damage from a long hike,
so it the training rationale for rest day after to prevent injury?

From that perspective, is it better in training to have a "rest day"
before or after each weekly long hike? Or is it really a moot point and either is fine?

 

[Poser]

All training (and I’m talking training here, not exercising: training is a logical sequence of stress with a end goal where exercise is just getting sweaty and tired with no purpose or intent) is hinged on the SRA cycle:

Stress
Recovery
Adaptation

The more adapted to trading you are, the longer this cycle may play out. A more advanced trainee may apply stress over a week or longer without a true rest day, depending on the nature of the applied stress.

Essentially, until your body has recovered from applied stress, it cannot adapt to that stress. Everything you do short of eating and sleeping is some kind of stress on the body. So, it’s not just as simple as “one rest day a week”, it’s more about how stressful your training is, how adapted your body is and how well you are managing and recovering from that stress on a day to day basis. One thing is for sure, you need stress and recovery in a proportional dose to your training or your training progression will not be optimal.

 

[AK_Skeeter]

All training (and I’m talking training here, not exercising: training is a logical sequence of stress with a end goal where exercise is just getting sweaty and tired with no purpose or intent) is hinged on the SRA cycle:

Stress
Recovery
Adaptation

The more adapted to trading you are, the longer this cycle may play out. A more advanced trainee may apply stress over a week or longer without a true rest day, depending on the nature of the applied stress.

Essentially, until your body has recovered from applied stress, it cannot adapt to that stress. Everything you do short of eating and sleeping is some kind of stress on the body. So, it’s not just as simple as “one rest day a week”, it’s more about how stressful your training is, how adapted your body is and how well you are managing and recovering from that stress on a day to day basis. One thing is for sure, you need stress and recovery in a proportional dose to your training or your training progression will not be optimal.

Which is better from a training rest day perspective:
MWF cross country ski 2 hours, T, Th Backpack 2 hours, Sat Backpack 10 hours, Sunday rest
or
MWF cross country ski 2 hours, T, Th Backpack 2 hours, Sat rest, Sunday backpack 10 hours

From a training perspective, is it better in training to have a "rest day"
before or after each weekly long hike? Or is it really a moot point and either is fine?

 

[Poser]

Which is better from a training rest day perspective:
MWF cross country ski 2 hours, T, Th Backpack 2 hours, Sat Backpack 10 hours, Sunday rest
or
MWF cross country ski 2 hours, T, Th Backpack 2 hours, Sat rest, Sunday backpack 10 hours

From a training perspective, is it better in training to have a "rest day"
before or after each weekly long hike? Or is it really a moot point and either is fine?

I’d be much more prone to having a rest day after the 10 hour day. 10 hours is going to accumulate a lot of fatigue and getting back out for 2 hours of XC the following day would make me question the productivity there.

 

[mtwarden]

I would agree that a rest day after a long day would have the most benefit.

After very arduous days, I still like to get some active recovery in- short hike or something along those lines. I've found it to quicken recovery vs doing nothing at all.

Related, but not the same- typically with endurance events, you will taper/deload prior to an "event" - "event" being a hunting trip for a lot of us. For me that means pulling back gradually from both strength training and endurance related exercise a couple of weeks out. Tapering back, but not eliminating.

Knowing how much and when to taper/deload takes a little time to figure out and what works for one, probably doesn't work for everyone.

 

[Squirrel Master]

I don't ever take a complete rest day, but at least once a week I'll have a really low impact day, like just walk a couple miles around the neighborhood. I like to do this generally on Sunday after hitting it hard all week. Then on Monday morning I feel really good going into whatever workout I'm doing that day.

 

[*zap*]

Recovery supps and increasing blood flow is the bet thing for recovery....light hike, light swim, hot sauna, very light high rep lifting, etc.
I rest according to what my body is telling me....so that could be anytime, not by some schedule.

Metabolic Nutrition TAG is a fantastic recovery supp that has given me very good results time after time.

 

[AK_Skeeter]

This past week I've been hiking long every other day instead of twice a week. On off days I work on strength and flexibility exercises. I like to start my long hikes before dawn as I hear great horned owls, coyotes, then the canada geese and turkeys start up. Also every pasture is filled with whitetails and they are gone to the woods to bed down later in the morning.