What’s the Difference Between Active Recovery and Rest Days?

When you think of active recovery, you’re probably wondering what makes it different than a rest day? Active recovery is part of training and yup it’s different than ‘passive recovery’.

While training, you should be paying attention to both active recovery and complete rest days throughout your training schedule. The volume of each may shift depending on the intensity of your workouts, training volume or simply how you’re feeling!

Let’s dive more into active recovery for runners, how it’s different from rest days, and ways you can incorporate active recovery workouts into your training routine.

What’s the Difference Between Active Recovery and Rest Days?

Seeing the words ‘rest day’ in our training programs, most runners do one of two things:

• Rejoice over the fact that we get to be a couch potato
• Throw a tantrum because we’re not allowed to move for an entire day

Rest days (or passive recovery) mean to go about your daily activities, like errands, walking the dog, bike commuting, and light housework. Don’t help your friend move, paint the house, or overhaul the yard. Keep it simple and don’t go too crazy.

I know you see elite runners talking about runs on their rest days, but they aren’t juggling a full-time job, family, and everything else.

YOU NEED REST.

If your body is begging for a day off, then this is your chance to embrace the free time knowing that you’re making progress by sitting with a good running book. Period. Stop.

Now, if the thought of complete rest makes your eye twitch, then take an active recovery day.

Active rest days or active recovery workouts, on the other hand, are easy exercise sessions that help get the blood flowing to aid in muscle repair.

This is not the time to go all out on a high-intensity training session.

Rather, choose a low-impact workout that still gets your blood flowing and benefits your running.

Benefits of Active Recovery

Active recovery for runners is going to help in a few different ways:

• Minimizes the buildup of lactic acid in the muscles, which is responsible for stiffness and soreness in the days following a tough workout.
• Helps lower your heart rate. Athletes whose bodies recover more quickly to a resting heart rate level enjoy improved endurance over time.
• Retain strength and stamina from training after a hard effort (like race day). I am all for taking a running break after a marathon to allow muscle recovery, which then leads to HIGHER levels of fitness.
• Improve mobility and flexibility with workouts you’d otherwise skip entirely.
• Maintains a habit.This is one of the things I love most about not just sitting for the day. Instead, you get going at your standard workout time, maintaining the link in your brain that this is when you do sweaty things.
• Improves blood flow to muscles and joints which reduces the risk of inflammation to them.

When Should You Do Active Recovery Workouts?

You probably think you should spend the entire next day relaxing after completing a marathon, right? Surprisingly, active recovery workouts are preferable to doing nothing.

Active recovery is not limited to elite runners. Anyone who has completed an intense run or competed in an athletic event such as a race, or just pushed themselves to the limit the previous day should follow it up with a light workout the following day.

Active Recovery Workout Ideas

Cross training is super beneficial to runners because it helps prevent fatigue and burnout, plus it activates other muscle groups that running may miss.

These active recovery workouts aren’t meant to be long or intense. They can be as short as 10 minutes if you’re feeling tired or as long as an hour if you’re out strolling with a friend.

When I prescribe recovery days for my athletes, it usually focuses on three specific areas:

Yoga

Yoga for runners is a chance to slow down, work on your breathing, open tight hips and give you a chance to move without overdoing it.

I know you think you hate it, checkout that link to read more on why it’s going to help you!

Core Workout

I’ve talked a LOT about the benefits of core work, but I’m a real life example.

After knee surgery, my PT pointed out I needed core strength to help that knee continue feeling good. I started making core part of my week and always on my Monday recovery.

Going back a year later he stated “I can tell you’ve done the work because now your hips are stable, your movements are better and it’s translating all the way through your foot strike.”

Mobility Work

This is an overlooked area with massive benefits! Here’s a quick video of ideas, along with an explanation of how mobility works!

If you’re looking to switch things up and want some other recovery workout ideas, try one of these:

Steady-State or Non-Impact Cardio

This can be a low-intensity session on a treadmill,  rowing, road, or stationary bike with the goal of maintaining a heart rate of 120-140 beats per minute (bpm), but nothing too intense.

Steady Intervals and Light Resistance

Combining steady state intervals in the form of no-impact cardio with bodyweight resistance exercises helps to increase blood flow to muscles and joints without putting the body under excessive strain.

This is not a time to increase strength, or performance. It is a light session designed to aid with recovery.

Stretching

If yoga isn’t your thing, some easy stretching the day after a long run or intense workout will assist in supporting your body and start your healing process.

Self-Myofascial Release or Massage

Self-myofascial release, aka foam rolling and trigger point treatments, are excellent for massaging inflamed and overworked muscles. This is because they increase blood flow to the area and so alleviate muscular tightness.

Using a foam roller is a great way to do active recovery as it can even help improve range of motion.

Benefits of Rest Days

First, why do most training plans include a standard weekly rest day? A few of the things that happen on a running rest day:

• muscles to heal
• prevents overuse injuries
• increases your performance
• helps you to maintain a love of the sport

When we stop allowing ourselves a rest day or recovery day, the body gets frustrated because the equation is stress + rest = growth… without the rest, you’ve just got stress!

When Should You Take a Rest Day?

While the advantages of active recovery are obvious, passive recovery is just as important. Pay attention to your body and determine whether a day or two off is warranted.

If you’ve been injured or are at risk of injury, it’s best to give your body time to heal before returning to light runs. If you’re in the thick of marathon training and feeling fatigued, take a rest day. If you’re not enjoying your runs, take a rest day.

Honestly, there are LOTS of great reasons to rest.

Otherwise, if you don’t listen to your body, you may wind up needing to take even more time off from running

How Many Rest Days Do I Need to Take Each Week?

The answer varies depending on your fitness level and workout intensity.

The standard plan says 1 running rest day per week, but as I’ve found with the athletes I coach, during base building they can often use that day for active recovery rather than full stop rest.

As the miles increase and they get closer to mid-late training cycles where the workouts are harder, that rest day becomes a welcome time to simply relax. Allowing the cortisol to drop and to feel rejuvenated for the coming miles.

Signs You’ve Been Neglecting Rest Days

When we stop allowing ourselves a rest day or recovery day, the body gets frustrated because the equation is stress + rest = growth… without the rest, you’ve just got stress!

Here are a few signs of overtraining, which means skipping the rest and often doing all your workouts too hard.

#1 Elevated resting heart rate.

Take your resting heart rate each morning for a week or so to get an idea of what is normal for you. An elevated heart rate can indicate exercise-related stress caused by increased oxygen flow to repair torn muscles.

Five to 10 beats over per minute could indicate that you’re in need of rest.

#2 Poor sleep or insomnia

Overtraining can wreak havoc on your sleep because your body is trying to repair all those torn muscles! Lack of sleep can result in slower reaction times, weaken the immune system, and decrease endurance.

#3 Moodiness

An overworked body may leave you feeling hungover, mentally exhausted, or even depressed over time. The body produces more hormones like cortisol that can trigger anxiety and cause irritability.

#4 Feeling haggard

If your workouts seem more difficult or you just simply can’t get through them, that is a surefire sign of exhaustion. Alternatively, with a compromised immune system from all the work your body is putting toward repairing the muscles, you’re likely to fall ill more often.

If you’re nervous about how quickly do I lose fitness  <<—- go read that.

If you’re early in training or just feeling good, an active recovery day could also mean an easy hike, bike ride or swim. Learn to listen to your body!!

What to read next:

• How to Use Recovery Runs
• Hyperice Product Comparison:Which Recovery Tools Deliver? We Tested them All
• Are Massage Guns Worth the Cost?

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