My sixth tip can make the difference between exhaustion and fulfillment: at least every 4 weeks, ease off to let your body adapt to the training you impose on it!

Training science is clear: it’s not while during workouts that you’re getting faster and more enduring. It’s when you give your body time to recover, between your workouts, thanks to the supercompensation effect.

Shock your body by forcing it to run faster or longer than it is used to. It will react strongly, with fatigue, and sometimes soreness as well. Give it some time to recover. The next time, the same training load will no longer shock it, because it will have adapted.

Think of your 4-week cycles as flights of stairs. For the first two weeks, climb one step at a time. The third week, go up two steps at once. The fourth week, go back down to the first step, to overcompensate.

Run as often as usual, but shorten your jogs, and do a few less intervals and half your usual tempo. Take advantage of this extra free time to take naps or read a good book in a hammock.

The following week, you will have more energy, and you will feel ready to resume your ascent to the top!

Happy down week, and see you soon for my next tip!

Olivier