[quote author="Mike Young" date="1275289294"]4 weeks off from running and 6 weeks from lifting is a little on the long side if you’re not doing anything else.
At the conclusion of a yearly plan, I like to see my athletes take 2 weeks completely off and then do 1-3 weeks of unstructured physical activity on there own. The guideline for the 1-3 weeks of unstructured training is to avoid anything we’d done during the training year but to do some form of activity for 3-5 hours a week.
We also take 3-7 days off (depending on how extensive the schedule was) following the conclusion of the indoor season.
Mike,
I have a girl (just finishing her junior year of high school) who just finished up a yearly plan. I was planning on starting her back up full go on Monday, July 19th. She just started her two weeks of complete rest. She’s also a basketball player, so would it be a good idea if during the three weeks after her complete rest her and I play some pickup basketball? What are some other options for those runners who don’t play basketball?[/quote]2 weeks off is probably ok. One of the guidelines I use is that the athlete should be dying to resume training after the rest period. While there are certainly exceptions, this seems to ensure that they’re physiologically and psychologically recharged.
ELITETRACK Founder