Can I Move My Recovery Day?

Training Structure

Phil's plans are designed to help you maximise your training time. You should be sufficiently recovered to perform each of your key workouts properly.

However, we recognise that your training must also accommodate your work-life schedule to be sustainable and effective. So, don't worry; as long as you keep some fundamental training principles in mind, you can make adjustments.

Adjusting Your Schedule

With Premium TrainingPeaks, you can easily drag and drop workouts in your calendar (check this article for details). Alternatively, with a free account, you can move workouts back in time or onto today's date from future dates.

Your recovery day is scheduled to facilitate recovery and allow your body to adapt after your most demanding workouts. The sessions with the highest planned training stress will likely generate the most fatigue during your training week.

Option One: Realign Your Plan

Example - Moving your normal recovery day (planned for Mondays) to Sundays.

• In this example, you could realign your plan to start on a Sunday. This adjustment would shift your planned recovery day to Sunday.
• Keep in mind that this change means your longest workouts will fall on Friday and Saturday. 
• You may also need to make a slight adjustment in the final taper week (there is a note in the plan).

IMPORTANT: If you set your plan to start on other days of the week, you will see how the entire schedule adjusts. Finish the plan as close as possible to your race date. If you are 'off' by one or more days, you will need to adjust your taper week to ensure you are in peak form on race day. Please contact the coaching team if you require support.

Option Two: Adjust Your Schedule As You Go

If your schedule frequently changes, it may be better to tweak your planned schedule according to your availability. You can either:

• Move the recovery day AND the hardest workouts (using the principles below).
• Alternatively, swap the recovery day with an 'easy/recovery workout' (preferably in a different discipline) if you have one scheduled in your plan. You may then need to make further adjustments.

Principles

• Avoid doing the hardest workouts on consecutive days, typically long or high-intensity workouts.
• Try not to have consecutive days of the same discipline if possible (unless already planned that way).
• If you need to do two sessions in one day, ideally split them between morning and evening. This will help you feel fresher for each.
• Try to schedule swims after runs; this will aid in your legs' recovery. You don't need to swim immediately after a run; it just means the session following a run should preferably be a swim (if feasible).
• Don't dwell on missed workouts - move on.

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