Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 76, November 2015 | Seite 34

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Rest vs Active

Training

What is the most important part of a training programme?
If you answered quality work, speed work, long slow
running, hill repeats or strength work, or any combination
thereof, you’d be wrong. These are all important aspects of
a training programme, but the most important element is
recovery. It’s only during recovery that we gain the benefits
we seek from hard, quality workouts. – BY RAY ORCHISON

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he body is an incredible creation, with many built-in sensors and monitors
designed to ensure that the cells and internal systems function at an optimal
level, otherwise known as homeostasis. The moment we take the body above
this optimal level, however, alarms begin to trigger. For example, if you ran an easy 30
minutes on a cool day, you’d handle the session with no problem at all. However, if you
attempted to do the same 30-minute run in a sauna, you would suddenly find yourself
struggling to finish, if you manage to finish it at all.
The reason for this is that even though you’re still running the 30 minut \