Recovery runs

[marathondan]

I agree that running as hard as you can 3 times a week isn't good. But my normal weekly mix (when in proper training mode, now right now I hasten to add) is one fartlek / hill session, one tempo session (with warmup and cooldown) and one long slow. They're all "quality" sessions but not necessarily "hard" sessions. So I believe there is limited benefit to adding recovery runs into the mix -- unless, according to the article I linked to -- I want to add some "energy-depleted" sessions for additional muscle development.

Sorry to hear you're not running much -- you were making such fantastic progress. Is gentle running, purely for pleasure, an option? (Physically and mentally?) Here's hoping for a better 2011.

10-miler -- no, currently chilling out prior to marathon training warmup in December, and then the full marathon programme from around Xmas.