How RunKeeper watches out for you

You might not know it, but there are a few important principles of training. To build up your body, you first have to break it down. This is actually what you do when you are working out. Each period of breakdown can be either a week, month, or 3 months – or whatever you might define it as. However, every good thing must end, and so must the breaking down-period do. A new period of restitution must start in order for you body to adapt to the new level of shape that you are trying to build. This period should not consist of entirely rest, but your milage and hours of training should decrease. The big question remaining is when do you stop?

Runkeeper actually helps you find out! In your weekly view of activities, you will find a certain point where milage is getting too steep! At this point a red lamp must be lit, and you should enter a period of restitution.

You can see the increase in milage from the week of Sep 13 until it decreases in the week of Oct 4 (starting a period of restitution). A new period of break-down starts Oct 18 and my milage is growing each week. But what now? Time to end the period of break-down and enter a new period of restitution. If this does not happen, the body will not adapt and you will in time become overtrained.

When each period of breakdown starts, it will start on a higher level than the previous period of break down (Sep 13 and Oct 18). And this is how to develop your shape slow and easy!

Use the Runkeeper statistics to determine when you breakdown should end and a period of restitution should start.

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