SportCoach · Answers
Recovery questions, answered
The questions runners type at 6am, answered the way a coach would: the call first, the reasoning after, sources cited. For the full system, get the free handbook chapters.
My HRV is low — should I still run today?
Usually yes — one low HRV reading against your baseline is noise, so run, but keep it easy. What changes the answer is a trend: HRV below your baseline for two to three days, especially combined with bad sleep or a resting heart rate several beats above normal. That cluster means today is not the day for intervals — swap the quality session for easy volume and reassess tomorrow.
Read the coach answer →Should I run on 5 hours of sleep?
Run — but make it easy, and do not do a hard workout. One short night is survivable for easy volume, but quality sessions on sleep debt build fatigue instead of fitness and raise injury risk. Move the hard session 48 hours: an easy 30–40 minutes today, the tempo or intervals later in the week. The week still works; only the order changes.
Read the coach answer →I missed my long run in marathon training — what now?
Don't try to make it up by cramming. Either shift the week forward — slide the long run a day or two and push the next hard session back — or let it go entirely and resume the plan as written. What you must not do is stack the missed run on top of this week's existing sessions: three hard days in a row to make a spreadsheet whole again is how training blocks end early.
Read the coach answer →How do I know if I'm overtraining?
Look for a persistent cluster, not a bad day: resting heart rate elevated 3–7 bpm above your baseline for three or more days, HRV suppressed below baseline for multiple days or swinging more than usual, ordinary easy runs feeling hard, sleep quality slipping, and motivation gone flat. Two or more of these agreeing — or one persisting for days — means back off now. Caught early it costs a few easy days; ignored, it can cost a season.
Read the coach answer →My resting heart rate is high — should I train today?
It depends on how high and for how long. Within 2–3 bpm of your normal: train as planned and just watch it. Elevated 3–5 bpm, or for a second day: keep the session but strip the intensity. Elevated 5–7+ bpm for several days — or high plus feeling run-down — rest; that pattern often means accumulating fatigue or an oncoming illness, and one rest day is cheap insurance.
Read the coach answer →My legs feel dead before a long run — should I still do it?
Check three things before deciding: last night's sleep, your last three days of training load, and this morning's resting heart rate. If two of the three are off, shorten the long run rather than skip it — 60–70% of the planned distance at a genuinely easy effort keeps the stimulus without deepening the hole. If all three are fine, start anyway: heavy legs often clear after fifteen easy minutes.
Read the coach answer →Why do I feel terrible during taper week?
Feeling flat, heavy, or oddly restless in taper week is normal and usually a sign the taper is working — fatigue leaves the body faster than fitness, but it leaves loudly. Do not respond with a panic workout to "test" your fitness. Keep the recipe: volume cut roughly 40–60%, intensity maintained in small doses, frequency held. Done right, a taper is worth about 2–3% on race day — minutes in a marathon.
Read the coach answer →Does work stress affect running performance and recovery?
Yes — physiologically, work stress is training load. Your nervous system doesn't file job pressure under a different account: deadline weeks, poor sleep, and life stress feed the same fatigue pool as your mileage, and they show up in the same morning signals — suppressed HRV and elevated resting heart rate. The fix isn't skipping training; it's re-sequencing it, putting hard sessions on calmer days and easy volume in brutal weeks.
Read the coach answer →
← SportCoach — the AI running coach that answers this every morning, from your own data