Recovery is just as essential to effective training as the active elements of your plan. Recovery is key to restoring the body's physiological and psychological functions, so you can compete and train again at your best – don't discredit the downtime!

Here's what you need to know in order to recover as well as you train.

This one is no secret. Sleep is an essential part of helping your body repair and restore its body battery, aka the nervous system.

It is important that you aim to get 8 hours sleep per night – this needs to be a consistent lifestyle habit in order to reap the benefits. If you are struggling to sleep, try eating dinner a little earlier, limiting your screen time before bed and making sure you listen to your body when you need more than 8 hours.

Protein helps speed up recovery by helping to repair small muscle tears and ease soreness. When you increase the intensity of your training, it is vital to ensure that your protein intake is higher to allow the body to repair itself. If you struggle to include protein in your meals, adding a protein shake daily is an easy hack. Read our full guide on day-to-day nutrition for runners here.

Hydration is not only important for recovery, but it is also essential to allow your body to carry out its daily functions. A human's body is comprised of mostly water. It is essential to stay hydrated in order to maintain the body's balance of electrolytes, wash out toxins, transport nutrients to the cells and regulate body temperature.

On a regular basis, it is recommended you consume approximately 2-3L of water per day. When exercising, this needs to be increased to take into account fluid loss through sweat. It's also vital you hydrate throughout training and after. Remember that everyone's requirements are different. If you sweat more, you may need to drink more water to avoid muscle cramping and consider adding electrolytes.

If you find yourself struggling to recover properly between workouts, it could be because you are not completing effective warm ups and cool downs. This leads to an increased risk of DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). If you need warm up and cool down ideas, head to our tutorials here. You can also take advantage of Runna's mobility offering, by adding it to your plan or simply following along on our YouTube channel.

Adding strength training into your weekly running routine will be a game changer. As your strength improves, you will find that your legs will not fatigue as quickly, due to being better able to withstand the load that comes from running. Focusing on single leg strength and running-specific strength exercises will improve your balance, running form and power. You can add strength training into your Runna plan at any time, simply go to Manage Plan and 'Set up strength'. Read our deep dive into strength training for runners here.

Rest days are crucial in your recovery journey. Rest days allow your body to repair and recover, allowing the adaptations from your training to occur. It is important that you listen to your body and don't overdo it when your legs are tired.

Be prepared to move your sessions around – there is no shame in this. If you find that your legs are always fatigued and sore from running, we would advise that you look at decreasing the number of days you train, or dropping your ability level and overall weekly milage until you find yourself recovering more sustainably.

Training hard every single week – no matter how fit you are – will eventually lead to cumulative fatigue. To truly benefit from your training, give your body the rest it needs to recover, adapt, and come back stronger. That’s why incorporating a deload week every 3-4 weeks is essential.

Deload weeks are automatically built into your Runna plan to keep you feeling fresh, motivated, and progressing safely, without increasing your risk of overtraining or burnout.

By this we mean the things such as salt baths, ice baths, massage guns, anti-inflammatory balm, foam-rolling and compression tights. None of these will dramatically change your recovery overnight, however if you consistently stack these 1%s, it will eventually help your body to recover more quickly.

Using a foam roller or massage gun, even if it's just for five minutes every day will really help loosen up any tightness you feel in your muscles.

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Active recovery sessions, such as light stretching, yoga, or pilates, play an important role in helping your body bounce back between harder training days. These gentle movements increase blood flow, which helps flush out waste products like lactate and reduces residual soreness.

They also loosen tight muscles, improve range of motion, enhance overall mobility, and strengthen your body without adding significant fatigue.

That said, complete rest days are just as important. Giving your body time off entirely allows your nervous system, muscles, and energy stores to fully reset so you can return to training feeling refreshed and ready to progress.

Finally, it is important to remember that recovery is different for everyone, just like how everyone is different when it comes to the mileage that their bodies can withstand. You should consistently be trying to follow the above advice in order to put yourself in the best possible position to reach your potential and not burn out.