Originally Posted by cypher252
In my opinion, it is not a good idea to take this as a cue to train less hard or less in general, but rather to train for periods and then take a few rest weeks, and see where you are. Simulate what made it happen for you (several months hard training and 1.5 weeks off), and don't try to make hypothesies like "if i just train with less intensity I will not ever get that tired and need a break".
Theres my two cents.
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Sorry pressed submit before I said anything.
I would be slightly wary of giving yourself more than ten days rest if you are aiming to achieve a gradual improvment in your fitness and therefore your average speed. Its after ten days of inactivity that your body starts to regress back to the state it was in before you started exercising. I am not saying that you lose everything but fitness does start to decline. Having said this though you should give yourself a couple of days aweek recovery for your body to react to the changes caused by exercise. You should see improvments fairly quickly as long as you give your body a chance to adapt