Why You’re Always ‘Medium Tired’—And the Weekly Training Schedule That Actually Works
Estimated read time: 4.1 minutes (about as long as it took me to lose to my grandma in pickleball this week). 😬
Hey Performance Nerds! Jonah here. 🤓
Spreading your hardest sessions across the week sounds smart, but it actually might be the #1 reason you feel always "medium tired" instead of crushing PRs.
Here’s what to do instead.
Today, we're breaking down:
🏋️♂️ Why stacking hard sessions beats spreading them out
🧠 The 3 types of fatigue
🔍 How to spot your true "recovery killer" workouts
⏱ The 6-hour rule that boosts gains
📆 The perfect weekly schedule to maximize both running and lifting
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🧠 The Core Principle: Stack Your Stress, Not Your Fatigue
Most athletes make this mistake:
They spread out hard sessions across the week thinking they’re helping recovery. But what they’re really doing?
Creating low-grade, chronic fatigue.
That leaves you stuck in the "medium tired" zone—not fresh enough to crush key workouts, not stressed enough to trigger real adaptation.
The Fix: Stack your hard sessions.
This creates one big stress spike, followed by 48–72 hours for deep recovery and super-compensation
Left: “Just a little tired.” Every. Single. Day.
Right: Train hard, recover harder—then ascend like a creatine-fueled phoenix. 🔥🧪
Trust the data:
Frequent moderate stress = chronic fatigue, weak adaptation
Strategic big stress + real rest = better strength and endurance gains
🔬 Fatigue Science 101
"Tired" isn’t just about needing a nap (though Augie’s on nap #3 today—no shame).
You’re dealing with three kinds of fatigue, each drains your performance like a slow leak:
1. Central (Brain-Body) Fatigue
Caused by heavy lifts, VO2 max intervals, max effort sprints
Impairs muscle recruitment (how your brain fires up muscles)
Needs 24–72 hours to reset
2. Peripheral (Muscle-Level) Fatigue
Caused by:
Glycogen depletion from long runs, fast-finish efforts, and extremely high-rep lifting (refills in 1–2 days)
Metabolic by-products from high-intensity intervals or high rep lifts (clears fast)
Muscle damage/soreness from eccentric-heavy work like downhills, RDLs, and high-volume speed work (lingers the longest)
Takes 24–72+ hours depending on damage
3. Systemic (Life Load) Fatigue
Sleep, stress, life chaos
You can’t out-train it
Smart training respects all 3.
🔎 Find Your "Recovery Killer" Workouts
These are the sneaky sessions that bury you with muscle damage.
Identify them. Build around them.
🏃♂️ High-Fatigue Running Sessions
Speed + Volume: Long intervals in Zone 4–5 (e.g. 6xmile repeats or long tempos)
Downhill Running: Brutal eccentric load—your muscles lengthen under tension while braking.
Research shows eccentric contractions cause more muscle damage than any other type of movement.
Fast-Finish Long Runs: Glycogen depletion + muscle damage from speed and distance = potent combo
🏋️ High-Fatigue Lifting
Heavy Lower Body Days: Squats, deadlifts, lunges (massive muscle recruitment + high neural demand)
High Volume Near Failure: 3–4 sets of 8–15 reps, close to failure = muscle damage
Eccentric Focus: Movements that load muscles while lengthening = more damage.
RDLs, Nordics, Squat Negatives → high eccentric stress.
Downhills and speed work → same mechanism, high muscle breakdown.
Eccentric = controlled destruction → massive adaptation if recovery follows.
👉 Label these as Tier 1 Stressors. Your whole week revolves around them.
⚡ Fine-Tune Your Hard Days
Golden Rule: Separate hard sessions by 6+ hours (when possible).
But hey—getting it done still beats skipping it (unless you're Augie, then skipping means nap #4).
Split AM/PM and you’ll:
Perform better in both
Prevent session one from stealing session two’s power
Squeeze more gains from the same workload
🧩 Run First or Lift First?
Run First = prioritize endurance
Lift First = prioritize strength
Choose based on your goal
🔧 Build Your Week Around Tier 1s
Identify Tier 1 Stressors
Place them early in the week or before rest blocks
Follow each with 48–72 hours of low-stress recovery
Think of Tier 1 days as anchors. The rest of the week wraps around them.
📆 Sample Weekly Templates
🏃♂️ Runner Who Lifts (Endurance Priority)
AM: Speed, VO2 max or Threshold / Tempo Run
PM: Heavy Leg Lift
Recovery days: easy runs + upper body
🏋️ Lifter Who Runs (Strength Priority)
AM: Heavy Lower Body Lift (after a full rest day)
PM or Next Day: Zone 2 Run for active recovery
48+ Hours Later: Tempo or Threshold Run
Upper Body Lift: Slot between leg days or fast runs to give your legs a break
Second Leg Day: At least 48 hours after first leg day or tempo/track sessionOther Runs: Keep mostly Zone 2 to support endurance without draining strength
Remember: Templates are guidelines. Recovery signals > rigid schedules.
🎯 Practical Summary:
🔥 Stack hard sessions into 1–2 Tier 1 days
🔍 Use speed, volume & muscle mass to ID toughest sessions
⏱ Leave 6+ hours between hard run/lift on same day
🌍 Follow Tier 1 days with 48–72 hours recovery
🧰 Build your week backwards from the big stressors
💬 One last thing before you go.
After the NFL, I wasn’t sure if obsessing over performance science still mattered—until I started helping this community.
Your training goals? They brought that fire back.
So if you're feeling stuck, second-guessing something, or just want to share how training's going—hit reply. I read every message, and I’m here to help however I can.
🚨 99% OF RUNNERS ARE GETTING ZONE 2 WRONG
Did you miss my post about 99% OF RUNNERS ARE GETTING ZONE 2 WRONG? You can find it below!
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Are You a True Running Nerd? Prove it.. 🧐
Welcome to the prove you’re a nerd section. Each week, I ask a question about a common running science myth.
Answer correctly, and you’ll be entered into a weekly raffle to win a package of Jonah’s favorite supplements.
In the final 24–36 h before your 26.2, how many total grams of carbs should a 70 kg runner target to max out glycogen without overdoing it? 🍝
Last Week’s Results: Cyclist Volume Superpowers! 🚴♂️💥
Muscle-damage dodgers, take a bow! You flexed your training IQ harder than a max-effort squat set, and almost everyone nailed the recovery-savvy move. 🏋️♂️⚡
Correct Answer
C – Stop 2–3 reps short of failure on all sets, even with heavy weight ✅
Leaving a couple of “reps in reserve” (RIR) keeps mechanical tension high enough to spark strength gains without the extra muscle damage and central-nervous-system fatigue that come from grinding to absolute failure. Research shows stopping ~3 reps shy preserves performance in later workouts and lets runners hit quality mileage sooner.
Vote Breakdown
A. Lift to failure but only 2× per week – 27 votes
B. High-rep sets with light weights to failure – 10 votes
🟩 C. Stop 2–3 reps short of failure – 177 votes ✅
D. Superset strength and cardio to maximize time – 12 votes
Bottom Line 🧠
Keep 1–3 reps in the tank on big lifts. You’ll nail the strength stimulus while sparing legs and nervous system for your next tempo, long run, or hill session.🏃♀️💨
Nerdy Finds of the Week 📚🧑🔬
This section includes my favorite research, podcasts or books about running/lifting science.
Podcast: The Truth About Volume, Frequency, and Intensity For Muscle Growth
🔬 Core Finding
Skip the 40-Set Grind: 5-10 Sets Near-Failure Nets ~80 % of Your Gains
Push most sets close to failure and keep weekly volume moderate.
Strength peaks with two hard sets per lift, extra work just piles on fatigue.
📊 Key Research Points
Near-failure sets boost hypertrophy, especially in light isolation lifts over heavy compounds
Strength gains flatline with failure; heavy, low-rep sets already hit the mark
5–10 sets/week triples growth vs. 30–40, showing sharp diminishing returns
Extra frequency adds little size, but slightly boosts strength via heavy practice
Strength peaks at 2 direct sets; hypertrophy flattens around 11 sets/session
Splitting high volume reduces soreness and preserves rep quality
🛠️ Practical Applications
⚡ 0–1 RIR on final isolation set ➔ Extra muscle without wrecking recovery
⏱️ 5–10 sets per muscle/week ➔ Roughly 80% of possible size gains
🚫 30+ hard sets weekly ➔ Big fatigue, tiny extra muscle
⚡ 2 direct sets per exercise/session ➔ Strength curve maxed, energy saved
⏱️ Split volume if sets/session >10 ➔ Higher effort, lower soreness
🚫 Heavy compounds to failure every session ➔ Drains system, no added strength
🎯 Bottom Line
Train hard, not endless.
Two focused sets and 5–10 quality weekly sets give you nearly all the progress without the burnout.
Don’t forget: You + Science = AWESOMENESS 😎
Yours in science,
Jonah
P.S. - We have a crew of 16,120+ nerds here who are running FAST using science.
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