While appropriate recovery time is dependent on a number of factors such as exertion level and fitness level and varies from person to person, there are some common themes that can be extracted when judging your own recovery time. Some swear by the use of heart rate monitors, claiming they are the only way to really know how recovered you are. Others learn with practice to listen to their bodies or simply follow training programs designed to allow most people adequate recovery time.

The bottomline is that without proper recovery, your body will enter overtraining mode which isn't good for a whole host of reasons.