Is it okay to run two days in a row ? HELP!

[fightingfit]

Hi Guys , i am on week 5 and completed run 2 this morning! Laura always says have one rest day in between each run. Is it ok to continue the next day? or should i leave it a day? Anyone done 2 days in a row to move on quicker? x

[Craig_B]

Although its best practice to leave a days rest in between, I would say it depends on the individual and how you feel after each run. Do you ever ache the next day? I am only on week 3, but there have been a couple of occasions where I have run 2 days in a row and felt absolutely fine. But as I say I am only on week 3. I suppose it comes down to how you feel and your own limits, I hope that helps.

[Julesdav Graduate]

Enjoy it and go with how you feel. I never stuck rigidly to the programme missing the odd day or repeating a week if I wasn't ready to move on. Not sure i was ever desperate to go out 2days in a row. I'm

Impressed you feel like running 2 days in a row but your body does need to recover and repair, particularly the muscles and in my case my joints need a day off. You also increase the risk of injury if you don't rest. I run better if I miss a day or so.

[fightingfit Graduate]

Thanks guys good points. No I don't usually feel sore the next day, it would just work out easier with my schedule if I ran 2 days in a row sometimes.

[CouchCarrot Graduate]

Doing it once a while is fine, but your body definitely needs some rest, especially when you start running longer distances - 20min & more. Also I hope you are doing some strengthening exercises. If not, it will be a good idea to use the rest day for strengthening. After week 5, I started on the Strength & Flex program. Even now, I alternate between strengthening and running.

[Oldgirl Graduate]

In the early days of running I didn't listen to Laura and kept on running after the last 3 minutes was up and ran 3 + 5 minutes cool down. The next day I could hardly move, I had painful knees and shin splints. Was off running for 2 weeks while it all settled down again. The rest days are to give your legs chance to recover, they are quite unused to these new demands being asked of them after all. It might feel fine at the time but not resting could lead to injury. C25K isn't a race, that can come later once you have graduated but I would strongly advise you to be cautious so early on. Thats not to say you can't do some very brisk walking on your rest days or swim, or cross training of any kind.

[Oldgirl Graduate in reply to Oldgirl]

PS forgot to say, I have run two days in a row 3.5K hill work yesterday and a very easy 5.20K run today simply because I know I won't get a run tomorrow as I'm away early and not home until late. I've been running nearly 3 years now and this afternoon my legs although not painful, they feel heavy and tired, they are saying to me, enough is enough

[greenlegs Graduate]

I'd be surprised if you get away with running two consecutives days after the middle of week 5, unless you were pretty fit before you started. Those longer runs do take it out of your legs. I found I sometimes needed two days before runs in the last few weeks.

If you feel up to it, you could try, but if it starts to feel too much, be prepared to stop and rest. One more day isn't really all that much in the scale of a few weeks - but a couple of weeks or more stopped to allow for recovery can seem like a very long time indeed - and there are plenty of examples of that one blogs on here.

[DavD Graduate]

I'd say that it depends of your physical condition but chances are, if you started C25K, you probably weren't very fit before, like a majority of us, so running everyday might not be the best choice if you want to keep going and don't get injured. I really believe that the rest day is crucial, especially when you begin (even now that I've graduated weeks ago, I don't skip it yet). Nonetheless, if you feel like to, just try it! Listen to your body and see how it goes for you. But if your muscles ache the next day, please take a day rest or two - you'd be even more frustrated not running for days or weeks if you get injured...!

If you want to stay active the days in between the runs, you can do strengthening exercises. I do them and I really feel that, little by little, they're making me a stronger runner. Maybe I'll be able to run everyday in a few months or a year from now!

Good luck!

[yamsteroo]

I'm only on W4 but there have been times when I have had to do two consecutive days because otherwise, I wouldn't get all three runs in reasonable close succession (I had to repeat W2 as my schedule meant I'd left almost a week between 2 and 3 and I thought that was too long a gap).

As others have said, unless you're quite fit you might struggle in the later weeks when the 20min runs come along but if you're not aching the second day and you think you can do it, give it a go. If you can't complete the run then you know you've reached the level where you really do need those rest days in between.

[Maxineroo]

I guess once you get more into your running and know your limits, you will be best to answer that for yourself. If you feel like doing it then I would do it, and take it at a steady pace, you can always stop if you feel any different. I just done two 10k’s back to back and know I will be fine, because know my limits, what to wear that feels right for me and how it will affect me the next day as been running for years. Just go easy x