Rest days: I've just started on the programme... - Couch to 5K

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Rest days

Specialgirl7876 profile image
6 Replies

I've just started on the programme, and also just been to my first class at the gym. Just wondering what you do on your rest days? If I want to fit in 3 runs (well, walks at the moment!), and 2 classes at the gym then I have todo consecutive days at some point! When you have rest days, do you do other forms of exercise or take a complete day off?

Thanks

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Specialgirl7876 profile image
Specialgirl7876
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6 Replies
Debih191 profile image
Debih191Graduate

I've just started the C25k and am just about to move to wk 2.

I walk the dog every day anyway and on my rest day just walk her further and faster. I'm going to start walking to and from work on my rest days too.

IannodaTruffe profile image
IannodaTruffeMentor

The rest days that are recommended whilst doing C25k, are rest days from high impact exercise, such as running, pogoing or stamping on the heads of the little demons that try to tell you that you would be better off sitting on the sofa. Cycling, swimming, rowing, weights etc are all beneficial on your "rest from running" days. Apparently, we develop micro tears in our muscles when we run and not giving them time to recover can lead to much more serious injury... hence the rest day. If you are young and fit, then the risk of running on consecutive days, as a new runner, will not be as great as it is for someone who is less fit and, speaking from experience, older. I don't bounce as well as I used to. You don't have to fit each week of C25k into a chronological week. That may mean you take longer to graduate, but you will keep the risk of injury minimised. Good luck.

hilbean profile image
hilbeanGraduate

IannodaTruffe has really said it all. Rest from exercise if you want but different exercise is good if you want to. If you're starting out you could always try the Strength & Flex podcasts with our lovely Laura :) I found the knee exercises really useful as well nhs.uk/Livewell/c25k/Pages/...

the_tea_fairy profile image
the_tea_fairyGraduate

What Iannoda said! I love yoga on rest days because it clears my head in a similar way to running without knackering my knees/hips/pesky pesky Achilles tendon.

GoogleMe profile image
GoogleMeGraduate

I swim. Which reminds me of how much less boring running is. Somewhere on the NHS Choices website there is a plan for combining C25k and the other Laura-coached NHS podcast programme Strength and Flexibility and that gives one truly 'rest' day each week.

I'm with the_tea_fairy on the yoga. I do 5-10 minutes every morning (not being someone who stretches before/after run sessions) and aim to do an online class once or twice a week. Cultivating stillness is as important, if not more important, than cultivating speed.

There is a bit of a dilemma - seems a shame to waste enthusiasm and the moment, but my hunch is that if you make exercise into what is effectively a part-time job you are more likely to give up. As my mother says of my father "It's all very well keeping fit, but fit for what?"

Coddfish profile image
CoddfishGraduate

I do my runs on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, the first 2 outdoors first thing, and the 3rd at the gym, where I also use fixed weights.

I do a Swimfit programme and an aqua aerobics class on Tuesday and Thursday.

I try to do a long walk on Saturday and some walking the remaining days - using an UP 24 to count my steps. Step target for Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday, Friday is 10,000 plus. 5,000 on the 2 days I am also swimming, and 5,000 on Monday (which is usually a full working but exercise 'rest' day).

I am late 50s, semi retired, so I can mostly fit around my working / volunteering commitments.

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