Wk 7 run 1
Very excited to complete this . And I ran for 33 mins not 25 as I got a bit lost on my route! But no probs with the run . My left knee feeling not quite right now but not completely awful . But I’m feeling stiff . Went upstairs to change out of my kit & found it difficult to get downstairs as whole body stiffening up ! I’m thinking I may start to have 2 rest days in between runs ? Will this matter ?
If I was in your situation I would have taken 2 days off. I’m no expert but I believe in long term it’s important to keep your legs healthy by giving them required rest.
Good luck with recovery!
Hi, no it doesn’t matter, you are listening to your body which is as important as your training , I found that I needed longer between runs to recover and took my time to complete c25k, sometimes taking up to 3 days rest in between. I’m currently training for half marathon on only 2 runs a week as this works best for me and I’m up to 8.5 miles. It’s all about finding the balance that works for you and your body, relax and enjoy your well earned rest xx
If you read the guide to the plan healthunlocked.com/couchto5... it explains that if you need more rest days, that is fine.
Take care.
Taking more rest days is fine. Just a thought though are you stretching after your runs?
Oops no ! You’re right I need to do that lol
I didn't stretch after my first run and ached for days however I found these stretched on the NHS website (copy and paste below url) and its made a massive difference to my recovery time.
nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/h...
Hope this helps!
I’ve found with my straight runs I really do need to stretch or it affects my next run and i stiffen up pretty quick.
If you keep exactly to the same days of the week that you do your runs, you automatically have at least two days rest, ie, if you run on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, then Friday and Saturday are rest days. My "week" starts on Wednesday, two rest days, then Saturday and Monday.
Good idea
Hi 'Fifi18', so I did run 1 of week 5 yesterday, Wednesday, it went very well, I made a slight error in my second 5 minute run by actually running that in 6 minutes, I realised my mistake 25 seconds over the 5 minutes but as I was in a 'running mood' just continued on to the 6 minutes, that meant if I was to complete the round in the 21 minutes I would only have a two minute walk, that went OK and then it was the last 5 minute run, felt OK after that round.
It seems a wee bit of a leap from "I feel extra stiff soon after this run" straight to "I'm going to take two non-running days between every run" Obviously very sensible not to run tomorrow if you've not recovered by then from yesterday's session.
It may be worth thinking about why you need them and perhaps doing some tweaks... running surface? Avoiding heel striking? Shoes? Hydration? Stretching? Anti-inflammatories?
Partly because I felt so stiff . I don’t want my knee to get worse . I work and so tired when I get in at 5/5.30 pm and by the time I’ve had a cup of tea , sorted myself out , sorted tea & gone for a run there’s not much energy or time left in the evening. Wasn’t so bad with the early wks as didn’t take so long to recover from the run . I want to make sure I keep running & worried my body may cave in lol . I think I looking at the things you’ve mentioned is a great idea . Am new to all this & didn’t realise there are more things to be considered .
I intend to do weeks 7-9 with two rest days between every run. This is because my knee twinges a bit by the end of a run, and I don’t want this to develop into a problem. I think it makes sense to take an extra day’s rest if you’re worried you might injure yourself. You say it doesn’t feel “completely awful” but do you want to aggravate it to the point where it does? 
Take the extra rest for the next run or two, and see how you feel then. You can always go back to only one day if you feel perfectly fine 
Its totally up to you how often you run and how many rest days you have
I certainly didn't complete the program in 9 weeks but I got there in the end
I graduate 3wks ago only done 2 runs , I run when I feel like I want to , not because I have to 😂
Totally agree - although it can be quite difficult to shrug off the weird sense of guilt!
In the beginning the 3 weekly runs are good for building stamina and keeping motivated but once they get longer then avoiding strains is way more important.
Take as long as you need between runs so there are no niggles. Much better than pushing on then spending time on the IC.
How important are rest days? 
Workouts for ‘Rest Days’
Ok to take a rest/break - running with fibromyalgia 
2 rest days in between 
Motivating Rest Day Exercise
