How many rest days is too many?

[Mr_Aardvark]

I completed WK6 R3 last Friday morning and had planned to do WK7 R1 on Sunday morning, but got bitten on my leg by some sort of insect in between runs. My leg became swollen and quite painful to walk on, I tried the run on Sunday morning but could only manage 5 minutes running before I had to stop as I was limping quite badly and couldn't get any rhythm going. Since then it got worse but today seems to have improved quite a bit, it is still a bit uncomfortable and I am thinking of trying to do the WK7 R1 again as I don't want to leave it too long, but I fear I may not manage it again.

How long is it okay to leave between runs before having to go back a bit and re-doing earlier runs/weeks?

[Dtay1978 Graduate]

I would say whatever you are comfortable with 😊

[Gannet1 Graduate]

I’m pretty sure one of Ian the administrator’s posts said you don’t start to lose fitness till after about 2 weeks of not running and even after that it’s a gradual decline, so I don’t think you have anything to worry about. 🙂 Good luck with your recovery! 👍

[Mr_Aardvark in reply to Gannet1]

Thanks for the info.

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

At least two weeks before we lose significant fitness...wait until that bite heals... if you run you only exacerbate the issue... believe me... I know! I had an infected horsefly bite... which turned into cellulitis...

[Mr_Aardvark in reply to Oldfloss]

Thanks for the advice, I'll give it a miss then until its fully healed, hopefully won't be too long.