Starting after a break of 4 weeks.

[Kat2001]

Hello everyone. I started the programme at the end of September & plodded along to the end of week 5. I did the week 6 run 1 a month ago. However due to. Health issue I haven’t been able to run for 4 weeks., and have had to be quite sedentary. I know I have lost fitness over the few weeks off,

My question is does anyone have any idea how much? In my head I feel as though I could run for 5 minuntes at a time, so want to try at week 5 again, or do you think that might be too much after a month off?

[MissUnderstanding Administrator]

Sorry to hear you’ve had health issues. That can be really frustrating when you’re making such good progress through the programme.

First thing’s first: are you recovered? I’ve often tried to come back a bit soon after illness and it usually doesn’t go well! It’s probably better to err on the side of waiting a little too long than having a setback.

You mention that you’ve been quite sedentary so I’d be tempted to do some brisk walking first and see how that feels. Personally, I think I’d rather try an earlier week and find it easy instead of having to bail out on something too hard. You could do a week 3 run and see, and if that’s ok perhaps try a week 4 run. There’s absolutely no rush to get through the programme though and all the runs you do will be beneficial regardless of which week they’re from. Every run gets you fitter and stronger. Perhaps think about extra rest days too coming back from illness.

Sorry that’s not a definite answer! It’s so hard to know what’s the right thing until you try it. The key thing is to keep it nice and steady, and check in with yourself regularly. If you find that you need to walk, that’s a smart thing to do.

Really good luck to you. ❤️

[Kat2001 in reply to MissUnderstanding]

Thank you, i am recovered, and over the last week I have been a bit more active & had a few brisk walks which were fine.

I will try an earlier week & see how I get on.

[MissUnderstanding Administrator in reply to Kat2001]

Fantastic-that walking will have helped. I forgot to point you to out best resource-the programme guide written by one of our most loved members. Lots of hints and tips. In it you’ll find something that might surprise you: you won’t generally lose fitness if you just decide to take a break for a couple of weeks, and after that only slowly. If you’ve been off injured/ill then you might need to build back up again, and it’s always better to take things extra slowly and cautiously than push it and set yourself back again.

healthunlocked.com/couchto5....

Really good luck to you. 🏃‍♀️ 🏃‍♀️ 🏃‍♀️

[Kat2001 in reply to MissUnderstanding]

Thank you, that’s good to know. I will get back on it tomorrow. Am travelling for most of today. This morning I did another brisk walk with the dogs. So should be ago for a run tomorrow.

[Cmoi Graduate]

Hi Kat2001 , I agree with MissUnderstanding - please go back to week 3 and see how you get on.

While the general advice is that you don't lose significant fitness if you have a fortnight's break, that's really applicable to a break without injury or health issues. Being off for a month when you've been unwell is a different matter, and it's much better to be cautious and take things gradually.

You'd obviously made a great start with C25K, so think of this as a brief, temporary setback. Going back a couple of weeks in the programme is nothing when you've potentially got years of happy running ahead of you - have fun!

[MissUnderstanding Administrator in reply to Cmoi]

Thanks @cmoi-I’ll edit my post to make that clear! Really appreciate the clarification ❤️

[Cmoi Graduate in reply to MissUnderstanding]

Oh don't worry  MissUnderstanding , there was no problem with your post! I was only adding the extra info in case anybody thought that coming back after a fortnight off due to illness or injury was the same as coming back after a fortnight off spent relaxing on holiday! 😀

[MissUnderstanding Administrator in reply to Cmoi]

Oh to have a couple of weeks off relaxing on holiday! I would absolutely love that right now!!

[Upsidaisy Graduate in reply to Cmoi]

I did, so thank you for clarifying that Cmoi 😊👍

[Cmoi Graduate in reply to Upsidaisy]

Tbh until I'd experienced both sorts of "time off" I'd never really thought about the difference Upsidaisy !

Basically, if you've had a fortnight off because life got in the way, when you restart you might feel a bit out of practice, but you're unlikely to have any real issues with breathing or tired legs compared to where you were two weeks earlier. So you can most likely start running again as you were previously.

However, if you've been ill, particularly with any sort of respiratory problems, or if your time out is due to an operation or injury, especially to your legs, hips or back, you need to recover fully from that as well as getting used to running again. As a result, you might well have to go quite a way back compared to where you were before, and take some time to rebuild. It can be done though! 😀

[Upsidaisy Graduate in reply to Cmoi]

Many thanks for taking the time to fully explain Cmoi. I had just taken ‘no real loss of condition or performance after a two week break’ to cover all eventualities. I’m sure your clarification on this point will spare many of us from further setbacks and injuries. Such an important point to make, thank you.

[Cmoi Graduate in reply to Upsidaisy]

That's kind of you Upsidaisy , thanks.

Real-life example (= me at the end of June 🤪): two days after running 17k quite happily as a normal sort of run, I did a rather spectacular face-plant on an easy trail and messed up my right leg. Took me a week to be able to walk 1.8k, and two weeks to get back to jogging 3.5k very, very gently. A month to get back to 10k, and another two months before I could do 17k again. 4-5 months to get back to feeling that my right leg was as strong as my left.

Hasn't stopped me yet, though I now try to concentrate better and to make fewer silly decisions when I'm out running!