I know that there are lots of common-sense reasons why there is supposed to be a day's rest between runs but the default setting always seems to be 'listen to your body'. Mine keeps insisting on going for a run, with a rest every fourth or fifth day, once my legs are telling me that theyd like a break.
There must be others on here who don't take a day's rest after every run. Any thoughts, please?
I agree with you, it is after all only 30mins of exercise so unless your grossly unfit (I.e. struggling to walk 30 mins at a gentle pace) then most of us should be able to exercise for 30 mins x 5 days a week in my opinion.
FWIW I'm doing 2 days on, 1 day off and if my legs or anything is hurting before I go, I'll miss a day - I.e. listen to your body.
Just don't tell Laura!
Currently about to do Week 3' Run 2 tonight.
I think it really depends from person to person and there are a lot of reasons besides being grossly unfit that a person might not be able to do 5 consecutive days.
I'm not overweight or unfit but as much as I want to I can't do two consecutive days or my hips start protesting. I'm hoping as I train and build muscles that I'll eventually be able to run most days of the week but I'm not there yet.
I am only on week 5 but up til now I havent taken rest days per se.
I am using the treadmill at work so I have been running my 3 sessions sometime over Mon-Thurs lunchtimes (I dont work Fridays).
Then I rest totally from running from Fri-Sunday and do other things.
Its been fine so far but I am probably going to add in rest days when I feel the need now the runs are getting longer. I did W5R1 yesterday and will probably do R2 tomorrow.
Hi Nativestar - I did not mean to be derogatory to anyone and as I said - above all listen to your body.
happy running!
This is a topic that comes up here periodically. There seem to be two or three answers that are generally agreed upon:
1) Rest days aren't wholly about resting. Your muscles are reacting to the exercise of the previous day and developing on your "day off".
2) Interrupting that development by re-stressing the muscle leaves you more vulnerable to injury.
3) Whereas the first two reasons are physiological, the third is psychological. Folks who jump in wanting to run every single day (or most days) are also the ones likely to burn out and stop altogether. Those who ration themselves to three or four times each week are the ones more likely to build a sustainable habit for long term health.
Personally, I almost always take the rest day, even when I'm chomping at the bit to have another run. There are one or two exceptions, like when I had to abort a run last week due to icy pavement. I'd only done about eleven or twelve minutes of a 51 minute run, so I went out the next afternoon (when the pavement wasn't frozen) and did the whole thing. I think there was another instance, back in November or December, when my regular run day was the day before a race, so I ran two days back-to-back. An occasional exception like these isn't going to make a difference, but as a general practice, the rest days are a good idea.
Great advice given Matt! I am a firm believer in rest days, especially when a runner gets into the longer runs. Gayle
I think rest days are sensible too. Depending on previous fitness levels, some people can rush through the earlier stages, without seeming to have any problems, but all the evidence shows that injuries tend to peak in new runners after the first few weeks, when people push themselves too far too fast. Overtraining doesn't just happen to marathon-training runners.
Rest days are there for a reason. However, there will always be exceptions to every rule!
Listening to your body is always a good idea, and if niggles start to develop, it's well worth considering whether you need to back off a bit for a while. And if there are no niggles - you may be fine. But I'll still take my rest days.
Thank you. 
'Rest' day really means 'no high impact exercise' ie don't do the next run in the programme - doing some other fitness related activity isn't a problem and running alone isn't enough for all round fitness anyway. The NHS has kindly produced a programme for us to do on 'rest days'
I think we probably all know that 'listening to your body' isn't a neutral activity. I am sure smokers trying to give up have their bodies screaming "Gimme a fag" - and if you almost feel you can't not run then maybe there's some meditation/relaxation exercise to be done. Most of us do have the experience of itching to run on a non-running day.
I believe I have yet to see someone regularly ignore the rest day guidance for C25K and graduate. I guess it depends on your goals but if the idea is to have running securely locked into your life and to improve/maintain your health, non-running days don't seem optional. (And this is an NHS programme... other programmes are available)
Yes, this is spot-on. "Rest days" mean "rest from running" not necessarily "go and be lazy". Some people _do_ choose to do nothing on the "rest days", which is fine. Personally, I use my "rest" days to swim. My usual rotation is run one day, swim 2km (80 lengths of a 25m pool) the next day. Then back to running again.
When running, we wear down our muscles. On the rest days, the muscle repairs itself, coming back stronger. Without these rest days, we don't give our muscles the chance to repair, hence we leave ourselves more vulnerable to injury.
Like you, I've definitely had days where I was itching to run on a rest day. Wisely, though, I ignored the impulse. As I mentioned above, there have been one or two occasions where I have run on two consecutive days... but these were special circumstances (like my recently ice-incident that caused me to abort a run ten minutes in, which I then re-started and did in full the next day). In general, the rest days are a good idea, and I stick to them... even when I've got the itch to go for another run!
Besides, without those rest days, I wouldn't have time to go for a swim!
Thank you for your helpful comments; it's very kind of you to be so thorough and you have given me a lot to think about; I will bear what you have written in mind.
I hadn't considered there to be a quinessential dichotomy between resting and doing nothing; I merely thought that my runs are not so high impact, at this stage, that I must take a day off from running or I will, somehow, retard the development of my muscles. I am not new to running and other exercise; just to regularly completing these times. Along with some medical knowledge and experience, these factors prompted me to consider that I might be okay trying a run on two or more consecutive days and stopping if it felt too much. It didn't. Is there a big difference beween muscles resting every other day or every fourth or fifth day? Does resting for 23 hours between runs not count for anything? These are genuine questions.
Today was W9R3 so I have completed the course, despite breaking the rules. I am now a lover of running, any weather.
Again, many thanks for the advice.
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