I’ve just completed the final run of week five and really enjoying the C25K journey.
In the last few weeks I’ve been running most days, and haven’t had any ill effects, but have read about the importance of rest days (I tend to have one or two a week).
Do I need to slow down? Or is it the case I just respond to what my body is telling me? I’ve got a bit of momentum and I’m feeling great just now.
The days I’m not out running, I really miss it - something I’d never have thought just four weeks ago!
Written by
StickWithIt
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Well done on your progress!However, you need to have a rest day in between runs .
You are producing micro tears in your muscles every time you run and these need time to repair.
By running on consecutive days at this stage you are putting yourself at risk of overuse injuries which can come out of the blue and can stop you for days, weeks or even months .
We are all capable of doing way more than our bodies are conditioned to do, but not without increasing our injury risk. Sticking to gently progressive training plans is the safest way to push our limits, whilst gently increasing our resistance to injury.
You might get away with it...........you might not.........why take the risk. Injury often strikes out of the blue and can stop you for days, weeks or even months.
If you want to be the best runner that you can be, then do non impact cross training on your rest days, which will be far more beneficial than running every day. It is not recommended for new runners to run on consecutive days until they have a minimum of six months regular running on their legs.
Take care and take it easy, otherwise your enthusiasm could be thwarted by a spell on the injury couch.
I think listen to your body. Rest days are good but in my opinion certainly don’t need to be every other day. I’m coming back from an Achilles rupture 5 months ago so having to be very careful and take it slow but before that I would often go long periods of time without days off from high level sport …. Then again maybe that contributed to my snap! 🤦♀️
The OP, as far as we can tell, is a new runner and the advice that we offer on this forum, which is in line with that offered by most reputable trainers, is that it is unwise for a new runner to run on consecutive days until they have a minimum of six months regular running on their legs, to minimise injury risk.Erring on the side of caution invariably leads to less time on the injury couch, in comparison to doing too much too soon.
Well done on completing week 5. I would definitely make sure you have those rest days in between each run, it is to let your muscles rest and repair ready for your next run. I either do a weight training session or head out for a long walk on my rest days as I’m enjoying the exercise. Good luck on your next run, be careful as it caught me out and many others as it’s back to intervals and I struggled so keep slow.
It's great you're enjoying it but as you're moving into the longer runs it becomes even more important to have those rest days to give your muscles time to repair.
You can still do other things; cycling, swimming, weights etc all of which will help your overall fitness, and in turn will give your running a boost in the long game 👍🏻
I enjoyed the last run in week 5, did 90 secs longer in the end so I'd be nearer home. Thought week 6 run 1 would be easier than it was today, however, it proved harder than expected, although managed to stick a couple of mins on the last run. It's great you are enjoying it, sometimes I do consecutive days, sometimes 2 or 3 days between but that's shift work related. As long as your body feels OK, it's probably fine, just keep listening to it.
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It was all going so well!
It was all going so well!
That didn’t go so well wk8R1
going well
Not going quite as well as I hoped!
