Rest Days

I'm a new runner, I've been running properly for just over a week now, prior to this I rowed but have been relatively inactive for the past 6 months. This week I've done 2 days - 5miles, 3 days 6/7 miles and two rest days last week. My problem is, now that I'm increasing my mileage (10 miles planned for Saturday) I'm reluctant to take rest days. Yesterday was going to be a short jog but I felt good so ended up doing a 7 miler with my quickest mile splits yet. I've joined a running club so have been training with them twice a week. What number of rest days are normal? I have a dog so walk her 5/6 miles everyday too. I've considered cross training on "rest days" but with my first ever race coming up, I really want to keep up the running. Any advice on taking rest days would be much appreciated.

Comments

  • I'm ultra-training, mostly, and I still take two days a week as rest days - while running 50+ miles/week. Some people go for just one.

    My normal pattern is to run Tue-Wed-Thur and Sat-Sun, with Monday and Friday as rest days. If my long run is on Sunday rather than Saturday and I want to do a back-to-back, then I'll run Monday and take Tuesday off instead.

  • I would say it depends on the person, but taking off at least 1 day a week as a complete rest day is the general guideline. My advice would be from my own experience is that if you know you are prone to injury, try to avoid doing hard runs (such as long runs and high intensity interval runs) on consecuitve days but do something else instead inbetween those days (e.g. easy run/cross train). I also think it is important to listen to your body's signals. I have taken longer breaks in times I felt quite "broken" - rather than forcing it, I took time to recover properly and I returned to my training schedule stronger. 

  • I've one rest day per week Mind you when a decent athlete 25 years ago I would train 13 days out of 14 so just had 2 per month. That also worked. Mind you, I looked forward to those rest days !

  • 1 a week for me... but I'm an older fart so need my rest!image

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