I only started running in March, and did the 5k Race for Life late June in 27mins which I was really pleased with. However, I've just had a 4 week break from running and now find I can barely manage a mile. Is it normal to lose fitness so quickly? Any suggestions on how to get it back - or do I just go back to walk/run for a while?
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Ease back in slow and you'll be surprised how quickly it all come back
As everyone says, just ease back slowly. You'll probably be back to your pre-holiday fitness level in about 2 weeks.
Don't lose heart and remember that some elite athletes take 3 or 4 weeks break every year. They too have to start off at a much reduced level.
CH
After that it depends on whether you go completely sedentary or whether you substitute any other aerobic exercise. However, the (somewhat depressing) conclusion of the book was that after that you would lose broadly 5% of fitness every week of inactivity. Encouragingly though they also say for every missed week it will take you two weeks to get back to the same level. Therefore, after a 4 week break it will probably take 6-8 weeks to get back to fitness.
Be careful though as they also say that cardio vascular fitness recovers more quickly that musculoskeletal fitness - i.e. you will feel fit enough to run further before your body is ready.
Broadly this is saying the same as everyone else i.e. ease back in slowly.
How's it going now?
However, I'm over that now. Although I did a lousy 3.5 mile tempo run this evening (not sure why - just a bad day for some reason), I'm running about 16 miles a week now, including one run of 6 - 7 miles.
Thanks for asking Nick, and Georgia - don't be disheartened , you WILL get there !!
Glad you're enjoying it again