Running and rest?

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  • falsecho
    falsecho Posts: 81 Member
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    Listen to your body, but use the suggestions provided as a guide.

    At one point I was running everyday, pace began to slow, body was aching, my mind became indifferent. Began to hate running in the morning. Took a couple of days off, changed my route and I was good to go.
  • clover5
    clover5 Posts: 1,643 Member
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    Well you're only talking about 20 minutes. If you're happy and it feels good, don't worry about it.

    I run 3 or 4 days a week and on the other days, I swim, bike, play tennis, skateboard, or whatever crosses my mind.
  • klewlis
    klewlis Posts: 79 Member
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    everyone is different, which is why "listen to your body" is the best advice. It's hard to learn, but worthwhile. If you feel tired and achey, or unmotivated, or overly sore, then take a day or more off and get back at it.

    I've been running for 9 years and I don't run every day, even when my mileage is really high. My body likes at least 2 days off every week. I've had 100km weeks where I only ran 5 days.

    Other people run every single day for years on end and they are fine.

    Figure out what works for you, and don't be afraid to take days off if you need them!
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
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    4.5mph is still a pretty slow pace. I started out around that pace when I first started getting myself up to running more and found that running everyday was fine at that pace with walking breaks and shorter distances. I think the longest stretch I went without a night off from working out was about a month and a half during that time.

    Once I upped my pace and distances I found I needed rest though, otherwise I'd end up bonking runs more frequently and feeling more aches and pains in my knees and ankles. Now I have one dedicated rest day where I don't work out at all, I do my long runs on Sundays, then half length (of the long run) on Tuesday, speed or hill training runs on Wednesday, and a three mile run on Thursday. With strength training on Monday and Thursday and cross training on Saturday. So it's not constant running and I also love looking forward to Friday nights when I have no workouts (and no food to prep for breakfast and lunch the following day. heh)

    So if you're feeling fine, keep going as long as everything is good. But, as most have mentioned, listen to your body and if it feels like you need a break, take one.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    I'm surprised I didn't see this in my cursory read of the answers- When you're building mileage, you may be overtaxing your joints and tendons more so than your muscles. It takes a while for your body to acclimate to the regular pounding of daily running. Unfortunately with joint and tendon issues, you might not feel the injury until it's too late- and joint/tendon injuries tend to take a longer time to recover from, setting you back in your training.

    I would incorporate more rest if I were you- you can replace some of the running with cross-training or active rest, so you can still burn calories and work on CV fitness without the joint pounding.
  • Cooriander
    Cooriander Posts: 2,848 Member
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    I used to be against rest days, and especially when I was younger. Now, recently and with a stress fracture behind me I have changed my mind and I believe that you need to incorporate rest, walking, or cross training into your running program.

    I did not rest much at ALL, maye one day a week, and I ddi not rest even even after running a half marathon, instead I went out and did a 'recovery run' the next day. A month or so behaving like this I ended up with a stress fracture in my heel bone, I feel it could have been avoided with rest days. Females are more likely to develop stress fracture than males, I read 3 to 11 times more likely but in general more likely in the literature.

    Now you are walking, running so I don;t hink you are stressing your body too much, unless you are coming from a totally sedentary background. I would incorporate a a couple of a few rest days, I think it is a great tool to avoid injiry and it also keep you fresher and more motivated (of-course depending on what motivates you). BUT like I said, it is really up to you, you know best... but from my experience I did listen to my body - I FELT GREAT! until I hobbled around during a 10K race in excruitiating pain. It was just came from no-where.

    http://www.med.umich.edu/whp/information/female-common-injuries.htm
    http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=6295&page=28
    http://www.news-medical.net/news/20120208/Female-soccer-players-more-likely-to-suffer-stress-fracture-or-ligament-injury.aspx

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