Are you supposed to take a break from running for a month each year?

Professional runners I’m pretty sure go year round, have one peak and one subsequent break per year. Most other people I would guess split the year into any where from 2 to 4 different training blocks, with a week or two break in between each one. In high school I had two distinct training cycles, though many have three because of indoor track, which I didn’t have. But now that I train on my own for fun I do three because it’s less monotonous, a little bit smaller of a base phase. And I always take 2 weeks off after each training cycle. Honestly though I’m kinda wondering the same thing you are about other runners, because I’m just basically doing the same thing that I was doing in high school, and idk if that’s because it’s all I know, or that it’s generally accepted practice. Like I still train for 5k’s 10k’s in fall and then shorter stuff like the mile in the spring. And sometimes a small little 400/800 season in between, with the mileage still relatively high.

Serious runners, like college level/pros and even good high school programs will take maybe 7-10 days off of running after each season (many will still be active, hike/bike/swim/be regular healthy people). But that is for serious athletes training 6-7 days per week, running lots of miles, grinding hard workouts and racing fast races.

If you are a random running for fun to pass the time look good at the beach and improve on your 5k with your friends you probably don’t need to plan breaks. The occasional 2-5 day breaks that the average hobby jogger has just because life gets in the way of a hobby should be fine. Most people can run 3-5 times per week all year and have no issues.

I think one month is too much but it doesn't hurt to have a week off each year.

A month's rest is probably not necessary but I do think it's important to shift the focus a bit after a successful season. With a lot less running and doing other things. It's not just the body, it's also good for your mental state.

I personally had a lot of 1-2 month breaks because I traveled. This was probably not perfect for my running but I never thought it was really bad either. The older you get you might want to train more consistently. But also there are a lot of other things in life which need to be enjoyed. So finding your personal balance is important.

I've only heard of Arturo Barrios taking a month off (and he had several WR).

If you’re running scholastically then take 2 1-2 week breaks a year, once after XC and once after outdoor track.

For anyone else you don’t need to take breaks unless you need them. The system above Still works too. But what else are you gonna do with your time if not running?

sadcx wrote:Hi everyone,

I wanted to ask a question regarding seasons for running. Are you supposed to train for say, 3-4 months, race as well as you can, rest for a while, then get back into training? Or do you just train continuously all year round?

Thanks

When I was running in college we always took a week or two off after our last XC race. Ideally it was after the NCAA National meet which was the Monday after Thanksgiving. The main reason had nothing to do about taking a break from running. It had everything to do with finishing up class assignments, term papers, and preparing for final exams. People still ran as much or as less as they wanted. There were no organized practices either. I would usually do my morning run of 5-6 miles but no afternoon run. Sometimes I didn't do any running for a week. It just depended upon how much I needed to do schoolwise.

If a runner were to take off more than ten days in a row, a runner certainly needs another activity or activities. Eg., some high school age 800m guys play fall futbol/soccer, some play Am. football. Some teenage runners are also competitive swimmers. Some teenager runners are winter Nordic skiers.

Some teenage athletes only participate in XC due to recommendation of coach in their favorite sport.

When I take too much time off (more than a week) and then try to come back, I almost always end up getting hurt. At my age (47) stopping for too long means I might never get back to running again!

I usually took the whole month of July off from running.

Heal the body. Take that mental break.

August starts with a couple days a week and add a day to each week.

September starts full base training.

Have an easy break week around Thanksgiving.

Build up to indoor.

Have an easy week mid Match.

Train and race into June.

Take July off and repeat.

serious and not wrote:

Serious runners, like college level/pros and even good high school programs will take maybe 7-10 days off of running after each season (many will still be active, hike/bike/swim/be regular healthy people). But that is for serious athletes training 6-7 days per week, running lots of miles, grinding hard workouts and racing fast races.

If you are a random running for fun to pass the time look good at the beach and improve on your 5k with your friends you probably don’t need to plan breaks. The occasional 2-5 day breaks that the average hobby jogger has just because life gets in the way of a hobby should be fine. Most people can run 3-5 times per week all year and have no issues.

This. If you are running 7 days a week with workouts, breaks are necessary to heal all the minor injuries, we accumulate. But yeah those taking more than one rest day per week, probably don't need rest periods. I'd also say the mileage threshold is probably around 40 - 50 miles per week. Those running more than that probably need some rest periods. Those significantly under that threshold can probably get away with no regular long breaks because their body isn't under that much stress from running, to begin with.

sadcx wrote:

Hi everyone,

I wanted to ask a question regarding seasons for running. Are you supposed to train for say, 3-4 months, race as well as you can, rest for a while, then get back into training? Or do you just train continuously all year round?

Thanks

NOOOOOO!

Take 3 days off twice a year after fall season and after spring season, and don't even take them on consecutive days.

Run, OFF, Run, OFF, Run, OFF

Physically, performance level drops fast without at least maintenance. Maintenance is much easier to do than improving, so I would not stop, rather do less recover. Maintaining can be done in different and more fun ways maybe. It has been shown that too long a pause needs too long training time to get back to zero, reducing the long term improvement.

Mentally it is a different and personal story.

Makhloufi does 1 year on, 3 years off and has won a lot of Olympic medals.

So I guess you can take 1 month off.

The body works best off of 2 peaks a year, each about 6 months apart. For most, that means peak in the fall and the spring. For a HS/College kid that means peak in xc and again in outdoor. For a marathoner you peak for a spring and a fall marathon. After the peak race you take some time off. How much time off depends on the athlete. If you're banged up with nagging pains, take more time off. If you're historically injury prone but finish the season fully healthy, take a short break of like a week, because the more time off the more sloppy your form after the break and therefore the more likely you are to injure yourself. Lastly, if neither situation applies, the norm is to take 2 weeks off. So, 2 2-week breaks a year means 4 weeks off a year, or about a month. After a break, ease back into things slowly. There's nothing wrong with just running 2-3 miles your first couple runs after a break. Most pros only do 4-mile runs the first 2 weeks after a break before taking a few weeks to build back to their usual mileage before starting their base phase.

I hope that helps!

Runners who consider themselves serious, seem to be obsessed with packing as many running days into the year as possible.

Why is running 355 days a year considered good and 335 bad?

From 1977-2008, I had as a rule to take one day off a week.. I caught heck from my 120 mpw friends “your taking 52 days off a year”!!! They’d give me heck.

They were probably right. I’ve always been a 60-70 mpw weekend runner, going higher from time to time.

The only advantage is, my buddies have been done for awhile and I’m still .... sort of.... going ha

Hello

It all depends on the physical condition, workload and goals for the athlete. There must be a training program and the duration of this program. Loads may vary