Do you take complete rest days with no running? Is it essential?

At the moment I take 7 days a week.

Gggggg wrote:

Do you sometimes take complete days off with no running? Is it essential? I saw some clip with a guy that says it is a must in order to develop speed and explosiveness in running. How often also do you take it, and how many days off? One, two, three? A whole week?

Rest should be part of any training program. Without rest there is no time for the body to restore. The amount of days depends on your mileage and goals. 1-2 days is normal per week. I think it would not hurt not to run for a week or two every year after the season and do something else.

Only when I get run down from work.

Yes.

For me, yes, it is essential

Frequently take a single day off

Typically you don't need to take a day off, unless you're someone always getting injured. If that's the case, then do a light cross training that day.

You don't need a complete day of rest each week, just make sure you're getting your two or three slower days of running. A day off every couple months can be good though, and a week or two after the end of your season or a marathon. No elite distance runner is taking a day off each week (unless for religious purposes).

All it does is delay recovery, just jog really slow and easy for your off days.

I race better when I don't train. So I take all the days off. Actually I also take the race days off.

Personally, I feel a boost in aerobic ability when I run 7 days a week, but it could be because I usually don't, so maybe there's more chance of injury, but at the moment it's helping me not to take days off. I'm also 17 for reference.

Depends on your age and fitness level. I'm 60 this year and train 4-5 days a week max. I take 2 weeks off every year during the holidays. Barring injury or sickness, this works really well for me at my age. Everyone is different though. A big problem I see with young runners is not enough sleep on a regular basis, too much time on their phones, etc. Perhaps for them, a day or two of not running each week will be more beneficial than for a runner that gets a good nights sleep on a regular basis.

Gggggg wrote:

Do you sometimes take complete days off with no running? Is it essential? I saw some clip with a guy that says it is a must in order to develop speed and explosiveness in running. How often also do you take it, and how many days off? One, two, three? A whole week?

I guess inherently we're all different, but, I can't and won't run 7 days a week. There is something about that routine that just screams eventual injury, burn out, all of the above.

I do enjoy getting out on that non running day, maybe a short hike or walk just to get the blood flowing. Maybe somedays I am just wasted from work/parenthood/life, that I do very little moving, and just call it a recharge day. I almost always come back that next day with my best run of the week.

If you're feeling sluggish and foggy, you're mind and body is telling you something.

complete rest days are not essential. but i recommend them, especially if you work a second job

if you're going good, no need to take days off, but over the long haul, you want to take periods of time off to let latent injuries and over used tissues heal.

certainly if you're getting burned out, and not going well, you want to take one or two days off per week and get plenty of rest, till the bounce comes back in your stride.

Gggggg wrote:

Do you sometimes take complete days off with no running?

No.

Gggggg wrote:

Is it essential?

No.

Gggggg wrote:

I saw some clip with a guy that says it is a must in order to develop speed and explosiveness in running.

No.

Gggggg wrote:

How often also do you take it,

Never.

Gggggg wrote:

and how many days off?

None.

Gggggg wrote:

One, two, three? A whole week?

Zero.

Sorry you were lied to. Hope this helps.

I knew a guy who was trained by somebody (can't remember name) who followed something like this:

During a base building phase, take 1 out of every 10 days off for complete rest (so run 9/10 days).

During a harder phase with more intense workouts/racing season phase, etc. take 1 out of every 7 days off for complete rest (so run 6/7 days).

He told me that coach was big on recovery and giving the body 24-36hrs off every so many days to allow adaptation to the workout stresses. He said it also seemed to reduce injuries. People weren't getting as hurt as often. Those days off didn't have to be days off from any activity (x-train, swim, etc), just off from running so the body could get a break.

Ummmm no wrote:

Typically you don't need to take a day off, unless you're someone always getting injured. If that's the case, then do a light cross training that day.

You don't need a complete day of rest each week, just make sure you're getting your two or three slower days of running. A day off every couple months can be good though, and a week or two after the end of your season or a marathon. No elite distance runner is taking a day off each week (unless for religious purposes).

Bernard Lagat took a weekly day off starting circa 2014. Did ok. A few masters WRs, Indoor World Champ medalist, top 5 finish at Olympics as a 41 year old.

A weekly day off is prudent for high school, recreational, and masters runners.

Top level college and pros would likely benefit from a day off (or a day with only one short easy run) every two weeks.

I do. Coming back from a few injuries that have made training sporadic and inconsistent. While it is not essential to take rest days from training, I find when reintroducing training after time off it is very helpful with adaption to base building. Definitely not a religious Daniels guy, but one of the principles he emphasizes in the third edition of his book is that rest is part of training, which is a very helpful mental technique on planned/unplanned rest days.

When I was running 100mpw+, I would never take rest days. A down day might consist of easy doubles like 5 + 5. Running lower mileage, a down day is more doable. Definitely not essential.

Is it essential? No because everyone is different.

Personally I take 1 full day off, no running at all, no gym... I rest on my rest day. I'm also over 50.

If I were in college competing for team championships etc... then yeah.. I'd probably do something every day of the week. But that's because there's more at stake and at that age recovery comes easy.

I like having my free day. It lets me plan to do all the stuff that life throws at you that can take away from your daily workout. If I can push that stuff to my off day, it makes it easier to get done what I need to get done over the other 6 days.

i tend to feel better if i run every day. there are times, however, when my body just feels wrecked and even an easy jog feels like a struggle. i am ok about taking days off in those cases.

if you need it to be scheduled, look at a 10 day schedule. it messes with your workout scheduling a bit, but really helps maximize the benefit of very consistent running while giving the body a complete rest day on a regular basis.

One to two restdays off in the week is a must to reach your max capacity . Too many runners and coaches don`t understand that rest is a very important factor for the result.

Your superior coach