Q: Should I Take a Break after the Season?
Hi Lauren!
I just finished a road racing season. It wasn’t that intense, but I definitely feel it. I want to take some downtime, but I was wondering your thoughts of taking time completely off running to recover? Should I run at all?
Leah
A:
Hi Leah!
Even if you think your season wasn’t crazy demanding, the fact that you had a “racing season” means you would probably benefit from a “resting season.” Definitely take some time completely off running. Even multiple world record holder Paul Tergat told me he takes four weeks completely off after each season and doesn’t run a step, instead focusing on his family and his business. The minimum amount of time I’d recommend is a week completely off with another week of only running every other day or so for 2-5 miles.
If this isn’t a great sell for rollerblading on your break, I don’t know what is!
I finished my season on Sunday after the NYC Marathon so I’ll provide an example of what I’ll be doing for my time off for reference:
- Two weeks with no running (with the exception of one 15 min run tomorrow to make sure I don’t have any injuries from the marathon that need special attention during my break.
- The first week I’ll be lazy as hell physically and focus on work.
- The second week I’ll go on some walks with my sister-in-law, and maybe ride my bike or ElliptiGo at sunset a couple times to get fresh air. Anything I do will be strictly for pleasure and I won’t exert myself much.
- The third week I’ll exercise every day and some of those days will be running. The focus will be on fun so I’ll choose some trails I rarely run, go on a long hike to a hot spring on the weekend, and ride my road bike with my husband once or twice if the weather is nice. Might even bust out my roller blades.
- The fourth week I’ll be fully invested mentally and physically.
Structure your break around what you think you need. Will you get out of shape? Yep. Will you gain a few pounds? Probably. But you will replenish those deep stores of vitamins and minerals, your structures will rebuild, and your hormones will find their equilibrium. Plus you’ll have time to catch up with friends you don’t see much or finish that scarf you started three years ago.
Running can become overly structured and automatic over time; you have to stop moving to fully appreciate the view. If you’re like me, during your break you’ll be a little depressed from missing the endorphins, but you’ll miss the hell out of running and will be chomping at the bit to get back. A break makes you appreciate running and feel like you have a lot of work to do to get back in shape. It’s a good time to think about the bigger picture of your goals and make changes to last year’s approach. A training diary is a good place to process things and kick-start your new season.
Good luck!
Lauren
Hearing great advice like this never gets old! Thank you Lauren for the time and effort you put into your advice- & wisdom-sharing interactions here!!!
Also, amazing job this throughout this season and especially in Daegu and NYC. Hope you have a great break!!!
PS – If you’re gonna be in Maine, the Vaughn Memorial Woods Park is gorgeous. It’s on the NH line, in the Berwick, ME/Rollinsford NH area- so I’m not sure if that is your neck of the woods. But just in case. ( :
I really like that idea of going for a run to figure out if something is injured. I’ve had a hard time in the past few days figuring out if my L leg/IT band/SI joint is normal sore or something is wrong. Then again, I’m usually the last to admit something is wrong and I have to be in a cast/in an OR to label myself as “injured.”
I do like that idea though. I may try it Friday or something, see how the L leg is holding up.
I’m actually all for taking breaks. I was so ready for two straight weeks of post- NYC but seeing as I basically took 2 weeks off pre-NYC, I’m starting to get antsy (ancy?) again.
Have fun on your break!!!
Hi lauren! I was wondering how much of a break you would take between cross country and indoor track since the seasons are so close together. I dont think I can take that long of a break and be ready to race in a month. I finally convinced my coach to let us run indoor and I’ve herd that some college coaches give their athletes 3 days of rest and then they’re back to running. Any suggestions?
I always took two weeks off after XC in college. You won’t be ready to race WELL in a month, but you’ll come around in time to do well in a couple indoor meets. For me, indoors was always a two or three race season, which was plenty. I thought it added great value to my season to have to do some racing before I felt “ready.” Its good practice to get 100% out of your 80% fitness, then 100% out of your 85% fitness, then 100% out of your 90% fitness, etc. You can’t stay in top shape all year long. You have to make some choices about what’s most important and then treat everything else lightheartedly.
Would you cross train over your break? how many days should I take of doing completely nothing? I am never good at taking breaks, a planned one week break turns into a couple days break because the anticipation to run, being bored and also waking up early because my brain is programed to get up keeps me from taking a lot of time off. Thanks so much for the advice!
As long as I’m healthy, I have a hard time taking breaks. I use the time between training for a race to just do easy, fun runs with no time goal, usually no mileage goal, often without a watch. I think I would have a hard time taking 2 weeks completely off, since I’ve had to do that when I was injured, and went completely crazy! I don’t think my husband and kids could live with me. But then again, I don’t train as hard as you do, Lauren, so maybe the break would be a very welcome one. Cool to hear what you do. Thanks for sharing.
You’ve gotta do what works for you! Spending time with free flow training is an amazing refresher too. I’ll be doing a lot of that next week (I’m already chomping at the bit to get started!)
Hi Nicole: Running without a clock, that sounds amazing. It’s actually one the things I plan to do after the season (just four more weeks and a last marathon to go, well and a 10K but it’s my home towns run and I will “just be there”).
What I appreciate is when I stay up at 4:30-5:00 in the morning and instead of going out for my training I just stay warm and cosy at home doing strength training. I love that too, I actually started running as a cardio exercise for my bodybuilding sessions. I take 2 full months almost off the road and trail lifting weight. When this time of the year arrives I am already looking forward to it…
And then, when the two months are ending I am really looking forward to hit the road again, fresh and stronger!
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