Is a rest day necessary?

[satt]

I'm 17 years old, female. If I run only ~4 miles per day (45 min.), is it necessary to take a rest day, or can I run all 7 days of the week and be alright, with an occasional rest day every couple of weeks?

[ColleenE]

Rest days are equally as important as days when we run. Even when I'm running 80 miles a week, I have a rest day. Letting the body totally recover for 24 hours does wonders for performance and restores one mentally as well.

[skoptic]

Hey

It depends what kind of training you are doing. Usually if you are trying to get faster / better at running you should mix up your training and do different sessions for different purposes (speed work, tempo runs, recovery runs, long runs, interval runs etc) and when you are pushing your body like that, it can be very beneficial to have a rest day so that you recover from a tough session or for your next tough session.

If you are doing less intense running, and are not looking to get faster or run further specifically, you can run every day of the week - as long as your body is handling it ok (not hurting joints or becoming tired or losing to much weight!). So there is no rule to take rest days - but you might find that trying different run sessions, mixed in with the odd rest day will keep you interested, help you improve and test your body more. (change is good in training!)

Happy running!

[ColleenE]

Wait a minute, didn't your doctor advise you to cut back on your running?

[baldy]

Wait a minute, didn't your doctor advise you to cut back on your running?

Haven't you started three other very similar threads asking the same question and in each thread people have confirmed that you should follow your Dr's advice and not train 7 days a week?

[alexander]

Rest days are equally as important as days when we run. Even when I'm running 80 miles a week, I have a rest day. Letting the body totally recover for 24 hours does wonders for performance and restores one mentally as well.

I agree you should rest! you really need to rest and let your body to recover. To much work for your body can also make you sick if you don't give your body some rest. Put it on your schedule.

[Konstantin]

Yes. Rest is important, or rather essential.

Also, you will make progress (if that is your goal) by having a mix of activities and intensities.

[Mr. Cleetus]

Rest is critical as everyone emphasises above. However, whether or not that needs to be structured to be strictly one day per week, every third day, or some other unscheduled rest, really depends on you, how you are recovering, what your training session are, how you are recovering, stress in your life, how you are recovering, etc. You really need to listen to your body and understand and think about why you are doing the sessions you are doing - and on the flip-side, not just force a recovery day to fit into some schedule. Having said all that, it sounds like from the doc comments above that maybe you need more rest......

What is your goal with your running? Why do you want to run every day?

[satt]

Rest is critical as everyone emphasises above. However, whether or not that needs to be structured to be strictly one day per week, every third day, or some other unscheduled rest, really depends on you, how you are recovering, what your training session are, how you are recovering, stress in your life, how you are recovering, etc. You really need to listen to your body and understand and think about why you are doing the sessions you are doing - and on the flip-side, not just force a recovery day to fit into some schedule. Having said all that, it sounds like from the doc comments above that maybe you need more rest......

What is your goal with your running? Why do you want to run every day?

My goal at the moment is simply to keep fit. I like running every day because it's something that I enjoy doing, and it's easy just to throw on a pair of sneakers and go out for forty-five minutes each day. I feel lazy if I just sit around, and I feel like, if I'm not pushing myself and just taking a moderate run, then one or two rest days per week is unnecessary. I'm not doing training for anything in particular.

[skoptic]

Sounds like you'd made your mind up before you asked the question

[Mr. Cleetus]

I think they fact that you don't have to train every single day of your life is something everyone has to learn for themselves. You certainly won't be losing any fitness by taking one day per week off, and it might even be good for you. There is nothing lazy about it. None of us can comment on what you exactly need other than, as has been said, your body will always need some recovery. But why not mix up your running a bit more? Maybe try and make some of those 45 min runs faster, throw in a fartlek, some hills, or some other faster running to challenge yourself in a different way?