Breaks from Running and the Restart Button!

How many times has it happened to us that we start a fitness activity, do it diligently and then post a festival or off season where we take a break, it becomes difficult to restart. It has happened to me for sure. This happens to a lot of people here in our country on following occasions:

1. Post a long festival season – (Navratri, Diwali, Christmas etc)
2. Post Monsoon – Strange but true – a lot of runners take a break in monsoon
3. Post the main running season is over (October – March every year) a lot of runners take a break to come back and start training again for the upcoming running season. While we don’t really have any off season these days in the large cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi due to the number of running events happening each weekend, it is still true for a lot of runners that they take a break from April to September.
4. Major life event – wedding or becoming a parent
5. Break due to injuries

The challenges faced by most of us here could be as follows:

1. Lack of motivation to start
2. Tough to get the rhythm back
3. The feeling of “not getting to PB pace” is killing
4. Risk of injuries
5. Problems due to weight gain in the break period.
6. Coming out of the comfort zone

The good news here for all long time runners who have gone on a break is that research has proven that running builds significant muscle memory and hence it wouldn’t be too difficult to restart. Sure, it will require some willpower but it would not be as tough as starting from scratch.

Having said that, you will have to be patient and persistent both at the same time to get back.

Here are a certain things that you could do while you are trying to get back.

1. Join a running community – Joining a running community will give you the required motivation to stay persistent with your efforts. Existing or new friends from here will help you to stay focused

   

   RunBurn Coaching Community

2. If you are a solo runner – make a run plan for yourself
1. Decide the number of days in a week that you plan to run
2. Keep it a weekly or fortnightly plan
3. Review this periodically – it will help to make changes if required
4. Consider joining a coaching group even if you are a solo runner – that will give a structure to your training
   

3. The first week of your training should be what I call “Get the feel” Runs.
1. Do a proper warm-up, go and do a 5-6Km run, come back stretch. See how you feel at the end of it.
2. If you found it easy, on the next run you can push yourself a little more
3. If you find yourself very tired, you may want to take it easy in the next run
4. During this the most important things are – warm up and stretching
   
4. Remember you will not get to the “PB Pace” immediately.
1. For instance if you are a sub 60 – 10K runner, it is natural to want to get back to that same pace immediately.
2. You will need to give yourself 3-4 weeks of proper training to get back there. Remember when you did your PB, you were in peak training.
3. You will be very harsh on yourself if you expect to get back the same speed again immediately.
4. Patience is the key. But rest assured, if you train well, you will get back there sooner than later.
   
5. Focus on getting legs and core strength
1. While your focus is on getting back to running, you will need to spend significant amount of time on legs strength and core conditioning
2. This will help you to get back to your race pace sooner
3. Most important, it will keep you away from the risk of injuries
6. Rest Days
1. Keep 2 days of rest per week
2. Rest is an important part of your training schedule especially when you are trying to make a come back
3. It will help your muscles to rebuild
4. Just remember to have active rest days – it could be as simple as adding 30 mins of walking to your day
   
7. Diet if you think necessary
1. If the festive eating has helped you with a Tyre around your waist line and you think it is impacting running or your appearance on the run, follow a light diet regime
2. Nothing too harsh – remember you will need energy to carry on your running schedule. Just stay away from oily food and stay away from too much sweets
3. Follow the 1 detox day per week – it has several benefits

Important Note – Always keep in mind the reason you had started running in the first place and always remember that IT’s FUN TO RUN!!! 

Myself!