Pulsecho · Guide

Getting back into running after a break

In roughly the first ten days of a break, you lose hardly any measurable fitness. After two weeks it is about 3 to 5 percent, after five to eight weeks 10 to 16 percent, and then the loss levels off. So when you return, you don’t start at your old volume but at a fraction of it, and build up week by week.

How much fitness you lose

What this means in practice: after a break of three to four weeks, men are about 8 percent slower and women just over 4 percent.

Training less is far better than stopping altogether. Even one hard session per week maintains your maximal oxygen uptake, a key measure of endurance, for eight weeks. Another endurance sport such as cycling also preserves your endurance, but it doesn’t keep your bones and tendons used to running.

How to get back into it

Your starting point is your weekly volume before the break. You begin with a fraction of it and build up week by week:

Hard sessions come back later. After a break of two to four weeks, the first week is easy running only; after a longer break, the first two to three weeks are. Be especially careful with the single long run: runs more than 10 percent longer than your longest run of the past 30 days are linked to 1.5 to 2.3 times as many overuse injuries. So the single long run matters more than your weekly volume.

After a cold or an infection

Start again only once your symptoms have cleared, and after a fever no sooner than 24 hours without fever and without fever-reducing medication. Then go in four steps: first easy and about half your usual duration, 45 minutes at most, then normal duration but still easy, then a shortened hard session, and finally your full plan. Move to the next step only when you feel normal after the session and the next morning. On average, people return about three and a half days after symptoms begin, and full training is possible again after about eight days.