After finishing a long run, whether it’s an extended weekend route or a landmark distance you’ve been building up to, it’s natural to want to give yourself a well-earned break.

After my first half marathon, the thought of having a couple of running-free days after months of training sounded like bliss: 13.1 miles was the furthest I’d run and, not knowing how long to rest and recover, I gave myself an arbitrary week off running. But a week’s rest quickly snowballed into over a month off, and it got to the point that even the thought of putting my trainers on again felt like a slog. 

Whether you’re training for your first 5k run, building up to a half marathon, racing the full distance or simply keeping up a new year goal of adding a few extra minutes to your weekly run, finding the sweet spot for a post-run rest is key. You need a break that isn’t so short that you risk injuring yourself but isn’t so long that you feel like you’re starting from scratch when you go for a run again. 

“Generally, 24 hours is a good rest period after a long run. Some people need a bit longer, whereas others might like to get out the next day for a recovery run, which is a shorter, easier run to help the muscles recover,” explains Nicola Cowee, a running coach and women’s fitness specialist.

She stresses, however, that if the distance you’ve run is completely new to you – for example, you’ve just run your first 10-miler – you may need to rest for a bit longer than a day. “If I was coaching someone who’d just run their first half marathon, I would give them the option of having a short run for about 10 minutes or a walk the next day, but then I probably wouldn’t schedule in another run for the next three days.” 

Dr Alan Ruddock, associate professor of sport physiology and performance at Sheffield Hallam University, agrees that 24 hours is an ideal rest time. “When I’m putting training plans together for a runner, we normally don’t put in any more than four running sessions a week, including one long run. So that means about 24 hours of recovery in between runs.”

It’s perfectly understandable to not want to put on your running shoes again for weeks after a race day or a particularly gruelling distance. But if you’re itching to get back on your feet, as long as you aren’t injured, you probably don’t need to spend longer than a day or two resting. 

But that doesn’t mean that the 24-hour rule is going to work for everyone all the time. If you notice that your runs are slower than usual or that your regular Sunday morning route is feeling more of an effort, this could be a sign that you need to have a longer rest.

Cowee recommends looking at your whole running week when deciding how much rest you might need. Mileage is one thing, but how hard you’ve pushed yourself over the course of a few days is arguably more important. 

“Say you’re training for your first half marathon and you’ve run 10 miles for the first time on the Sunday, and earlier in the week you also completed a hard speed session and did two shorter runs. You’ve done a lot, so you might want a bit longer to recover after the longer run.” 

It’s also worth thinking about if there were any differences between your latest long run and your normal running routine. Dr Ruddock explains that if you’ve finished a long distance and recently switched up your running shoes, your muscles might be fine but your feet might require a little longer to recover due to the new shoes.

A change in how challenging your long run is can also have an impact on your rest. If you’ve tried a more hilly route than usual, that will have put your body under more pressure. “If you end up doing a run with more downhill and elevation when you’re used to running on flat roads, then you’ll need to take that into consideration when deciding if you need more rest,” says Dr Ruddock. 

Every runner’s approach to rest is different. Post half-marathon, I was only too happy to swap early morning training runs for an extra couple of hours in bed, but lots of people experience ‘runner’s guilt’ if they take a day or two off. While that’s  obviously not a very healthy mindset to be in, Cowee says it’s a really common feeling, and that rethinking how you look at your rest days can be helpful.

“Sometimes it’s helpful to reframe rest as preparing your body for the next run, as the rest period is where your body adapts to the running. During a run, your body and muscles are put under stress, and for you to get better at running your body needs to be able to adapt, to manage the stress better.”

However, if you’ve scheduled in a rest day but you’re still itching to exercise, a more ‘active’ form of rest, such as stretching, a yoga session or foam rolling is ideal. Cowee recommends exercises that use different muscles and work on your flexibility: “These help your running but still allow your body time to recover as you’re not adding any extra stress onto your body.” 

Images: Getty