Taking a break helps with running

If you have been running less than usual during this festive Christmas period, fret not.

This is because taking a short break from running, can not only improve running performance in the long run – but it may also help to re-kindle your interest in running at the same time.

Sometimes, it may help to take a break from running – after a key race.

It gives you a chance to recover

If you have been having niggling aches and pains or stiff joints during your runs, a break will help these to mend and heal as these aches will resolve themselves after spending some time out from running.

And then if you run again after that rest, you may feel much better and re-energised from the break.

It prevents injury

If you are running too regularly without having enough rest, this may put you at risk of overtraining which leads to injuries. But then, taking a short break will enable you to run injury free for a longer time, as your body would have had time to mend, after the wear and tear to the body’s muscles and tissues, that running may have caused.

Running breaks down the muscles, and resting is what’s needed to mend those muscles to make you feel stronger and more invincible, after all.

It gives you the chance to try a new sport or cross-train

If you keep on running and trying to juggle your other life commitments together with your running, this may not leave you with much time to try out anything else – for example, those outdoor adventure sports that you have been aching to experience. Taking a break from running may give you time to try out these experiences.

As well, it may also give you the chance to cross-train, for example to try some strength and lifting routines in the gym, or else perhaps to experience swimming at the beach, if you have never had much of the chance to go.

Taking a rest from running, may give you time to experience new sports… such as going wakeboarding with the family.

And then when you return to running, you may feel more energised after it, too.

It helps with burnout

If you have been feeling fatigued and exhausted after your running, and barely feel like putting on your running shoes, then this may be a sign of burnout, and so you may need to take a rest from running.

This will help to cure these feelings of burnout, because after some time off, you may actually feel like wanting to run again. After all as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder, too.