Yes, you can skip a day of running if you need to. Everyone’s body needs rest, and it’s important to listen to your body and take breaks when needed. However, it’s important to ensure that you don’t make skipping a regular habit if you want to see running progress.
What happens to your body when you skip a workout?
If you skip a race day, there is no physiological change. In fact, if anything, you can come back stronger. If you don’t run for a week, you may experience these changes:
- a reduction in hair density and oxidative enzymes, which affect the amount of oxygen your body can use;
- , as well as an increase in the amount of oxygen a person uses relative to the carbon dioxide produced;
- reduced glycogen uptake and increased fat burning (resulting in slower running); and
- an increase in fast twitch muscle fibers compared to using slow twitch muscle fibers, leading to faster lactate buildup and making your legs feel hot and heavy.
- In addition, other factors outside of this study, such as decreased muscle tension and neuromuscular changes, may lead to decreased running performance.
- A 1985 study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found a 9 percent reduction in blood volume and a 12 percent reduction in stroke volume after two to four weeks of inactivity in men doing exercise. This affects your VO2max, making running hard.
Don’t make up lost practice.
The most important rule to follow when adjusting your training for missed days is: Do not try to make up missed workouts or miles. Scheduling extra workouts, adding “lost” miles to your warm up, cool down, or easy days is the quickest route to injury and overtraining.
When you push too hard for too many workouts, recovery time decreases, which means you start your next workout while your muscles are still recovering from the previous workout. This can lead to a vicious cycle if you are not careful.
Joint pain
Muscle pain is part of a runner’s life, but joint pain during or after a race should never be neglected.
Ignored, joint pain can lead to more serious problems in the bones, ligaments and tendons.
Play with your schedule
Runners are type A and like to follow the schedule.
It’s great and certainly has added value.
