When to train through a niggle and when to rest, the pain-monitoring rule, why sleep comes first, and how to come back from a layoff.
It depends on how it behaves. If it gets worse as you run, stop. If it stays put and stays mild, you are probably fine to carry on. If it is mild but has hung around more than a week, rest it and get it looked at. It is a hard call to make, which is part of why a coach helps, and part of why learning your own body pays off.
Use the pain-monitoring rule, the evidence-backed version of the gut feel. Mild pain, up to about 5 out of 10, can be alright to run through as long as it settles by the next morning and is not creeping up week to week. Back off, or get it checked, if it worsens during the run, does not settle overnight, or lingers past a week. Low-grade pain that behaves is usually just a niggle. Pain that breaks those rules is telling you something.
It is fine. You missed a week, and there is nothing to claw back. Pick up roughly where you left off, pull the volume down a little, and ease back into the structure.
It is the most important thing you do outside the running. It is what lets you absorb the training and stay healthy while you do it. Without consistent sleep the rest is mostly wasted, which is why we put it above everything else.
There is no magic number. You want as much recovery between hard sessions as the week allows, and how you get it depends on how many you are running. With three in a week, it is about spacing them as far apart as you can, with easy running or rest in the gaps.
It is personal. It can help with a niggle or a genuine range-of-motion issue. You can also overdo it, though: running wants a certain amount of stiffness to work well, so a pile of stretching, rolling and mobility can quietly work against you. Use it to fix a real problem, not as a daily ritual.
Come back gradually: walk-run, load it slowly, ramp in with care. Patience beats heroics here. The same pain-monitoring rules apply, and the restraint that keeps healthy runners healthy is what gets an injured one back in one piece. Rushing the comeback is the quickest way to get hurt again.
From your coach
“These are the same answers we give the runners we coach. They are grounded in the sports science and held against what works on the road, by an accredited coach. The marathon is simple, but it is not easy. Do the right things, consistently, and respect the distance.”
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