Any person who is part of THPL typically has specific (and often big) fitness goals—it could be finishing a first 10K, qualifying for the Boston Marathon or some other important race or event. And this is a very good thing – to have goals set and plans outlined, increases the odds of success. For sake of completeness it is important, for a moment to consider the other side of being active. This other side is the fear of taking off days from physical activity. And as odd as it might sound, and in contrast to the deep levels of discipline that come with THPL, there really is, a often a nagging feeling that if you take off from your core athletic actives (running, biking, playing) that you will lose your fitness gains.
Making it real it is best to realize that some of this “off time” is inevitable: You get the flu, have a really busy week at work, take a vacation with the family, or experience a injury. No matter the reason for taking some time away from running or other activities, there is an impact to being off. The best thing to do is to understand it and accommodate it.
To reduce the stress that could come from being off it is good to know that it takes a little while to lose our hard-earned fitness. For most runners, for example, it takes about seven to 14 days for your aerobic fitness to start declining. And what you lose initially is mostly the gains that you’ve made in the last several months of training. This means that if you’re a lifelong runner, you’ll retain much of your aerobic fitness for several months. So, yes days off do have an impact, but it is not tragic and we can live with these occurrences and still have a truly THPL life.
Loving life, even if there are days off
Ciao
joe