Feeling Feverish or Tired? No Running!

You can run while being sick… if the illness is mild! A cold is annoying but doesn’t prevent you from running. However, as soon as you’re genuinely tired or, worse, have a fever, that’s a clear sign your body is using its resources to heal. Running would only drain more of those resources and make you even weaker.

Running While Sick to Maintain Fitness

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking, “If I stop, I’ll lose all my fitness, so I can’t afford to rest.” That’s simply not true—at least not for just a few days off, which is usually the case with common illnesses. The American coach Jack Daniels actually studied this topic. His conclusion: under 5 days off, there’s no impact on fitness level.

So if you’re experiencing a minor illness, take a few days off. You’ll be able to get back into your training plan just fine.

Really Sick? Rest or Run?

If you're sick, turn your week into a recovery week. Forget your original training schedule—it’s not worth worrying about the sessions you’re missing. Better to forget it and start fresh. Of course, recovery week means true rest: as long as you feel weak, no running.

The first day you feel like you're back to normal, don’t run just yet. Give yourself that extra day to let your body fully reset. Remember—even when you're physically resting, your body is working hard during illness.

Once You Feel Good Again, Time to Resume!

That first run back should be very easy. No pushing yourself—just an easy jog at a low intensity, no longer than 45 minutes. If you’re still feeling a bit weak, slow down and head back after 30 minutes.

If everything feels good, you can gently ease back into your training plan… without stressing over what you missed! There’s no catching up to do—it’s done, and that’s okay! 🙂

What If You’re Sick for Over a Week?

If you stopped training for 1 week due to illness: resume the following week, but replace any speed sessions with easy runs (low-intensity endurance). Don’t forget to mark the missed sessions as “skipped” (and the speed sessions too, if you replaced them with easy runs). To do that, simply click “Skip Session”—this is very important so your plan can adjust accordingly.

If you had to stop for 2 weeks: this means the illness was more serious and probably caused some loss of fitness. The best approach is to restart running very gradually, listening closely to your body. Then, start a new training plan from scratch.
Important: this reset is permanent—you won’t be able to go back to your previous plan. But your health always comes first!
When restarting with a new plan, make sure to include the "recovery cycle." You’ll need to factor in extra weeks on top of the minimum 12-week plan.
For example:
2 weeks off = 1 recovery week
3 weeks off = 2 recovery weeks
... and so on.

You’ll be offered this “recovery cycle” option when setting your new training goal:
> Set your main objective > enter the race date > confirm your choice > recovery: I haven’t run recently > specify how long you’ve taken off.

Updated on: 16/06/2025