It’s a crazy time of year! And so many runners stress about how to maintain fitness during the holidays–me included! But a maintenance running plan can help you maintain fitness without stressing you out with another thing on your list to get done or find time for!
This time of year is so busy and more family-focused than ever. For me, trying to maintain an intense marathon training schedule during travel to visit family, cooking large meals, planning or attending holiday parties, volunteering at my kids’ school holiday events, holiday shopping, wrapping up end-of-year work projects—it just feels like too much. Running intensely in the past has only added to stress levels during this time, not take it away.
That’s why for me, and for many of the athletes I coach, we enter a season of maintenance running. The schedules are flexible with a lot of what I call “mindless miles.” The miles are easy and movable—with some guidelines. For example, no clumping several run days together without a rest day. If you typically run 5 days a week, I don’t want those 5 days run consecutively. I would rather you take an extra rest day than squeeze in the miles (and get hurt).
If you have no idea what that looks like and no clue as to how much you need to run to maintain fitness, I am here to help.
Table of contents
- How do you maintain fitness during the holidays?
- How much running do you need to maintain fitness?
- What is the purpose of a running maintenance plan?
- Who should use a running maintenance plan:
- How long should a running maintenance plan be?
- What should be included in an off-season running plan?
- Sample Running Maintenance Plan
How do you maintain fitness during the holidays?
You can maintain your running fitness with a maintenance running plan. This means that you run a minimum amount to maintain a base level of fitness, rather than trying to increase your fitness. Running a maintenance plan or off-season running plan helps you maintain your fitness while allowing your brain and body to take a break. It also sets you up to begin more intense training when the time is right.
To be honest, sometimes training for a race can feel stifling. When you are on the marathon training train, it can be so stressful trying to hang on with everything else swirling around you. And that’s when running becomes stress-inducer instead of stress-reliever, which we do not want! Specifically, a running maintenance plan helps:
- Maintain cardiovascular fitness, and muscle, bone, and tendon strength
- Return hormonal balance
- Replenish glycogen stores
- Reinvigorate motivation
- Promote mental health and run/life balance
- Prevent overtraining
- Ward off injuries
- Provide time to address weaknesses, imbalances, mobility, and strength
- Bend with the demands of life (unlike marathon training can)
How much running do you need to maintain fitness?
In general, running volume can be more than halved in a running maintenance plan and frequency can also be reduced up to half. So if you were running 50 miles per week, you can maintain your fitness with about 25 miles a week–or even less, as some studies suggest.
- This 2021 article in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that endurance performance can be maintained for 15 weeks by only two 13 minutes sessions per week, or a reduction in volume of up to 66 percent.
- For VO2 max, a 1985 study in the Journal of Applied Physiology had athletes cut training volume of 6-10 hours a week to just one 35-minute session. These athletes had no reduction in their VO2 max.
According to famed running coach Jack Daniels, it takes about 30 minutes for the physiological benefits of a running session to spur and about three running sessions per week for these benefits to accumulate. Therefore, I recommend a maintenance running plan includes at least three 30-minute running sessions a week—at minimum. This approach has been successful for the athletes I coach.
What is the purpose of a running maintenance plan?
We can’t be in peak training shape all the time. In fact, it’s not healthy to be. Running is a physically demanding sport. Taking a break from running or running a base maintenance plan allows your body to return to homeostasis (including stress hormone levels), replenish glycogen stores, build tissues and bones back up, and give you a mental boost.
Who should use a running maintenance plan?
You should consider a running maintenance plan if you:
- Just finished training for a goal race such as a marathon
- Are entering a busy or stressful time in your life
- You feel fatigued or unmotivated (or even dread running)
- Are going through a transitional period in your life and need to get settled before picking up training
- Training during a particular season is difficult for you (e.g. it’s too cold or too hot)
- Just want to run for run and don’t want the pressure or structure of training for a goal race
- Are dealing with health issues that need to normalize
How long should a running maintenance plan be?
A running maintenance plan can be however long you need it to be. I have runners currently in a running maintenance plan that started this summer and is extending into the new year due to the demands of their jobs or extracurricular activities (e.g. coaching youth sports) that make it difficult to train.
On average a maintenance running plan can be anywhere from one to four months. It typically lasts about a season before restarting a training block.
What should be included in an off-season running plan?
An off-season running plan can include at minimum:
- 3 days of non-consecutive running of at least 30 minutes
An off-season running plan that will maintain a higher level of fitness will include:
- Reduced volume of 50-75 percent
- Reduced volume of 50-75 percent
- More cross-training in place of running
- Running of about 5 days with 2 rest days
- One longer run of about 90 minutes (30 percent of weekly volume)
- Mostly easy miles with one to two weeks
- Strides
- One workout which can include low-key work such as a fartlek, pick-up, progression, or hilly route
- Strength 2-3 times a week
- Active recovery on rest days
Running is an individual sport, so there is no set structure for this unstructured running. You do you! You do want one run to be longer than an hour and to run three times a week.
Related: How Long Does It Take to Lose Running Fitness
Below is a sample 6-week maintenance running plan. This is for a runner who runs about 40 miles per week in peak training.
Sample Running Maintenance Plan
Remember, these workouts are guidelines. Miles can be moved. But most miles should remain easy and the volume should be evenly spread-out throughout the week.
Goal:
- Run 3-4 days with around 20-30 mpw.
- Aim to do strides twice per week.
- Can do some fartleks, progressions, and fast finishes for the longer runs on Wednesday or Saturday
- Have 2 rest days.
- 1-2 days of cross-training
- And strength train 2 days for about 30 minutes each
- Spread out volume evenly with about 70 percent during the week and 30 percent in your long run
Schedule:
- Monday-Easy 5 with 20-30 min strength training
- Tuesday– Cross-train for 30-60 minutes, mobility routine (Check out my 5-minute mobility routine for runners here).
- Wednesday-Easy 6-8 miles with 4 strides.
- Thursday-Yoga
- Friday-3 miles easy with some light strides, mobility
- Saturday-8-10 miles easy
- Sunday-Rest (okay to do a gentle walk, recovery cross-train and/or yoga).
Running to manage your stress levels while staying fit means following a running schedule that is loosely structured and meant to meet your needs that day. If you need what I call a “rage run”—run hard. Get it out. (Just make sure you run easy the next day!). If you need to just shuffle your feet and listen to Bon Iver ballads, do it. If you need a running coach to help, message me!
What does your running look like during busy seasons like the holidays?