I am running a 10k race on Sunday. Should I walk on Sat for an hour?

May 2, 2022 9:30 AM

I usually take a brisk walk with a friend on Saturday but I'm wondering if I should have one day of rest. On Thursday, I will run for 3k, on Friday I have my usual not too easy all inclusive (legs, abs etc) exercise class. Would one day rest before the race be optimal? (I'm in my 60's, female).
posted by Tziv to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

Best answer: I think the benefits of staying sort of limber and warmed up are greater than any fatigue you’d still feel a day later. I wouldn’t take an extravagantly long walk — keep it under ten miles or so — but if you’re in shape to finish a 10K a reasonable walk the day before won’t hurt you at all.
posted by LizardBreath at 9:56 AM on May 2, 2022 [5 favorites]

Best answer: It depends on your level of fitness and how taxing the brisk hour walk would be. If you're running the 10K, I don't see how a one hour walk would have any impact whatsoever when comparing the intensity of the two activities.

A rest day means "don't stress your body so hard it impacts the next day", not "don't move at all".
posted by meowzilla at 10:30 AM on May 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

Back when I was racing bicycles, the guidance was to take a short, very easy pace ride the day before to keep your legs limber and warmed up, but nothing where you're even starting to push it, and not too long. Just tell your friend to slow down and you'll be fine.
posted by Special Agent Dale Cooper at 10:31 AM on May 2, 2022

A long walk followed by hot bath seems like a great way to keep limber !
posted by winterportage at 10:40 AM on May 2, 2022

Best answer: Are you usually sore after your Friday class? What would you think about skipping Friday exercise class and sticking with the Thursday short run and Saturday walk?
posted by bluedaisy at 10:52 AM on May 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

An hour of walking the day before the race won't make much difference. Athletes in distance sports usually will do a short / low intensity bit of exercise the day before an event, so this sounds very much in line with that as even brisk walking is low intensity relative to running. If an hour of brisk walking is generally significantly tiring for you (like you can feel it the next day), then it would make sense to scale back either in intensity or length to the point where you think you wouldn't feel tired the next day.
posted by ssg at 10:59 AM on May 2, 2022

Response by poster: Thank you all. A long walk is not taxing so based on all the answers, I will go on that walk.
posted by Tziv at 11:53 AM on May 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

I say do a very easy 2 mile jog and then continue it as a walk. keep yourself feeling good.
posted by tarvuz at 4:01 AM on May 3, 2022