There’s an obvious problem with me writing this one. I haven’t had a rest day since November 2015.

So let’s get that out of the way. What I do isn’t a recommendation. It suits me after a lot of years learning what my body takes, and it’s genuinely not what I write for the people I coach. I kept it going through Achilles surgery by hobbling a mile a day on crutches, which should tell you everything about whether it’s sensible advice.

Rest isn’t when you recover

Here’s the thing that reframes it. Training doesn’t make you fitter. Training makes you tired and slightly damaged. Recovery makes you fitter, and recovery is mostly sleep and food, not sitting on the settee.

So a rest day isn’t magic on its own. What matters is your total load being low enough that your body keeps up with the repairs. You can get there by taking days off, or by making some days genuinely easy. Both work.

Rough guide by where you’re at

New to running. Three or four days a week with a day off between each. Heart and lungs adapt in weeks. Tendons and bones take months. Running back-to-back days early on is how people end up with shin splints.

A year or two in, 20 to 30 miles. Four or five days running, two or three off. Doubling up is fine as long as one of them is properly easy.

Experienced, 40 plus. Five or six days, one off. One full rest day a week is plenty for most people here.

High mileage. Often seven days, but with most of the week very slow indeed. That’s the trade. You don’t get to run every day and run them all hard.

Signs you need more than you’re taking

• Easy pace slowing while the effort feels the same
• Resting heart rate creeping up over a week or two
• Sleeping badly, or waking already tired
• Picking up every bug going round
• Not wanting to go out when you normally would
• Niggles that move about and never quite settle

That one about not wanting to go is worth taking seriously. Losing enthusiasm over a fortnight is a physical signal far more often than a mental one.

The down week

More useful than arguing about Wednesday is building an easy week in every fourth week. Drop volume by a quarter, keep one session.

Three weeks up, one down, repeat. That structure does more over a year than agonising over individual days.

And the honest bit

There are days when a blank day is the right training decision, and I’ve given up my ability to take one. That’s a real cost and I’d be lying if I said otherwise.

Our daughter arrived in February, which has taught me more about what tiredness does to running than any training block ever did. Sleep is the session. Everything else is negotiable.

If you’re tired, take the day. It’s one run. There’ll be another tomorrow.

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With one-to-one coaching the week gets adjusted when life or tiredness gets in the way, instead of you deciding alone whether to bin a session.