What should we do when we have to miss training?
First, recognize that all of us will miss at least some aspect of our training across a season due to illness, injury, work, competing priorities, and so on. So, you aren’t alone! Realize, as well, that some limited misses in your training throughout a season are not likely to have a dramatic impact on your fitness and eventual race day performance. But, of course, any prolonged misses in training will alter the way things shake out.
The impact of missed training will vary based on the length and type of the missed training, the proximity of the missed training to your key race, and your unique characteristics. In this article, I’ll discuss these factors, as well as some basic tips for what to do if you have to miss training.
Before we go further, it is very important to note that under no circumstances should you push through training when you are injured or sick. Continuing to train in these cases will only exacerbate the problem, as the body is forced to split resources. This could eventually cause more missed days down the line. To prepare for inevitable downtimes, maintaining an otherwise consistent training schedule is your best line of defense to protect your hard-fought fitness gains.
Length, Type, and Percentage of Missed Training
There are three ways to think of missed training. One is based on the number of continuous days of missed training. For example, an athlete may need to miss 2-3 days (or more) of training due to illness.
The other way to think about missed training is based on the type of training. For example, if an athlete sprains their ankle, they may miss runs for a week or so, but be able to continue with swim and bike training. Another example may be if an athlete misses a certain type of workout. So, let’s say they miss the long ride for two weeks in a row, but complete all other training.
A third way to think of missed training is when an athlete habitually misses a percentage of weekly training. For example, let’s say for a series of weeks, an athlete missed about 15-20% (or more) of the weekly prescription. So, if the coach prescribed 10 hours of training, they may have completed 8-8.5 hours of training. This may happen because entire workouts or skipped, or the duration on a series of workouts is cut short.
In all of these cases, a singular event will not have much impact. So, if you are largely consistent, but need to miss a day, no worries! However, if these missed sessions become a pattern, this will likely necessitate a reworking of the plan and expectations.
Continuous Missed Training Days
Let’s talk about the continuous type of missed training first.
One missed session once in a blue moon will have little to no impact on overall fitness and performance. In fact, the research has found little impact on our fitness when we miss less than 7 continuous days of training, as long as we have been consistent in our training prior to that break. While the first few workouts back may feel a bit off, there is minimal to no change in our fitness in that short amount of time.
But, when we start to miss more than 7 days or if we have a series of missed training opportunities within the season, fitness will be impacted, and the training program will need revision in order to allow for a safe progression of the training load.
A study in the Frontiers of Science examined recreational marathon runners and found that a 7 to 13 day break in the 12 weeks before marathon day was correlated with 4.25% slower finish times. If the gap in training was over 2 weeks, runners ran over 6% slower. If the gap was 3 weeks, the finish times were 7.5% slower. So, taken together, we see performance declines starting at about a week of missed training, and they increase beyond there.
Type of Training
The second way to think about missed training is to habitually miss a certain type of training, which can either stall fitness progression or cause a decline in that type of fitness. For example, VO2max declines quickly, with substantive declines showing within 10 days of missed training. Whereas strength gains can be maintained longer, taking over 2 weeks before we see substantive declines. Depending on the fitness adaptations needed for success at a key race, missing some types of training may be more impactful than others.
When a certain type of training gets skipped, fitness development for that particular type of adaptation can stall. If an athlete continually misses or cuts short their longer endurance workouts, then that endurance component will not develop as the plan intended. This also means that the coach cannot progress future workouts as intended.
For example, if an athlete had a 3-hour ride, but only completed 2.5 hours, the following week cannot progress as scheduled. In most cases, the coach will reschedule the 3-hour ride to keep in line with safe parameters for increasing duration.
As with the length of training, one missed workout in an otherwise consistent workout schedule will not have a dramatic impact. It’s the patterns we need to be mindful of to avoid disruptions on the journey to our big dreams.
Percentage of Training
The third way to think of missed training is based on a percentage of training. If an athlete habitually misses 15-20% of weekly training, they are leaving performance on the table. This loss may come from cutting workouts short, or from missing full sessions, or a combination of both.
In this scenario, the athlete will not achieve the overall training load that is necessary to hit training milestones, which may be necessary for race day success; however, the athlete chooses to measure that success.
Again, if there is only one week when 15-20% (or more) is missed, there isn’t a substantive impact on fitness or performance. As with the other two situations, it’s the habit that matters here.
Proximity to Race Day
How far away the race is makes a difference in the impact that missed training will have on performance. Interestingly, some research suggests that the earlier weeks in the specific build to a race will have more impact on race day performance. If the specific preparation period for a race is 16 weeks, then the training in the 12-16 week block becomes quite important for what follows.
There are a few hypotheses why this is so. The early cycles of specific race training are key foundational blocks, and if an athlete misses chunks during this time, it will impact how far training can progress in the latter stages of training. Quite simply, an athlete may run out of time to progress any further.
Individual Characteristics
There are individual traits that can impact the effect of missed training days. Some of these traits are unique to the athlete. For example, there are different rates at which each individual body can maintain fitness during downtimes. You may notice that you do better on race day with more or less rest before the big day. In my time coaching, I’ve had athletes who need shorter or longer tapers, depending on the unique characteristics of their recovery and physiology.
Some athletes can take a week off training and come back feeling stronger, while others feel sluggish and report diminished performance. Take note of your own unique responses to rest, recovery, and extended periods of time off, such as post-season.
Other traits may be related to a specific population. For example, the older we are, the more quickly detraining happens.
What to do if you miss training
If you are a coached athlete, contact your coach and let them know that you missed training, and if it looks like more training will be missed. They will take it from there. Be sure to explain the circumstances that led to the missed training, as this will be a part of how s/he determines what comes next. For example, missed training due to illness will lead to a different approach than when you miss training due to work obligations.
To avoid unnecessary downtime, it is always key to look ahead in your schedule and let your coach know about any schedule restrictions you may have. We are skilled at planning around any known disruptions to training when we have advance notice.
Generally speaking, when we miss one or two days of training, the best thing to do is to just pick up with the next day in the training plan. If you have been training regularly up until this point, missing a day or two isn’t going to make that much of a difference.
After 3 or more days are missed, that’s about the tipping point when adaptations may need to be made. The nature of these adaptations will depend on how much you miss and the type of work that was missed. These changes will ensure you continue to follow the principles of gradual progression, to give the body time to absorb and make adaptations – without increasing injury risk.
If you miss 3-7 days in a single cycle or more than 15-20% of the load in a cycle, some aspects of that cycle need to be rearranged and applied in later training cycles. Take a look at the total volume and TSS (training stress score) for that week. It won’t be possible to make up all of the missed training, but we can make judgments regarding how to apply a portion of that missed training load to future cycles. Add a limited amount of the training load (let’s say within 10% or so) to the following 3-5 cycles so you are caught up and back on track in a few weeks.
For example, consider the week of training below.
This runner missed one speed session and two strength sessions. To adjust for this, in the following week, we can re-assign that same speed work session, as these workouts are progressive. We won’t move on to the next step until this one is completed. In the case of strength training, we know that strength gains are likely to be maintained for 7-10 days, so we can continue with the strength program as outlined, even though this entire week was missed. If another week of strength is missed, this would necessitate stepping back the strength program.
Below is another example for a triathlete. In this case, they missed 3 consecutive days of training, along with 2 strength sessions.
This will require a reorganization by:
- Progressing the mid-week sessions as planned. Since those were completed, we can continue that sequence
- Partially progressing the long run and long ride. Since these sessions weren’t completed, we will need to consider what is a safe and adaptable increase for the long sessions: swim, run, and bike. Instead of increasing the bike by 30 minutes, we’ll increase it by 15 minutes until we are back on track. (This excludes reduced load weeks. Those should not be used to catch up on training. They should be used for adaptation.)
By partially progressing these sessions, this athlete will “catch up” to the scheduled volume in the Athlete Training Planner (ATP) in about 3 weeks. Assuming they resume full consistency, this missed weekend of training should not have a major impact in the coming weeks. But if full consistency is not regained, this missed training may mean a reworking of season goals and objectives.
This is an important point: while it is necessary to miss training from time to time, there can be a cost to that in terms of whether and at what rate we can regain some of that missed training. It is not possible to regain it all, nor should we try to.
The following guidelines are for our self-coached team members who may be following a plan. As a reminder, if you are a coached athlete, your coach will provide recommendations. Please do not move workouts or otherwise change the training your coach has planned. Instead, have a conversation with them.
Missing a week of training:
Pick up with the plan before you miss the training. So, if you missed week 12 of a training plan, don’t proceed to week 13. Return to week 12 and complete that training. You can add small percentages of the training load to take about 3-5 weeks to catch up to the current week in the plan.
Missing two (or more) weeks of training:
Plan for a more gradual return to the training progress. If you completed week 11 of a training program, but missed weeks 12 and 13, this will likely mean you need to go back to week 10 of the program, and allow for a gradual re-entry to the work. You can try to add a small percentage of the workload to those weeks in order to catch up to the plan over the course of 3-5 weeks.
Once we miss 3 or more weeks of training, this typically necessitates a reworking of the training plan and cycles. If you’ve missed a month or more of training, it may be necessary to re-evaluate whether the race is smart given the remaining time available.
Missing certain portions of the training:
Consider the reasons why you are missing those sessions, or why you may need to cut off a certain percentage of your training each week. For example, if the long ride or run goes short each week, is there a scheduling reason for this? Is there a better day for the long sessions?
Once you know why you need to miss sessions of a certain type or on certain days, take the steps to remove the obstacle. This may mean swimming on different days, or committing to an earlier start for longer sessions.
While missed training happens, it’s important to control what you can to maximize your chances of getting your training completed each day. Then when you must miss training due to circumstances out of your control (which happens to all of us), the impact will not be as severe and you won’t lose much in the way of performance or fitness.
Do your best each day to commit to YOU and your goals. Life has competing demands, for sure, but remember: you need to put your oxygen mask on first before you can help anyone else.
Not working with a coach yet? Let’s change that. Schedule a free consult today and get the guidance you need to reach your goals—no matter what life throws your way.