Even better, playing other sports can also decrease your injury risk.
When you spend an hour a day or more running in mostly a straight line, you're bound to develop some deficiencies when it comes to lateral or diagonal movements, as well as sharp accelerations and large stresses on your bones.
Research has shown that for both men and women, each year of playing ball sports resulted in a 13 percent lower incidence of stress fractures.
Therefore, don't be afraid to join a local recreational league, dust off your varsity jacket, and rekindle your inner athlete.
More: An Injury-Free Approach to Cross-Training
CrossFit or HIIT-Type Programs
Most running coaches, myself included, don't believe that CrossFit and other fitness-style programs are useful or recommended while your training for a specific race. Simply speaking, they lack the specificity needed to benefit your running directly, and can often detract from your running workouts.
But, CrossFit, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and other fitness programs like Insanity and P90X are great options when you're taking a break from running.
More: Get More Out of High Intensity Interval Training By Doing Less
One of the drawbacks to CrossFit and other HIIT programs is that they don't account for long-term development. As Steve Magness outlines in this article, the randomness of exercise that CrossFit recommends isn't progressive, so the body will stop responding to the lack of adaptation and stress after a certain amount of time.
However, the benefit of implementing CrossFit during your break from running is that you're likely to cycle back into a run training segment before you reach this plateau. Thus, you're able to challenge areas outside your running-specific fitness for a period of time that allows for growth and adaptation but avoids the downside resulting from flat lining.
More: Can CrossFit Endurance Improve Your Runs?
Physical break options:
Aqua Jogging
Aqua jogging is a form of deep water running that closely mimics the actual running movement. Your feet don't actually touch the bottom of the pool, so it is zero impact. Studies have shown that aqua jogging can enable a well-trained runner to maintain running fitness for up to 4 to 6 weeks. Therefore, it's the perfect way to maintain aerobic conditioning when taking a break from running.
You can perform a variety of workouts, including fartlek-style sessions, and you can even use training partners to intensify your workouts. The fun part of aqua jogging is that you can get creative with your workouts: use a bungee cord, keep your hands in the air, or mix up your effort levels.
More: 7 Ways to Become a Better Runner Without Running
Running-Specific Strength Work
You can make yourself a faster, more injury-resistant runner by performing running-specific strength training or even general strength training work. I believe you should do strength work in addition to your run training, but the reality is that most runners focus on the running portion of training and often skimp on the strength work. Include strength work during your downtime, if you aren't already completing these types of workouts, because if you get sore during these efforts, it won't negatively impact your running.
Now is the time to make strength training and injury prevention an integral part of your training.
More: 10 Exercises to Build Strength
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