Taking a mental break helps you recharge and get excited about running again. Thus, your goal during your break shouldn't be to maintain running-specific fitness, but rather to enjoy new challenges from other sports and activities. Put any running-related training in the back of your mind so you can optimize the time you spend away from the trails and roads. That way you'll be 100 percent ready to rock when you return.
More: The Importance of Rest for Runners
Rest Physically
As much as you'd like it to be, your body is not a machine. Sometimes it breaks down and occasionally it will need a respite from hard training. If you're battling nagging injury after nagging injury, taking a physical break from running to heal and work on your weaknesses is a prudent decision.
Likewise, we know from research that races like the marathon damage muscle fibers and require significant recovery time. Taking an extended physical break from running can help you come back stronger and healthier for your next race.
More: How Long Should You Wait Between Marathons?
The goal of taking a physical break from running is to maintain your highest level of running-specific fitness without the stress, pounding and repeated bouts of the same movements. Implement workouts that target and strengthen the same muscle groups or aerobic systems as running so you can take downtime with little negative impact on your running fitness.
More: Why You Need to Take Breaks From Running
How to Maintain Fitness
Now that you've decided on your desired outcome and why you're taking a break, we can look at some specific workouts to help keep you fit.
Mental break options:
Play Other Sports
Playing other sports, such as soccer, basketball and the myriad of other sports we love to watch, is the best way to take a mental break. You won't think about running at all, and it will enable you to recharge for your next training cycle.