We all have a version of what we’d want our Strava graph to look like.

Mine looks something like it did before my most recent race – the Run Ridge 25K in BC. I kept things steady and slowly increasing around the Holiday period, and then dipped between up and down weeks, hovering around 100K for several consecutive weeks.

Since that race, I’ve barely run. I’m entering week five of an irregular run schedule, where my Strava graph looks more like the Pixar lamp after it’s been squashed. Not exactly my dream!

I’ve had quite a few of these spells in nearly 20 years of competitive running. While they’re always tough, it’s always remarkable how quickly you can get back to full fitness. Sometimes, doing things that you couldn’t do when you were in the constant breakdown cycle of higher mileage.

In March 2023, it took me about four weeks of legitimate running to run a sub 2-hour 30K at Around the Bay, following about three months of wondering when I’d be able to walk again.

In February 2025, Coach Jade had me go out for a 10K time trial only a few weeks into returning from five months of injury, and I ran it really well. Far too well, and far too comfortably.

In both cases, cross-training during the time off went a long way. I was doing crazy long bike rides on an indoor trainer during the cold Canadian winter of 2022-23. I discovered the arc-trainer in late 2024 and fell in love with the motion and how high you could push the heart-rate compared to other cross-training tools.

But even with substantial time off all forms of exercise, recovery back into a normal state of running can be surprisingly quick.

So if you’re already doing a lot of cross-training; or you’ve managed to stack a solid string of bricks in the weeks and months beforehand, a little time off here and there never hurts all that much.

Down weeks (weeks that incorporate a lower amount of running volume) are good for a training cycle. They’re more than necessary.

Unintentional down weeks from life circumstances and unforeseen events are more than necessary too.

Most of my running injuries have been caused by stress, in addition to some kind of overload when the body was already fighting a deficit in some regard (sleep, eating, etc.). When you have those unforeseen setbacks pop up, it’s often better to take that time away from training to not cause further damage.

This is what happened to me trying to run on an injury that just needed more time.

If anything, those two or three weeks of downtime allow us to come back stronger, often with new hunger, new ambitions, and better (less obsessive) habits.

In my own case, I’ve reduced my number of races for 2026, saving myself for the ones that excite me most.

While we’d all love to have a consistent string of weeks where everything comes together perfectly and everything clicks into place; it’s never that easy to hold onto that success for months on end. It’s natural for a dip to occur. It’s good for a dip to occur.

Those super good weeks are only possible with enough rest and recovery in between. So while it might feel tough in the moment, and you might think that you’ve lost some fitness somewhere along the way, the truth is – you haven’t. You’ve only given yourself the potential to come back stronger.

Thanks for reading and see you soon!

It’s natural to want to increase every single week until reaching a certain threshold, and then dip between up and down weeks.