Restart table · 1 to 8 weeks off
Where to restart after time off
Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash
One week off: repeat the week you were on. Two weeks: go back one week. Three: back two. Four: back three. After five or six weeks, restart at roughly half the week you had reached; after eight or more, start again from week 1 (week 2 if you had reached week 7 or later).
Restart week, by week reached and weeks off
| Week you had reached | 1 wk off | 2 wks off | 3 wks off | 4 wks off | 6 wks off | 8 wks off |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Week 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Week 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Week 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Week 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Week 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Week 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| Week 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 2 |
| Week 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 2 |
Cells show the plan week to restart from · rule defined on the Methodology page
How the table works
Find the week you had reached down the side and the number of weeks you were away across the top. The cell is the week to restart from. The rule is deliberately cautious: it gives up a little more ground than strictly necessary so the first session back is one you can finish comfortably.
It is a rule of thumb written by this site, not a clinical guideline. Treadmill or outdoors, the same table applies. If you stopped because of illness or injury, follow your doctor's advice rather than this table.
After 1 week off
After one week away, repeat the week you were on. Start at its first day and do all three sessions before moving forward. You lose almost nothing in seven days, but a repeat week costs little and makes the return feel easy rather than forced.
A week is the shortest gap this table covers, and the rule for it is the mildest: no stepping back, only a repeat. The reason is practical. Each plan week assumes you finished the one before it a couple of days ago. After a week away that is no longer true, so the sessions you had already done become the right test. If week 4 felt fine before the break, its 16 minutes of running will tell you quickly whether it still does. Fitness fades gradually when you stop, and one week is at the very start of that.
Say you had finished week 5, including the 20-minute run. Your week back is week 5 again: three 5-minute runs with 3-minute walks, then two 8-minute runs, then the 20 minutes. Begin each run slower than you remember. The test to move on is unchanged: end the 20-minute run able to speak in sentences. If the first day back feels plainly easy, you can skip the middle day and go to the third.
| Week you had reached | Restart from | First session back | Run min |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 3 | Week 3 | 2 × (run 90 sec, walk 90 sec, run 3 min, walk 3 min) | 9 |
| Week 5 | Week 5 | run 5 min, walk 3 min, run 5 min, walk 3 min, run 5 min | 15 |
| Week 6 | Week 6 | run 5 min, walk 3 min, run 8 min, walk 3 min, run 5 min | 18 |
| Week 9 | Week 9 | run 30 min without stopping | 30 |
After 2 weeks off
After two weeks off, go back one week from where you were. If you had reached week 6, restart at week 5; if you were in week 3, restart at week 2. Anyone in week 1 simply starts week 1 again.
Two weeks is long enough that the last week you completed may now feel like a stretch, but short enough that most of the earlier work is still there. Going back one week means your first session is one you finished comfortably about three weeks ago. That is the point of the rule: the first run back is meant to be boring. A dull first session tells you the starting point was right. A hard one tells you to step back again, and it costs you one day to find out rather than a bad week.
If you had reached week 6, the week back is week 5. Day one is three 5-minute runs with 3-minute walks between them, 15 minutes of running in all. Day two is two 8-minute runs around a 5-minute walk. Day three is the 20-minute run. Finish that one talking in sentences and you return to week 6 the following week, two weeks behind your original schedule and no worse for it.
| Week you had reached | Restart from | First session back | Run min |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 3 | Week 2 | 6 × (run 90 sec, walk 2 min) | 9 |
| Week 5 | Week 4 | run 3 min, walk 90 sec, run 5 min, walk 2.5 min, run 3 min, walk 90 sec, run 5 min | 16 |
| Week 6 | Week 5 | run 5 min, walk 3 min, run 5 min, walk 3 min, run 5 min | 15 |
| Week 9 | Week 8 | run 28 min without stopping | 28 |
After 3 weeks off
After three weeks off, go back two weeks. From week 6 that means week 4; from week 5, week 3; from week 8, week 6. If you were in weeks 1 or 2, start again at week 1.
Three weeks is where the gap starts to be longer than the time many people had spent on their most recent block of the plan. The sessions from two weeks earlier are a fair place to pick up because they are well inside what you had already done several times. There is also the question of the long runs. Weeks 5 and 6 contain the 20 and 25-minute runs, and it is kinder to meet those again after a week or two of intervals than on your first day back.
From week 6 you return to week 4: run 3 minutes, walk 90 seconds, run 5, walk 2.5, run 3, walk 90 seconds, run 5. That is 16 minutes of running, three times in the week. If all three end with breath to spare, go on to week 5 as written. If the 5-minute runs feel long, stay in week 4 for a second week before the 20-minute run comes round again.
| Week you had reached | Restart from | First session back | Run min |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 3 | Week 1 | 8 × (run 1 min, walk 90 sec) | 8 |
| Week 5 | Week 3 | 2 × (run 90 sec, walk 90 sec, run 3 min, walk 3 min) | 9 |
| Week 6 | Week 4 | run 3 min, walk 90 sec, run 5 min, walk 2.5 min, run 3 min, walk 90 sec, run 5 min | 16 |
| Week 9 | Week 7 | run 25 min without stopping | 25 |
After 4 weeks off
After four weeks off, go back three weeks. Week 6 becomes week 3, week 7 becomes week 4, week 9 becomes week 6. If you had reached week 4 or earlier, restart from week 1.
A month away is roughly as long as it took to get from week 1 to week 4 in the first place, so the rule gives back three weeks of the plan. For anyone who was in the second half, that lands on sessions with walk breaks again, which is deliberate: intervals let you find a comfortable pace without having to hold it for 20 minutes at a stretch. People coming back after a month often run the early sessions too fast because they remember how the later ones felt. The walk breaks absorb that mistake.
From week 6 you return to week 3: run 90 seconds, walk 90 seconds, run 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes, and then the same again. Nine minutes of running per session. It will probably feel short. Do it anyway on the first day, and if it is easy, move to week 4 for the second session rather than finishing week 3. You are looking for the first session that feels like work but ends with you able to talk.
After 6 weeks off
After five or six weeks off, restart at about half the week you had reached, rounded up. Week 6 becomes week 3, week 8 becomes week 4, week 9 becomes week 5, and week 5 becomes week 3.
Past a month, counting back a fixed number of weeks stops making sense, because someone who was in week 9 and someone who was in week 4 have very different amounts in the bank. Halving keeps that difference: the further you had gone, the further in you restart. It is still cautious. A person who had been running 30 minutes without stopping returns to week 5, whose first day is three 5-minute runs. If you stopped because of illness or injury, follow your doctor's advice rather than this table.
From week 6 the halfway point is week 3: two rounds of a 90-second run and a 3-minute run, with equal walks. From week 5 it is also week 3, because the rule rounds up. Give the restart week all three sessions this time rather than skipping ahead after one. After six weeks the second and third sessions are a better guide than the first, which often feels deceptively fresh.
After 8 weeks off
After eight weeks or more away, start again from week 1. The one exception: if you had reached week 7 or later — running 25 minutes or more without a break — start at week 2 instead.
Two months is longer than most of the plan itself, so the honest answer is a fresh start. That is less of a setback than it sounds. Week 1 is eight 1-minute runs, and for someone who has done the plan before it mostly serves to rebuild the habit: the days, the route, the shoes by the door. People who had reached week 7 or beyond begin at week 2, six 90-second runs, because the very first week would be more routine than exercise for them.
Run week 1 or week 2 exactly as written for the first session, at a pace where talking is easy. If it is comfortable, you do not need to spend a whole week there: take the next session from the following week, and keep stepping up one week per session until one feels like proper work. Stay at that week for three full sessions, and follow the plan normally from there.
After the first session back
Use the first session as a test. If you finish able to speak in full sentences and feel you could have gone on, skip ahead one week next time. If you had to stop early, drop back one more week and stay there for all three days. Either way the plan now runs from your new week — the plan builder will put fresh dates on what remains.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to start from week 1 again?
Only after about two months away, or if you were still in the first two weeks. For shorter gaps you keep most of what you built: two weeks off costs you one week of the plan.
I only missed one session. Does this apply?
No. Do the missed session on your next run day and carry on. The table is for gaps of a week or more.
Can I just carry on where I left off after a week?
Often yes, and if you were in weeks 1 to 3 the difference is small. From week 4 on, the jumps between weeks are bigger, so repeating the week you were on is the safer default. It delays the finish by seven days.
Do I lose all my progress in two weeks?
No. The table sends you back a single week, which means it assumes you kept nearly everything. The repeat is there to make the first sessions comfortable, not because the earlier weeks were wasted.
Is three weeks off the same as starting over?
No. Starting over would mean week 1 and eight 1-minute runs. Someone who had reached week 6 restarts at week 4, with 16 minutes of running per session — twice the running of week 1.
A month off and I restart at week 1 — really?
Only if you had reached week 4 or earlier. From week 5 onward the table puts you at week 2 or later. And week 1 for a returner usually lasts one or two sessions before skipping ahead.
Why half, and not back to the beginning?
Because the first three weeks of the plan total 8 or 9 minutes of running per session, and someone who had reached week 8 was running 28. Halving puts them at week 4 and 16 minutes — a real step down without pretending they never ran.
I finished the whole plan last year. Do I really start at week 1?
At week 2, by this table, since you had passed week 7. In practice you will likely move up a week every session or two until it gets hard, and settle somewhere around weeks 3 to 5 within a fortnight.
Data sources
Data as of October 4, 2026
- FirstFiveK calculations (distance ÷ time)Own work · 2026-10
- CDC — Measuring Physical Activity Intensity (talk test)Public domain (US federal government) · 2026-10
- HHS — Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd editionPublic domain (US federal government) · 2026-10
- How ranks and averages are calculated