How Many Days A Week Should You Run?

You’re new to running, and you’ve really been enjoying it. There’s no real purpose behind when you run except that you feel like it. That’s a great place to be and a wonderful place to start. But, now you’d like to start training. Maybe you want to improve your 5k pace, or you just signed up for your first half-marathon. So, your question is: how many times a week should I run?

This is a common question amongst new runners. How frequently should you run? The answer to this question isn’t as cut and dry as you might like it to be. It depends on your goals, your experience, your schedule, and so on.

Should I run every day?

It depends on the mileage. Since running is a physically taxing activity, your performance on the trail, road, or treadmill is dependent on your recovery. As a new runner, you could probably get away with running 1-3 miles a day without much consideration of other recovery strategies. Anything over 4 miles, I would highly suggest incorporating rest while keeping your weekly mileage the same. Daily running would likely lead to injury, burnout, frustration, and potentially overtraining. Note that "rest" doesn't mean sedentary. A rest day might include some walking, flexibility work, or even some bodyweight core training. 

If you're a sprinter, anything over three sprint sessions a week would be excessive. Since sprinting requires maximal effort, exerting yourself in that way every day would be ill-advised. Unless you're an elite athlete or experienced runner, running every day doesn't make sense for any goal, even if you're training for your first half marathon, because in this case, more isn't always better!

So, then how often should I run?

Once again, this depends. Are you running for pleasure, an upcoming race, for general physical fitness? Are you just beginning race prep, or are you tapering off? Are you running to lose weight or improve cardiovascular health? I'm a big proponent of minimum effective dose, which means if an extra run doesn't get me closer to my goals, whatever those may be, then I'm going to opt-out. I encourage you to consider adopting that mindset. It will keep you honest about your recovery, intentions, and effort. 

Pleasure Goals

Suppose you're a recreational runner and enjoy the practice of running. In that case, you should consider one of two approaches: the "everyday" approach (while keeping daily mileage under 4 miles) or the every "alternate day" approach. With shorter distance daily running, you keep the mileage low, but your run practice commitment is committed. Running every day is a beautiful way to build your mental toughness, ability to be consistent, and overall run performance (aerobic capacity and form). 

The alternate-day approach allows your recovery and running volume to oscillate biweekly. For example, in week one, you might run four days and recover three days, but in week two, your recovery will increase with you running three days and recovering 4. This periodization scheme will allow you to properly deload, making it so you never truly overdo it. 

Race Goals

Since there are more races than I'm willing to write about (and you read about), I'll share how many days a week I would train for the three most popular races: 5k, half marathon, and marathon. An important consideration is that the 5k is the "new runner" race. We've all heard about (or participated in) the couch to 5k training programs. Keyword being "couch." As a result, the running volume should stay low as new runners needn't run a lot but rather run enough. Throughout a 5k training program, runners should average three running days a week. 

In training for a half marathon or marathon, running "days" aren't nearly as important as weekly mileage. Half marathon training is where a proper training plan is needed. A training week might include long runs, easy runs, tempo runs, and intervals, so designing a strategy is critical in prepping for a race like this. I suggest runners peak at five runs a week.  

Fitness & Health Goals

What's important is that (and how long) you run, not so much how often, when training for fitness or health. Your running ability is an excellent indicator of your overall physical fitness. A worthy goal for the general population is a sub-8-minute mile and the ability to run 3 miles without stopping. If your goal is weight loss, please refer to this article revealing three steps to running for weight loss. By running no more than four days a week, you should achieve improved cardiovascular health and both of the above standards.

Questions? Email me: briana@brianawilliamscoaching.com