Newbie (sort of)- with a question!

southernyogini

HI all!
I am curious; can you walk/jog on back to back days? I am not horribly out of shape. I have already lost 25lbs and have been doing yoga and the elliptical a few times a week. I am adding in walking and jogging. The reason I ask is I would like to take advantage of good weather days and get outside. Sometimes with my work schedule that could mean 2-3 days back to back and one day off. I am still learning and there is a lot of conflicting information on walking/jogging/running on back to back days. Suggestions?

I walked 3.4 miles yesterday and want to get in a 1.5 mile walk/jog today.

WhatMeRunning

Depends where you are on your running history. For starting out it is best to run every other day so your bones, muscles, tendons, etc can recover and get stronger. After building those up (along with your cardio) you could add in some back to back days, but keep recovery days planned in. For example, start by running 3 days a week for a couple months, then move to 4 days per week.

WhatMeRunning

Depends where you are on your running history. For starting out it is best to run every other day so your bones, muscles, tendons, etc can recover and get stronger. After building those up (along with your cardio) you could add in some back to back days, but keep recovery days planned in. For example, start by running 3 days a week for a coupl

southernyogini

WhatMeRunning wrote: »

Depends where you are on your running history. For starting out it is best to run every other day so your bones, muscles, tendons, etc can recover and get stronger. After building those up (along with your cardio) you could add in some back to back days, but keep recovery days planned in. For example, start by running 3 days a week for a couple months, then move to 4 days per week.

Thank you for the feedback!!

Stoshew71

@southernyogini Also when figuring out if I should run back to back days. If by adding in that new back to back day it adds more than 10% to your weekly mileage, then you probably don't want to add it.

For example - Mon 3 miles Wed 3 miles Sat 3 miles. That is 9 weekly miles.
Now the following week I am contemplating Mon 3 miles Tue 3 miles Thur 3 miles Sat 3 miles. That is 12 miles.
That is a 33% increase in your weekly mileage from 9 last week to 12 this week. This may not be a good idea.

Instead, the next week Mon 3 miles Tue 1 mile Thur 3 miles Sat 3 miles for 10 miles this next week.
That is only a 11% increase in weekly mileage (from 9 miles to 10 miles) and much safer.

kristinegift

If you're running each day, then you should probably not do back to back days yet. But you could do walking on the in-between days, because that won't be as strenous. But keeping in mind the % increase like @Stoshew71 mentioned is also very important.