Is it bad to go on long runs 3-4 times a week?

alexastoutxo

So I've been going on long runs 3 to 4 times a week. Normally 10-13 miles, i go on Sunday then take Monday off then go again Tuesday and Wednesday. I take an active rest day thuraday and friday i go another long run. The rest of the days I just go for an hour. What do you guys think? Is too much running? Any negative effects that can occur running that much too often? Would like to know your guys thoughts .

mygrl4meee

I don't know. I am interested in what others think. I had one week where I had 4 runs totally 26 miles and for me it felt like too much.

RelevantGains

I'm not a big runner, so take of this what you will. I was doing a lot of research on running to help out a client who is in the military, and it seems that the major concern with distance running is the risk of injury. The more often you do long or intense runs, the higher the risk comes of injury, such as shin splints, twisting an ankle, or even just not fully recovering between runs.

A lot of this you'll have to gauge how you feel. Assuming you already have worked up to that distance, I think a 10 mile run 3, maybe even 4 times a week could be okay, but it would likely be pushing it to your max.

Again, it's going to be somewhat on how much risk you want to accept. If you're doing for weight loss purposes, and it's not a big deal if you need to take two weeks off, then that would be different than if you're a competitive runner with a race coming up.

I'd also recommend switching up intensities, not doing long runs all the time, but do some speed work, tempo runs, intervals, sprints, etc.

Hopefully this was at least a little helpful!

JDMac82

What are your goals? I train both slow and fast twitch muscles. Sprints, shorter runs usually 2 miles, paced runs 3-5 miles and then distance runs 6-10. Are you wanting to build endurance, speed? Or just run to run?

ericatoday

I think you just risk injury but you can risk that anytime you leave the house for a run. I try to run 16-24 miles a week. Im not always successful thats to my husbands new work schedule. But as long as you have some rest days you should be fine.

litsy3

If by 'the rest of the days' you just mean Saturday, it sounds like you are doing about 50-60 miles per week, which is quite a lot if you don't structure your training or race, but not uncommon and shouldn't be harmful unless you are pushing yourself to run fast. If you are just taking it easy and have built up to this level of running over a long period of time you should be fine. But if you are pushing hard and are relatively new to running (and the fact that you describe a 10-mile run as a 'long run' despite doing so many of them suggests to me that you might be trying to push yourself too hard) then you might be risking an overuse injury.

MeanderingMammal

I'd agree with Iitsy on this one. It's not unusually long to be running in the order of 10 miles at a time giving you 50 miles per week. The way you're asking the question suggests that you haven't been running for a long time, so I'd maybe consider how long you've been running and how quickly you've got there.

About 60 miles per week is middle of a Marathon cycle for me, and split in a similar way with back to backs Tuesday/ Wednesday and Saturday/ Sunday.

Your biggest risk is overuse injury, and some form of cross training will help with reducing that risk; resistance training and cycling are both good options.

I guess the main question would be, what are your objectives? Running broadly the same session four times per week isn't giving you a broad training effect.