Question for the Avid runners

sistersuziestaci

How many days a week do you run? Can you run too often? Thanks. I am getting back into it and I am trying to remember my basics.

ThickMcRunFast

Are you training for anything specific?

I run mainly marathons and distance relays, and I run 3-4 days a week with 3 days of strength training. I make sure to mix up my runs, so one is easy, one is a long run, one is more speed-oriented, and one day of hill repeats. I know people who will run 6 or 7 days a week, but switching it up will make you less likely to get injured, plus it keeps things interesting.

trail_rnr

Yes, you can run too much. But "too much" is individual. You have to experiment with it. Your body will give you not-so-subtle clues if you are overtraining.

Rest is the most underrated and underused training "secret". I run 4-5 days/week when I am training for something, otherwise maybe 4 days/week. The other days I cross train and will take a day off completely on occasion. The older I get, the more important the rest is.

sistersuziestaci

I am not training for anything. I just enjoy running as my cardio. Right now I do 1.5 miles a day. But I am only on day 2.

ThickMcRunFast

Congrats on starting again! Don't feel like you have to run every day, and definitely mix in strength workouts that work your glutes and keep your hips strong (a lot of runners neglect those areas, leading to injuries).

riskiestlavonn

BUMP

pdworkman

4x/wk

M-W-F-S

xraychick77

i run about every day....

kyt1206

For cardio, you can do pretty much whenever without rest days - provided you don't strain anything.

For strength training you need breaks for muscle recovery or else you'll screw up your body chemistry w/the metabolic byproducts of heavy exercise.

I do cardio every day for 30 mins, also, to start burning fat, you need to be setting your treadmill at 8.0 incline with a preferable avg speed of 3.5 mph for at least 15 mins in each session. (Straight from the doctor. I'm studying at a med school and I asked about the research and application.)

The only days I don't do treadmill running, I'm hiking at a mountain.

I also found out that if you run with an incline you're almost doubling the calories you can burn in the same time and after the first week you hardly feel like you're running at an incline anymore.

50 days later - 16 pounds gone, it works! Oh, and get good shoes - go to a running shoe store, not a shoe store, one that specializes in running - and get fitted. I hated running so much until they helped me figure out that I've been wearing the wrong shoes. Now I can run every day because of them.