Should You Run Every Day?

Running consistently is a great way to stay fit and healthy, plus it can help you to improve as a runner.

But how often should you run? Can you run everyday? What are the pros and cons of running every day? 

THE BENEFITS OF RUNNING

There are many great benefits to running.

• Running is good for our physical health, improving both cardiovascular fitness and general strength, and can contribute to weight loss if that is a goal.
• Running is good for our mental health and can help improve our mood, cognition and mental resilience, plus it can help to lower stress.
• Running is something we can do with others as a social activity, which can be a positive aspect of our lives.
• Running regularly is the best way to improve as a runner.

But just because running is good for you, it doesn’t mean that we can do it all day, every day without negative consequences. 

THE POTENTIAL NEGATIVES OF RUNNING EVERY DAY

• We risk overuse injuries if we don’t incorporate rest into our training. Overuse injuries are the most common issues runners face, including: runner’s knee, shin splints, tendon issues, stress fractures, and more.
• Days off help us to recover from exercise and to adapt and improve from it. If we run everyday we may not get those adaptations, so the work we’re doing may not be beneficial.
• Running every day, especially if we’re doing harder workouts, builds up a lot of fatigue and it’s difficult to reduce this without proper rest. Running under constant fatigue (or unrecovered), will feel tougher physically and mentally.
• Running can relieve stress, but running also creates stress in the body. Sometimes we need the day off to physically and mentally restore ourselves.
• ‘Overuse’ injuries can also affect the mind and our psychology. If we struggle to feel motivated to go for a run, or come to dread running, then it’s time to rest or we could suffer from burnout which may affect other aspects of our lives.
• If sleep is affected then you will also struggle to feel recovered and will need to take time off. Poor sleep can be a sign of psychological stress and overuse.

DO PROFESSIONAL RUNNERS RUN EVERY DAY?

Yes, a lot of professional runners will run every day. Most actually run twice a day. But they have trained for years to build up the strength to handle running daily, and running large volumes. To help run that far they balance easy days with harder days, plus they often have access to professionals to help them optimise recovery through sleep, nutrition and physiotherapy. 

But elites still take days off. Many top runners will have a full day off each week to help them to recover both physically and mentally from the toil of training. It’s important to remember that rest helps us to improve. 

Here’s Mo talking about running twice a day.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU RUN? 

This question doesn’t have one answer which works for everyone. 

Some professional runners will run 12 times per week, other runners may find it difficult to consistently run twice per week. 

But, if you want to maintain fitness or improve upon your running fitness then being consistent with your running is the best way to do this. If you can run three times per week to begin then that’s a great place to start. 

As you get fitter and stronger you may run four, five or even six days per week, but most runners shouldn’t run every day for long periods of time, and it’s important to balance the intensity of your training – most pros use an 80/20 approach to running with 80% of weekly running distance at an easy effort, and 20% hard.

Taking at least one full day off from all harder activities is really beneficial for everyone as it allows you to recover from the hard work you put in before and after. 

Always consider good recovery. This includes hydration, nutrition and sleep, plus things like foam rolling or stretching.

IS IT OK TO RUN EVERYDAY?

This all depends on how you are running and how far you are running. 

IS IT OK TO RUN EVERYDAY DURING MARATHON TRAINING?

If you are training hard for a goal race like a marathon, and you’re doing a variety of runs including harder workouts while increasing your running volume alongside the intensity, then it’s going to be really beneficial to take one to three full days off each week. 

Sometimes it can help to set goals for these days off, like walking as few steps as possible, doing 30 minutes of stretching or yoga, having a lie in instead of the early morning alarm for a run, and focus on nutrition. Understand that seeing a day without an activity on Strava is actually a good thing because those days off help you do better in the following days of training.

You need these days off to help absorb the training and improve from it. Running when you are constantly tired rarely leads to positive adaptations.

You may also want to include other activities into your training week like gym sessions or cross-training. It can be hard to schedule these around a full week of running. You could run four days a week, go to the gym on one or two days (including on running days), and take one or two full days off. 

IS IT OK TO DO A SHORT RUN EVERYDAY?

If you are a runner who likes to head out for a short run (20-40 minutes) every day, and sticks to a slow and comfortable pace, then as long as you don’t feel any injuries or illness, it’s likely OK for you to continue running without days off.

Just always take those rests if you feel fatigued or a lingering niggle.  

IS IT OK TO RUN EVERYDAY FOR A YEAR?

That all depends on why you want to do that. If it’s for a charity challenge then you may be able to sustain a long running streak, but you must listen to your body and signs of excess fatigue or injury. 

Sure, some people run marathons everyday, but this is very challenging on the body and comes with a high risk of injury.

If you just want to run more often, and think a year-long challenge is a good idea, then it’s advisable to take regular rest days. Focus on consistency and running regularly, but not every day.

HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A RUN EVERY DAY CHALLENGE?

If you decide to take on a Run Every Day challenge for a month, then you may be pushing yourself to run more often than usual. If you want to try this then gradually increase the number of days you run per week leading up to the challenge, and always take a day off if you feel any issues. 

You should also just stick to easy runs for most of these RED challenges, or if you do a harder run then always sandwich it between easy days.

WHAT ABOUT RUN STREAKERS?

Ah yes, run streakers. These are people who run everyday without fail. Some runners have streaks of decades of running every single day. 

Often these runners are sticking to an easy pace, without pushing faster speeds. The body can adapt to this consistency and the runners feel good for running every day. But this isn’t something that can work for all runners. 

We think it’s always best to plan to have regular rest days. 

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In order to get the best benefits out of our training, it’s important to recover well. Here’s Sarah talking all about how to recover after running.