Running Everyday: Benefits, Risks, Safety Tips, and More

Running everyday certainly has various health benefits. Various studies have shown that running for 5-10 minutes a day moderately might help in lessening the risk of strokes, heart attacks, and such other diseases. However, some studies also show that these benefits elevate at 4.5 hours a week, which means that you are required to run daily for hours. As running is an impactful exercise, overtraining could lead to injuries like shin splints and stress fractures.

However, how many days it is safe for a person to run every week depends on their physical fitness level and goals. The training plan should include strength training, cross training, and rest. They might make you overall a healthier and stronger runner. Know more about the risks and benefits of running everyday along with some general tips that you can add to your running routine.

Is It Completely Safe to Run Daily?

Running every day might increase the risk of overuse injuries in a person. An overuse injury results from performing too much physical activity very fast without allowing your body to rest or adjust. This could even result from various technical errors, like overloading specific muscles and running in a poor form.

For avoiding overuse injuries:

• You need to ensure that you have proper running shoes and replace them often.
• Increase the number of runs gradually that you run every week.
• Warm-up prior to running and perform stretching after.
• Mix up your running with cross training like swimming or cycling.
• Perform running with proper form.

In case, you experience an injury, stop the training, and ask for a recovery plan from your doctor. For recovery, RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) could help.

When You Should Take Rest 

After you have decided that it could be beneficial to take rest days, schedule them strategically. The perfect rest days depend on which kind of runner you actually are and when and how much you usually run, and if you are training for some particular event.

If you run for long miles on weekends, for instance, Monday could be a nice rest day. In case, you are training for long-distance events, such as marathons and you perform long runs on Saturday, then take rest on Friday. In these ways, you get fresh legs and energy while hitting the trail next.

Please note that it is important for you to listen to the body. Whenever you feel like taking a rest day, you should take it. If you feel sore or fatigue, do not just think about reaching your goal. Pay attention to soreness and pain so that you could head off potential injuries.

Beginners

For beginners, experts suggest that they should not run over three or four days a week. Just run for 20-30 minutes on your running day and perform a non-running exercise on two days. Also, they should take one rest day a week. Once you have built the speed, aerobic capacity, and endurance, start adding more running gradually to the training.

Beginners may like to begin off running every other day. In this way, they get enough recovery time when they build a running habit. They could either take a rest day or perform other activities on their days off.

However, they need to remember that they should not make rest an excuse for not running. It is advisable to follow a consistent schedule if they like to reach their training goals and desired fitness levels.

Experienced Runners

In case, you are an experienced runner, it is better to take 1-2 rest days for preventing injury and recovery. Also, limit the total mileage up to 40 miles a week for reducing the risk of injuries, as a thumb rule.

Do Runners Require Other Exercise?

For runners, working on 1-2 days of cross training a week could help you in staying active on non-running days. This is when you do not rest completely and work certain muscles that you do not target usually throughout your runs.

The cross-training could help in boosting strength, balance the muscle groups, enhance cardiovascular endurance, and increase flexibility. Some great cross-training activities that runners could follow include:

• Strength training – This kind of workout includes employing resistance for strengthening muscles, usually by using resistance bands, machines, or weights.
• Pilates – This kind of cross-training aims at building strength and flexibility. Runners might find that this activity assists them in building a stronger core, which could help in the running form.
• Yoga – As yoga involves lots of resistance work and stretching, it could be a perfect way of enhancing your strength and flexibility.
• Swimming – As the impact is on your joints and feet while running, swimming offers the body a break when still giving an incredible strength workout and cardio.

Cross-training or training with other forms of exercise than running might be helpful to runners. Various potential benefits comprise:

• Engaging in diverse muscle groups
• Reducing the risk of an injury
• Increasing core strength and flexibility
• Helping recovery from injuries without sacrificing fitness level
• Providing a variety

In case, running is your primary form of exercise, take cross-training 1-2 times a week with Pilates, yoga, swimming, or cycling for experiencing the mentioned benefits. Also, you can opt for anaerobic activities like weights and strength training into the routine 1-2 times per week.

How You Should Run Every Day

Before you start running, you need to keep certain things in mind. Running is beneficial for all but repeated pounding on the legs without incorporating recovery days could increase the risk of burn out and injury. How often you should run could be determined by considering your running intensity, running length, and training. Every runner is diverse and based on their experience and ability level, the right answer to ‘how to run’ depends on various factors. Let’s have a look at how you should run every day!

Supplies

The things that you require for starting to run include a nice pair of running shocks and also socks. Runners might need an extra pair of shoes to alternate in case one gets muddy or wet. They will require sweat-resistance clothes, such as T-shirts and shorts. In case, you run in the early morning or at night, buy a light for safety or a reflective vest.

More is Not Better Always

All of us believe that more is always better. The more you work, you will get better results in return. However, that's not necessarily true. Most training courses emphasize the significance of recovery and enabling the bodies to adjust to training for gaining strength and reaping the rewards of your hard work.

Weekly Plan

As stated earlier, how much you run in a week depends on your fitness level and goals. For instance, beginners cannot begin off running on a daily basis as they are at a higher risk of injury or burnout but can run for 30 minutes on alternate days. They can go with the couch-to-5K to begin.

It could be quite challenging to fit in sufficient time for running daily or weekly. Thus, it is best to run in the morning before your day actually gets busy or run during lunch breaks. Watch out for running meetups or run clubs in your society for motivation and support. Perform short runs throughout the week and save longer runs for weekends when you can take more time out.

Meanwhile, experienced runners could plan for running every day. It is significant to schedule weekly training with a variety. For instance, one day per week they could perform a long run at their goal race speed. They could spend the other day on speed work. They can perform recovery or short runs 1-2 days a week. The rest of the days could be spent performing a hill workout, where they run up an incline for building up strength in their legs repetitively. Also, they can jog or run in a swimming pool for active recoveries.

Stretching

You do not require to stretch always before running. Runners could walk or jog a few minutes at a slower speed for warming up their muscles. After they have run, they should stretch out always.

General Safety Tips for Running Everyday

An overuse injury is often the result of performing too much, working too hard, or going very fast. In case, you run every day or most days, you need to keep in mind certain important things for reducing the strain on the body.

• Increase your speed or miles gradually – Taking a big jump in the way you run could lead to injuries or soreness.
• Pace yourself – Follow easy runs at a conversational, comfortable pace are a bit less stressful on the muscles and joints.
• Wear nice shoes – Ensure your running shoes have optimum safety and fit well. Purchase a new pair of running shoes if required promptly.
• Never skip cool-downs or warm-ups – On completing them, you will less likely to get an injury and feel a bit less sore
• Wear bright colors – Choose bright colors or reflective vests for wearing when you go for running early in the morning or at night.
• Select a running path – Look for well-lit, popular running paths or trails in your society or area.

Along with these safety tips, runners can even run laps on tracks or perform their speed work there. Also, watch out for sticks and branches while running on a trail. They could prove to be tripping hazards and could cause injuries.

Conclusion

So, running everyday for some minutes may benefit your health. It also has various other benefits. However, it is not necessary to run every day to enjoy these benefits. Remember that even experienced runners remain injury-free by making a schedule for cross-training and rest days. You may try low-impact activities like cycling and swimming on cross-training days for recovering and giving your running muscles some break.

If you are not sure how often you should exercise or if it is safe to begin running, then talking to your doctor is the best idea. They could recommend some physical fitness programs, which could be appropriate for your fitness level and age.

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