How often should you run in a week is a common question that all runners ask themselves at every stage of their running life. The frequency of runs is one of the three fundamentals of running besides the distance you should run and the pace you should run.

A Very Common Mistake

For most beginner runners, they tend to make the mistake of thinking that more runs in a week can help them improve faster. This is not only wrong but dangerous because they can cause injuries easily due to insufficient rest.

So, How Many Runs Should You Run?

For most beginners and even serious runners, three to four runs per week should be the most ideal. This is because there should be a balance between rest and runs to ensure that your body and muscles get enough time to recover. Rest is crucial to any kind of physical training, so it goes the same for running. In this case, three to four runs per week is the perfect balance to make sure you can improve your runs at a consistent pace. Rest is important but do not rest too long, the longer you pull off running, the harder you find yourself to get back into it!

What Can I Do On Rest Days?

Rest days are equally important to runners even though you are not running. These are days for your leg muscles to rest and recover. However, you should definitely try other cross-training one to two times a week on your rest days to work on the other aspects of your body. You can consider other exercises such as yoga, swimming, cycling, weight lifting and many more. Cross trainings are not necessary but they can help a runner to train other muscle groups other than the legs. One more crucial point to take note, do remember to dedicate at least one day a week to a complete rest day whereby there is strictly no workout. This one day is important to let your body be at total ease so as to avoid injuries and burnouts.

Running Every Day?

For those professional or very serious runners, they are able to run every day because they have had rigorous trainings to do so. The most common reason runners run every day is to hit a certain mileage goal they set for themselves. For most people who have work and other commitments, running every day can be a challenge. And not to mention, it is too risky because your body needs the rest to recover.  

All in all, how often should you run in a week? Three to four runs per week should be the optimal for most runners, with a couple of cross training thrown in for good measure. Not forgetting the one day of complete rest to give your body the recovery it needs.

There will be days where you don’t feel like running at all but trust me, it is often days like these where you will have one of your better runs. How many times do you run in a week? Please share with me by commenting below.

Cheers and Start Running Today