How Often Should You Run ?

How Often Should You Run ?

1.5 billion people make resolutions every year.

But, from that less than 1% stick to the resolution. One of the main reasons that many quit is because they feel overwhelmed without training or wrong training. 

So, this year is another opportunity for you to be part of that 1% who can keep up the resolution. 

As a new runner you probably have many questions. How often should you run? How many rest days is too many ?

So in this article, we’ll show you how often you should run from being a beginner to becoming a professional. 

By the end, you’ll be more confident and start preparing for the marathon that you were dreaming of. 

Starting running puts stress on your limbs, making injuries like knee pain and ankle sprains more common.

So you’ve made a resolution, gathered the necessary gear to start running, and now you need to start doing it. Eeeeek !

Terrifying, right !

I had the same fear when I started running a few years ago. 

Now with my experience and discussing with many runners, we have discovered that 3 factors impact your running frequencies. 

What is your goal ?

So when starting a new resolution to run, you need to know what is your end goal to run ? There are many end goals for you to start running. 

For example, to loose fat, to participate in a marathon, to meet new people etc. 

The best way to figure this out is by asking a couple of questions. 

What is my purpose to run ?

What do you want to achieve ? 

Once, you’ve figured out this question. Next you need to know what is your time availability or how much time you can allocate for running from your daily life. 

When you decide on your time availability, list out all your current activities in a day and find a time that you can carve out for running. Depending on how much time you can allocate for running your running frequency will also change. 

The last factor is you need to know if you have any injuries that will affect your running. This will be any knee injury or ankle sprains that can affect your running capabilities. 

There is not right or wrong answer. Only you know what your commitment and body conditions is to start running. 

Okay, so to review, the three things that you need to think about before you start running are your goals, time availability and injuries if any. 

Once you have figured out your factors, enter into our framework called “10-20-30 Runners Triangle” 

If you’re an absolute beginner to running - 

In this framework 10 represents 10 mins, 20 represent 20 mins and 30 represents 30 mins. 

If you’re an absolute beginner start wil 10 mins on your first week, 20 mins for your 2nd week and eventually when you are comfortable extend it to 30 mins on your 3rd week. 

And for the week start with 3 days a week. 

If you want to continue in the same pace, repeat this cycle. 

But if you want to improve your level and frequency. 

Add one more day to your running routine. You can 10-20-30-30.

If you want to 5 days in a week, then you can do something like 10-20-30-30-30.

If you doing 30mins is challenging, reduce the time to 10-20-20-20 for rest of the week. 

Leave a rest day after 3 days, or leave 2 days rest after 5 days. 

So it could be M-T-W-0-F-S-S-0 

Or it could be M-T-W-T-F-0-0. 

Keep your speed consistent on all days. 

If you’re wearing a smart watch when running, measure the data, look at the analytics and understand them and continue to make revisions as needed. 

Keep it simple so it motivates you to keep consistency. The goal is to run consistently without burning you out.

 

 

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