Running 7 days a week

Depends on your goals anything over 50-60 I really struggle to get done in 6 days but if you can handle it go for it and take your day off. It just depends on what you can handle while avoiding injury.

hogspowder45 wrote:

Is it best to run 7 days a week and simply incorporate plenty of easy runs or is taking a rest day each week and occasionally two rest days better? Wondering for 5k training.

if you run enough milage I see no point in having complete rest days. Rather do recovery days with not too long easy runs. Even a short easy run is better recovery than no running when you are used to running daily

Days off are addictive. So I run every day first thing in the morning. If my body needs a day off, I run just 1 mile. Being in the daily habit makes it much easier to get my mileage way up, when I want to. Otherwise, trying to cram it in, in 5-6 days gets hard. I’ve been doing this over a year now, haven’t missed a day and my running is so much better.

Exactly !

I tried to run every other day at a time I just wanted to maintain running and do other stuff, but the mental efforts to go running after a day without was so much higher than having a daily routine so I fully agree !

I run about 6 Days a week, but I do 2-3 doubles. My body needs the rest. But my day off isn’t spent on the couch. I try to stay active.

All them BYU boys (and I suppose the girls too) run just six days a week and they seem to do ok. If they ran 7 days a week would they be even better?

Just Say'n wrote:

All them BYU boys (and I suppose the girls too) run just six days a week and they seem to do ok. If they ran 7 days a week would they be even better?

Active recovery is both proven and experienced to be better than passive recovery. So if the boys and girls train so much they need to recover as much as possible the 7th day, they are better off being active that day too, than taking a day off. In case they really are just inactive, the answer is yes, in case they are active enough for recovery, but do not log it as training, there will be no difference.

GettingFasterDude wrote:

Days off are addictive. So I run every day first thing in the morning. If my body needs a day off, I run just 1 mile. Being in the daily habit makes it much easier to get my mileage way up, when I want to. Otherwise, trying to cram it in, in 5-6 days gets hard. I’ve been doing this over a year now, haven’t missed a day and my running is so much better.

I think 1 mile run is a good idea. I feel more tired on my day off, and I tend to binge eat on that day, not sure why though.

Jon Arne Glomsrud wrote:

Active recovery is both proven and experienced to be better than passive recovery. So if the boys and girls train so much they need to recover as much as possible the 7th day, they are better off being active that day too, than taking a day off. In case they really are just inactive, the answer is yes, in case they are active enough for recovery, but do not log it as training, there will be no difference.

Guess this is not true in all cases. There are some healing processes which cure better if you rest.

The problem with running is the high impact on the body.

If you run again on the 7th day, the body has no chance to recover from the impact on muscle, tendons and bones. Also a lot of pros, also in cycling, do train only 6 days/week.

Also a pro of one rest day is that you get hungry again do start running the day after. You get a psychological break of the routine ...

To paraphrase Joe Vigil: You eat seven days a week. You drink (hydrate) seven days a week. Why not breathe (run) seven days a week?

No rule without exceptions. For mental matters, it is different. I get lazy and flat feeling without using the legs one day. Recovery does not need to be running, so low impact cross-training is an option that both recovers well and gives muscular healing better than running.

Better to run 7 days a week with decent mileage. Fine to take an off day here/there when you need it but the body does well just running easy in between hard sessions.

It depends. As a master in my forties, I've found that a couple of days off work better for my recovery. In my active day I run mostly steady/hard. I don't run marathons and ultras anymore. If you're younger trying to run every day makes most sense.

This is a great question actually. I always assumed that doing 5 days training and 2 rest days to with active rest such as stretching and yoga was best. Has anyone else found this helps? Especially if you're dealing with an old injury too!

karenburton1305 wrote:

This is a great question actually. I always assumed that doing 5 days training and 2 rest days to with active rest such as stretching and yoga was best. Has anyone else found this helps? Especially if you're dealing with an old injury too!

Yes i did it 5 days/week and you can get a good performance on a healthy way i would say. This is what i have done basically my whole life. Not in running but in another kind of sport were i had success on an amateur and local level.

Now i try 6 days running (instead of 5) with almost 50 years to ramp up my milage a little bit :)

So 5 days is great too, but i believe if you get very fit and even better, for a further improvement a 6th day is required, becasue you recover so quickly that you would miss a training opportunity in that rest day ... Any professional has a least 6 days/week.

Maybe for older guys 5 days/week are better, because recovery time is longer. So lets see ...

Now that I'm older, my weekend routine has become Saturday morning long run & Sunday off. Gives me a mental break and makes my weekend feel longer. Who knows if I would be more fit running every day. I don't really care anymore.

There is a religious aspect to this that is more important than training benefits for some. That is keeping the Sabbath Day Holy and resting on that day. I do think it good for the mental break though and helps a person to not be obsessive over training.

blamb61 wrote:

There is a religious aspect to this that is more important than training benefits for some. That is keeping the Sabbath Day Holy and resting on that day. I do think it good for the mental break though and helps a person to not be obsessive over training.

Comes with a promise:

Isaiah 58:13 ¶ If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

hot summer wrote:

Now that I'm older, my weekend routine has become Saturday morning long run & Sunday off. Gives me a mental break and makes my weekend feel longer. Who knows if I would be more fit running every day. I don't really care anymore.

I do this too as an older runner and really enjoy the feel of a longer weekend. Not quite sure why it feels longer just to get a couple hours back because I fill it up with other things—maybe just because it's a different track from Saturday. It feels luxuriant.

Another option if you need the rest but are not so creaky is to do a 10-day week, where you rest on the 10th day. I think because it's not a weekly thing, one is less likely to just keep taking days off whenever.