How long to do you rest between each run, and how long/far do you run each time?
Are there any recommended guidelines?
A few months; as long as I need to to capture whatever pet escaped or until I start wheezing and wondering where my inhaler is.
I was gonna say it’s been about 15 years now.
I run daily when it’s nice enough outside to run, and my normal mileage is anywhere between 4-10 miles depending on how far I feel like going and how much pain I’m in after the first 3 or so.
Every once in a while, some pain or another causes me to take a day off in between, but that’s usually all I need for recovery.
Things change in winter - I have a very hard time running on the treadmill for very long, and I seem to need a full rest day in between.
Since you’re asking for opinions, I’m going to move this to IMHO (at a brisk pace, but well this side of actually breaking into a run).
twickster, MPSIMS moderator
I usually run three or four times per week, with the goal of putting in 25mi/wk. I miss that goal quite often due to other events interfering with my running schedule.
If one of the runs is longer than 8 miles, then I probably will rest for a day before the next run. If a run was 12mi or more, then I usually rest two days.
In the spring and fall I run on the canal towpath through Princeton; in the winter and hot summer I run on the indoor track at the Y. Haven’t run on a treadmill in quite a while.
I run 4 times a week, rest day after my long run (12-18) and one other rest day depending on my schedule, plus at least on day of cross training. I limit myself to three days running in a row, usually 3-7 miles.
There’s no one way to do this. It also depends on your goal. I’m training for my first marathon so my schedule is rather predictable. What are you trying to accomplish?
Good going, Telemark! I’m training for my first half marathon here. Can’t quite wrap my brain around a 26 mile run yet.
Crowbar, I would just say listen to your body. If you run regularly, you already know it tells you when it’s ready for more and when it needs rest. Sometimes you need to tell your body to just shut up and take it, but if you’re not specifically training for a goal, then that won’t really come into it.
Check your pulse before getting out of bed. If it’s more than 10 beats high, you need to take the day off.
Your recovery rate is specific to you, find a pattern of easy/hard days you tolerate well but you should be able to run every day if you want.
Pretty much this, right down to the geography (we’ve probably passed each other on the towpath!)
I’m about to start training for my second half marathon and I’ll be running three days a week when I do. Outside of training I’ll run 4-5 days a week depending what going on in my life be generally only for a half hour at a time.
I usually run 4 miles twice per week, and one day swimming for 45 minutes. The goal is to be able to run a half-Marathon by October this year.
The issue I have now are my legs; My knees and hamstring, specifically. I do stretching and warm up, and am usually fine if I wait 3 days between each run, but anything shorter and I could feel pain in those area while walking. Do I keep running, or wait for it to go away?
(Anyway, I am 28.5 years old, male and weigh around 129 pounds)
This could be the subject of a whole other thread (in GD, for that matter), but you may be overstretching. Maybe experiment with cutting down on your stretching and warm up. My entire stretching routine takes about 30 seconds- calves and thighs while standing, one deep knee bend, a couple side bends- done. Warm up is a fast walk for about 100 yards before I break into a jog. I’ve stuck to this routine for about 15 years and 5 marathons and no injuries to show for it, other than generalized thigh soreness the day after a marathon. But I don’t know if there’s any way to avoid that.
I don’t stretch at all. I put my music on, grab a water bottle, step out the door and start running. I take it a little easy for the first mile, and then pick up the pace from there.
I do have a calf issue in my left leg, and it’s been causing a problem for me for a while. I can just push through it to finish my run, but then I can barely walk afterwards. I’m sure it’s something I’m doing, I just can’t figure out what. I’ve changed sides of the road, my gait to make sure I’m not favoring it, etc.
There are many good half marathon training plans. Since you have until October you have plenty of time to get you base down. I used Hal Higdon’s Program which was great for my first half. You might consider running shorter and slower runs more frequently now, until your body is able to build up tolerance for the workout. You shouldn’t need to wait 3 days between workouts - I suspect you’re working too hard.
Don’t keep running and just expect it to get better. It’s more likely to get worse. I’d recommend going to a sports therapist and have them check you out. How did you pick out your running shoes and did you have a gait analysis? You may need new shoes or orthotics.
I run three times a week. I’ve only been running for about 8 months, and I’m still building endurance – I’m able to run for close to 3 miles now, though there’s a little three-minute walking break in the middle. 
My plan is to run in my first 5K in March.
When I first started running, my knees started hurting, and I went to a sports-medicine doctor. I was afraid that I had arthritis (I’m 45, and it runs in my family, so to speak), but she found no evidence of arthritis. What she did find is that my muscles are extremely tight (“the tightest muscles I’ve ever seen”, in her words), and I was inflicting patellar tendinitis on myself while running, when my thigh and calf muscles would contract. The solution has been:
- Stretch every day (for about 10 minutes)
- Walk for 10 minutes before starting to run
Since I started that routine, I haven’t had a single problem with sore knees.
I started at 3 days a week (5 years ago). Now I run 6 days a week. For me, after work on week days, early morning on the weekend (for my long run). Overall, 45 miles a week on average though in reality it varies from 30-60 depending on where I am in a training cycle and what I’m training for.
How far depends on your current abilities. The general guideline I hear a lot, and generally trust is: don’t increase your mileage more than 10% a week. There are other variations but the idea is: build slow. If you ran 10 miles this week (say, 3, 3, 4) maybe next week try to add a mile (4, 3, 4).
Of course 10% of zero is zero and that doesn’t work very well
The other general guideline is build for 3 weeks (by no more than 10%. Less is ok too). Then the 4th week, cut back on miles. It’s an easier recovery week.
The Couch To 5K program is a nice one to start with. It has a good slow build up.
Other helpful bits:
Don’t run too fast. The number of eager new runners who run too fast and get hurt is pretty high. Being hurt is no fun. Your body needs time to build up support for running. I started at 13 minute miles. Very slow. It’s all I could do and be able to breathe fairly easily at the time. I can show you my progression chart if you’d like. My current half marathon race pace is far faster than my initial one mile race pace. You’ll get faster but it takes time. Years even.
Don’t be afraid to take walk breaks. For example: walk the first minute of every mile. Keep moving.
Be consistent. Make it a habit. At this point I’m noticeably cranky if I don’t get a run in.
Run with a buddy or two (human or non-human is fine).
It might work better for you to run 4 days a week and run less each day to start (2, rest, 2, rest, 2, 2, rest) and make one of the two’s a 3 miler after a few weeks. Then another one, then another, then make a 3 a 4… (2, rest, 3, rest, 2, 4, rest). I find that I feel better running less miles per day on more days better than big days with more breaks in between. That’s just me.
I don’t stretch before I run, but I do stretch a lot after my run. You might consider adding that.
I’d bet you have a (warning: medical jargon used in non-medical ways) muscle knot of some sort built up from, well, running.
Have you tried massaging your calf? Soap it up in the shower and use your thumbs and feel around. I bet you find a spot that’s very tender and painful. Give that a good massage. You’ll probably cry. People may think you’re being murdered. 
You can use a tennis ball or similar object as well.
I’m often found carrying “The SticK” into the office. People ask what it is. I tell them it’s a stick. (It is. It has a sticker on that says “The Stick”). You can buy it at many stores and from many sites. Shop around for a low price. Example link: http://www.amazon.com/Gill-Athletics-Original-Massage-Stick/dp/B000YDO1NA
I also have found the Trigger Point workbook (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1572243759/) very helpful in finding those painful spots. They aren’t always where the pain is (though for the calf, it is usually where the pain is). I’m not in to magic solutions and mystical stuff and am extremely skeptical. This book doesn’t strike me as very fru-fru. I also highly appreciate that while they “Trigger Point” system does sell special tools, the workbook actually suggest items around the house (see tennis ball I mentioned earlier).
I assume your calf loosens up as you run? Pushing through the pain every day is going to stop working some day. Please look at other options.
How cool is that!
Next time you pass by this ugly dude, give a shout out to a fellow doper.
(btw, I was half way through my run on the towpath, next to this familiar landmark).
I’ll have to check out those ideas, Mobius. Thank you. I took a couple of days off this week due to travel, and hit the treadmill this afternoon for 3 miles. No pain at all this time, so I’m hopeful that the few days off I had have resolved the issue. But if it doesn’t, I’m coming back to this thread