I know you’re not supposed to lift weights everyday, but I’ve never ran on a regular basis, so should I run everyday? More importantly, should I run everyday when I’m first starting out? Right now my legs are sore from running last night so I don’t know if I should run tonight or wait until tomorrow night.
I would say to listen to your body and take a day off.
Your body still needs the “rest” or “recovery” days. When you’re starting, those can (even should) be complete days off. Later, you can run (nearly) every day, but you still need to keep the easy runs in there. I run 5 or 6 days a week, with sometimes a swim or bike ride on my off days; every other day is an easy day. I’ve never, even in college, been a 7-day a week runner.
You might want to check out Runner’s World online, especially their section for the new runner.
Good luck.
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All the sources I’ve seen strongly recommend taking rest days, especially when you’re starting out. Once you’ve been running for awhile, you’ll figure out what is best for you. If I run more than four days a week, I seem to be more likely to be injured or to catch a cold. Another idea is to alternate weight training days and running days, but you still should probably take at least one day off a week. There are people out there who run every day without problems, but you won’t see any fitness benefits to that. I recommend that you read books/articles by coach Jeff Galloway for more on this. - Jill
No, training every day is not a good idea. I run triathlons, and I always make sure I have at least one (or sometimes two) rest days per week. Your body needs rest to recover from your workouts. Otherwise, you will be more susceptible to injury, burnout, and overtraining.
You will feel sore at first, but stick with it! The first couple of weeks are the toughest, it gets easier after that. After the first week or so, your body will be used to the running and the soreness will go away. You can run tonight, but stretch first and take it easy. There is no shame in jogging or even walking if you have to.
Here is a good training program for beginners that you might find handy, too. You might not want to enter a race, but it can help get you up to speed.
A good rule for beginners is LSD - Long, Slow Distance. In other words, it’s better at first to go 2 miles at a snail’s pace than kill yourself trying to do 1 mile as fast as you can. Once you get your legs in shape (remember to give them some recovery time, as previous posters mentioned), then you can work on increasing your speed.
as an addition to engineer_comp_geek’s recommendation…
I’ve had a few opportunities to get back in shape-following childbirth, illness, and injury. What works well for me is to give myself a time limit. This probably works best for me because I am stuck on my treadmill (torn cartilidge) but it would also work for anyone running on a track or a short loop.
I give myself a time goal rather than a speed or distance goal. I stay on my treadmill for that amount of time, doing whatever feels right. I might run, I might walk, I might do a combination of the two. As I get stronger, I tend to go faster (and, therefore, farther) but the time I invest remains constant.
Every body (literally) is different. As a beginner, don’t overdo it, get injured, and burn out. As somebody posted, listen to your body.
That being said, I run every day and I will be 65 in September. 25 years ago I did double work-outs every day (ran twice a day). Then, I ran marathons practically every other month. I also play a lot of tennis and have done triathlons and an ultra. The only concession I have made to age is that I usually run only once a day, but I do cardiotennis twice a week in the evening in addition to running six miles in the morning. And cardiotennis involves a lot of speed work. We do it on top of the Wellness Center, which has tennis courts and an outside track around the courts.
And you know what? I have [bold] NEVER [/bold] been injured; whereas, practically all the runners I know have been. I attribute that to weight lifting and stretching. Many runners don’t do either. Stretching is very important. Stretch after you run while your muscles are warm. The link to RW MB is very good. They have some bright cookies there. They even have a Master’s forum. 
That’s not to say that I’m hung up on any running streak. This Brit guy, Ron Hill, had some fantastic streak. He was once laid up in the hospital with a broken leg, IIRC, yet got up to run a little every day just to keep his streak alive.
I’m training for my second marathon (just a finisher, not a real competitor). I mostly run 5 days a week, 4 if I have a real long run, maybe 6 if they’re all short.
In thinking about how much to run, my advice is this; if you ever overdo it and injure yourself, you will regret it, you’ll think about how stupid you were, and you’ll suffer trying to recover the lost time (that is, if you’re training up for some event). But if you train successfully without injury, underdoing it, perhaps, you might be left wondering if you could have done better, but you’ll have no regrets.
I’ve been in both categories, and it’s much better to be in the latter.
Generally the experts, whatever they are, recommend a day off per week. This provides a day for your body to rebuild itself and all exercise does damage to the body somewhat so it needs some R&R. Not to get biblical here but even God took a day off after a six-day work out.
Yes, as was mentioned earlier, everybody and every body is different, and there also are exceptions to every rule so you might be able to get by without taking weekly breaks. When a doctor friend of mine, George Sheehan, some of you may remember him, was deep in the early throws of running, he once went over a year without taking a day off (everyone knows we runners can become obsessive). However, when he finally did start taking regular breaks, he found that his times improved as did his general feeling of health.
TV time brings up a good point. Rest is not just a matter of taking a day off to prevent injury, it’s also a very important part of your training regimen. Studies have shown that the fitness level of people who run every day improve slower and plateau earlier than those who take scheduled rest days.
Hi, Kelley. What marathon are you training for now?
Cisco, you got some good advice here. However, at my age I’m not going to improve and even if taking a day off a week would results in better race times, I wouldn’t do it. My experience with Saturday races is that I race them better NOT taking the day before off. Another runner in my age group always takes two days off before a big race and one day in the others. (He always beats me
In determining your running schedule, you must establish your goals. Do you want to run just for fitness? Then 3 days a week for at least 20 minutes will suffice. 30 minutes is optimal. I’ve read that after you run for 30 minutes, any additional fitness gains are incrementally small. OTOH, if you want to be competitive, you not only have to run more but you have to do speed work. So, to answer your question, one must know your goals.
Hey Barbitu8, I’m entered in the Country Music Marathon, Nashville, 27 April.
After my 1st, I just couldn’t let the running go, so I’ve tried to keep up the mileage. I’ll probably give the long distance a rest after this, though.
Good luck, Kelley, and have a merry St. Patrick’s Day.