Running 7 days a week bad? (Read 142 times)

In and of itself, no it's not bad.  It's how you run those 7 days that makes a difference.  Look at your HS schedule closely. Every other day you were running only 2-3 miles for recovery, not much more than a good warm up at your fitness level then.  But now, running 2-3 miles may be a major workout for you, so your recovery may need to be a complete rest day, hence running only 3-4 days a week.

 

No. The number of days or workouts isn't the driver of injury risk: having a mismatched between workload, capacity to handle the workload and its stimulus, and recovery is the driver of injury.

I loved my recent physical therapist in terms of knowledge. Probably one of the best I've ever worked with. But the one thing I just disagreed with her on was that no rest days increased injury risk. She was vehement that you need rest days to recover, and said 7 days of running per week was guaranteed injury.

If you wanted to run 140 miles over a 2 week period (70 per week), I think most people would feel they're at a much lower risk of injury by running 10 miles every single day for those 14 days than 20 miles every other day. Almost every runner you hear who switched from singles to doubles say they recover faster.

Long story short - 7 days in and of itself is not overtraining. Milktruck said it perfectly.

I run 7 days a week. That said, I intentionally have one day that is only 1-2 miles at easy pace and one day that is no more than 5k at most at easy pace. Some people find they get injured if they don't take full days off running each week. I haven't had to take time off for injuries in my current streak and it's been going for quite a while. 7 days a week is bad for some people and pretty good for others.

OK thanks for the advice. If I did eventually get up to 7 days week, but kept mileage low each day wouldn't be that hard on my body. Right now I am at around 10 miles a week running mileage and started last month adding back in weight training with back/front squats and heavier weights along with cross training in some cycling/ elipitcal work. Right now I run 3 days a week and follow a lifting routine I have loved since a kid which is Arnold Swartzenegers 3 day bodybuilding split, same routine I used when I did cross country in High School. In high school I ran 7 days a week and did a lot of back/front squats with weights, back then I was critized by my cross country coach for doing  squats....bad for knees he would tell me.. but it never seemed back then to effect my knees much. I also throw in a day or two of cycling / eliptical.  I might eventually work up to more then 4 days a week of running, maybe 5 or 6 or even 7. I want get my weekly miles eventualy up to 15-20 miles.  I am trying to lose more weight, though since started weight lifting again sticking at 200 lbs. My clothes are getting looser though on my body, shrunk down from a 38 to a 36 inch waist size pants can fit into now and my poundage in my lifting has been increasing so maybe I am replacing muscle with fat... I wish   70 more pounds to lose.

I am trying to lose more weight, though since started weight lifting again sticking at 200 lbs. My clothes are getting looser though on my body, shrunk down from a 38 to a 36 inch waist size pants can fit into now and my poundage in my lifting has been increasing so maybe I am replacing muscle with fat... I wish   70 more pounds to lose.

I think what's important is your goal/motivation.  If weight loss is the core goal, then I would not advise increasing the number of running days.  At least not immediately.  If you wanted to, I'd recommend doing it naturally over a longer period of time.  What's most important is your consistency across all your activities.  I would not risk a setback (which can happen if you increase training load too quickly).

If your goal was to improve your running, then I would advocate for more easy miles and more total days... but that is not your primary focus at this time.  Keep at it!

Just my $0.02

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