How many times a week should you run?

How many times a week should I run a week?

The big questions, what do I need to do to get fit, to run faster, to run a marathon?

https://youtu.be/Q6mk78Pdvlo

Basic science is you need to be training at least 3 times a week to improve, and increasing load or intensity by 7-10%

Most runners whether you are training for a first 3k or ultra marathon 3 times a week is enough running, those that have run for years and don’t get injured regularly can get away with 4 times.

These runs should be your quality runs, the high priority runs, where you are running to improve you speed, distance or hill running, and you want to run them feeling pretty good to do them justice and this is why you don’t want to spend other easy runs out there just making up time on legs and potential higher risk of injury.

This is where cross training comes in, in stead of breaking and wearing your body down with 5 runs a week doing the same speed, do 3 quality runs a week then work on the areas of focus individually.

Speed - anaerobic do bike sprints or plyometrics or skipping

Endurance - do strength work for the muscles or longer ride on the bike, or pool, or aqua jogging

Hill work - is power, so plyometrics, explosive strength work, hiit training, aqua jogging or power work on the bike

By mixing it up you are also keeping it interesting, so you probably want to work harder in the session plus the body is getting to recover from running.

The key to quality runs is doing them when you feel best to get the most gains, so you may have to adapt your training program to suit, if you are finding your legs are always heavy or you are lacking energy on your planned run days, do less or have a rest day prior. This especially applies to the speed and hill sessions, the long run is about building leg endurance so semi tired legs can be a benefit.

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