Things that happen when you run every day

If you’re worried about the effects of pounding the pavement too often, here are the things that happen when you run every day – good and bad.

When you love running, it’s only natural to want to commit to a streak. However, is running every day the best way to achieve your goals, and could it be damaging your body?

There’s no doubt that running is great exercise and, as Tanya Camilleri, group exercise manager of Reebok Sports Club, puts it, ‘It’s what we were born to do!’ Tanya highlights that ‘cardiovascular benefits are probably the greatest of all the benefits of running’, plus it’s a fantastic way to shed some pounds. So it’s not surprising to see why people might be tempted to lace up their trainers every single day.

Running away from stress

For lots of people running every day can help them to deal with the stresses and strains of life. Tanya explains, ‘There are strong links between running and meditation – running can be a great way to relieve stress, freeing your mind, reducing cortisol levels (the stress hormone) and releasing relaxing endorphins.’ Running for just a mile or two gives you time out, elevates your mood and helps you relax.

All of this makes running every day sound like a pretty attractive prospect, but should we really be clocking the miles quite so often? Coach George Anderson thinks that running every day isn’t the best idea. ‘While human beings are designed to run, they’re not designed to spend most of their time sitting down,’ he says. ‘The resulting tightnesses, weaknesses and imbalances mean that most of us aren’t biomechanically suited to running.’ Tanya shares

George’s reservations: ‘Injury among runners is very common. You need to be very careful not to overdo it.’ Run every day and you risk injury and being forced to take a complete break from running – which is something no one wants!

Making the commitment

There are some people who claim that making a commitment to run every day can be a great motivator. Maybe that works for them, but committing to do something every day can be demanding, and life isn’t always accommodating. George says, ‘When you set out to run every day, things become binary. You either ran today or you didn’t; skip one day and you’ve broken the pattern. This can be a motivational disaster, a bit like falling off the wagon with a diet.’

So, how often should you be running? Both Tanya and George agree that around three times a week feels about right. ‘Three days a week can give you the perfect balance of training progress without potentially-injurious overload’ explains George. One of the great things about aiming to run three times a week is that it’s an achievable target for people with busy lives.

The magic number

If you aim to run three times a week you’re not just giving yourself manageable goals, you’re also giving yourself the opportunity to explore other workouts, such as yoga and strength training, that complement your goals. As Tanya points out, if you’re trying to reshape your body, ‘running alone will not give you that toned look; you need to be hitting the weights as well’. The same goes if your goal is to improve as a runner: ‘If you can find 10-30 minutes a couple of times a week for a spot of body conditioning on your non-run days, this can help boost your fitness,’ says George.

How often you run is a personal choice, based on what works for your body and your lifestyle. However, there’s the sense that running day in, day out might not be the best way to train if you want to stay in love the sport and say injury-free. So mix things up, try something new and help yourself be the best runner you can be.

George Anderson’s 3 day-a-week ‘Intelligent Running’ programmes have helped thousands of runners successfully prepare for 10K, half marathons and full marathons. Find it here.