Running is a great sport. You can improve your performance by increasing mileage. However, there is an upper limit to how much you can increase your mileage before you start seeing negative effects.
Your body needs time to recover after running. Running too quickly and too much can cause injuries.
You will experience fitness breakthroughs if you safely increase your mileage gradually. How much you increase your mileage depends on how much you already run.
If you run 15 miles a week, you can move from 15 miles up to 25 miles per week. From 30 miles per week up to 40 miles per week, and even from 40 to 50 miles per week, you will become a faster, stronger runner, but this doesn’t mean every runner will thrive at 50 miles per week.
For many, this will be too much on their bodies.
We’ll discuss some factors to determine exactly how many miles you need to run per week.
How Far Should I Run on My Very First Run?
Running is great exercise. Start slowly, and ease into it. Don’t try to do too many miles right away. Keep it simple. It’s not about how far you run at first. Just start slowly and gradually build up your distances.
But, the fact you have started running is a great positive!
Balance Your Intensity
Running easily helps some people recover faster from certain aches and pains. You can try to run a lot of my miles at a lower intensity.
Running harder means running less often. Even elite athletes train within their limits. Recreational runners should aim to run 30 minutes to an hour at a time, 3 times per week.
Goals of The Runner
Running is an activity enjoyed by millions of people around the world. People who love to run tend to exercise regularly, and some even run marathons every year.
Some people run for fun, others run competitively, and still others run for fitness. Most people who run choose to run for a certain amount of time each week. You need to know how far you want to go before you begin training.
If you’re going to run in a race, you’ll also need to know how fast you want to run. Set little goals along the way. This way, you can keep track of where you need to improve and notice results that will positively impact your mental health!
Fitness Level
Running is a great sport that requires lots of stamina and endurance. You need to start slow and build up endurance before going fast. Running is an exercise that should begin slowly and gradually increase over time.
Other Exercise Activities You’re Participating In
Running is great for cardio, but cycling is better for endurance because it uses more muscle groups. Swimming is great for endurance as well, but requires an entirely different set of muscles.
Other sports such as tennis or soccer use different muscles, too. Combine some of these or all to get the maximum benefits.
To Lose Fat Consider Three Miles a Day
Three miles a day is the magic number to burn off body fat. Running three miles per day helps you lose weight.
You can eat delicious yet healthy meals while running three miles daily. To improve your health and lifestyle, you can download certain health apps such as BetterMe to keep track of your fitness.
Build Endurance
Running slowly builds endurance, but running fast doesn’t help much. To run safely, you should start out slow and then speed up as you go along. You need to be careful when you’re going too fast because you could injure yourself.
Training For A Marathon: Focus on Quality Over Distance
Your goal is to increase your speed over longer distances without losing efficiency. You should be focusing on short, fast workouts. Running long distances is actually inefficient because it takes too much energy.
Should You Run Every Day?
Running every day is not advisable because your joints and muscles need time for recovery. You should alternate between high and lower mileage days. Rest days are just as important as running days to let your body recover.
Benefits of Running 3 Miles a Day
Burning Calories and Losing Weight
Weight loss is a common reason why people run. Many people have great success with this. To lose weight, you need to have a calorie deficiency on your daily diet too.
This means you need to burn off more calories than you consume. A daily log or an app called MyFitnessPal helps you keep track of what you ate and what you burned off.
Track your first few runs and use a calorie calculator to figure out how many calories you burned.
Reduction and Prevention of Many Health Risks
Running can help prevent knee pain and protect against other diseases. You get more exercise than usual when you run, and your body adjusts to running very quickly. This makes your legs stronger and gives them an excellent workout.
Studies show that regular exercise can help improve your immune system, increase cognitive function, and reduce the risk of many types of cancers.
Running is Stress Management
Exercise helps reduce stress by releasing endorphins into your body. This reduces pain and makes you feel more relaxed. You can also get away from people and focus on yourself.
Running gives you time alone with your own thoughts or music. Running helps people get their thoughts together and clear their head.
Many run when they need to think about things or get away from people who make them angry. Some also run during the day and after work when they are feeling stressed to calm their mind.
How Can I Build Up the Number of Days I Run Per Week?
Running coach Jeff Gaudette says that if you want to try a running day, do it during an off-week instead of before a big race. This gives you the chance to try out something new without disrupting your normal routine.
Also, test it before starting a new workout program.
You may be tempted to skip this workout because you think you’re too tired to exercise. But doing something new could make you feel more confident in your fitness level.
You should maintain the same frequency after a few weeks. But if you notice signs of overtraining such as fatigue or slower performance, scale back the mileage. Increase it by adding a mile every two weeks.
Then increase it even more by adding short bursts of faster running.
Final Thoughts
If you are unsure on how many miles to run per day, then you need to weigh up what your goals are as a runner. If you are aiming to lose weight, then 2-3 miles, 5 days a week is a sufficient amount of exercise to reach this goal.
However, if you are aiming to run marathons then you should be upping the distance and the intensity of these runs.
For the first year, I wallowed in my feelings and gained 50 pounds as a result. The next year, with the help of a professional or two, I began working on myself and seeing changes.
Surprisingly enough, I found running to be my main source of comfort in such a trying time. I began running once a day for five minutes, working up to 10, then 20, 30, 40 - until I was running for an hour each morning.
Running started my day off right and on the days where I ran, I found that I was more likely to excel in work and have a better day mentally.
So, that is why I have created Run In The Sun. I want to make your running journey as easy as possible so that you can feel these benefits too. I promise you, it will be so worth it!
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