Running Every Day... What do I need to watch?
November 14, 2013 12:58 PM   Subscribe

Basically, complete the following sentence: “Now that you’re exercising all the time, you should_______________________.”

I'm challenging myself to run every day this month. Two weeks in, I love it, am not going to quit and am damn proud of myself. However, I’m going straight from not running much at all, to this constant exercise and I wonder if there is anything else in my life that I should be monitoring/adjusting besides hydration level? Protein? Iron level? Should I sleep more or less? Stretch more than just right after the run?

I really don’t want to get all obsessive about what I eat or when I sleep or anything. In fact, I’d like to avoid that at all costs, but I’ve been feeling pretty wiped out the past few days and I worry that it might be because I’m not doing something I should be.
posted by Calicatt to Health & Fitness (33 answers total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
Stretching is the biggie that can make the difference between injury/no injury. I've been advised to do it no less than twice a day when changing exercise levels. Especially the legs, obviously.
posted by fingersandtoes at 1:00 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


Make sure you're keeping your calorie level up to account for the extra exercise.
posted by Autumn at 1:02 PM on November 14, 2013 [2 favorites]


I would warm up rather than stretching--make sure you're walking plenty before you run to warm up those muscles. Also, yeah, protein! When I was running a lot I found that I had more energy, not less, so you may not be eating quite enough.
posted by chaiminda at 1:07 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


Every day? HELL NO. You need rest days so you can recover. At least one per week, preferably two or three, especially since you weren't working out regularly until recently. No wonder you're exhausted.

You're kicking ass and I'm seriously impressed, but resting is really really important.
posted by Metroid Baby at 1:09 PM on November 14, 2013 [27 favorites]


Consider using a foam roller to roll the IT band.
posted by 3FLryan at 1:13 PM on November 14, 2013 [5 favorites]


Every day? HELL NO. You need rest days so you can recover. At least one per week, preferably two or three, especially since you weren't working out regularly until recently. No wonder you're exhausted.

Agreed, but if you want to maintain your momentum, you could maybe go for a walk at your usual running time on the rest days.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:15 PM on November 14, 2013 [4 favorites]


Now that you’re exercising all the time, you should

...be sleeping better, and be able to eat whatever you want.

All that other stuff? No need to worry. And don't stop when your month is over.
posted by Rash at 1:18 PM on November 14, 2013


I agree with showbiz_liz. Now that you're running every day, half of your running should be walking.

Another good tip: if you ever find yourself changing your gait due to a pain or soreness or anything, stop. That's how little problems become big problems.
posted by telegraph at 1:31 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


Running every day is a bad idea. Even really serious runners that I know top out at five or six days a week. I'm assuming that you're not running all that fast because you're new at it, but you could still injure yourself. Try every other day, adding other lower-impact exercise on your off-days. (I swim on days that I don't run, but cycling or an elliptical machine are good options, too). After a month, you can ramp things up to two days on, one day off, two on, one off, etc.

I find that if I consistently run more than three days in a row, I strain a muscle and have to hobble back into things later.

Make sure you're keeping your calorie level up to account for the extra exercise.

You're probably not burning as many calories as you think you are. The reason a lot of people gain weight when they start exercising is that they assume they are burning a ton of calories when, in reality, the three-mile run I went on this morning probably only burned 250 calories. I am a small person, but even for someone heavier than I am, maybe 300 at the most? Just eat normally, healthily, and eat something small right after running. (I say small not as in "you should diet" but rather, eating a lot right after running can be a trip to barf-city).

In short: What should you do?

1. Don't run every day. Sorry, but that's a bad idea and I'm not the first person to say so.
2. Live like a normal healthy person.
3. Lots of calf stretches. And other stretches.
posted by ablazingsaddle at 1:32 PM on November 14, 2013 [4 favorites]


Listen to your body. You've set a great goal and it's awesome that you're getting there but if your body starts screaming, you might regret ignoring it. I think it's way healthier to run every other day and feel good than to run every day and hurt yourself.

Also, running for some reason lends itself really well to compulsive behavior. That's probably a strong word for it but it's not unusual for runners to be type A personalities who need to run a certain pace at a certain time of day every day and if anything comes in between them and their run, they freak out. There's nothing wrong with being a type A personality but try to stay mindful of what you're doing. If it hurts too much, back off.

If you don't like it any more, stop. I think a lot of runners also run every day and end up hating it because they got hurt and instead of letting an injury heal, they stubbornly run through it and now that tendonitis never goes away.

Basically, if at any point this month, you feel terrible and the idea of running just sounds totally awful to you, you have my permission, as a person you don't know on the internet, to take the day off. I'm still proud of you. And if you take a day off, you don't go back to square one. Good luck and have fun.
posted by kat518 at 1:35 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


I don't run every day, but I have settled into a cycle of walk-walk-run, so that I do a run every third day. I'm what the runners call a "Clydesdale" - 6'3" 230 lbf - and I like running, so I'm extra careful with my hips, knees, and feet. In my busy running times, I keep an eye on these parts, giving them a little more post-run strech when they are sore. If I think I will hurt a muscle or joint during a run, I swap it for a 20-30 minute walk to keep some exercise in the slot.
posted by jason6 at 1:36 PM on November 14, 2013


I'm going to take an unpopular position and say that running every day is fine. However, it is very important that you do most days at an extremely low intensity level. I would do no more than two challenging runs a week, which means that the other days need to be at a very slow pace, much slower than you are capable of. I know people who have running "streaks" that last for years! Personally, its not for me, but I think its ok as long as you make the effort level super-easy.

The only thing that I have to be careful of when my mileage gets high is to make sure that my salt levels stay reasonable because I sweat like a pig and if I don't eat enough salt I start to cramp up on longer runs.
posted by Lame_username at 1:38 PM on November 14, 2013


- eat more protein
- warm up beforehand
- stretch afterwards
- foam roller is your new bff
posted by elizardbits at 1:40 PM on November 14, 2013


Plenty of people do run every day (or nearly every day) and I think you're OK to continue if you're feeling good as long as you

-alternate hard/easy efforts (ie 2 miles one day, 6 miles the next rather than 4 every day); I wouldn't do more than 1-2 runs a week when you get above an easy effort/pace. Easy pace = conversational.

-watch for aches and soreness and stop if anything gets worse during a run or you feel any sharp pains

-Foam roll if anything is hurting more than usual (look up techniques on youtube)

-Get enough recovery nutrition after every run- carbs and protein, ideally in a 4:1 ratio of carbs:protein

There is some conflicting advice about stretching but dynamic stretching following a warmup of fast walking or easy running is generally considered to be a good thing-- drills of high knees/butt kicks/zombie walk can get your body ready for a harder effort.
posted by matcha action at 1:44 PM on November 14, 2013


You need to watch out for shoe wear. I used to be a big cheapskate about buying and replacing running shoes and I paid for it with PTTD and an ankle brace for three years. I put down $150 for a very supportive pair of shoes and can finally run without a brace again (yay!).

Watch out for increasing mileage too quickly--no more than an additional 10% per week I think is the general rule

Watch out for muscle exhaustion, as Metroid Baby said. Take a day or two off per week to rest your muscles, it makes injuries less likely.
posted by _cave at 1:46 PM on November 14, 2013


KNEES! Make sure you're doing everything you can to protect your knees. If they go, you won't be able to run anymore.
posted by amtho at 1:46 PM on November 14, 2013


I did a 30 day, run every day challenge this spring. It's totally doable.

Easy days are really important. Three days a week, I did really easy 15 minute runs.

Post run stretching became more and more important as the month went on. I had to really focus on stretching my hamstrings and foam rolling my IT band. I basically did hamstring stretches 8-10 times a day.
posted by advicepig at 1:50 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


Easy days are really important. Three days a week, I did really easy 15 minute runs.

Okay. I amend what I said earlier. If you take easy days, then sure, you can run every day. I just identify more with the compulsive runner who cannot bear to do that, though, so be careful!
posted by ablazingsaddle at 2:17 PM on November 14, 2013 [2 favorites]


I tend to need an extra hour or two of sleep for a few weeks when changing or intensifying my exercise routine, but things head back to normal once my body adjusts a bit.
posted by ktkt at 2:19 PM on November 14, 2013


There is a lot of debate about foam rolling your IT Band. It's not a muscle. Foam roll it if you want to, but if it never gives you pain, I say, just leave it alone. My policy on my IT Band is "it doesn't screw with me, so I'm not screwing with it."
I think foam rolling other parts [piriformis, glutes, calves, quads] feels good [well, feels so bad it feels good] so i do it. But science seems to not think it matters much.
posted by atomicstone at 2:25 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'm with amtho - take care of your knees by keeping your quads and hamstrings stong. You probably don't need anything fancy - I used to do walking lunges for a few blocks after a run, some calf raises, etc. Or complement it with yoga!
posted by Pax at 2:58 PM on November 14, 2013


I think the most important thing about running every day is that running every day does not become the goal but merely the means to some other fitness goal (weight loss, completing a race, a race time, general improved cardio health, etc.) If you're making a transition from not a lot of running to running every day make sure the mileage bump is still only around 10% max or so a week (I guess you can start around 10-15 miles a week but be careful).

Since you'll want to be on top of this I would start a running journal but do not be compulsive about it. There's no reason to write down times on easy days really, and you don't need much precision on your mileages more than say 1/4 of a mile (or half a kilometer). Also if you'd planned on running 20 miles in a given week, and it's Saturday evening and you're at 19, going out and running an extra ten minutes to meet that arbitrary round number goal will do nothing for your fitness and just waste ten minutes of your time. I'd recommend a celebratory beer in that situation because you planned on running about 20 miles that week and that's exactly what you did and good for you.

If you want to space 15 to 20 miles a week over 7 days I wouldn't say it's a bad idea, but you may get tired of changing in and out of running clothes everyday when your 15-20 minute easy runs could be combined with no ill effects.

I ran D1 cross country for four years and we'd run about 360 days a year, with about 2/3 of those days being 2-a-days, meaning there would be a 20-30 minute recovery run in the afternoon after a morning workout.

From that experience, make sure you're running on shoes that fit your gait: any running store clerk will be able to tell you if you pronate, overpronate, etc. Shoe companies do occasionally phase out shoes, but in general if you find shoes that work you will be able to replace them. Shoe replacement should be done every 300-500 miles. Your knees will signal when they are done. Do not ignore that signal or exceed 500 miles.

The scientific literature is mixed on stretching, but if you already do it and you think it helps keep doing it (personally I never thought it did much).

Rain is a crappy excuse not to run if you had planned on it and written it down. However if you don't deal with wet shoes, they will stink and stink badly. If it rains for say, five days, and you just leave you shoes out to dry you will have to seriously worry about eviction as those materials will get mildewy.

After a rainy run stuff your soggy shoes with newspaper (paper towels work almost as well but they are much more expensive). If they're really soaked pull out the wet paper after the initial stuffing and stuff them again with dry newspaper. Wrap the the stuffed shoes with more newspaper (ideally it will rain on Sunday). Overnight, your shoes will be completely dry and magically smell much better than before you ran the day before.

Ice is a FANTASTIC excuse not to run. Find a treadmill or schedule your running week around the potentially icy event. Depending on where you live snow might be a reason not to run (i.e. bad plowing, no plowing, crazy bad snow drivers, etc).

As other have said vary the lengths of your runs. Also vary the intensity. You can do workouts too, though I'd avoid the track for that. Some example workouts: [three minutes fast, one minute jog/walk] times five; [10 minutes swift, three minutes easy] times three; twenty minutes swift; [one minute very fast, one minute jog/walk] times ten. You could do up to two of those a week--just warm up before and cool down for at least five minutes each. Workouts will make you fitter much more quickly than just running at the same pace each time. Just be careful because they also will lead to injury more quickly.

Long runs should be done, but they should be no more than 25% of your weekly mileage. If you don't plan on racing I wouldn't put too much stress on what you do in any individual day, just that you do it if you feel like running that day and meet your goal mileage and don't exceed your goal mileage. If you do plan on eventually doing a 5k, Jack Daniels Running Formula is my favorite running book and the second edition has a great training plan for the couch-to-5k.

Most importantly have fun and congratulations on making an ambitious fitness goal.
posted by Luminiferous Ether at 3:01 PM on November 14, 2013 [3 favorites]


I've gone on run every day binges and it's been fine. (Oh, and I'm a big girl which puts lots of impact on these old joints and tendons.)

- Continue to cross-train. On your short run days, do yoga or pilates or strength or swim. Don't run to the exclusion of all other things.

- Vary your running. One day do some interval sprints. Another day run a hill. Some times go as SLLLOOOOOWWWW as you can go, but run with perfect form.

- Get enough sleep.

- Have fun. Running with joy is as important as running at all.
posted by 26.2 at 3:27 PM on November 14, 2013


Consider taking glucosamine. The cartilage in your knees will thank you.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 3:38 PM on November 14, 2013


Get enough sleep:
Rest is very, very important to athletes. Your ability to concentrate, your cardiovascular system, your muscles, and all the other things that run your system need sleep to rest, restore, and recuperate.

Don't add more than 10% each week:
There is some debunking of that 10% and various other ways to not add too much mileage, but the way to avoid injury is to not add too much too fast. I am training for my 10th marathon and have been running about 25 years injury free using this method.

Prepare for yucky weather and boredom:
How dedicated are you? I am very dedicated. I have little thingies I attach to my shoes so that I can run on icy roads. If you get something like that, get the lightest thing possible, otherwise it feels like you have lead on your feet.

I have little boots and coats for my dogs to wear because if I run and leave them at home, they won't speak to me for the rest of the day. I carry bear spray in case of loose pit bulls. I put my cell phone in a plastic bag on rainy days. I have a headlamp and flashy lights to wear in the dark. I carry snacks on the long runs. Do not do long runs without snacks. Snacks are very good for morale.

I listen to audiobooks instead of music. Music will drown out every other noise around you, but a book won't if you are using the right kind of headphone and keep the volume reasonable (though I don't worry since my dogs alert me to people or cars or loose dogs).
posted by AllieTessKipp at 3:59 PM on November 14, 2013


Consider not running everyday. It's not like you'll fall apart and die if you go ahead and run everyday- but keep in mind that every time you exercise you're basically injuring your muscles. That's how muscle building works. Many of the little fibers tear up when you work out and they heal only while you rest. Everytime your muscles heal they get stronger. If you don't rest they won't heal and therefore they won't be at their best/strongest. So taking a couple of days off a week from the same exercise is just a good idea if you want to reach physical fitness faster. Try another exercise that works on other muscle groups on your off days.

I'm a big fan of barefoot shoes because I feel they are much healthier for you, but if you're not ready for minimal footware running I would recommend zero drop sneakers or sneakers that discourage heel-striking.

I would also highly recommend purchasing some Potassium tablets at your local GNC or convenience store. They are great for muscle aches and for preventing as well as stopping muscle cramps and pulls. I don't get cramps often- only once or twice a year, but when I do get them I reach for my potassium tablets and the cramp is usually gone within 30 minutes. It's good to have around for emergencies. Bananas work ok too, but in my experience the tablets are way better.
posted by manderin at 4:02 PM on November 14, 2013


If your feet hurt or get achy, roll them over a tennis ball at night.
posted by rue72 at 4:33 PM on November 14, 2013


Better socks maybe. To help keep your toes dry so they don't cause friction with each other and blister.
posted by lakeroon at 7:29 PM on November 14, 2013


Make sure you're keeping your calorie level up to account for the extra exercise.
Make sure you are not overestimating your calorie burn. And sadly, running everyday (how much are you running, anyway?) is not an excuse for eating all you want, either.

The other piece of advice - get proper shoes. Act early if you notice any aches or niggles - better to skip a run than develop a full-blown injury. Have a goal - sign up for a race or attend a parkrun. Best thing I've ever done was to join a running club so you might want to consider that, too.
posted by coffee_monster at 4:12 AM on November 15, 2013


Make sure you're keeping your calorie level up to account for the extra exercise.

Unless you are training for a marathon or are already very thin, this probably isn't necessary.
posted by Pax at 5:16 AM on November 15, 2013


Running Every Day... What do I need to watch?
Watch this series of programs following British comedian Eddie Izzard as he completed 43 marathons in 51 days.
posted by rongorongo at 5:31 AM on November 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


Just like nutrition, the science of exercise isn't very precise, or at least the science that filters down to those of us just doing it casually.

does stretching really help? well, the science is mixed. If it seems to work for you, do it.

do you need to worry about what you eat now that you're running? probably not unless you were on a restricted diet already. If you need more food, you'll probably be hungrier. If you want to lose weight with the running, pay more attention to what you're eating too.

can you actually run everyday? sure, as long as you have some easy days sprinkled in there. Varying your workouts is a pretty good idea to keep from getting bored too, depending on how much time you're spent running.

running in pain is probably one of clearest things that can be bad for you. Easy runs with sore muscles is probably ok, but if your joints / ligaments / bones are hurting, rest is a better idea.

how much do your shoes matter? holy cow, the debate! from barefoot, to stride correcting. Find something you like, and go with it. I like padding with some stride correction. You may like barefoot. If you're trying some new shoes, be aware that you may get new soreness as your ankles and legs get used to them.

watch out for your knees? maybe, if you're heavy or already have stride problems. Otherwise it doesn't matter. Check with a professional if they start hurting though.
posted by garlic at 12:36 PM on November 15, 2013


In addition to previous foam rolling advice - you can also use tennis balls on specific sites of sore muscles. A foam roller can be kind of a commitment if you figure out right after that you hate it. Tape two tennis together and use it to roll out your spine and neck.
It hurts but ooh, it hurts so good!
posted by rubster at 7:31 PM on November 15, 2013


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