Is it safe to run 100+ miles per week in training, or is there a number above which it becomes unhealthy?

Question

Dr. Jordan Metzl, MD · Answer

Ed, it's a great question. Thanks for asking. Is it safe to run 100 miles plus per week? And the answer is that I love running, and I love my patients to run all the time. But running is a different thing for every single person. Some people are built to run 100 miles a week, some people are built to run 15 miles a week, and there's not a one size fits all. So my main advice on how much running is healthy for you is, number one, building up too quickly is not great. So you want to build up your base over time. We call that something the acute to chronic workload ratio. And if your acute to chronic workload ratio is skewed, meaning you're trying to load in too many miles too quickly, you'll get hurt. So you don't want to start at 100. You want to start slow. And then in pre, you want to recognize what kind of body do you have. Do you have a body that can hold up to a lot of miles? What are your hips like, your knees? What about your stride, your strength? There are so many factors we think about when we talk to people about keeping them running healthily. So I'd like for you to think about all those things. And those are things that somebody like me will look at and try and figure out when you come see us. So there's not a one-size-fits-all. Listen to your body. And if you're getting hurt a lot, meaning if you're hurting all the time, you definitely want to look at the things that you need to start thinking about changing. And I'm sure I'll talk about those in the questions ahead.

Dr. Katherine Wojnowich, MD · Answer

Is it safe to run 100 miles per week in training? So this is a great question. And the truth is that this is such an individual question. And so every person's body is different and there are some people who really are able to train 100 or 150 miles a week and not get injured, and there are other people where their body has a different threshold. And so I think the most important thing is really understanding a couple of factors that can reduce your risk of getting injured. And so starting gradually, starting with running maybe every other day. And a typical progression that we talk about is maybe trying to not increase your workload by more than 10% to 20% a week. And so if you're going to start running with a goal of running 100-plus miles a week, you may start at 3 or 4 miles 3 or 4 days a week and gradually build from there. The other thing that's critically important is that running is an excellent cardiovascular activity. I'm an avid runner. I ran long distance in college for my collegiate team, but it can't be the only thing that you do. And too often runners are really negligent about doing their cross-training. I mean, certainly I think we've gotten better as we thought more about it but you can run safely for longer if we pay more attention to all of those smaller supporting muscles that work to stabilize your body as you're running. And so it is critically important that we're focusing on good core control and good pelvic control and making sure that we're addressing any biomechanical factors because over time, those things are going to lead to injuries. And so there's really not a like yes, 100 miles is safer. No, it's not. It is such an individual question and it's really related to how you run and who you are. And so I think, certainly if you're up there and running 8 and 10 miles and beyond that and feeling well, then it probably is safe for you. If you're getting injured and you're getting stress fractures, then I think we need to reevaluate and make sure-- see if that's the right kind of activity or if there's something else that might be better.

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"Is it safe to run 100+ miles per week in training, or is there a number above which it becomes unhealthy?"