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How Often Should You Run? Fitness vs. Performance

I have been running 2-3 days a week for a little over a year now and I feel like I am a fairly good runner.

But am I running enough?

I try to run for about 45-60 minutes both outdoors and on a treadmill with incline.

Is three times a week and different lengths good? Is it ok to walk a bit when running?

Thanks so much,
Carol

– Carol

Answer by Dominique: Hi Carol,
Thanks for your question. I like the consistency here — you've been running 2-3 times a week for over a year, and you're comfortably covering 45-60 minutes each time. That's a strong foundation.

Whether 2-3 runs a week is "enough" depends entirely on your goal. For general health and fitness, it's plenty. For 5k and 10k training, it's workable. But if you're chasing faster times, or building towards a half or full marathon, three runs a week won't get you there — you'll need more frequency, plus a genuine long run each week.

I'll break my response down as follows:

1. What's Your Goal?
2. Running for General Fitness
3. Running for Performance
4. Is This the Same as "Should I Run Every Day?"
5. About Walking During Runs

1. What's Your Goal?

To work out how often you should run — and whether your current routine is enough — start with your goal.

Some people run for general health and fitness. Others run for stress relief, or to enjoy the occasional 5k or 10k fun run. And some are training seriously for a longer event, chasing a specific time.

Your current routine — three runs a week, 45-60 minutes each — sounds like a solid foundation for health, and for enjoying 5k or 10k fun runs comfortably. Let's break down what that means for you, goal by goal.

2. Running for General Fitness

Guidelines here are fairly consistent: aim for around 150 minutes of moderate cardio a week, per the World Health Organization (WHO) and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s current recommendations. Walking counts towards that too, alongside running.

That's the minimum for staying healthy, or getting healthier. With three runs of 45-60 minutes, you're already at or above that threshold. With two runs, you'd land a little below it — unless you're adding other activity on top.

And that's the key point: running isn't your only lever. Cycling, swimming, a brisk walk — anything that raises your heart rate counts towards the same total. Two runs a week, plus some other movement, is genuinely enough for general fitness and health.

If that's your main focus, my running purely for general fitness and health page goes into more depth.

3. Running for Performance

Race plans change the calculus. In it purely for faster times? Then three runs a week is not enough. Don't get me wrong — 45-60 minutes per run is a fantastic base of fitness. But to get quicker, 4-5 runs a week is much preferred. More mileage builds more endurance, and more endurance builds more speed.

For 5k and 10k races, three runs a week is workable. It's not optimal, but you can race them reasonably well on limited mileage.

If you're targeting a half marathon, I'd strongly advise running more than three times a week, and adding a genuine long run to your routine. And don't get me started on racing a marathon on three runs a week — it's been done, sure, but more running would have meant a better performance, and a lot more enjoyment on race day.

Want to add mileage or extra sessions? Do it with care. Listen to your body, and build up progressively — see how to build mileage safely for the details.

Here's how the two-track answer breaks down, goal by goal:

4. Is This the Same as "Should I Run Every Day?"

This page answers one specific question: is your current frequency enough for your goal. That's a different question from three others I get asked a lot.

Wondering if you should run every single day? That's a separate call — see wondering if you should run every single day.

Trying to decide between adding distance to your existing runs, or adding another run day? I cover that trade-off separately — see should you add distance or add another run day.

And if you're weighing up the long-term picture of running daily, that's its own page too — see the long-term risks and benefits of running daily.

If what's really going on is declining performance rather than simply frequency, it's worth going deeper — run the full plateau/overtraining/undertraining diagnostic on my Improve Your Running page.

5. About Walking During Runs

Lastly, I'd like to dispel a quick myth. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having some walking breaks in your runs. It's okay, really!

My beginner running programs are all set up as run/walk programs. And, I'll let you in on a little secret: I sometimes do a bit of walking in my runs as well. I might be doing an interval session and after a particularly tough interval, I might just need a 10-20 second walk break to catch my breath again. That's fine.

And on my Sunday group runs we often do hilly trail runs, and on plenty of those hills we walk. Or we walk a bit because somebody is having a hard day. Nothing wrong with a bit of walking in your runs!

I hope this helps, Carol. Keep up the consistency, and keep building from here.
All the best,
Dominique

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