It’s the time of year when you are ready to commit to improving your running and getting faster. Many runners decide to commit to a “runstreak,” also known as: running every day no matter what. But is a runstreak good for your running goals, or can it actually be holding you back?

When Can A Runstreak Can Actually Help

A runstreak can have a lot of benefits to improving your running. By committing to running everyday, you will establish the habit of running and improve your consistency. If you usually struggle to get out the door for your daily run, a runstreak can be a way to make it a habit that you don’t miss.

Runstreaks also help improve your general aerobic conditioning. Every time you run, you improve your aerobic capacity, your running economy, and build more durable muscles and tendons. In general, increasing your running volume can improve performance—if it’s done correctly. (We break down how to find the right weekly mileage for you here.)

When A Runstreak Starts Holding You Back

Despite the benefits of committing to a runstreak, it can come to a point where it starts to hurt your running rather than help your running.

Every runner can handle different mileage and frequency of running. While some runners might be fine with a run every day, for others it may not allow enough time to recover between runs. This is going to be individual for everyone, so you need to be honest with yourself if a rest day during the week would benefit you more than trying not to break your runstreak.

Signs a runstreak may be hurting you:

• Persistent fatigue
• Lingering soreness
• Trouble hitting workout paces

Another instance that a runstreak can hinder your running is if you are sick or injured. It’s never a good idea to force a run through illness or injury. Fighting through a fever? That one mile slog to keep up your runstreak would have been better spent resting. Feeling a nagging injury? It’s better to take some time off to heal properly and return to running when your body is ready.

A runstreak can also push some of your running goals to the side. Let’s say you are training for a marathon, and your peak week includes a long run plus a big day of speed work. A day of rest or cross training may be programmed into your schedule to allow your body to adapt and absorb a big week of training. Running an extra day may get in the way of recovering enough to hit your workouts as intended. Don’t let a runstreak goal overshadow your other running goals.

How To Use A Runstreak Without Sabotaging Your Training

So should you ditch the runstreaks altogether? Not necessarily, but make sure you make the runstreak work for you and your running goals. Do a runstreak for a short, finite amount of time (example: a 30 day runstreak) to kickstart a routine and establish a running habit. Keep the intensity easy on most run days so that your body isn’t taxed, and vary the mileage of each run to ensure recovery.

Rules for a “smart” runstreak:

• Keep most runs easy
• Vary your daily mileage
• Set a finite timeframe

A good runstreak routine could be a 30 day jumpstart where you work on easy aerobic runs for some general conditioning. After the runstreak, transition to a more structured training plan that works according to your fitness level and lifestyle.

A runstreak can build consistency—but consistency alone doesn’t equal progress.

Are you chasing consistency, or are you training with intention? If you are ready to run with a structured training plan that works for your fitness level and lifestyle, we can help. At Fast Pack Running, we create custom training plans and personalized coaching for runners who want to reach their goals without guesswork. Learn more at fastpackrunning.com