Should I run every day?
Not as a beginner: three or four runs a week gives most of the benefit, and the injuries come from the jumps in load, not from the rest days.
Daily running works for experienced runners because almost all of it is slow and short. Run streaks go wrong when every day has to be a real session.
If you want to run more often, add the days before you add the distance, keep the extra runs genuinely easy, and leave the hard sessions at two a week. If something hurts for more than two runs in a row, take the day off; a run streak is not worth six weeks on the sofa.
Sources
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- Nielsen, R.O. et al. (2014). Excessive progression in weekly running distance and risk of running-related injuries: an association which varies according to type of injury. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 44(10). What goes wrong is the size of the increase, not the number of days.
- Muñoz, I. et al. (2014). Does polarized training improve performance in recreational runners? Int J Sports Physiol Perform 9(2). Recreational runners who kept most of their time easy improved their 10 km more, which is what makes frequent running survivable.
- Paluch, A.E. et al. (2022). Daily steps and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis of 15 international cohorts. Lancet Public Health 7(3). For health alone, daily movement counts; it does not have to be running.