How high can my running frequency be?

[Slightlyaboveaverage]

I’ve started running since I don’t have consistent access to heavy enough weight to follow any real kind of strength programming.

My question is how often can I run and still see benefits from the frequency? Currently I have garbage cardiovascular fitness, so I run about 3km in the morning and it takes me 30 minutes - i’m slowly creeping upwards. By the time night time roles around i’m wondering if I could just go for another run.

I don’t want to increase frequency if it won’t lead to faster results, I only want to do it if it’s actually beneficial.

Basically, will doing 2 runs in one day give me the same adaptations as doing 2 run over 3 days? I don’t have much knowledge in regards to how your cardiopulmonary system adapts to training, specifically how long it takes for adaptation to occur after a bout of exercise.

[philibusters]

@Slightlyaboveaverage

I’ve started running since I don’t have consistent access to heavy enough weight to follow any real kind of strength programming.

My question is how often can I run and still see benefits from the frequency? When you are starting out of shape, you don’t need to have much frequency to improve. Its a bit like lifting where very little lifting will improve somebody starting from scratch. 1 or 2 runs a week will improve you. In terms of frequency/volume, unless you went crazy and start training for running like a sport, you are unlikely to run so much that you stop making aerobic gains by running more as long as you increase incremently (though the gains would get smaller and smaller). However, you could realistically hit a point fairly quickly where the wear and tear on your body and muscle fatigue more than outweigh the aerobic benefits you are getting. Currently I have garbage cardiovascular fitness, so I run about 3km in the morning and it takes me 30 minutes - i’m slowly creeping upwards. By the time night time roles around i’m wondering if I could just go for another run.

I don’t want to increase frequency if it won’t lead to faster results, I only want to do it if it’s actually beneficial.

Basically, will doing 2 runs in one day give me the same adaptations as doing 2 run over 3 days? I think it would, but if you didn’t run again for 3 days you may start to lose some of the adaptions. I don’t have much knowledge in regards to how your cardiopulmonary system adapts to training, specifically how long it takes for adaptation to occur after a bout of exercise. I believe the adaptions at the cellular level occur quicker for running than lifting. If I am going to run and lift the same day, I will run in the morning, lift in the evening because I feel running after lifting interferes with strength adaptions more than lifting after running affects cardio adaptions Assuming you have a healthy heart, easy cardio at the high of the fat burn zone/low end of the cardio range (below 75% of your max heart rate) don’t really stress the heart that much. I think you are more likely to wear out the joint and ligaments in your body and muscle before you overload the heart. That said if your current routine is keeping your heart rate at more than 80% of your max. heart rate, you need extra careful to increase the volume slowly as you could accumulate cardiovascular fatigue in 30 minute daily runs that way.

See my comments in bold