If you’re trying to run further, faster or more often, the biggest mistake is usually not a lack of motivation. It’s increasing your training faster than your body can adapt.
Whether you’re preparing for a 5K, half marathon, HYROX, a fun run or simply trying to become fitter, the goal isn’t to avoid every ache. It’s to build your running capacity gradually enough that your muscles, tendons, joints and bones can keep up with the demands you’re putting on them.
How quickly should you increase your running?
There isn’t one magic percentage that works for everyone. The right progression depends on your current training, running history, recovery, strength, age, previous injuries and the intensity of each session.
A better approach is to change one major training variable at a time.
For example, if you’ve been running twice a week, don’t suddenly jump to five runs while also adding hills and speed sessions. Increase frequency, distance or intensity progressively, rather than all at once.
Your body needs time to adapt to repeated loading. Running is a high-impact activity, and tissues respond to training over time rather than overnight.
1. Build your weekly volume gradually
If your normal week is 10–15 km, suddenly running 30 km is a significant change even if every kilometre feels comfortable.
Instead, increase your total workload in manageable steps and pay attention to how your body responds over the following days.
One useful strategy is to keep most runs genuinely easy while you build volume. You don’t need every session to be a hard workout.
If you’re increasing distance, consider keeping your pace similar rather than increasing distance and speed simultaneously.
2. Don’t underestimate training intensity
Distance isn’t the only thing that creates load.
A 5 km easy run and a 5 km interval session can place very different demands on your body.
Hills, intervals, tempo running, races and fast finishes all increase intensity. If you’re adding one of these sessions, you may need to keep the rest of your week easier.
Think about your total training load rather than simply counting kilometres.
This is particularly important for people who combine running with gym training, CrossFit, HYROX, football, basketball or other sports.
Your body doesn’t know which activity you put into your calendar. It simply experiences the combined workload.
3. Strength training can help you tolerate running
Running itself makes you stronger, but dedicated strength training can also be useful for building capacity in the muscles and tissues that repeatedly absorb and produce force.
A runner’s program doesn’t need to be complicated.
Depending on the individual, useful movements may include:
- Squats or split squats
- Calf raises
- Hip and hamstring strengthening
- Single-leg exercises
- Trunk and pelvic control exercises
The important point is progression. The aim isn’t simply to perform rehabilitation exercises forever. You want to gradually build the capacity required for your actual sport.
A recreational runner might need a different strength program from someone training for a marathon or competing in a team sport.
4. Recovery is part of your training
Training creates a stimulus. Recovery gives your body the opportunity to adapt to it.
Poor sleep, high work stress, insufficient food intake and back-to-back hard sessions can all make a normal training load feel much harder.
If you’re increasing your running, pay attention to sleep, nutrition, rest days and how you feel before each session.
Persistent fatigue combined with worsening performance, soreness or pain is a reason to reassess your workload.
5. Warm up before harder sessions
You don’t need a 30-minute stretching routine before every easy run.
For most runners, a few minutes of easy movement followed by running-specific drills or a gradual increase in pace can be enough to prepare for the session.
Before intervals, hills or races, spend more time gradually increasing intensity rather than going from standing still to maximum effort.
A warm-up should prepare you for what you’re about to do, not simply become another workout.
6. Your shoes and running surface matter — but they’re not the whole story
Shoes can affect comfort and how running feels, and some runners have strong preferences for particular models.
However, changing shoes isn’t a substitute for managing training load.
Likewise, running on a particular surface isn’t automatically going to prevent injury.
If you’ve suddenly increased distance, speed or frequency, blaming your shoes or the footpath can distract from the bigger issue: your body may simply need more time to adapt.
Normal soreness vs a warning sign
Some muscle soreness after an unfamiliar or harder workout is normal. It should generally settle as you recover.
Pain that becomes progressively worse during running, changes your running pattern, persists between sessions or repeatedly returns in the same location deserves more attention.
Take symptoms such as significant swelling, inability to bear weight, severe pain or neurological symptoms seriously and seek appropriate medical assessment.
The key isn’t to panic over every ache. It’s to recognise when a pattern is changing.
What should you do if running starts to hurt?
First, look at what has changed recently.
Ask yourself:
- Did I increase my distance?
- Did I add another running day?
- Did I introduce hills or intervals?
- Did I increase my pace?
- Have I added another sport or harder gym sessions?
- Has my recovery or sleep changed?
Sometimes reducing the irritating load temporarily while maintaining appropriate activity allows symptoms to settle without losing all of your fitness.
If the pain continues, keeps returning or is affecting how you run, get it assessed rather than repeatedly pushing through it.
When should a runner see a sports chiropractor?
Consider getting professional advice when pain is persistent, recurrent, limiting your training or difficult to understand.
An assessment can look beyond the painful spot and consider factors such as joint movement, strength, load tolerance, running demands and the way your training has changed.
At Kinetic Sports Chiropractic in Macquarie Park, we work with runners and other athletes who want to stay active rather than simply stop doing the activity they enjoy.
Depending on the problem, care may include hands-on treatment, soft-tissue work, dry needling, mobility work, rehabilitation exercises and practical changes to training load.
The aim is to match the plan to the person and the demands of their sport.
The biggest mistake runners make when increasing mileage
It’s not necessarily running too much.
It’s increasing several things at once.
More kilometres. More speed. More hills. More gym work. Less recovery.
Each change may look manageable individually, but the combined increase can be substantial.
Instead, build one part of your training at a time and give your body enough time to adapt before adding another challenge.
The takeaway
You don’t need to be afraid of increasing your running.
You need to respect the process of adaptation.
Build distance progressively, keep most training appropriate to your current fitness, add strength work, recover properly and pay attention to persistent or changing symptoms.
If you’re increasing your running and something doesn’t feel right, don’t automatically assume you need to stop. Find out what is driving the problem and adjust your training accordingly.
If you’re based in Macquarie Park, Ryde or the surrounding Sydney suburbs and want help managing a running injury or building your capacity to train, Kinetic Sports Chiropractic can assess the problem and help you develop a practical plan to get back to doing what you enjoy.
