Running News Daily

Most people overestimate how many calories they torch while running. Here’s how to figure out your numbers—and tips to boost the burn.

There are so many reasons to run, including spending time in nature, taking a break from scrolling social media, and hanging with like-minded people. One of the most common reasons people turn to the sport: to boost physical and mental health. In fact, three out of four runners say staying healthy and in shape is a primary motivation for lacing up, according to a survey from Running USA. 

For many people, “staying healthy and in shape” translates to burning calories and keeping weight in check, and running is a top activity for revving your heart rate and blasting calories. But just how many calories do you burn running one mile? 

Turns out most people don’t know the answer: When runners completed both moderate- and vigorous-intensity workouts on a treadmill, they greatly overestimated how many calories they burned—some by as much as 72 percent—in a 2016 study in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 

So let’s break down approximately how many calories the average runner burns over the course of one mile and how to calculate your calorie-burn rate, plus expert tips to raise that number.

How many calories does the average runner burn running one mile?

It’s difficult to generalize how many calories everyone would burn running one mile, as many factors play into your energy expenditure. But the general baseline is that runners burn about 100 calories per mile, April Gatlin, certified personal trainer and senior master coach for STRIDE Fitness in Chicago tells Runner’s World.

Two important factors that change that number are the intensity of your run and your weight, according to the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activity, which calculates the energy cost of physical activity based on metabolic equivalents (METs). 

Based on the MET chart, running a 10-minute mile (6 mph) is equivalent to about 9.3 METs. That means a 150-pound person (68 kilograms), would burn about 11 calories per minute or about 110 calories in a mile when running at 6 mph.

To calculate calories burned per minute using METs, follow this formula: METs x 3.5 x (your bodyweight in kilograms) / 200

Intensity and weight aren’t the only variables that can alter how many calories you burn running a mile, though. “Running mechanics play a big role in caloric expenditure—different aspects such as ground contact time, vertical motion, and muscular strength have a significant effect on the amount of calories that are burned or energy that is expended in terms of oxygen consumption,” Grace Horan, exercise physiologist at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City tells Runner’s World. 

That oxygen consumption, along with fuel utilization—which is how our cells use carbs and fat for fuel—is what caloric expenditure is all about, she says. Because there’s more vertical motion (or bounce) in running compared with walking, that translates to higher calorie burn. “Your body is now not only using energy to travel horizontally but vertically as well,” Horan adds. 

What factors affect your one-mile calorie burn?

1. Weight

“The heavier the runner, the higher the calorie burn as their body is working harder to move forward,” says Gatlin. In fact, a 185-pound person burns nearly 100 calories more per 30 minutes of running at 5 mph compared with a 125-pound person, according to estimates from Harvard Medical School. 

2. Pace

Running a fast mile will burn a higher number of calories than a slow mile, says Gatlin, especially if you mix in speed intervals: “Intervals will burn more calories overall due to the varied high-to-low heart rate burst causing excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), which is an after-burn effect,” she explains. “That causes the body to continue to burn at the higher metabolic rate after the training is complete.”

The same holds true about running versus walking: People who ran a mile showed increased energy expenditure (read: calorie burn) for 15 minutes postworkout while those who walked the same distance increased the after-burn effect for only 10 minutes, according to a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research in 2012, involving 15 males and 15 females. 

3. Sex

“There is also some evidence that gender plays a role in caloric expenditure, with females often burning less calories compared to their male counterparts when running at the same speed for the same distance,” says Horan. 

However, she notes, the difference in overall body mass between men and women is generally thought to be the primary cause for this.

4. Fitness, biomechanics, and genes

While concrete stats, such as speed and weight, contribute to calorie burn, so do fluctuating variables that are more difficult to count. “Burning calories is directly related to oxygen consumption, which is determined largely by the ability of the lungs to take in large amount of oxygen and the heart to pump oxygenated and nutrient-filled blood to the working muscles, so cardiorespiratory fitness [level] has a major effect [on calorie burn],” notes Horan. While there’s no simple way to incorporate these details into your calorie estimates, know that they do have a bearing.

In other words, while you can get a rough estimate of how many calories you burn over a given distance or time, remember that these are just estimates. 

How can you estimate your personal calorie burn?

In addition to the MET equation mentioned above, Runner’s World has a calories burned calculator to help. Pop in your weight, along with how far you ran and how long it took you, and it’ll pinpoint approximately how many calories you expended on that outing. 

While this does take some variables into account (i.e., your weight and speed), it doesn’t factor in extras like your fitness level or what kind of terrain you covered. For example, if your course was totally flat, you likely torched slightly fewer calories than if you’d encountered tons of hills, according to Gatlin.

How can you increase the calorie burn of your one-mile run?

1. Add in speed

The higher your effort during a run, the more calories you’ll burn per minute, which also means you can expend more energy in less time the faster you run. 

Research backs this up: A study published in 2019 found that high-intensity interval training (doing 10 reps of one-minute intervals at 100 percent of VO2 max with one minute of recovery) took less time to reach the same energy expenditure of a moderate-intensity workout (going for 35 minutes at 65 percent of VO2 max).

Another study, published in 2013, also found that sprint interval training can increase total daily energy expenditure after one session. 

2. Tackle hills

Heading to a hilly course outside (or cranking up the incline on a treadmill) is great for torching calories, because it’s as if you’re adding resistance training to the workout, notes Gatlin. That’s because your lower-body muscles perform at a higher level of mechanical work to increase your potential energy on an incline, compared with level or downhill running, according to a 2016 article in Sports Medicine.

3. Break up your run

Planning to run three miles today? If you break them up into three one-mile runs throughout the day and run each of those at a faster pace than you’d run one steady-state run, you’ll boost the calorie burn, says Gatlin. 

The reason: It goes back to that afterburn effect—you burn more calories when you’re done running—as well as the ability to turn those shorter runs into higher-intensity exercise. 

What other benefits do you gain from running a mile?

All this being said, frying calories is hardly the only benefit of a running routine. Opt to run instead of walk a mile and you will also boost your aerobic capacity, muscular endurance, and metabolic rate, says Gatlin.

Additionally, running improves your overall health by warding off all kinds of medical issues. “It’s heavily supported that increasing aerobic capacity through running has been linked to decreases in incidence of many health conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, and some forms of cancer,” says Horan. Plus, “recreational running on a regular basis also creates favorable conditions for bone formation, which leads to increased bone mineral density and decreased risk of fractures.”

Even slow, short runs have fantastic health benefits. One study that followed more than 55,000 Americans over 15 years found that those who ran less than a 10-minute-per-mile pace for five to 10 minutes a day had significantly reduced risk for all causes of death.

So even if you come to running for the calorie burn, there are good reasons (lots of them!) to keep coming back for an all-over health boost. 

The prospect of seeing one of athletics' biggest stars back on the track is growing stronger, with Jakob Ingebrigtsen reportedly targeting a return to competition later this summer following his recovery from Achilles tendon surgery.

According to comments made by his agent, Daniel Wessfeldt, in an interview with Norwegian media, the double Olympic champion could make his long-awaited comeback at one of three major European meetings in July. The leading options under consideration are the Monaco Diamond League on July 10, the Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix on July 14, and the London Diamond League on July 18.

For athletics fans, the possibility of Ingebrigtsen lining up in London would add another layer of excitement to an already highly anticipated Diamond League meeting. The Norwegian middle-distance sensation has become one of the sport's most dominant figures in recent years, collecting Olympic, world and European titles while consistently rewriting record books.

His 2026 campaign was put on hold after he underwent surgery on his Achilles tendon earlier this year, forcing him to focus on rehabilitation rather than competition. Since then, questions have surrounded when the 24-year-old would be ready to return to racing.

The latest update suggests that decision will largely depend on how his training progresses over the coming weeks. If recovery continues according to plan, July could mark the beginning of his return to elite competition ahead of the latter stages of the season.

A comeback at either Monaco, Budapest or London would immediately place Ingebrigtsen back among the sport's biggest storylines. Each meeting is renowned for producing world-class performances, and any appearance by the Norwegian would attract significant attention from fans eager to see how quickly he can regain top form after his injury setback.

While no final decision has been confirmed, the signs are increasingly positive. After months away from competition, Jakob Ingebrigtsen appears to be edging closer to a return, with London's Diamond League meeting emerging as one of the most intriguing possibilities on his road back to the track.

Should his recovery continue smoothly, athletics could soon welcome back one of its brightest and most influential stars.

What should have been the defining moment of Emad Bashir-Mohammed's young running career instead turned into one of the most talked-about controversies in American road racing this year.

The 23-year-old crossed the finish line first in the men's citizen's race at the prestigious Bolder Boulder 10K on Memorial Day in Colorado, stopping the clock at an impressive 29:50. His performance was not only a commanding victory but also one of the fastest winning times ever recorded in the event's long and celebrated history. Bashir-Mohammed finished eight seconds clear of his nearest challenger and appeared to have secured a breakthrough triumph.

For nearly two hours, he was the undisputed winner.

Then everything changed.

Race officials announced that Bashir-Mohammed had been disqualified after determining that he had started in the wrong wave. According to Bolder Boulder regulations, he had been assigned to the AA wave but lined up with the faster A wave, which began earlier. Event rules allow runners to move backward into a slower wave, but prohibit athletes from advancing into a faster one.

As a result, Bashir-Mohammed's victory was erased from the record books.

The citizen's title was subsequently awarded to Nickolas Scudder, who crossed the line second in 29:58. The promotion handed Scudder back-to-back citizen's race victories, while Bashir-Mohammed was left to grapple with the disappointment of losing a win he believed he had earned on the road.

The disqualification has since ignited widespread debate across the running community.

Bashir-Mohammed maintains that he did not intentionally violate the rules. He claims that after collecting his AA bib, he spoke with race personnel and was permitted to start with the A wave after presenting evidence of his recent performances. In a statement shared after the race, he expressed frustration over the decision, arguing that his goal was simply to compete against the strongest field available and produce the fastest time possible.

Race organizers, however, stood firmly behind their ruling. Officials stated that wave-assignment regulations are clearly communicated in pre-race information and reiterated during packet collection. They also noted that hundreds of participants are disqualified each year for moving into faster start groups, emphasizing that consistent enforcement is necessary to maintain fairness for all competitors.

The incident has divided opinion among runners and fans alike. Some believe the rules must be applied equally regardless of an athlete's finishing position, arguing that wave assignments are a fundamental part of race organization. Others feel the punishment is harsh, particularly if Bashir-Mohammed genuinely received approval to move up before the start.

What remains undisputed is the quality of his performance. On the roads of Boulder, Bashir-Mohammed demonstrated the fitness and speed required to outrun the field by a significant margin. Yet in road racing, crossing the finish line first is only part of the equation. Compliance with race regulations carries equal weight.

For Bashir-Mohammed, the day will be remembered as a painful lesson in the fine margins that can define elite competition. A remarkable run delivered a memorable victory, but a dispute over wave placement ultimately overshadowed the achievement, leaving behind a controversy that continues to fuel discussion throughout the running world.

A fast race, a costly administrative error, and a debate that may linger long after the finish-line tape has been packed away.

The men's 100 metres at the 2026 Rome Diamond League is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated sprint races of the season, with an exceptional field featuring some of the fastest men in the world.

Scheduled for Thursday, June 4, at the iconic Stadio Olimpico in Rome, the race will bring together reigning stars, established champions and emerging talents in a contest that promises fireworks from the moment the gun goes off.

Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala headlines a world-class lineup that includes American sprint sensation Noah Lyles, Botswana's Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo, Jamaica's explosive Ackeem Blake, South Africa's ever-consistent Akani Simbine and Italy's hometown hero Lamont Marcell Jacobs. With personal bests ranging from 9.77 to 9.97 seconds, the field is packed with athletes capable of producing something special on the Diamond League stage.

Omanyala, the African record holder with a blistering personal best of 9.77 seconds, arrives in Rome eager to continue his strong early-season form and prove he can challenge the very best on the global circuit. The Kenyan star has built a reputation as one of the fastest starters in world sprinting and will be looking to make a statement against an elite field.

Standing in his way is world champion Noah Lyles, whose personal best of 9.79 seconds places him among the fastest athletes in history. The American remains one of the sport's biggest attractions and will be determined to add another Diamond League victory to his impressive résumé.

The race also marks a major test for Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo. The Botswanan star has rapidly become one of athletics' most exciting talents, while Ackeem Blake continues to establish himself as a serious contender on the international sprint scene.

Adding further intrigue is the presence of Italy's Lamont Marcell Jacobs. Competing on home soil, the Tokyo Olympic champion will enjoy passionate local support as he seeks to deliver a memorable performance in front of the Roman crowd.

South Africa's Akani Simbine, Cameroon's Emmanuel Eseme, Great Britain's Jeremiah Azu and rising American talent Jordan Anthony complete a field that boasts remarkable depth and quality.

Men's 100m Entry List – Rome Diamond League 2026

Ferdinand Omanyala (Kenya) – PB: 9.77

Noah Lyles (USA) – PB: 9.79

Lamont Marcell Jacobs (Italy) – PB: 9.80

Akani Simbine (South Africa) – PB: 9.82

Letsile Tebogo (Botswana) – PB: 9.86

Ackeem Blake (Jamaica) – PB: 9.88

Jordan Anthony (USA) – PB: 9.91

Emmanuel Eseme (Cameroon) – PB: 9.96

Jeremiah Azu (Great Britain) – PB: 9.97

With multiple national record holders, global champions and Olympic medal contenders sharing the same start line, the Rome Diamond League men's 100m could deliver one of the fastest races of the year. For sprint fans around the world, all eyes will be on Rome as a stellar cast battles for supremacy over athletics' blue-riband distance.

Audrey Werro announced her arrival as one of the early stars of the 2026 outdoor season with a commanding victory in the women’s 800 metres at the Rabat Diamond League, producing a performance that exceeded even her own expectations.

The Swiss middle-distance talent surged to victory in a brilliant 1:56.56, breaking the meeting record and delivering one of the fastest times recorded worldwide this season. In a race packed with quality, Werro displayed exceptional composure, confidence, and finishing strength to separate herself from the field and stamp her authority on the event.

What made the performance even more remarkable was the athlete's surprise at the level she had already reached so early in the campaign.

"I was not expecting such a strong start to the season," Werro admitted after the race.

The race unfolded at a relentless pace, but Werro remained perfectly positioned throughout. As the athletes approached the bell lap, she glanced at the clock and immediately sensed something special was within reach.

"When I saw the time at the bell, I felt really confident," she said. "I'm really happy with the Meeting Record and looking forward to the rest of the season."

Her confidence proved justified. Maintaining her rhythm over the final 400 metres, Werro powered down the home straight to secure the victory and rewrite the Rabat meeting record books in the process.

The performance sends an early warning to her rivals ahead of a season that promises major championships and high-profile Diamond League battles. Beyond the record-breaking time, Werro's display highlighted her growing maturity as a racer, combining tactical awareness with impressive speed and endurance.

With the outdoor season only beginning, the 1:56.56 clocking suggests that even faster times could be on the horizon. If Rabat is any indication, Audrey Werro may be poised for the biggest season of her career.

Her emphatic victory in Morocco was more than just another Diamond League win—it was a statement of intent from an athlete determined to challenge the world's best throughout 2026.

The city of Boston is set to welcome back one of its most celebrated champions as Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi headlines a world-class field for the 2026 B.A.A. 10K presented by Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute on June 21.

Fresh from another remarkable victory at the Boston Marathon in April, Lokedi returns to the streets of Boston and Cambridge carrying both momentum and confidence as she aims to defend the title she captured in dominant fashion last year.

The two-time Boston Marathon champion has developed a special connection with the historic race city. In 2025, she produced a course-record performance of 2:17:22 to win the Boston Marathon before returning this year to claim another victory in 2:18:51, the second-fastest winning time in the event’s storied history. Her success has cemented her status as one of the premier road runners in the world.

Lokedi will be making her first competitive appearance since her marathon triumph and arrives as the reigning B.A.A. 10K champion after clocking 31:39 over the challenging 6.2-mile course in 2025.

“Boston has become a very special place for me,” Lokedi said ahead of the race. “The atmosphere created by the fans and the community is unlike anywhere else. I’m excited to return and give everything I have to defend my title.”

The women’s race promises to be highly competitive. American Olympian Rachel Smith, who finished second at the Boston 5K in April, leads the domestic challenge. Kenya’s strong contingent includes African 10,000m champion Gladys Kwamboka, former B.A.A. 10K runner-up Stacy Ndiwa, and experienced road racer Viola Cheptoo. British Olympian Jessica Warner-Judd adds further international depth to a field packed with proven performers.

The men’s race is equally impressive, featuring elite athletes from 13 nations.

Ethiopia’s Dawit Seare enters as one of the leading contenders after capturing the 2025 Boston 5K title and bringing the fastest 10K personal best in the field at 27:21. Kenya will be represented by an accomplished group led by Alexander Mutiso, winner of the 2024 London Marathon and runner-up at last year’s New York City Marathon.

Patrick Kiprop also arrives in outstanding form after securing victory at the prestigious BolderBoulder 10K on Memorial Day, while Alex Masai returns looking to continue his strong record in Boston. Masai recently finished ninth at the Boston Marathon and has earned three top-ten finishes at the B.A.A. 10K.

Among the international stars making their mark is South Africa’s Adriaan Wildschutt, who makes his race debut after an impressive season highlighted by victory at the NYC Half Marathon in 59:30. Ethiopia’s Olympic bronze medallist Hagos Gebrhiwet adds further quality to the field, bringing a wealth of championship experience and previous success in Boston.

Canadian national 10K champion Andrew Alexander, two-time U.S. Olympian Hillary Bor, marathon standout Ryan Ford, and reigning USA 25K champion Andrew Colley complete a field stacked with talent and depth.

With defending champions, Olympic finalists, national champions and rising stars all converging on Boston, the 2026 B.A.A. 10K is shaping up to be one of the most competitive editions in recent memory. For Sharon Lokedi, however, the mission is simple: return to the city where she has repeatedly excelled and add another memorable chapter to her growing Boston legacy.