help with increasing weekly miles

jenncalicollins617

Sorry if this has been asked a gazillion times, still learning & new here. I run 3-4 days a week, 2 or 3 2.5mile runs & 1 3.5mile run. I'm wanting to know how much more I should do. Add another day or add to current days. Goal is for a 5k to be super easy, daily just for fun run & to completely run a 10k. Speed is not a goal (yet). Thanks!

glevinso

Conventional wisdom states not to increase the length of any one run more than 10% in a week, and also not to increase your total weekly miles more than 10% from week to week.

So if you are doing three 3 mile runs and 1 3.5 mile run, next week do two 3-mile runs, one 3.5 and maybe one 4.0. Do that for maybe 2 weeks then try for some 3s, a 4 and a 4.5. etc

brandiuntz

The general rule is to add no more than 10% to your weekly miles. I wouldn't add a day, I'd add on to one of the days. Say, add half a mile to one of them and build from there. Basically, turn one of those days into a "long" run and keep the others the same. Or, increase one run one week, then add a little more to one of the other days. Really depends on your schedule.

jenncalicollins617

Thank you! I was so confused. Your explanation was exactly what I needed.

jenncalicollins617

We need a *like* button! Will there/are there those who run daily? Running has turned out to be a big stress reliever for me, I'd love to be able to run daily, or is that too much on a body?

TavistockToad

jenncalicollins617 wrote: »

We need a *like* button! Will there/are there those who run daily? Running has turned out to be a big stress reliever for me, I'd love to be able to run daily, or is that too much on a body?

I can't run consecutive days, too hard on my knees, but it might be doable if you start out slow

glevinso

jenncalicollins617 wrote: »

We need a *like* button! Will there/are there those who run daily? Running has turned out to be a big stress reliever for me, I'd love to be able to run daily, or is that too much on a body?

You will find many of us do. When I am training for a marathon I will be putting in 6 days of running a week and topping out at 60 miles, with the longest run being 22. Even when I am in triathlon-mode I am running at least 4 days a week, sometimes 5, usually 40+ miles a week and the longest going from 10-20 miles.

Obviously someone not experienced with running can't do that, but there is no reason why you eventually could not do so. Running short runs like what you are doing every day is a fantastic way to build up your cardio engine. Just don't try to do too much too soon or you can injure yourself. Do remember to take a rest day or two every week as you need it, but otherwise the human body is well adapted to running frequently.

brandiuntz

jenncalicollins617 wrote: »

We need a *like* button! Will there/are there those who run daily? Running has turned out to be a big stress reliever for me, I'd love to be able to run daily, or is that too much on a body?

It's too hard on me, so I run 4 days a week. I do other exercises the other days. There are tons of people who run 5-6 days a week, if not 7. You'd need to see how your body responds. Just keep in mind the above advice about not adding too much. Build slowly to avoid injury.

jenncalicollins617

Thanks