upping my running distance - advice needed

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tara2502
tara2502 Posts: 20 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
hi - I've been running (intermittently) for the last two or three years and with the need to shift some weight and feeling generally sluggish, decided to change my schedule so that I have the opportunity to run more regularly - so last night, I managed 6.5km in 45 minutes without too much trouble (delighted with that!). But I'd like to increase my distance (and hopefully my speed!) - any tips for what pace I should aim to increase by - I am thinking of running 4 days a week and increasing by say 0.5km each time until I reach say 10km which I think should be distance enough to keep from feeling sluggish etc. Is 0.5km too much to increase by over each of my next few runs do you think? Any and all tips/advice welcome. Many thanks :-)

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  • 2lottie88
    2lottie88 Posts: 15
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    In my experience, you should just listen to your body, not think "I need to stick to this regime". I was running 5k every day for ages, one day I just thought "I feel great lets just go for it and see what happens". I bust out a decent 10k there and then. For me it was mind over matter. Just be aware of your body telling you it's had enough and don't push it to the point of injury. That's what's working for me anyway :smile:
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
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    The general advice is to increase your distance at around 10% a week but as always listen to your body. Speed will come in time once you have endurance
  • tara2502
    tara2502 Posts: 20 Member
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    thanks for the advice guys - sounds sensible to listen to my body - presumably you mean if it starts to hurt, I need to pull back a little(?) - so will just stick with it so and see what happens :-) thanks again.
  • RunnerElizabeth
    RunnerElizabeth Posts: 1,091 Member
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    Why not do an organized training plan like hal higdon's novice 10k plan? Takes the guess work out for how to increase distance. Hal doesn't add over 10% per week. You could even sign up for a race 8 weeks out if you were so inclined. Races are good motivators to put the work in.
  • mayonie1
    mayonie1 Posts: 296 Member
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    Why not do an organized training plan like hal higdon's novice 10k plan? Takes the guess work out for how to increase distance. Hal doesn't add over 10% per week. You could even sign up for a race 8 weeks out if you were so inclined. Races are good motivators to put the work in.

    Agree with this...look for fun runs around your area by that you will get motivated and push hard to do better in every next runs.

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