How much should I be running?

arrseegee

Hi all,

I finished the Bridge to 10k program a few weeks ago and have now set myself a goal of being able to run 10 miles. I don't have a particular event in mind but I'd like to be able to do this by the end of July. I started running in November 2013 and am currently running 3-4 days a week with total weekly distance of about 15 miles.

My question is: how much distance is appropriate in a week to get up to 10 miles? There is such a huge range of training programs, recommend everything from 14 to 20 miles. Some recommend three short runs (3x3 miles) plus a long one (7 miles, increasing weekly), others suggest 3x5 miles plus a long one. I'm a little unsure what is appropriate given my lack of running experience.

I don't have a particular time I'd like to run the 10 miles in, I'd just like to be able to achieve it. Am I correct in assuming that choosing a program with higher weekly mileage would be the way to go if I were aiming for a particular time, whereas the lower mileage programs are aimed at someone without ambitious goals?

The last thing I want to do is overdo it and injure myself, but I also don't want to be consistently running too little to really be able to comfortably run 10 miles.

Any advice?

timeasterday

I recommend following a plan like one of Hal Higdon's novice half-marathon plans. The long run shouldn't be the bulk of your weekly mileage so I think somewhere around 25 miles/week is appropriate for a 10-mile long run. Just take it slow building up to that point, never going over a 10% increase in total mileage per week. One thing I don't like about most plans, including Hal's, is I don't see a cutback week. You should increase mileage for 3 weeks, then cut back for a week. Build up another 3 weeks, then cut back, and so on. Your body needs a recovery week.

Right now I think 3x5 miles plus a long run is a bit much, that's something to aim for later. Maybe start out at 3, 2, 3, and 6-mile long run. Or run three times a week like 4, 4, and 6. Whatever works for your schedule, but 3 times a week minimum.

If you are not interested in gaining speed, just take every run slowly. Time on your feet is more important at this point than getting faster. To stay injury-free make sure you are warming up properly before each run with dynamic moves like the "lunge matrix." After each run do some static stretching. My coach also recommends foam rolling before the warmup and late in the day before bed.

timeasterday

Here's a great way to figure out your pace for training runs. Go to the link below and enter your time for a recent race or a recent training run at a known distance. Fill in the distance and time and hit Calculate. Then click on Training and see what's your easy pace.

http://www.runsmartproject.com/calculator/

rduhlir

Another way to do it is to do a lump increase every 3 weeks with a week recovery between each set. I used this website:

http://davidhays.net/running/buildingbase.html

It is basically sort of the same thing, but just in a lump bump. Every month you would add 3-4 miles depending on how many days a week you were running. Then, on the forth week you would drop down to recovery which is usually 50% of your mileage for that week. The coach on that webpage doesn't do the recovery week, but they are super important as they let any underlining tears in your muscles or weakened areas on your bones to do a full recovery before bumping up in mileage again.

likitisplit

Hi all,

I finished the Bridge to 10k program a few weeks ago and have now set myself a goal of being able to run 10 miles. I don't have a particular event in mind but I'd like to be able to do this by the end of July. I started running in November 2013 and am currently running 3-4 days a week with total weekly distance of about 15 miles.

My question is: how much distance is appropriate in a week to get up to 10 miles? There is such a huge range of training programs, recommend everything from 14 to 20 miles. Some recommend three short runs (3x3 miles) plus a long one (7 miles, increasing weekly), others suggest 3x5 miles plus a long one. I'm a little unsure what is appropriate given my lack of running experience.

I don't have a particular time I'd like to run the 10 miles in, I'd just like to be able to achieve it. Am I correct in assuming that choosing a program with higher weekly mileage would be the way to go if I were aiming for a particular time, whereas the lower mileage programs are aimed at someone without ambitious goals?

The last thing I want to do is overdo it and injure myself, but I also don't want to be consistently running too little to really be able to comfortably run 10 miles.

Any advice?

Your long run should not be more than 25-34% of your total weekly mileage. The lower percentage is better. Once you get into that kind of mileage, you will want to be running at least four-five days a week.

The way you add days is by dividing your existing mileage across all the days you run and then adding mileage (for instance 4 miles three days a week would become three miles 4 days a week. And then you'd add a mile to one of those days

I agree with Tim, though. A half marathon plan will get you appropriate build without having to learn all the theory behind building plans.