question about increasing long runs

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Schwiggity
Schwiggity Posts: 1,449 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have two goal races this year. I made a running plan to slowly increase my weekly miles, and increase my long run by half a mile every two weeks. This isn't too slow of a progression is it?

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  • marath7
    marath7 Posts: 1
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    schwiggity
    I think this depends on how far your race is and and much time you have to get there. Most people will aim for 1 mile a week or every other week to increase miles for their long run. I would go by how you feel. If you feel good after the run and are not too sore the next day you would be safe to be a little more aggressive. But there is nothing wrong with what you have planned. Best wishes
  • RacheBell
    RacheBell Posts: 111
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    There is the 10% rule that people often preach, but with me and my running, I listen to my body. You know when you've gone too far and when you have done too much. You should always walk away from a workout being able to do one more lap, or run for another 5 minutes.

    I often increase mine in minutes, 5 extra minutes every week, and up the pace as often as I can.
  • Dom_m
    Dom_m Posts: 336 Member
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    The slower you increase your long distance the less chance you have of hurting yourself. I do an event where people go from not running at all to running ~12miles in 6-7 weeks. People always injure themselves. Every time.

    A great webpage for tips on running is this:
    Cool running training guide:
    http://www.coolrunning.com.au/runningguide/wiki/index.php/Training_Guide
    or Cool running running guide:
    http://www.coolrunning.com.au/runningguide/wiki/index.php/Australian_Running_Guide

    (they're different pages of the same site)

    Good luck!
  • Schwiggity
    Schwiggity Posts: 1,449 Member
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    schwiggity
    I think this depends on how far your race is and and much time you have to get there. Most people will aim for 1 mile a week or every other week to increase miles for their long run. I would go by how you feel. If you feel good after the run and are not too sore the next day you would be safe to be a little more aggressive. But there is nothing wrong with what you have planned. Best wishes

    My goal races are in my sig, and as you can see. I definitely do have quite a lot of time. When I was training earlier in the year I was doing half a mile to a mile increase per week. I just don't want to psych myself out too much.
  • lthies
    lthies Posts: 4
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    Depends how far your long run is. If it's quite short at the moment then half a mile increase might make a big difference, obviously if you're currently running 10 miles or so, half a mile isn't much at all. I usually like to go by time - try to run for ten minutes longer each week, but drop back ten minutes every fourth week to give yourself a 'rest week'.
    I saw that one of your goals is to run a half marathon - there are some good 16 week training schedules online that you can have a look at. Goodluck!
  • AllyS7
    AllyS7 Posts: 480 Member
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    I don't think there is such a thing as too slow of a progression if you add up to you goal distance before the race. I progressed a mile every two weeks or so, but that was me. Listen to your body.
  • arc918
    arc918 Posts: 2,037 Member
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    Listen to your body. Training programs and rules of thumbs should be used as guidelines. The training program doesn't know if you're feeling really good one day and decide to add an extra mile or two. It also doesn't know if you're having a bad day and need to cut it short.

    There are lots of other things to consider as well. People get injured by doing too much too fast. Adding speedwork while upping your mileage may not work for you, but for others they'll be fine.

    My $.02, play it by ear, listen to your body and don't feel like you have to shut it down if you're having a great run.

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