My advice, make small increases each week and determine how well you respond. (That would make the add a mile each week the most conservative approach). Then if you respond well, then decide on a more aggressive approach like the 10% rule (I round up to the nearest 1/2 mile because I hate decimals) or maybe even Jack Daniels suggestion.

Make sure you insert cutback weeks as needed and don't do speedwork as you are increasing.

Stoshew71 wrote: »

My advice, make small increases each week and determine how well you respond. (That would make the add a mile each week the most conservative approach). Then if you respond well, then decide on a more aggressive approach like the 10% rule (I round up to the nearest 1/2 mile because I hate decimals) or maybe even Jack Daniels suggestion.

Make sure you insert cutback weeks as needed and don't do speedwork as you are increasing.

DON'T. DON'T. DON'T.
When I was building from ~40 mile weeks last summer up to 50-55 mpw (I did this over ~2 months), I did zero speedwork. Plus you won't want to do speedwork as it gets hot. But then once I worked speedwork into my training starting in September, it was so easy because my body was used to the miles. Trying to build mileage plus the stress of speedwork is a good recipe for injury.

MNLittleFinn wrote: »

To add to the discussion, when I'm in a training plan (looking at starting at the beginning of June) do I keep the cutback weeks in? Or is it a matter of doing what the plan says?

Any good training plan should have cutback weeks built in. That having been said, there are times when you shouldn't do what the plan says. Mostly, these fall into the category of Something Happened and you need a different routine than the plan.

Example 1: I caught a cold, and crapped out of a tough speed workout. Coach told me I was done for the day, and should rest the next day regardless of what the plan said. I ended up cutting the workout after the rest day by about a third as well. That's how I missed one of my peak long runs.

Example 2: If you have a race in the middle of the training plan, you want to tone down the speed work for a few days before the race in recognition that you'll run the race hard. Depending on how hard you run the race, you may need to tone down the speed work for a few days afterward as well. If it's a really challenging race, you might need to cut miles before and/or after it; but this is not typical for B races that are part of training for your A race.

Example 3: Later in the training plan, you may feel pretty beat up. This is a signal to back off. You don't make progress by pushing hard all the time; you make progress by recovering well after working hard. If you need more recovery than the plan has built in, take what you need.

Most of us have to experience injuries on the road to learning what needing to back off feels like. But that doesn't stop us from trying to explain it to runners who have never been injured.

MNLittleFinn wrote: »

Also, I did some figuring and with cutback weeks and adding roughly 3 mpw after the cutback in my current "plan" I'll get to 10-mile long runs at 2 weeks out from the HM. Is that enough distance?

A 10 mile long run is certainly enough to prepare you physiologically for running a half marathon. You may have psychological issues with never having run the half marathon distance. It was very important to me psychologically to run 13 miles in training before my first half.

Also, if you're trying to run the half faster than your long training runs, you can expect the last few miles to be a mental challenge. This will be particularly true for your first half; it may be less true for later halfs.

I topped out at 35 miles in the training cycle before my fist half, and that was enough. If you have to make a choice between running more miles in a week or building a shorter but more solid base of running miles, I'd say go for the more solid base.

@MNLittleFinn

Per training plan question... I wrote a blog on this if you haven't already read it.

http://therunningstan.blogspot.com/2016/02/my-gripes-on-training-plans.html

What i think @MobyCarp and @kristinegift are saying is what i say in my blog above. Use the training plan as a guide not as an absolute. A good plan should have cutback weeks in them already. And even if they do, your body may need them sooner or not as often. And life can get in the way which will disrupt your plan.

MobyCarp wrote: »

Most of us have to experience injuries on the road to learning what needing to back off feels like. But that doesn't stop us from trying to explain it to runners who have never been injured.

A post I wrote back 2 years ago I think best sums this up:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1233328/how-can-you-not-injure-yourself

I wrote some more about adjusting the plan in my latest reply (4/1/2016 2:52 PM EDT) to my Boston Training thread in the Long Distance Runners group. I've been thinking about that a lot lately as I struggle to convince myself to back off enough.

It all really depends. Anywhere from cutting back 25-50% is not at all uncommon. I would cut back on the larger runs first and then make up the difference to the smaller runs or cut a single smaller run by adding in an extra rest day. There really is no science to it. it's more what works in your schedule and what your body needs.