Still Running
So I managed to run 3 times this week. Only the second time all year that I've done that. Also, since I was too lazy to run in bad weather last Sunday, I swapped my long run to Tuesday, which became Wednesday. And so I ended up running 16 miles this week. Doesn't sound like much, but it's been about 5 months since I've been running this kind of mileage on any sort of regular basis.
This brings me to a question I've always had. (I may even have blogged about it in the past, but it's not worth looking for to link to it!) "They" always talk about the 10% rule, where you're not supposed to increase your mileage by more than 10% a week. I never really understood how that works at the very beginning of one's training.
For example, if one has only been running 4 miles a week, should this be the progression?
4, 4.4, 4.8, 5.3, 5.9, 6.4, 7.1, 7.8, 8.6, 9.4, 10.4
(10 weeks from 4 to 10)
Or is something like this ok?
4,5,6,7,8,9,10
(only 6 weeks from 4 to 10)
The second approach increases by more than 10%, but only by one mile a week. That really doesn't seem like much to me.
Now that I've said that, I'll point out that I've put a new training schedule at the bottom of the page here. This is what I've scheduled for the next few weeks while I try to re-build my base:
16, 16, 16, 19, 15, 16, 19, 19, 19
Now that I'm looking at it like this, I think I'll have to work on that. I kept it slow at first, since that 16 mile start is somewhat arbitrary. As I mentioned, I haven't been doing that for a while. But for whatever reason, I can't really start lower than that. But that's why I don't increase too quickly.
The last few weeks I had planned to introduce the speed and tempo runs. But I may need to get the mileage up a little more. As per the FIRST book I love, my base (for 3 months!) should be "closer to 25 miles per week". I'll probably see how I'm feeling - as I already feel it in my legs. Most likely I won't be able to really stick to the FIRST plan to closely this year. Which is too bad, really.
This brings me to a question I've always had. (I may even have blogged about it in the past, but it's not worth looking for to link to it!) "They" always talk about the 10% rule, where you're not supposed to increase your mileage by more than 10% a week. I never really understood how that works at the very beginning of one's training.
For example, if one has only been running 4 miles a week, should this be the progression?
4, 4.4, 4.8, 5.3, 5.9, 6.4, 7.1, 7.8, 8.6, 9.4, 10.4
(10 weeks from 4 to 10)
Or is something like this ok?
4,5,6,7,8,9,10
(only 6 weeks from 4 to 10)
The second approach increases by more than 10%, but only by one mile a week. That really doesn't seem like much to me.
Now that I've said that, I'll point out that I've put a new training schedule at the bottom of the page here. This is what I've scheduled for the next few weeks while I try to re-build my base:
16, 16, 16, 19, 15, 16, 19, 19, 19
Now that I'm looking at it like this, I think I'll have to work on that. I kept it slow at first, since that 16 mile start is somewhat arbitrary. As I mentioned, I haven't been doing that for a while. But for whatever reason, I can't really start lower than that. But that's why I don't increase too quickly.
The last few weeks I had planned to introduce the speed and tempo runs. But I may need to get the mileage up a little more. As per the FIRST book I love, my base (for 3 months!) should be "closer to 25 miles per week". I'll probably see how I'm feeling - as I already feel it in my legs. Most likely I won't be able to really stick to the FIRST plan to closely this year. Which is too bad, really.
posted by Danny on Sunday, May 24, 2009
3 Comments:
in my (limited) experience, i think that 10% base rule can be broken when you've created a higher running base within the last year (and are now trying to get back to). does that make any sense? it doesn't hurt to hover around that guideline but if you are feeling fine after a month of steady base building, maybe kick it up higher at that point, depending on you feel. very rambling comment, sorry, having trouble spitting it out.
First off Happy Belated Birthday!
Yeah, the 10% rule makes more sense in the double digits and for someone just starting out or injury prone during mileage buildup. Are you either? I personally like to keep things in nice whole numbers whenever possible. 10% of 22 miles would be 2 and 27 would be 3. Good luck with the training.
I've generally not paid too much attention to the 10 percent rule -- I think a lot of it comes down to your base in the past year or so. If you ran 16 miles and were fine with that, I think you'll be OK. Just don't make too big of a jump.
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