Some runners will tell you that they use a 10% Rule for increasing their mileage. As a beginner runner, I don’t focus on increasing my mileage on a weekly basis. My main focus right now is to put in the time whether it is a 30 min, 45 min or 1+ hour day. This week, my husband and I start our summer session of the Flying Feet program. Dave gives out training schedules based on each individual’s goals. For me, this schedule is based on time, not distance. So, I will use the time guidelines set by Coach Dave in conjunction with my Galloway app to help me become a stronger runner. One of these training days with Flying Feet is an interval day where Coach Dave has us doing some sort of patterned, interval run like 400m run to green cone then 200m slow jog/walk to red cone, etc. I encourage this type of training in your workouts as well. Intervals will help improve your overall consistency. Check out my Guest Post from Running on Happy for some fun intervals.
As my running (or run/walk) pace improves, my mileage within that time will increase. I would not recommend that new runners try to increase their mileage every week. Your body needs time to adjust, get comfortable and not burn out. Try to do too much too soon will just cause burnout and make you feel like you don’t want to run at all.
If you’ve been on the sidelines for a while whether from injury or just lack of working out, I would also throw the 10% Rule out the window. Even if you used to run 30 miles or more a week, if you’ve been off for a while you should ease back in to your runs. Give yourself a month or more if you need it to get back to where you used to be.
Safely increasing your mileage means listening to your body. For some of us newer runners, that can be difficult to judge. If you find yourself exhausted all the time and you’re getting enough nutrition, hydration and sleep, this is a good clue that you might be overtraining. Back off a little and aim for improving your form, your stride, and your breathing inside of a decreased time period. If you’ve been running 5K training distances, back off and consider doing a run/walk week. If you’ve been running 10K training distances, try a 5 miler week. The important thing is that you are out there whether it’s for 3 miles or 30 miles. When you look back next year, backing off or giving yourself time to reach a new distance won’t even play into the picture. Instead, you might be saying something like this time last year, I could only walk a 5K, now I’m run/walking a 10K!
