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Race time imrpovements as mileage increased
after years of casual running and footy i've started attempting to knock out a good 40miles a week.
After 5 weeks of this I've noticed my typical 40min 10k has now suddenly morphed down to a 3830, so hoping to ride on this 40mile wave for a few months and possibly take another minute off that 10k .
However, inspire me with your tales of how 10miles a week gave an hr 10k and then 50miles gave a 35min 10k etc!
Apologies, I know there was a thread on this ages ago but can't find it.
If Barnsely runner is out there he always makes entertaining reading.
Any tips on how long to stay at a certain mileage are welcome too.
And maybe a breakdown of the training at certain mileages etc!
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Stevie I'm in the same position you so I hope you get some replies. I've only raced once as an adult ad did an 18:56 5k, but I was only running around 12 miles per week at the time. I'm training properly now and hope to get my mileage up from 30 to 40 per week within the next few weeks and keep that steady until winter, with the view to racing in the new year. Hopefully I'll be a couple of minutes quicker by then but I'd be really interested to hear what kind of improvements people have ade and how they did it.
Hi, I was lurking on this thread out of interest, but thought I may as well add a wee bit! Have no glory stories, as I'm fairly new to running, and am now planning a long term increase in mileage over a couple of stages. Underway with the first stage, working on getting it up to 40. Probably mid30s currently, but with me going away for 16 days it will probably take a bit of a hit... hope to maintain 40 mpw from mid-late august until september, increasing the intensity as the weeks pass on, to peak at a 10k in late September. Doing a 10k at the start of September just when I'm commencing all that speedwork so that may be a marker to see the effect of an increase in mileage, but to be honest, I don't think I'll have really made a significant enough increase to be able to solely attribute any change in performance to that!
40mpw - 40 min 10K
50mpw - 39 min 10K
60mpw - 37 min 10K
80mpw - 35 min 10K
This is roughly what I was doing in training when I ran these times however, my weight also gradually came down as my mileage increased so at 9st I was running 40mins for 10K and at 8st I was running 35 mins for 10K so I'm not sure how much of the improvement came from mileage and how much came from weight loss. Equally the quality of my speedwork improved and when I ran 35 mins I was doing lots of long reps and tempo runs.
Hope this helps. I should also add that I am female so I expect that these mileages would get you much quicker times than me so hope it goes well.
Here are some approx stats over the last 3 years:
0mpw - 39:50
40mpw - 37:30
100mpw - 35:13
70mpw - 34:13
80mpw - 33:18
90mpw - 33:17
60mpw - 33:35
80mpw - 32:04
100mpw - ???? - should find out soon
Total mileage is just one factor. Also have to consider quality, specificity, injury avoidence, training phase, training background and general year on year improvement. I've never really trainined specifically for 10km, but my best result came from 3 - 5km training.
Not really a short distance specialist, but I did get an improvement in half marathon times.
30mpw - approx 90 mins
40mpw - 1:28
70mpw - 1:23
As BEJ says, it isn't just about mileage. I get the best results off a longish period of steady mileage, followed by a spell with some harder tempo runs, then a few weeks of sharpening speedwork in the weeks before a target race.
ahh this thread got more interested just when i'd consigned it to the bin
casual running over the years saw me mostly around 40mins for 10k
one freak 10k in 2005 gave me a 38:27 but that was clearly a one off
since then have just about got to that time again...38:34 on a less than flat course...that was after about 3 weeks of the 40miles a week
have done about 8 weeks of the new 40miles a week programme...with 3 50mile weeks due to be completed this sunday. no real speed work at the moment as my club is not doign any at this time of year...but most of my runs tend to be what i suppose is tempo runs...not as slow as i should probably do them with the increase...but i'll learn!
at the moment i have the drive to test this mileage thing out and see how it goes for a good 6months...need to see soem good improvement though to keep it rolling.
Had a wakeup call turning 27 recently, so thought it's now or never...either plod along in top 10% of local races forever or make a proper dash for the top of the field.
will see in the next race if there is any improvment or if it's plateau time
Dipsy that is fairly slow improvement up to 50miles a week i think...but incredible improvement after...especially like you say being female...35min 10ks would get you top female runner in most normal sized 10k fields i would certainly think.
B E Jones, you clearly have some remarkable natural talent to start with...i would be utterly delighted witha 35min 10k time in the future...that would give me the main aim...being able to turn up at your local ish type of 10k race and be competitive at the front.
32-33mins is seriously top amateur level running...well done that man!
By tempo run I mean say running a 37 min 10K in training when I am in shape to run 35 mins in a race. I certainly couldn't do a tempo run everyday. I would do one once a week maximum and probably not as far as 10K every week. At that stage my steady running was all done at a fairly quick pace say 6.30-6.45 min/mile but I would not class these as tempo runs just normal steady running. Only my early morning 5 mile runs were done at a slow pace as they would act almost as a warm up for a faster run later in the day. I didn't run my long runs slowly either and I know that a lot of elite runners do not run their long runs slowly. Although mileage is important and I am quite obsessive about increasing my mileage, I have reluctantly learn't that the quality of training is really important too and that running slowly is not the way to get quick.
I'm with you on the
"Had a wakeup call turning 27 recently, so thought it's now or never...either plod along in top 10% of local races forever or make a proper dash for the top of the field"
Bit younger, bit less experienced, bit less good...
...but I'm gonna give it everything for the next 3-4 years and see what happens. I'm aiming for 100mpw by the spring.
A year ago I reduced my running mileage from 40-50 to 20-30 mpw, to make time for a rowing machine.
And my race times improved. Markedly so, in fact. I was within a few seconds of pb's at 10K and half-mara distances, set four to five years ago. I'm 48 btw.
all depends how much potential you have and how you are doing your sessions i'm sure.
if you did 40miles a week in a slow fashion but changed t o 20miles of quality running but lot of strengthenign cross training would improve you i'm sure.
however, surely to get running quicker you need to do more running...that's the unescapable truth!
speaking of which off for a lunchtime 4miler now...to make it 21 for the week. 4 tonight...10 tomorrow...and 8 sunday to givea reduced 43 for the week...as saturday have first day off for about 5 weeks!
unfortunately very true paul...well...unless they are very old and do their miles very slow!
slowly i've got that the mileage has to be increased...as i see load of 40+ year olds who i'd obliterate in very short distances beating me with ease over 5miles +
was surpised to only come 13th ina small village 4miler doing a time of 24:30....i had to battle to beat some 49year old who wheezed the whole way round
the 50miles a week should up my game a little!Lol
Aye aye.
I've progressed over the last 8 weeks or so up to an all-time high of 70km (which I am on course for this week) equating to a mighty... 43 miles. Lol.
I'm hoping for 75km for next week, and hopefully 80 the week after. I spoke to a local runner with a very impressive history, and he does around 100mpw in his base training phase for 5k and 10k.
Sure, it depends on one's potential and the quality of one's workouts. I was surprised when my times started dropping, I was expecting the opposite. All I do in a week is three (usually) runs which are simply one long slow plod (currently 13-odd miles and rising), and one steady and one either tempo or intervals each totalling 6 or 7 miles.
I would dispute that more miles = better times is the unescapable truth. Instead, I would say that more work = better times. I have no idea how kms on the rowing machine equate to kms running. I generally do about 30,000 metres a week on the Concept2, again a mixture of long and slow, and faster and intervals.
Clearly there is a balance to be achieved between the two disciplines depending on which one is more important, which in my case is running. But the rowing works similar muscles (it's 60 per cent leg-driven) without the impact and has a similar aerobic and anaerobic benefit.
The danger of too much running is injury. I tried the base training route once and just got repetitive-strain injuries from too many long slow miles. Up the quantity but vary it with a good dose of cross-training is my advice. Not that I'm an elite athlete, btw, definitely a mid-pack man but it worked for me!
That's an interesting perspective. But I've almost doubled my mileage in 2 months, and had nothing in the way of pains, aches or injuries... so to be honest I need to wait until I've been doing this longer to comment.
how are the times in races developing paul?
that's the acid test
not sure how many months of the upped training give the better times tho
and always hard to tell on differnet courses...different weather etc
but how are your most recent times compared to last ones?
I did a 5k in May... in 19'32". I did the same course after 6 weeks of Base Training but with almost double mileage and came in at 19'49". I'm not sure what to make of this.
I'm looking for a sub 65 Great south Run, and I know that won't happen without a hefty mileage.
good to have aims paul...
yeah that 65 might need some work as it stands...unless you are just biased toward longer distances.
i've done 2 10milers...one in 2006 where i was around 1hr 4 with 5k pb of 1757
this year my 10miler was a slightly slower form of 1hr 4 with the 5k best of 1745
but maybe i'm more biased towards the shorter distances, have always had a bit of pace from footy days
keep us posted with the times and training for them. you could be the next RW sucess story
I'm hoping i'll be over 60mpw come the end of October... so i'll let you know how that helps me fare.
In the mean time... ITB trouble! Good times.
ITB? the bowel thing? or are we talking illoitible band syndrome...no that's IBS!
I've noticed as i've got faster and upped the mileage suddenly I'm stopping more for pit stops in middle of runs! I presume this is due to working harder and not allowing enough time for food to digest. I used to be able to eat a fairly heavy dinner an hour before my monday 6.5miler..but now last 2 weeks even lighter meals have ended in mid run slurry!
I'll have to just act like they are a race in which i wouldn't dream of eating in the 3 hours before!
had a very brief spell of eating bananas and nuts...that was a2 day trial...followed by 2 days of...pitstops!
i think potatoes beans etc are a monster no no in the 2 hours or so before a run if planning to go at anything above stroll pace..
i should really know this stuff this far in...but my food hasn;t overly changed...just the mileage and velocity of the runs.