increasing mileage

winterslow

Hi Everyone

I've been running around 40 miles/week consisting of 5 sessions with 2 rest days for a couple of months now.

My usual week comprises:

Sun: 10-15 miles
Mon: Rest day
Tues: 5-7 miles at moderate effort or fartlek
Weds: Hard 10 mile club run
Thurs: Rest day
Fri: 5-7 miles at comfortable pace
Sat: 7-9 miles including speedwork at 10K-10M pace

I want to start to move up towards 50 mile weeks towards the end of the year but wondered whether it was better to simply increase to training 6 days a week or keep my 2 rest days by running twice on one of the other days.

Advice/suggestions welcome!

Pammie*

I should be asking "you" for advice but am sure "the experts" will come in later and tell you.
I have only started to get over the 20 mpw barrier.

[Deleted User]

northern exile, I am no expert and don't do any thing like the amount of training you do but what do you want to get out of your training, what are your goals, aims and ambitions?

[Deleted User]

First thing, easy 5-6 mile run on Monday.

How about short easy runs for a couple of mornings as well.

Looks like a good balance - long run, 2 speed sessions, hard club run. The bones are there. Just flesh it out with more easy aerobic running where you can.

Sounds easy and it is but you will reap the rewards.

Maybe try and up the long run and midweek longish run, but like Jane says, depends on your goals.

winterslow

in terms of goals i just want to keep improving on the PB's i've set since i started running this year.

my races so far have been from 5-10 miles (5m PB= 29:17, 10m PB= 61:03). i'm planning to try a couple of 1/2's early in the new year then hopefully give the marathon a go at some point.

generally though, im pretty happy between 5-10 miles with the odd half marathon thrown in.

thanks for the tips so far :-)

[Deleted User]

Your PB's are pretty good. A further session a week doesn't hurt. After you have run 5x/week for a few months you should have no problems with a further session. You do already a lot of quality sessions maybe add a recovery run or do cross training.

winterslow

Thanks URR.

I've always avoided recovery runs because i found it hard to believe something so slow can bring any benefit. BUT i think it's worth a try as it seems to work for so many other people and i guess it's the safest way to add a few miles on each week.

So here goes!