Another mileage question...

ip(FeS2)

I don't want to start another "quantity" vs "quality" debate, I'm just interested in how everyone decided what their "average"/"normal" weekly mileage should be.

I can think of...

1. Time
2. Following a particular training schedule
3. Any more and I get injured
4. Any more and I get bored.
5. Experimentally, my results don't improve as well at higher mileages.

Stickless

I try to run 4 times a week. 2 4miles, a 6mile, and a longer run.

I can't afford to run on days when I have a lot to do afterwards - experience shows that I crash.

That knocks out 2 days. At the weekend, family comes first, which means I run once at the most.

That leaves 4 days.

Runs of over 6 miles can precipitate a relapse, so I run more than 6 miles only when I know I've got the opportunity to spend a part of the afternoon in bed resting.

Working towards a marathon the trick seems to be to balance longer runs, even an extra run a week with longer rests. Adding walking on top of, before or after runs also helps develop endurance, both enabling legs to run longer and to avoid relapses following increased training.

This obviously takes a lot more time for a rather smaller increase in training.

At this point I am actively trying to up my stamina for summer events. I have no idea what maintenance training will mean afterwards.

ip(FeS2)

Thanks for your reply,
That's an incredible amount of planning you have to do...
Congratulations and good luck with reaching maintenance phase...

Lindy.

[Deleted User]

I run every morning because it starts the day on a high. I run every evening because I figure the more miles I run the better trained I am and the faster I get in the long term.

I've tried 3 times per day but found it counterproductive.

I work out I've done too many miles when I can't think of a purpose to what I'm doing beyond clocking more miles for the log.

So to answer your questions directly

1. Time - not an issue, I make time to do the runs

2. I am taking advice from a coach who stops me running too fast and too far in training.

3. Not had a serious injury for 3 years now.

4. Never really get bored with it.

5. I've gone up to 125 miles and found I feel happiest and make most progress at around 85-95mpw. Hopefully as I get more base behind me in the coming months this can be pushed up a bit.

Minks

Phew, BR! Feel exhausted just looking at your response!

1) LP, for me I guess the biggest constraint is time. I generally work 9:00-5:00ish but I have 1-1.5 hours travelling each way. I get up at 6:30 for work, and experience has shown that I'm not a morning runner. I can get out there and do the session, but feel because I'm not properly awake I don't get as much out of it as I would do later in the day.

2) At the moment I'm following a schedule as I'm running the FLM this year. I've used a 4 times a week marathon training programme. Initially I tried to increase to 5 sessions per week, but found that with the build in mileage my body needed more time to recover. I'd always run 4 times a week prior to FLM training, and decided that building mileage and number of sessions at the same time wasn't going to work for me and might lead to injury. 4 times a week works well for me and I may stick to this - maybe I could improve on more, but at what cost to other areas of my life?

3) Would be concerned that any more would increase risk of injury. I think if I was going to do this it would be during a training 'low' period - i.e. no immediate race plans and I could do shorter runs while I got used to the extra session.

In an ideal world I'd probably run more, but running isn't the only thing in my life, and as my partner isn't a runner I feel it would be unfair to make him put up with me being out running even more than I am already!