10% rule - what exactly is it?

Hi,

 Please can somebody explain to me so that i can slowly get this imprinted on my brain!

 Is it no more than 10% on mileage per week or per each time you go out and run in the course of a week?

 Thank you

S

Comments

  • Both really. No more than 10% per week for total mileage, but don't run 30 miles in 5 runs one week then one 33 mile the next. Treat it as a guide for increasing long runs as well
  • samsungusersamsunguser ✭✭✭

    Thank you.

     So for e.g if i'm currenlty running 3 x 3 miles per week then next week it will be 3 x 3.3 miles and so on....?

     Does it also apply if i want to add in an extra day e.g. 4 times rather than 3 - would i have to factor in what i currently run on a weekly basis - 9miles and include the 4th run into this? e.g. 3 x 3 = 6 and 2 x 1.5?

  • Yep, I think it means don't increase your weekly mileage by more than 10% at a time and also don't increase then length of your long run by more than 10% at a time.

    So if you are currently doing 3 x 3miles = 9 miles this week then you you wouldn't want do more than 10 miles in total next week. If you want to do 4 runs you could do 3 + 3 + 2 + 2.

  • samsungusersamsunguser ✭✭✭

    Brilliant - thank you. 

    So if one week i decided i wanted to do 3 runs but the same mileage - i could do 3 x 3 but then if i wanted to do a 4th run i could do 3+3+2+2?  THen of course increase only by 10 percent the following week and so on?

     I just don't want to prevent injuries because for some reason as soon as i get to build up to 4 miles i seem to get a knee niggle or achilles issues and it puts me back to square one - and looking back i think i just try to go too fast or increase mileage just too quickly.

  • Yes, you could do:-

    3+3+3
    3+3+2+2
    3+3+3+2
    2+2+3+1 (back-ff/recovery week)
    3+3+3+3
    3+4+3+3

    etc etc.

  • MoraghanMoraghan ✭✭✭

    It's a bloody silly "rule" cooked up by someone looking for a catchy headline.

    It's supposed to be a conservative method of increasing mileage. But if you are running 20 miles a week and increase by 10% a week, you would have nearly doubled it in 8 weeks and nearly trebled it in 12.  That's not even allowing for the fact that if you introduce quality it's a good idea to reduce mileage to maintain overall training load.

    If I were you I'd increase mileage and then hold it for a further 3 weeks to see if you're handling it before implementing any further changes.

  • load can be distance, frequency or intensity

    Increasing any of those too much, or too rapidly can lead to injury

    or summat like dat

  • samsungusersamsunguser ✭✭✭

    Hi All,

     Thanks for all posts.  I will increase slowly and will stay at a level for a few weeks before progressing again.

     Good to have this cleared up as it's been taxing my little brain image

Sign In or Register to comment.