10 miles?

cream1703 · February 20th, 2006, 12:43 PM

Can some one tell me how smart this is. Starting four weeks ago on monday's we started working towards a ten mile run. In week one we ran 6 miles, then next monday we go up .5 miles. So right now we are at 7.5 miles. The thing is we also run on wen. and fri. Our wen-fri runs vary between 2-6 miles. Is this too much running?

MsFitness · February 20th, 2006, 02:49 PM

It all depends on your running experience. If you could actually make a chart of your running schedule, it would be better to understand. So, have you build yourself up to 7.5 miles or are you just going out there and trying to run 10 miles? You should increase your mileage by 10% every couple of weeks. If you are increasing daily, you will cause an injury and/or overtain.

What is your total mileage for the week? Are you resting after long runs? I need more information than what you have provided.

**g_samsa** · February 20th, 2006, 03:04 PM

I'd say the same thing. It doesn't seem like that much mileage to someone who runs a lot. But, it's way too much if you don't have any experience and you've started running 6 miles cold. MsFitness is right. We will need to know your experience level and what your buildup to this goal started with.

cream1703 · February 20th, 2006, 04:44 PM

im not doing this by chose im in the military so im not just jumping into this have been running alot for the past year and a half because i have no other choose, this is what the schedule looks like hopefully it will be easier to understand. This new plan started four weeks ago, with six miles which is the normal thing
Week one
Mon-6 miles
Wen-2-6 miles
Fri-3miles

Week two
Mon-6.5 miles
Wen-2-6miles
Fri-3 miles

Week three
Mon-7 miles
Wen-2-6 miles
Fri 3 miles

Week Four- This week
Mon-7.5 miles
wen-2-6 miles
Fri-3 miles

Week Five
Mon-8 miles
Wen- 2-6miles
Fri-3 miles

Week 6
Mon-9miles
Wen-2-6miles
Fri-3 miles

Week 7
Mon-10 miles

**g_samsa** · February 20th, 2006, 07:04 PM

This is a terrible schedule. Here are the problems.
A/ it's a very bad idea to start a training schedule with a 6 miler (even experienced runners start with a day or two of just a few miles).

B/ nothing changes with the other two days of running. As your long days go up so should your short days.

C/ 2 mile runs do almost nothing in terms of conditioning. The Wednesday run should read something like 4-6.

D/ three running days a week is not enough to safely achieve your goal of 10 miles. You should be running an absolute minimum of 4 and maximum of 6. (schedules will look different for 4 and 6 days)

Whoever made this schedule is a bonehead. A beginner runner needs to start slow and steady and do the same thing for several week in a row before considering upping the mileage. 6 miles is a bad distance to start at. I would start with 3 miles every day except friday and sunday for two weeks. Then I would add a "long" run for Monday's workout (5 miles is about right). On wednesday and Saturday i would do 4 miles. Then after a month or so of this I would begin increasing my long day by half a mile a week untill I get to 9 miles. While I'm doing that I would up my wednesday and saturday runs to 4-6 miles with some hills.

It would look like this:
Monday- 3
Tuesday-3
Wed-3
Thurs-3
Sat-3
repeat for several week untill this gets very booring and easy.

Monday 4-5
Tusday 3
Wed- 4
Thurs 3
Sat- 4
A few more weeks of this

Monday- 4-6
Tuesday 3
Wed 4 + 2 quarter mile hills
Thursay 3
Sat 4-6
Do this and increase your Monday run week by week untill you get to 10 miles. Add one hill a week untill you can do about 5 in a row to the wednesday run.

Anyway. Hope that gives you an idea of what a schedule should look like.

cream1703 · February 20th, 2006, 07:28 PM

I completly agree when I heard that we were gonna be doing this I thought it was a terrible idea but I thought I would ask some more experinced runners about it. Sadly there is nothing I can do about it. It's what my chain of command wants to do.

MsFitness · February 20th, 2006, 10:47 PM

All I can say is pray you don't get injured! Also, do you think us marathoners run 26.2 miles for our long runs? NO, you have to achieve more than your goal, so running 9 miles isn't the right answer either. To be honest, I believe this schedule is set up for failure. I have been a runner for a long time and going out and running 3 days a week for a 10 mile run is crazy. Especially, if you have little to no expereience.

If you are trying to achieve a 10 miler, you need to gradually work your way up to 10 miles. Running 3-6 miles over 3 days is NOTHING..you are talking about 18 miles at max. Generally, when you are training for a min-marathon (13.1 miles) you should be running atleast 30-35 miles a week. That's w/ a day of rest or cross training.

If you can, try to run extra on your own. The more mileage you can build up, the better off. Yes, you have been running for the past year and half, but running 3 miles here and there is nothing compared to 10 miles.

All I can say is good luck, most of these runners are going to fail, which is sad to say!

Kroger · February 24th, 2006, 06:46 PM

Since you are only running 3 times a week, you should be alright as long as you don't overdue it. Your body will have plenty of time to recover, even though it would make way more sense to have the weekly long run toward the end of the week.

RunnerXC01 · March 2nd, 2006, 09:52 PM

If your muscles become uncomfortably painful, or you begin to develop shin-splints... You know you pushed yourself too far.

After breaking 18 minutes in a 5K, I knew I made it... but I had my fair share of injuries from running so far.

harlequinbkk · March 6th, 2006, 05:33 PM

I agree with Kroger, at 3 times a week, you have at least 2 days rest - plenty of time to recover from a strenuous workout

two5812 · March 8th, 2006, 01:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cream1703

Can some one tell me how smart this is. Starting four weeks ago on monday's we started working towards a ten mile run. In week one we ran 6 miles, then next monday we go up .5 miles. So right now we are at 7.5 miles. The thing is we also run on wen. and fri. Our wen-fri runs vary between 2-6 miles. Is this too much running?

Hey cream, depends on your base, but it seems a reasonable amount. I would limit the distance on the Wed. / Fri. runs to no more than the distances you're now running. In other words, only up the Monday run. A day off between runs is good, but try to do some other activity that compliments the running like weights for upper body. Also make sure you stretch lots after your runs. Also, do some activity on the weekend on occasion and try to mix the routine up from time to time.