What should I consider a normal running week?

pug_

Hi folks,

I took up running a bit before Christmas with the long term goal of running this years Dublin city marathon. So far all is going well, I go out 3 times a week religiously running roughly 2 miles. Fitness levels are definitely improving, and I'm finding I can do my little circuit a little bit faster every week.

I'm going to start increasing the distance I run next week to about 3 miles, but I've been trying to figure out lately what I should be aiming for as a standard weekly run so I'm at the right fitness level to begin the marathon training proper when the time comes.

I've searched online, and even though there are plenty of training programs out there for people that are training for particular events there isn't much in the way of explaining what people should be doing in between events, or what the training schedules should be like for people who want to be at the right fitness levels to train for particular events.

Any help appreciated.

cfitz

There isn't really an agreed upper limit on the amount of running you should do to maintain fitness between/before races. One thing for sure is that you will not need to worry about that upper limit for a long time. You can aim to eventually get to a stage where you are running at least 6 times per week and where your average run is upwards of 45 minutes.

hunnymonster

pug. Congrats on taking up the challenge. One approach is to take a standard marathon training plan and work backwards, say we have 37 weeks until DCM, and you're going to take an 18 week plan, 19 weeks left, before the marathon training plan, follow a 9 week half marathon training plan, then a 6 week 10 km plan, leaving you a couple of base weeks now to increase your distance a bit.

A good rule of thumb is the so called 10% rule,
Never increase
-your total weekly mileage more than 10%
-the length (time) of your longest run by more than 10%
- the speed (or percieved intensity) of any run by more than 10%
in any given week.

pug_

Thanks for the replies. I'm not that worried about an upper limit just yet, I'm more worried about the lower limit at this stage. I just don't want to come to the start of the marathon training and find that I'm not fit enough, or only barely fit enough and struggling. Ideally I'd like to be at a stage where I find the marathon a challenge but not a painful struggle if you get me

@hunnymonster, I like that idea. I hadn't thought of doing a few training programs with the aim of just increasing my fitness instead of doing it for a particular event.

cfitz

Well I think running more often is the next step. I'd recommend trying to reach a stage where you are running 5 times per week. As soon as you've got comfortable with that you can start to up the distance of one or two of your weekly runs.

Krusty_Clown

Sounds like you're about ready for your first 5K race.
Training progam
Race

If you're not interested in doing a race, the training program is at least structured in a way that is consistent with the incremental increases that Hunnymonster mentioned.

Peckham

Another good approach is not to think of the DCM just yet. Pick some other races in the meantime and build towards them, so that you can use a structured training plan.

halhigdon.com has some great beginner's training plans for 10k, half marathon etc. Also, looking at the 16-18 week marathon training plans on that site will give you a good idea where you need to be at the start of the summer.

You're well ahead of most people who'll be taking up their first marathon challenge this year, so you're in a great position

mrak

hunnymonster wrote: »

pug. Congrats on taking up the challenge. One approach is to take a standard marathon training plan and work backwards, say we have 37 weeks until DCM, and you're going to take an 18 week plan, 19 weeks left, before the marathon training plan, follow a 9 week half marathon training plan, then a 6 week 10 km plan, leaving you a couple of base weeks now to increase your distance a bit.

A good rule of thumb is the so called 10% rule,
Never increase
-your total weekly mileage more than 10%
-the length (time) of your longest run by more than 10%
- the speed (or percieved intensity) of any run by more than 10%
in any given week.

That's a good rule alright - though you can't just keep ramping it up week after week. Daniels quotes a slightly different approach during the base building phase:

- When building up your weekly mileage, build by a max of 1 mile for every day you get out.

- Keep mileage at about the new level for 3 weeks before upping it again.

- when building up keep all the miles fairly steady.

I think this works good too.

jlang

At the level you're at, you'd be more of a runner than a large proportion of people will ever be. When I started running, I never planned getting much beyond running 2-3 miles two or three times a week, but once that was manageable, I said 3-4 miles continuous running three or four times a week. By the time I'd got there I'd signed up to do a 10k race a couple of months later and I worked up from there.

If you're asking what level should you be at to start thinking of a marathon, look at the first week of the marathon training programmes - the beginner-level plans would expect you to be able to go straight to running 4 times a week or 15-18 miles a week. I feel the important thing is to be disciplined enough to go out 4 times every week and the plan will look after getting you round the distance. I've also heard others say that if you can run 5 miles now, if you train for 3 months you can do a marathon. You can make it around with less training or from a lower base, but the easier you find the first week, the easier the whole programme will be.

pug_

Thanks for the replies. I had considered running in a few races between now and the marathon, and I'll definitely be doing the Phoenix park races in the summer as part of my preparation, but I'm not sure about doing other races before that. For me running has very little to do with the race aspect of it. I just enjoy doing it for it's own sake, and the marathon is just something to aim for to keep me motivated to do more. Then again maybe I'm missing out on something so I might give the 5k race in April a go and if I like it I might do a few more.

I really like the idea of doing the half marathon and 10k training starting now. It makes a lot of sense, and I figure if I'm fit enough to run a half marathon by the time the marathon training starts then I should definitely be fit enough to complete the training successfully.