Going from 20-25 miles a week up to 50 miles a week

ct_roy

ok folks, i got my hands on a copy of P&D Advanced marathoning on the recommendations of folks here and it does look to be excellent.

I currently run 20-25 miles per week and ran DCM '09 just under four hours.

I'm aiming for 3.30m in this years DCM10.

Any tips for how quick I should move from 20-25 miles per week up to 50 miles per week to bridge the gap from where I'm at now to the more demanding schedules in P&D?

Should I just up the miles in may to 30 miles per week and then dive into P&D plans in June?

any advice greatly appreciated.

ecoli

ct_roy wrote: »

ok folks, i got my hands on a copy of P&D Advanced marathoning on the recommendations of folks here and it does look to be excellent.

I currently run 20-25 miles per week and ran DCM '09 just under four hours.

I'm aiming for 3.30m in this years DCM10.

Any tips for how quick I should move from 20-25 miles per week up to 50 miles per week to bridge the gap from where I'm at now to the more demanding schedules in P&D?

Should I just up the miles in may to 30 miles per week and then dive into P&D plans in June?

any advice greatly appreciated.

Build up on a weekly basis the general rule is 10% a week but unless you have a history of injury see how you feel maybe upping it a mile per run which depending on how many runs you do. Also i am not sure whether P & D does a long base building phaze but you can continue the increase of mileage into the base building phase of this

tisnotover

Take it in a 4week cycle, 3 weeks building to new level, then step back one week, before moving to next mileage level.

So 25->30 for 4 wks, 30->35 for 4 wks. Its important though that your comfortable with the 30->35 mileage week before going into that program i'd say. I haven't used it myself but am using the Hal Hidgon Intermediate II as a template.

Your not just building mileage, you will also have a mixture of intervals or tempo running. You will struggle to do these sessions if you build the mileage too quick? By simply extending your long run it is the easiest way to build mileage from one week to the next, and the key is to standardise it.

Best of luck with the new training goal !

ct_roy

ecoli wrote: »

Build up on a weekly basis the general rule is 10% a week but unless you have a history of injury see how you feel maybe upping it a mile per run which depending on how many runs you do. Also i am not sure whether P & D does a long base building phaze but you can continue the increase of mileage into the base building phase of this

ah yes 10% a week sounds like a sensible plan - thanks for the tip!

gerard65

ct_roy wrote: »

Any tips for how quick I should move from 20-25 miles per week up to 50 miles per week to bridge the gap from where I'm at now to the more demanding schedules in P&D?

Should I just up the miles in may to 30 miles per week and then dive into P&D plans in June?

any advice greatly appreciated.

Steady on now. Take ecoli's advice. You've got to be very careful building milage. The 10% rule is good but also watch your pace. Increasing the pace of your runs to quickly can just be as bad and increasing milage.

ct_roy

tisnotover wrote: »

Take it in a 4week cycle, 3 weeks building to new level, then step back one week, before moving to next mileage level.

So 25->30 for 4 wks, 30->35 for 4 wks. Its important though that your comfortable with the 30->35 mileage week before going into that program i'd say. I haven't used it myself but am using the Hal Hidgon Intermediate II as a template.

Your not just building mileage, you will also have a mixture of intervals or tempo running. You will struggle to do these sessions if you build the mileage too quick? By simply extending your long run it is the easiest way to build mileage from one week to the next, and the key is to standardise it.

Best of luck with the new training goal !

cheers tisnotover - must check out the HH intermediate II plan.

find it hard to get into the tempo/interval running - i generally go into a world of my own on the long runs!

tisnotover

ct_roy wrote: »

cheers tisnotover - must check out the HH intermediate II plan.

find it hard to get into the tempo/interval running - i generally go into a world of my own on the long runs!

Check out some of the training logs on here too ?

For the long runs, I find running with a group to be really beneficial, or at very least, a training partner. IF your not a member of a club, you should consider it,you'll find lots of runners with similar time-goals to yourself for DCM and which will make the training/long runs pass that bit easier...

ct_roy

gerard65 wrote: »

Steady on now. Take ecoli's advice. You've got to be very careful building milage. The 10% rule is good but also watch your pace. Increasing the pace of your runs to quickly can just be as bad and increasing milage.

thanks gerard65

will bear the pace tip in mind

plodder

ct_roy wrote: »

ok folks, i got my hands on a copy of P&D Advanced marathoning on the recommendations of folks here and it does look to be excellent.

I currently run 20-25 miles per week and ran DCM '09 just under four hours.

I'm aiming for 3.30m in this years DCM10.

Any tips for how quick I should move from 20-25 miles per week up to 50 miles per week to bridge the gap from where I'm at now to the more demanding schedules in P&D?

Should I just up the miles in may to 30 miles per week and then dive into P&D plans in June?

any advice greatly appreciated.

That's pretty much what I'm aiming for as well - same program too. I'd agree with the other advice here about increasing the miles gradually. I got injured doing this last year, and I'm being a bit more careful about it now.

What I did was to build up my long weekend run to 12-13 miles, which is what the long run in the program starts at. I also added some miles to a second long run, up to about 8 miles. So, hopefully the start of the program should be fairly seamless. Do you have a training log? Mine is here if it's of any interest to you.

RedB

plodder wrote: »

That's pretty much what I'm aiming for as well - same program too. I'd agree with the other advice here about increasing the miles gradually. I got injured doing this last year, and I'm being a bit more careful about it now.

What I did was to build up my long weekend run to 12-13 miles, which is what the long run in the program starts at. I also added some miles to a second long run, up to about 8 miles. So, hopefully the start of the program should be fairly seamless. Do you have a training log? Mine is here if it's of any interest to you.

I'm also aiming for the same target and intend using the same program. I did the Limerick marathon last week in 3:56 from a 30-35M week that was my own pick-and-mix program. I was hoping there'd be a DCM sub 3:30 mentored thread but it might be a bit early yet as the 18 week programme only starts on 21/6. The P+D 50M program looks fairly demanding from the start for my level of running so I'll also have to tailor my base training to suit. There's 6 weeks until it kicks off so that should work for me. Having a log is a good way of keeping with the programs.
Maybe we could start our own thread based on the P+D program?

menoscemo

RedB wrote: »

I'm also aiming for the same target and intend using the same program. I did the Limerick marathon last week in 3:56 from a 30-35M week that was my own pick-and-mix program. I was hoping there'd be a DCM sub 3:30 mentored thread but it might be a bit early yet as the 18 week programme only starts on 21/6. The P+D 50M program looks fairly demanding from the start for my level of running so I'll also have to tailor my base training to suit. There's 6 weeks until it kicks off so that should work for me. Having a log is a good way of keeping with the programs.
Maybe we could start our own thread based on the P+D program?

I'll be up for this. 3.30 will be roughly my target this year as well. I was thinking of doind my own plan based on the tergat '2 big work-outs a week' startegy. Staring at about 40 miles and builing up to 55 mpw.

plodder

RedB wrote: »

I'm also aiming for the same target and intend using the same program. I did the Limerick marathon last week in 3:56 from a 30-35M week that was my own pick-and-mix program. I was hoping there'd be a DCM sub 3:30 mentored thread but it might be a bit early yet as the 18 week programme only starts on 21/6. The P+D 50M program looks fairly demanding from the start for my level of running so I'll also have to tailor my base training to suit. There's 6 weeks until it kicks off so that should work for me. Having a log is a good way of keeping with the programs.
Maybe we could start our own thread based on the P+D program?

I think a DCM sub 3:30 thread would be a great idea. It'd be interesting to compare experiences and get some advice as well.

ct_roy

well it looks like I'll be lying low for a week or two after straining my calf today but i'd defo be interested in a 3.30 mentored thread too!

RedB

Well I made inquiries about a sub 3:30 mentored thread and was advised to start a general Improver / Sub 3:30 one under the Training Log forum and we'd probably get advice from some of the sub 3:00 guys there but maybe not a 'dedicated' mentor.
Seeing as we'd be following the P+D Schedule I reckon that'd be good enough and be a focal point for our DCM efforts. So, see you over there if you feel like joining the crew .