Increasing mileage

G-Money

I'm just getting back into running after a bit of a break and my aim is to run 4 times a week. I was thinking of sticking to the 10% idea and incrementing my total weekly mileage each week by 10% and then dividing that up across the 4 runs.

I'm wondering though for how long should I keep doing that. At the moment I'm starting back doing 2.2 miles. How long should I keep incrementing by 10%?

I am considering doing the Dublin marathon this year but I won't decide on that for sure for another few months but if I do that, I would need to begin a marathon programme around June/July time.

But until then, I will just need to keep running so I'm just wondering what mileage I should be aiming for in the short to medium term.

Thanks!

Krusty_Clown

In the meantime, why don't you pick up a half-marathon program, and follow it through to completion? Hal Higdon's novice program would probably match up with your short term goals.

huskerdu

Do you mean running 2.2 miles, 4 times a week?
If so, that is 8.8 miles a week. If you increase by 10% a week, then you will be running 14 miles a week in 6 weeks. That is quite an increase to keep up for a long time.

I would suggest aiming for cycles of 4 weeks, with week 4 having no increase,
and reassess your aims every cycle

Also, you need to have one run a week that is longer than the others.
I am no expert, others might have better suggestions, but
Here is a suggestion for the first cycle

Week 1 2 miles, 2 miles, 2 miles, 3 miles - Total mileage 9 miles
Week 2 2.2 miles, 2.2 miles, 2 miles, 3.5 miles - Total mileage 9.9 miles
Week 3 2.3 miles, 2.5 miles, 2.2 miles, 3.8 miles- Total mileage 10.8 miles
Week 4 2.3 miles, 2.4 miles, 2 miles, 4.1 miles- Total mileage 10.8 miles