Increasing my training

Singularity · #1 8th May 08, 04:50 PM

Hiya,

I was wondering if I can get some advice on where I should go now with my running. I've been running for years and have only recently (the last six months or so) increased it from running 3.5 miles, once a week to what I do now. I've had a hard time with bad shins so have had to take plenty of rest days, do regular stretching etc etc but I think I'm more or less over it. My typical week is as follows:

Mon - Military training which usually consists of sprints or hill-work.
Tue - Rest
Wed - 4.5 miles in 32 minutes
Thu - Rest
Fri - 4.5 miles in 32 minutes
Sat - Rest (although I've recently started doing weights)
Sun - 8 miles in 1 hour, 6 minutes.

I'm hoping to do some races soon, maybe the Jagermeister 10k in august and fingers crossed, the Stamford 30k in Jan 2009.

I'm not really sure how to increase my training. I already do a bit of speedwork on a Monday but the training various every week, sometimes its hills, other times we do fast shuttle runs. I was thinking that I could change my Friday session to do some intervals.

Pete

pedestrian · #2 8th May 08, 07:56 PM

Without going into all sorts of technical b0ll0x and over-analysis, I'd be tempted to throw in an easy 2 or 3 mile run on the days which are currently down as being "rest" days; starting with just the one extra run for a couple of weeks and then adding another after that time.

... Or if you're not keen on adding extra days to your regime, you could try doing the other runs at a quicker pace (here, I'm assuming that these aren't done flat-out as it is!). Again, begin by making just one of your runs quicker for a couple of weeks before adding another quicker one.

Another option would be to increase the distance of your current runs... again, on the basis of adding a little extra at a time to allow for a gradual "acclimatisation" to the extra workload.

The three options then:

1) Increase number of runs
2) Increase pace of existing runs
3) Increase distance of existing runs

Or if you want to complicate things; combine elements from all three options.

Good luck, Pete.

PinkCheeseMuffler · #3 13th May 08, 02:33 PM

At this stage probably the simplest thing to do is build up your long run - now 8 miles, add a bit each week or fortnight - fortnight if you have sore shins - up to whatever ceiling you and your body decide upon! Could be 15 miles, could be 35!!! (In which case you will have magically transformed yourself int an ultrarunner!!) You already do high intensity stuff, and you are not running your long run that fast, c 8.15/mile, so if you run longer week by week your endurance will build up nicely.

Revenged · #4 13th May 08, 08:26 PM

?!

increasing your long run is probably the hardest thing to do...

i found it easier to increase the number of runs you do...

i would try that first...

Singularity · #5 14th May 08, 10:15 AM

Yea I think what I'm going to do is a short 2 or 3 mile run on one of my rest days. I'm not running the 8 mile run very comfortably at the moment so I'll do that a couple more times and then maybe increase it a mile and see what happens.