Increase base mileage or more tempo run for beginner (Read 1234 times)

You went from several months of 150 m/month to almost 350.

 

Take it easy.

I won't do it again, I promise. Neither my legs nor my DW will let me

My two cents:

Like JimR, I don't think you are ready to train for a marathon right now.

I think if you really want to improve as a runner, then you should take the following steps:

1) Forget about weekly/monthly mileage goals.

2) Run as many times a week as you can, but keep the your daily run(s) to 30-60 minutes.

3) When you feel good, run fast (note: I did not say hard).

4) When you feel bad, run slow.

5) If you feel bad for a couple days in a row, take a day off.

After a year of this and regular racing at the 5k-10k distance, you will be ready for the marathon, and probably aiming at 3:20 instead of 4:00.

Most beginners can accomplish their goals by a) losing weight and b) continuing to do what they are already doing, but doing it more consistently/frequently/over a longer stretch of time, and c) avoiding trying to take on training that is too aggressive for them.

Looks like you don't have any weight to lose at 122lbs, and I would worry that with your slight build (and probably fast metabolism) that your body is not prepared to handle the stress of high mileage/long marathon training runs. So that leaves you with b) and c).

I also think that your racing ambitions and your training ambitions are not properly aligned (racing goal too low, training goal too high.)

Finally, when I look at your training, I see that its almost sole focus is on extension of distance, rather than the intensity of the pace. You don't really give your running any time to get faster before you add more distance on there. Maybe that's where you feel like "tempo runs" would be an improvement over adding more miles. I'd agree with that, except I think that with simple consistency at a moderate mileage (40ish mpw), eventually your easy pace will get quicker and you won't need tempos to do it. However, consciously planning in a couple of days where you let the dogs out if you feel good wouldn't hurt.

If that's two cents worth, what do we get for a dollar?

You get more advice and a apple tart from McDonalds.

Folks who charge two cents tell you what you need to know.

Folks that charge the full dollar will tell you what you want to hear.