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Upping long run mileage suddenly (Read 295 times)

    Can I raise my long run mileage suddenly while still keeping my same average weekly mileage safety?  ie: I currently run about 20ish miles a week with my long run being 7 miles. Can I up the long run to 10 miles suddenly while still maintaining 20ish miles per week without injury?

     

    I am starting a training plan that stars out at 21mpw with a 10 mile long run, and then peaking at 31mpw with a 13 mile long run. The longest run I have run since December is 7 miles and I am training for a half marathon in April.

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      If this is your first time at that volume and long run distance, I'll go out on a limb and suggest that it might have a high probability of injury.

       

      Is there a reason for selecting the training plan with a long run that starts 50% greater than where you are now and has the long run as almost 50% of the weekly mileage to start? (yes, that whole plan is sending red flags my direction)

       

       

      I should add that some of us who like to explore on trails sometimes take wrong turns and do something equivalent to what's being proposed - accidentally - but live to tell about it after a few days recovery.

      "So many people get stuck in the routine of life that their dreams waste away. This is about living the dream." - Cave Dog

        You don't really need a 13 mile long run to finish a half marathon.  Adjust the plan so that you are running same weekly mileage but with the long run no more than a third of the weekly mileage, and probably no more than 2 hours. You will get a better training effect from running 5-6 days a week and running a bit faster the day before your long run day, than doing a super long run and taking the day off before and after.

          Only one way to find out.

          Runners run

          GinnyinPA


            If your race isn't until April, you have time to build your long run from 7-13 without having to do a big jump like that.

             

            That said, you can probably do it, but your 10 miles isn't going to be easy.  When I was increasing miles the first time I made a mistake on planning my long run and my 8 mile day became a 10 mile day by accident.  It didn't hurt me.  But the next week, I went back down to 8.

             

            Many people say you don't have to do 12-13 miles before a HM, but I know that the first few times I did that distance, it was a lot harder than the jump from 7-8 or 8-9.  I personally wouldn't want to run a race when I hadn't done the distance first.  Marathon, of course, excepted.

              It is probably not ideal but it kind of depends on how much you've been running in the past and how consistent you've been with running.  From personal experience it is easier to jump back into 10 milers if you have done them before.   If this is the first time running 10 miles it will be a bit shocking to your system most likely.   This is a great deal of stress on your body from a single day's run which may cause recovery issues that could affect the quality of your runs during the following week.   This could potentially derail your training.  Will you get injured?  Maybe, maybe not.  Some people are just built for distance and have no trouble at all going a lot longer at once without much lead up to it.  A lot of variables here...

              "Shut up Legs!" Jens Voigt

              duckman


              The Irreverent Reverend

                If this is your first time at that volume and long run distance, I'll go out on a limb and suggest that it might have a high probability of injury.

                 

                Is there a reason for selecting the training plan with a long run that starts 50% greater than where you are now and has the long run as almost 50% of the weekly mileage to start? (yes, that whole plan is sending red flags my direction) 

                 

                +1 on both points that AKTrail makes, but especially re: the plan that has the long run as 50% of your weekly miles. That seems a bit extreme.

                Husband. Father of three. Lutheran pastor. National Guardsman. Runner. Political junkie. Baseball fan.


                Feeling the growl again

                  Can I raise my long run mileage suddenly while still keeping my same average weekly mileage safety?  ie: I currently run about 20ish miles a week with my long run being 7 miles. Can I up the long run to 10 miles suddenly while still maintaining 20ish miles per week without injury?

                   

                  I am starting a training plan that stars out at 21mpw with a 10 mile long run, and then peaking at 31mpw with a 13 mile long run. The longest run I have run since December is 7 miles and I am training for a half marathon in April.

                   

                  What is the source of this "training plan"?  Any plan prescribing long runs near 50% of total weekly mileage is pretty low on credibility.

                   

                  Seriously, you do a 10 mile long run one day, you have 11 miles to spread across the other 6 days. Say you run 4 days total, that's not even  3 miles per run your other workouts.

                   

                  You need a different plan.

                  "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                   

                  I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

                   

                     

                    What is the source of this "training plan"?  Any plan prescribing long runs near 50% of total weekly mileage is pretty low on credibility.

                    ...

                    Sounds like it came from RW "Smart" Coach based on post on RWOL. (up about 5 posts from where that link takes you)

                    "So many people get stuck in the routine of life that their dreams waste away. This is about living the dream." - Cave Dog
                    Chuck1945


                      I am another one on the side of caution. I had planned a half marathon (my first) for this coming June, but decided in November to possibly add one that will be March 1. Doing that required me to boost my miles more quickly than I had planned in December, going from about 12-15 miles/week to 20+ (84 miles in December). The shorter runs stayed the same 3-4 miles but I increased my longer run from 5 to 8 eight miles in 1 mile increments. Result - an injured ankle and on top of that, the March half filled up before I could get the web page to work Sad

                       

                      Anyway, I am now working at a more gradual pace to prepare for the June half and just did my first 9 mile run this past weekend.

                       

                      From what I have read and heard from others, adding 1-1.5 miles a month to your long run and not reducing your other runs will give you the base for your April half. Your plan of reducing other miles to increase your long run sounds like a ticket to injuey

                      hectortrojan


                        I would not do that if I never ran 10 miles before.

                        As others said, probability of getting injured is higher.