Forums >General Running>2 days per week - how many miles can I run?
I started running seriously this past May, 2014, and have gotten up to a 20mpw average (longest run of 10 miles). I am a 25 year old male. This winter I am planning on dropping the mileage back but want to maintainfitnessthrough the winter in order to start training for a half-marathon in the Spring.I am considering a 4 week rotation training schedule that I've written below. My question is, am I inviting injury by running 9 mile long runs once a week with a total weekly mileage of only 14miles? I can comfortably run 9 miles at this point without feeling too sore the next day. And is it too far to consider running 12 miles once/month?Right now my 5k pace is 7:45 min/mile, but I'm thinking I'll slow down to 11 min/mile for my long runs during the winter and probably do my tempo runs around 8:30 min/mile.I'm not really interested in running more days per week. My question is really: how many miles can you run without getting injured when you're only running 2 days per week?Thanks!Week 1 (14 miles):- Monday: Long/Easy - 9 miles- Tuesday: Circuit Training - 40 minutes- Wednesday: Rest- Thursday: Strength/Flexibility - 40 minutes- Friday: Rest- Saturday: Tempo - 5 miles- Sunday: RestWeek 2 (18 miles):- Monday: Long/Easy - 9 miles- Tuesday: Circuit Training - 40 minutes- Wednesday: Rest- Thursday: Intervals - 1 miles WU&CD, 8x400m (4 miles)- Friday: Rest- Saturday: Fartlek by feel - 5 miles- Sunday: RestWeek 3: Repeat week 1Week 4 (17 miles):- Monday: Long/Easy - 12 miles- Tuesday: Circuit Training - 40 minutes- Wednesday: Rest- Thursday: Strength/Flexibility - 40 minutes- Friday: Rest- Saturday: Fartlek by feel - 5 miles- Sunday: Rest
some call me Tim
As long as it doesn't start to cause you problems, it seems fine to me. Break your routine if you develop something nagging. But- I don't understand why you want to do this. You're taking it easy, except when you do those longer runs. If you want to have a break from running, take a few weeks or a month of real rest and then come back and build your base, or if you don't have any little issues you're recovering from, just run a few more short runs a week and make it worth it.
I like the cautious approach, and I'll tell you that I've had nearly three years of constant improvement and no injury because of that kind of thing, but ask yourself what you're trying to accomplish with this fence-sitting. A bit of a complete break won't kill your fitness and personally I think it's good for your head. If you can't stand the couch pick up some winter sports and be assured that you'll come back that much stronger in the spring!
ME WEBLARG
I predict injury. Tempos and long runs have no place in a 2 day per week running schedule.
Your plan should relabel half of the "rest" days as "inactivity."
Throw in a couple really easy days of 3-5 miles in the mix. That will take you what? 30-50 minutes? You are 25 and have more time for that than you probably realize.
I would think having the 2 runs more evenly spaced during the week would be better than having them with just one day apart, but not sure how that would work out physiologically.
Simply adding a 30 or 40 minute run to your schedule on Wednesday would do a lot of good in my opinion.
Age: 50 Weight: 224 Height: 6'3" (Goal weight 195)
Current PR's: Mara 3:14:36* (2017); HM 1:36:13 (2017); 10K 43:59 (2014); 5K 21:12 (2016)
If the goal is to maintain fitness.... I don't know. I don't get it. If you want to maintain running fitness, you need to run. Maybe with the intervals and long-ish runs you can stay even with where you might be if you just ran 4 miles a day, but I put about zero stock in these running plans that call for very little actual running. For someone who is very injury prone I guess this might be the only option, but I personally cannot imagine running an 8x400 workout, as you have in your plan, very well off of a < 20 mpw base. I think either (a) that is a big injury risk or (b) one ends up not running them nearly as fast as they probably should be to do any real good. To stay running fit, run. There are no shortcuts. If your goal is just more overall "wellness", then I think 2 days of running per week can probably be a good component of an overall fitness plan.
- Joe
We are fragile creatures on collision with our judgment day.
This winter I am planning on dropping the mileage back
I'm not really interested in running more [than 2] days per week.
but want to maintainfitnessthrough the winter in order to start training for a half-marathon in the Spring.
These statements are at odds. If you want to maintain fitness, then just do what you've been doing. As far as injuries go, I'd be more cautious with the track intervals than the long steady distance. Maybe a 25 y.o. can do this, but I'd break for sure. Skip the track workouts in favor of a little longer aerobic workout (5 or 6 miles). If its gotta be faster, then make it a fartlek. That's more aligned with your eventual goal of running the half marathon.
I kinda know a guy who was reduced to 2 days of running per week due to some injury. He used to do two 13-mile runs per week at about the fastest pace he could. He was able to race pretty well off of that, considering. And he's old.
I think injury risk for a healthy 25 year old is being overstated. 20 miles per week isn't really training anyway, so the difference between a tempo and an easy run probably won't be all that significant.
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