20-25 miles each week with no variety. Am I making a mistake? (Read 1122 times)

Well, since you have no goals I'd think it's impossible to fail . Actually I did the same thing before I started this Marathon program (Although I did always note how long it took) and I'll go back to doing that very system once I finish the Marathon. If you look back on my log you would see I started running 5'S, then 10's then 15's. I was running 17k's 5 to 6 times a week. So I say nothing wrong with that!

sounds like you are doing the right thing, to me. Thats what I like about running, each person is running for is own goals and reasons. we are all winners.

Thanks very much for the comments. I think I'll just keep on, keeping on.

If you're happy with it and it's working for you, then you're doing a fantastic job. Keep up the good work!

Well, since you have no goals I'd think it's impossible to fail .

Actually, he mentioned three goals: 1) Get outside 2) Maintain body weight 3) Run 20-25 miles each and every week cikana2, it sounds like your current plan is working just fine. One thing about #2, though. The more you run, the more efficient your body will become at running. This means you won't burn as many calories per mile as you used to. Thus, you might eventually reach a point where your current exercise routine no longer maintains your weight. To counterract this, you could add more miles or eat less. Adding more miles should be easy...just run the same amount of time as before (since you're more efficient, you'll cover more distance in that amount of time).

Am I setting myself up for eventual failure or injury? Is a plan and variety of runs a requirement? Thanks.

My 2 cents: There's nothing wrong with what you're doing. You might be marginally more prone to injury, but at your weekly mileage I don't think it will matter. If it concerns you, just cut back once in a while or do a little cross-training. However, I do think you'll hit (or already have hit) a plateau in improvement much faster that way, and stay there much longer, than people who mix up their training. I think in almost every athletic pursuit, variety is a catalyst for improvement. But forgetting all that ... you might want to just give the whole variety thing a try. It doesn't have to be complicated. For example, keep two of your runs just as they are; make the third run shorter but faster, just fast enough to be different - maybe 30 seconds quicker per mile - and maybe throw in a few striders (short pick me ups, maybe 100 meters long, where you run quick but don't sprint); and then run longer one day, which might, for you, mean a couple extra miles - say 10 miles. I'm just guessing, but I think if you tried something like that, you might end up actually enjoy your running more, and see some marked improvements in overall health. And if not, you can always go back to what you're doing. I just know that personally, I'd get pretty bored if it was always the same.