So, how do you go about Increasing mileage safely?
If you are a beginner in running, it is understandable that you are very excited in your new found sport.
You immediately want to be on the same level as experienced long distance and marathon runners.
You need to consider though that there are certain limitations that our bodies have and these limitations cannot be breached easily without risking injury.
We may think that we can immediately handle the sudden increase in mileage and see it as a challenge to our cardiovascular system.
Well we need to know as well that not only our cardio is working when we run but our muscles and tendons are working as hard as well and they are usually the first ones to give away whenever we push ourselves too hard.
Therefore we need to take note on how to increasing mileage safely so that we can avoid certain injuries caused by overtraining and too much exhaustion.
The 10 % Percent Rule to Increasing Mileage Safely
Most beginner running programs focus on increasing mileage towards a certain key distance or race. You will find that a lot of experts may disagree on the different approaches that are available.
As a starting rule though there are a lot of experts that agree that a good way to ensure you do not increase your mileage by too much is to follow the ten percent rule.
In my opinion this is not a bad rule, but you need to be able to apply it with flexibility and apply it within context. Increasing mileage by 10 percent is a good idea especially for beginning runners.
E.g. when you do ten miles per week, ten per cent of that is one mile, so doing 11 miles the week after sounds doable. You could probably increase your mileage by a little more as well.
This rule seems to work fine, generally, for runners doing twenty to thirty miles per week. After that it becomes increasingly difficult to keep to the rule.
If you are a high-mileage runner who already does 90 miles per week, then an increase to 99 miles the next week can be quite tough. It would not be straightforward to increase your mileage by that much.
This is why the 10 percent rule should be used with some flexibility since in this case if would be better that you would have some sort of a sliding scale where beginners can increase at 10 percent or even more while experienced runners who are running greater lengths of distance can increase their mileage by only 3 to 5 percent instead.
The importance of Rest Weeks
I assume you will have heard something about the hard/easy principle. This principle states that a hard running workout needs to be followed by an easy workout or rest the day after. This is also applicable to weeks.
When you are increasing your mileage over the period of a number of months, you may find it beneficial to have a “rest week” every fourth or fifth week depending on your needs.
This does not mean complete rest, but rather a drop in mileage of 20-30% for that particular week which will help you recover and set you up for the next number of weeks of increasing mileage.
Listen to Your Body
It is always best to listen to your body while you are trying to increase your mileage. If you feel that your body has had too much then that is a sign that your body needs some rest and you need to give in.
Increasing mileage safely also means that you need to recognize the importance of rest. Make sure that you would have at least one full rest day in a week to make sure that you are giving your body enough time to recuperate.
Without proper rest, your body won’t be able to rebuild and make your muscles stronger which can eventually lead to injuries.
So, I hope it is clear now that it is hard to provide general rules regarding increasing mileage safely.
It is highly dependent on your personal circumstances.
In all circumstances listen to your body and make sure you allow for rest days and “rest weeks” in order to build mileage without getting injured.
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