Advice for thoese who only run 1-3 times per week!

Get runningarts opinion as he says most people cant run more than 3 days in a row for very long before they get injured. Alan?

Run more.

You don't strengthen your aerobic system with easy runs. Easy is the antithesis of aerobically stressful, there is nothing to adapt to.

1 to 3 good workouts is already all you need, the amount of rest being however much is necessary to recover. Any idiot can figure that out by how they feel without putting a number on it.

Bad Wigins wrote:

You don't strengthen your aerobic system with easy runs. Easy is the antithesis of aerobically stressful, there is nothing to adapt to.

1 to 3 good workouts is already all you need, the amount of rest being however much is necessary to recover. Any idiot can figure that out by how they feel without putting a number on it.

LR has idiots that outclass every other idiot out there. So... no, they can't put a number. Someone has to tell them.

OP: look into the RLRF training programme. It's crap, but exactly the type of crap you are looking for.

A cop friend has a work schedule that limits him to 3-4 runs per week. He opts for balls out runs. He does 14 mile longs runs and a variety of other tough workouts, never wasting a run going easy.

I probably fit into your hobby runner classification - M54, ran 2x/wk in 2014, 5x/2 wks in 2015, and 3x/wk last year, increasing my average from 13 mpw in 2014 to 18 last year. I ran so little because I was pretty sure based on a long history that running much more would've caused injury. At least for me, running some or most of my miles easy has been important to avoid injury, and one fast run a week has been enough that I've improved steadily, reaching 1:32:xx for my goal half last year, which seems like a decent hobby runner result given my age & lack of mileage.

When I ran 2x/wk, most of the year I ran one long easy run, building up to 14 miles as my goal half approached, and one short run @~5k pace, usually of 1.5 miles + warmup/strides/cooldown. The four 10ks I ran before my goal race also gave me some relatively fast running. In the two months before my goal race, I started replacing the short runs with 4x800m intervals or hill repeats.

When I ran 5x/2 wks, my pattern was long-short-moderate-speed (hills or intervals)-moderate with only one day off after the short run (1.5m@~5k pace) and two off after the other runs. The moderate runs were 6 miles at whatever pace felt just a little faster than easy.

When I ran 3x/wk, my two-week cycle was long-easy-speed (hills or 1200m intervals)-moderate-easy-short. The easy runs were 4-6 miles stopping every half mile for a couple of minutes of leg-strengthening or core exercises. Because of the breaks, I usually wound up running them a bit faster than the moderate runs. The short runs were usually 2 miles @~10k pace + warmup/strides/cooldown.

If that seems like too much easy running for you, the FIRST 3-run-a-week program, with a slogan something like "run less, run faster," has a long run, a tempo, and a speed run along with some hard crosstraining each week. A book is available on Amazon. I would be crippled in a month if I tried that, though.

All that said, everything I've read or heard over the years suggests that if you can find/make the time to run more often, you'd improve. This year I'm building a base of around 30mpw on running two out of every three days. I'll see how it goes when I start adding faster running, but my legs seem to be holding up so far.

FWIW, Runner's World forums may have more people than LRC who can/will give you useful comments on running just a few times a week.

The more I run the less injured I become. I do 100 miles a week doubling every day. Whenever I have more than two days off I get horrible niggles and my calfs get tight but if I keep running my legs feel amazing again.

What is your goal? Is it to just stay fit? Then do whatever.

Are you looking to be competitive in local races? Then I would try to run more. It's no fun hurting at races when you haven't been running much.

I have tibia made of glass and also work 2 jobs. I run 3-4 times a week. Usually three. I opt for a long slow run, 7-9 miles; a 5-6 miler build run, a 2.5 or 3.5 mile hard tempo (90%) with an ending hill. I do strides after my long runs, and during my off days I get in a couple of leg weight room sessions, swimming to replicate the tempos and interval work, and hour-90 min bike rides.

Ever so slightly increasing the quality and quantity has gotten me into decent shape for an amateur who is mostly in it to keep my mental health great. Haven't raced in a while but did a 5:15 on a non banked indoor 200m track a week ago. In Lane 2 and 3 as well because of joggers! My turkey trot 5 miler time was 33:00 with an 8:30 first mile.

Run run and run wrote:

What is your goal? Is it to just stay fit? Then do whatever.

Are you looking to be competitive in local races? Then I would try to run more. It's no fun hurting at races when you haven't been running much.

I agree w/your statement, it's no fun hurting while trying to get a good time. Unfortunately, I'm in the same boat as others, just running 2-3x a week w/no speed work. If I do run, I try to at least get in 7-8 miles and one longer run of 10-14. I'm trying to work my way back to running more but work/life gets in the way and I end up doing most of my runs on the weekends. I will also cross train 2x i.e. Spin, weights if I start to breakdown or can't get to run. I'm finding, the older I get I have to cross train more.

Anyhow, I don't do my runs slow but more like steady state w/a fast finish. I will throw in strides too.

Dont let the screen name fool you, Not a purist when it comes to Schul type training but a few things about running 3 times a week:

1. If you do the same thing week after week, you will not be very good

2. Then in turn if you cared about being good you would run more.

1. Can you touch physiological changes with 3 days? Yes.

2. Make runs progressive and work from aerobic states through lactate threshold. Finish with anaerobic strides.

1. Over a 2 week period make sure to do certain things

2. Long run, solid threshold run, repeats of 200-400 to cover the bases

Bob Schul Country wrote:

Dont let the screen name fool you, Not a purist when it comes to Schul type training but a few things about running 3 times a week:

1. If you do the same thing week after week, you will not be very good

2. Then in turn if you cared about being good you would run more.

1. Can you touch physiological changes with 3 days? Yes.

2. Make runs progressive and work from aerobic states through lactate threshold. Finish with anaerobic strides.

1. Over a 2 week period make sure to do certain things

2. Long run, solid threshold run, repeats of 200-400 to cover the bases

That's good advice. When I was running 3 times a week, I would ask myself did I run hard enough to earn 2 or 3 days off that I was going to take. I did xtrain on an elliptical some. One stretch when I was in my late 40s I ran 2 times a week but averaged 15 miles/run and one of those runs was usually a race. I did that for 6 months and was in great shape for 10-18 mile races.

When I was running mostly on the roads 5k to half marathon I ran 3 days a week.

3 mile warm up, 3-5 mile tempo, 2 cool down

3 mile warm-up, 5 miles speed work, 2 cool down

8 mile progression or race

In my 50s now and haven't missed a day running in two years but when racing fast on the roads I needed a lot of 2-3 mile easy days to recover. I could have taken those days off and probably run just as fast.

I've been running 2 or 3x a week for the last few years. 15-20 mpw. Most of my runs are pretty hard, some harder, some easier. Depends on how I feel.

I was still able to set some PRs. I was never a fast runner, but still ran an 18 min 5k, 1:28 half off minimal running.

Bad Wigins wrote:

You don't strengthen your aerobic system with easy runs. Easy is the antithesis of aerobically stressful, there is nothing to adapt to.

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Garbage.

All last year I ran only 2 to 3 days per week. Never two days in a row. The "off" days essentially took the place of the "easy" days of a typical training schedule.

Midway through the year I decided that a Boston Qualifying marathon would be my goal. I continued the 2 to 3 day a week running, making one day a week a "long run," which included several at 18 miles, a couple at 20, and one 23.

The other two days were "progression runs," starting easy, but finishing at or near Lactate Threshold pace.

This training worked well ... I easily BQ'd with a 3:25 (at age 57), but obviously well below my potential, given higher overall mileage. This year I am scheduling 5-6 days per week, and already am seeing significant improvement. Still, I consider my 2-3 day training experiment a success.

Bob Schul Country wrote:

1. Can you touch physiological changes with 3 days? Yes.

2. Make runs progressive and work from aerobic states through lactate threshold. Finish with anaerobic strides.

1. Over a 2 week period make sure to do certain things

2. Long run, solid threshold run, repeats of 200-400 to cover the bases

The two shitty trolls on this page pissed me off, but I can't go feeding them so I'll pick on this instead because it will illustrate what I mean, and how conventional wisdom is completely wrong.

Slow paces are not an "aerobic state." They are a high-pH state. The ratio of aerobic vs anaerobic energy use is higher, but only because you're not using much energy at all. And there is an anaerobic component, but at an easily sustainable level. In terms of training, they're more or less rest.

The most important thing any runner can understand about oxygen usage is the pH gradient between blood and muscle. Higher pH means lower affinity for O2 and higher for CO2, and lower pH means the opposite. So when your muscular pH is much lower than blood pH, the rate of gas exchange is high. That happens when you run fast, not slow.

This means the "anaerobic" workouts, like track intervals or tempo runs, are also your "aerobic workouts." A workout is a stress to which you adapt during recovery. A slow pace is not a stress either aerobically or anaerobically. It can be useful to maintain a level of activity during recovery, but it's not the important part of training.

Unless you're the next Augustine Choge and plan to be great at all distances, you don't need to vary your training with long runs. Just train specifically to your event, focusing on the workouts, not the shakeout runs.

Good post, bw. You are pretty good when you try

Good answer.

I'd favour one long run, one workout which could be hills tempo or interval and one easy run. If you do all 3 hard injury is more likely.

I actually tried running hard 3x/week last year with two track workouts and one tempo and lasted about 5-6 months before I got injured and then couldn't run for 4 months. I, obviously, didn't do any easy running at all.