How fast can you ramp up mileage if thats your only goal over 6 months?

11 weeks. Just run slow.

9

21

36

24

41

47

28

52

59

28

66

The 10-30% increase rule applies to guys already running 30 mpw or more.

You can probably just jump to 15, 25, and then 25-35 depending how you feel. Rest if you need it.

Then, increase no more than 30% per week.
30-33-37-41-45-50-55-60

2 months from 30 miles to your goal. 1-4 weeks from where you are to 30 miles.

Its person specific.

When I increase it too fast, I get sick.

Id say 5mpw increase per week should be possible if you are genetically gifted.

If you are average, I think 2-3 mpw increase per week is the most your body will tolerate.

Never gonna make it.

Thank you. I was at 12 but my longest run was 3 miles, and I tried a 5.5 and my back got tight. Then I kept testing it too quickly and its been tight for just over a week now.

After I recover I'm still gonna try to take it relatively quick up to 20. Now I'm thinking maybe that quick progress can take me up to 35. I'll be careful.

2 months from 30mpw to 66 was way faster than my most optimistic range. I realize not everyone will be cut out for it but I will give it a try unless everyone else in thread starts pooping on you. But even if they do, thank you for giving me a real answer

I know you're jerking me but also serious and I know thats a possibility. Its hard to get a real sense of calibration. Seems like somewhere around 50 is where it stops being "guaranteed".

Even if running is important to you and your work life balance is good, 50+ seems to be the line where not everyone can make it. The local run club I've been at has pretty accomplished marathoners (dude did two 3:30ish marathons in 3 weeks, on 30mpw) who run much less than 50mpw

I want to know if my read on that is accurate.

I've gone 50-80 avg - 0 (break post season) - 30 - 80 - 120 - 140 - 80 - 140 - 80s avg in season but if I wasn't doing workouts I could've easily gone up to 160 ish and held with a few down weeks.

Is this deadass? Ill try it. Should I just split it all evenly into 6-7 days?

If you keep your heart rate under 75% of your max and include strides, you can run as much as you want and most likely not get injured. To hit 140 is 20/day and I went:

(am-pm-total)

8-10-18

9-14-23

8-16-24

8-10-18

9-14-23

8-16-24

4-6-10

I recently went from 8 to 85 mpw in around 3 weeks. I held that mileage for 5 more weeks and then my Achilles tendon started acting up. Just got back out today for 5 miles after a 10 day total break. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Mileage is not what does me in usually. It's when my fitness gets good and I start running too fast every day. Your mileage will vary...

Over covid I had signed to a small college for cross country. In high school I had never ran more than 25 miles in a week and was inconsistent with training. Hopped onto college training in the spring since my final track season was canceled. I managed to build up to 70 miles in 12 weeks. Was definitely too much but got me fit fast.

You can do it in one week. Just set aside some extra time to recover and adapt. Up your sleep, up your nutrition, reduce stress.

We are not limited by the training but instead by our ability to recover

I think some of the earlier suggested time frames are very optimistic. Keep in mind some of the people saying they increased 30+ mpw in a month or two have probably been running consistently for years. If you're a new runner just off a C25k, you don't have the same level of robustness built up.

The simple answer is, as always, it depends. You have to just slowly increase the mileage and ease off when things feel sore or tight. Injuries are going to halt any progress if you're over ambitious. Having gotten back into running last year after several years off, I found increasing my mileage about 2 miles every 2 weeks worked well in the early stages.I'm now able to add 10% every two weeks.

What's also important is how many days a week are you running. Going from 4 to 5 or 5 to 6 days a week is a much easier way of adding volume than making each run 15% longer due to the recovery time between days, but you still have to take care when adding an extra day.

yep, jump to 66mpw for one week, next week recover around 40mpw, then third back to 66, fourth back to 40, 5th week 66 is now your base.

It depends on your background. For me it would take three days. So I would say the range would be three days to three months. Good luck.

I bet a ton of people could do 4/4 doubles 6 days/week and then a building long run by 10 mins/week somewhat quickly. The 20 miler is going to be more of a limiter than the other 45 miles..

those rules on how much the long run should be are just stupid. If you only want to run 4 days/week but want a 2.5 hour run on Sunday, go for it. Your legs will not fall off

What were your symptoms of "too much" if you got there and weren't acutely injured?

Even the "long range" on your estimate is way faster than I thought the fastest way there would be. I'm glad I asked here.

Tbh I may rethink the 20 miler as the goal. But I got into running after a friend "casually" did a 20 miler before meeting for dinner. But he was near the peak of his marathon training and it turns out 20 miles is not a casual thing for him. So my sense of "a decent but not obsessed runner can do this badass thing" may be off.

But the answers here are way more optimistic than the threads I could find on the topic on reddit, so I'ma still give it a shot. I'll know by July or so how realistic it is.