how much should my fitness improve after increasing my mileage from 25 to 60 gradually during base phase?

a lot. But don't increase gradually, there's no need at such low mileage. Just keep the pace nice and easy. You could go over the next few weeks:

25

40

60

Nobody knows how much. Nobody. If you are like most people, it well help a lot. Vague terms like "a lot" are the best you can get and even that's not always guaranteed. If anyone thinks they can tell you how much, they are making it up.

some of it will depend on your age and experience. wouldnt be suprised if your mile changes by over 30s. you're going to greatly increase your risk of injury though, especially if you've never run near 50mpw before. listen to your body as you increase the miles.

Since you gave us all the details, it is easy to see your mile time will improve 40.6 seconds. Your running history, age, training schedule, gender, and genetics will have no effect on this.

i got the runs wrote:

some of it will depend on your age and experience. wouldnt be suprised if your mile changes by over 30s. you're going to greatly increase your risk of injury though, especially if you've never run near 50mpw before. listen to your body as you increase the miles.

wow 5:45 to 5:15 would be awesome...

I'm not the OP but in same situation as him. 5k/10/half PRs 19;12,40:10,1:31. Late 20s, 2 yr running.

I was at 25mpw or less for these times. I will do 30mpw for 3 weeks on 5 days/week, then 35mpw for 3 weeks on 6 days/week, then 40mpw for 3 weeks on 6 days a week before starting to run everyday. At 7x/wk I plan on hitting 40 again for a few weeks, then 45 for 3 wks, 50 for 3 wks, and finally with that 50mpw base add very easy doubles here and there to touch 60mpw in about 9 runs.

While doing the buildup a maintain 1 tempo run (3mi at HMP), 1 medium long run w/ 4-5 miles at MP, and 1 longer run of 8 now building up to 12.

Sounds good? I have no idea what to expect. I just want to run a 3:1x marathon at nyc this fall. so 7:38 pace or better.

Just one data point, but I can tell you the impact such a change had on my performances.

Before, when I was averaging 25 mpw: 5k: 18:05-18:20; half marathon: 1:33

Around 40 mpw: 5k: 17:35, half marathon: 1:26

Around 60 mpw: 5k: 16:35, half marathon: 1:18

I took longer than 12 weeks to make the jump, though. And, I'm in my 30s, but a fairly new runner.

My only advice is to stay healthy. Don't get too hung up on that number "60". 55 might be right, or even lower for now. Notice that I got significant improvement just going from 25 to 40 mpw. I personally didn't have the capacity to make the jump from 25 to 60, but over two seasons I was able to.

Just remember, your cardio will adapt much faster than your connective tissues. After a few weeks of higher mileage once your cardiovascular system adapts, it is a very dangerous time because you will feel great. Be extra careful b/c those tendons and ligaments (achilles for me) take longer to adapt, and you won't know you've overdone it until it's too late. I lost 3 months to achilles problems after hitting 60 for 4 weeks. Then, spent the next 7 months just getting back to where I was before getting injured. Wasted a year.

Oh yeah, I don't run the mile, but McMillan calculator puts my 5k progress at: 5:13 (25mpw), 5:05 (40 mpw), 4:48 (60 mpw) for the mile. That sounds about right.

Good luck to you.

You might also find your time headed in the opposite direction especially if you haven't put in real mileage before. 12 weeks is about the bear minimum to see any real physiological differences and with the steady build up it's going to take away from your speed work.

You could try adding in distance gains while trying to hang on to some speed with something along the lines of weekly totals of 25-30-35-30(w/focus on speed)-35-40-45-40(speed)-45-50-55-50(speed)-55-60. Even over 14 weeks as written, that to me looks aggressive, but not necessarily a guarantee of injury. Although, you're going to have to be able to distinguish between hurting and hurt and to be smart enough to know when to bag a few days here or there. But don't wimp out just because of stiffness and tiredness.

I think at week 14 you'd find your endurance improved, your 8:00 pace unbearably slow, but your current mile pace might feel too demanding without a taper.

Add another six weeks, taper back to 40 miles while focusing on speed and in a bit you'll probably hit 3:43.14 or 3:43.12 on a good day.

You will improve 7 fitnesses.

OMR wrote:

You will improve 7 fitnesses.

^^^^^^^^^^

Winner!

I appreciate the responses; some background info:

Ive been a very inconsistent runner for 6 years. Always training 10-15 weeks then slacking off in my training. Then last year i decided i was gonna grow a pair and build a base(never really took time to before) for 15 weeks. On my 5th now. But i got a weird injury that left me without running for 3 months. Now im back into my 5th consistent week. So far i feel great.

Ive done a buildup similar to 50mpw at on point and got into good shape but never raced. I love training.

That's the most I've ever done, but in HS my coached hammered me with intervals and i handeled that ok too.

Am I the only one who thinks that increasing from 25-60mpw over the course of 12 weeks, only 5 weeks out from a 3 month layoff is a bad idea? It sounds too fast, to me. I suppose it could be done without violating the "10% rule", but for sure my body would not be able to pull that off! Then again, the OP is a lot faster than me. Maybe his body can take it...

I am increasing slowly and not increasing intensity at the same time. 95% of my mileage is aerobic. I guess I am tough as well since my coach instilled that in me. And I'm 21. Still young.

Agreed. I'm faster and have more miles in my legs than the OP and I don't increase more than 5 mpw. And usually I'll increase half as quickly. Just too easy to injure yourself as you ramp up.

Crazy pills wrote:

Am I the only one who thinks that increasing from 25-60mpw over the course of 12 weeks, only 5 weeks out from a 3 month layoff is a bad idea? It sounds too fast, to me. I suppose it could be done without violating the "10% rule", but for sure my body would not be able to pull that off! Then again, the OP is a lot faster than me. Maybe his body can take it...

Using the government approved fitness improvement calculator it shows an improvement of 28.3%.

Good Job!!

playground bully wrote:

I am increasing slowly and not increasing intensity at the same time. 95% of my mileage is aerobic. I guess I am tough as well since my coach instilled that in me. And I'm 21. Still young.

You're tough huh? What does that mean?

And 21 is young, but according to another thread, you might start feeling old in 4 or 5 years.

I say you will improve your fitness by 9.3%.