How fast to bump up Mileage

Ask your coach if you have one. It sounds like you are still in high school, so try the following.

Take your morning pulse rate for a week. Then bump to 50/week for two weeks. If your morning pulse rate is consistent then bump it to 55 for two weeks. If your morning rate is still good bump it to 60/week for two weeks. Since it sounds like you have track in the spring keep it there until track season.

If your morning pulse rate rises, roll the mileage down by 1 level and stay there until track season.

two weeks ago I was at 42 miles and last week I jumped straight up to 70, 7 more miles in a week than I've ever done before. Tired as hell all the time and really hungry but no problems. If you bump up be sure you run on some nice surfaces, about 40 of the 70 I ran last week was on turf and 11 was on grass, really my only mileage on a hard surfaces was getting to and from something soft.

Like another poster said, ask your coach.

John Kellog said that you are increasing your mileage too much when you feel like your ground contact time is too long - you are no longer light on your feet.

10% increase per week max.

Example: 45 one week, 49 next week, 54 next week, 60 next week, etc.

try increasing 10 mpw. 60 sounds like a nice amount for a high schooler.

Be sure to get the proper rest before a race by tapering.

try to never increase more than 20% each week. If you're not injury prone, slowly work up to 70's and stay there till racing season starts. take a down week (55 or 60) every couple weeks or if you're feeling worn out and need to recharge. if you've never been that high and 70 is too taxing, keep it to 60 and try 70's again during your next training season.

Siroucity wrote:

10% increase per week max.

Example: 45 one week, 49 next week, 54 next week, 60 next week, etc.

So 10% of 45 = 4.5 which gets rounded to 4 (49-45 = 4), but 10% of 54 = 5.4 and gets rounded to 6 (60-54 = 6)?

I know it's not important but had to point it out, 'specially since you said max.

take it easy. I've bumped up fast before and the result was a stress fracture.

what i will be doing in terms of increasing mileage in my base is to use the Daniel's approach which is adding on the same number of miles as the same amount of runs you do in a week, seen as i'm running 7 days a week, i am starting at 56 for 2 weeks, then 63 for the next 2 and so on...

CluffyUno wrote:

Siroucity wrote:

10% increase per week max.

Example: 45 one week, 49 next week, 54 next week, 60 next week, etc.

So 10% of 45 = 4.5 which gets rounded to 4 (49-45 = 4), but 10% of 54 = 5.4 and gets rounded to 6 (60-54 = 6)?

I know it's not important but had to point it out, 'specially since you said max.

If you want to get really technical, it would be 45, 49.5, 54.45, 59.895. I just rounded to 45, 49, 54, and 60 because running 59.895 miles exactly is useless.

I said max because increasing by 20% or 30% would be ridiculous. 10.01% is fine.

If you are motivated to run a lot more, bump up the mileage until you get feedback from you body that its too much. Try, feel it out, assess, adjust, reassess, etc.

When I decided to become a runner back in high school, I ran 8 miles for my first training run, and then 9 miles a day the rest of the summer - so 60 doesn't sound a lot to me. But it might be for someone else.

Another extreme example of bumping up mileage was this spring for me. I had averaged maybe 30 miles per week over the winter, often less, because I also cross country ski. I took a vacation in CA for a week to visit family, and immediately ran 120 miles that week. Then I kept the mileage up above 110-120 per week for months until my work schedule (I'm a scientist and do lots of field work) starting limiting how much I could do. That jump from very low miles to 120 was actually fun. I explore nice trails and could feel myself adapting and getting stronger even during that first week.