Which approach is better? I find 5 days per week of running much easier from a mental standpoint, but acknowledge the lower running frequency may be a disadvantage. I'm a hobby jogger shooting for a BQ as a 35 year old.
Which approach is better? I find 5 days per week of running much easier from a mental standpoint, but acknowledge the lower running frequency may be a disadvantage. I'm a hobby jogger shooting for a BQ as a 35 year old.
I do similar mileage. For me is the opposite, I feel that runs that are 1h+ are the most draining and on 60mpw / 5 days it would be an average of 12 every training day.
I divide my 60mpw like this
m 5 (that's the recovery day)
t 8
w 7
t 11
f 8
s 8
s 13
Currently thinking on backing off to 55 to have Thursday in line with the other days
5 recovery
7 easy
8 easy
8 workout 1
7 recovery
8 easy
12 workout 2
I do basically the same thing, except I end up averaging about 45-50 miles per week on 5 days of running.
I basically run 3 days in a row, then take 1 day off. On the "day off", I'll usually do a strength/core session for an hour instead of running. During the 3 days of running, I make sure I do one hard run (e.g. tempo, intervals, hill repeats, long run). The other two days are easy.
I call this 4-day cycle a "building block". My goal is to "stack" as many building blocks as possible without injury.
So far it's served me well. I started doing this last summer after having not run in 10+ years (I'm 39). I gradually have lost 40 lbs, and went from a 46 to 34 minutes in the 10K, and from 22 to 16 minutes in the 5K. Every time I start thinking about adding in more running, I try to remember back when i was injured all the time in college...
OP,
First, if running 5 days is mentally easier than 6 or 7 have you considered that all your runs might be too fast? At least until you can run your age for a 10k, run your easy days easy, your hard days medium hard at most and mostly hard medium and race exactly once a month.
Second, why do you run a race you are not willing to train properly for?
60 mpw could be great 5 to 10k training. Maybe you wouldn't have to think of yourself as a hobby jogger anymore...
It's better to think in terms of longer cycles, like 180 miles in 21 days. You get one or two days off completely in that stretch, but are still running close to 10 miles every day. Some days you feel like running more, some less. It never pays to be too rigorous with a schedule if you are just concerned with building base mileage.
5 days
More a time issue than anything. I don't get to run weekdays until 7:30 or 8pm after a 10-12 hour work day. Morning running doesn't work for me. While I could conceivably run the two week nights per week I currently take off, I'd rather kick back after work and spend time with my family and friends. I set all my PRs long ago and am not trying to "train optimally" for anything. Just trying to do the best I can within certain constraints. Consensus here seems to be that running more frequently would be better. I figured as much but am ok leaving some time on the table if it means I enjoy myself.