Slow jogger wrote:
HRE wrote:
Time at effort is what your body is going to respond to. I believe you've got a post where you said your average run is 55 minutes. Does that mean your typical run is 55 minutes, because you could have one 90 minute run and one 20 minute run and your average run would be 55 minutes. But assuming that your normal run is 55 minutes you're already very near what a lot of good and near good runners are doing for run length. A run of an hour or so for a main session is pretty typical. I'd suggest keeping that run to 55-65 minutes and eventually getting in more distance by allowing your pace to get faster as you get fitter. You don't want to force a faster pace, but you also don't want to set 9:00 as your perpetual pace. Adding a second 20 minute run means you'll probably be running at a slightly faster pace with no really increased effort than if you tack that 20 minutes onto one run.. That's not to say you shouldn't be doing 80-90 minute runs. I think a 90-95 minute long run would be good for you. But I don't think you want to do a run of that length everyday, not by a long shot.
I'll make two suggestions on top of the one about doubling, which I still think is best if you can get yourself to it. One suggestion is to run for an hour four to five times a week, have one day at 90-95 minutes and another at 70-80. If you can get a second run in on any of those days do it. If you need a day off have one. But don't worry about mileage. Run for time and let the distance follow. The other suggestion, if that seems too much but you still want to increase your volume is to add a mile a week. If you're managing 45 mile weeks you won't even notice an increase to 46 and then to 47. Do that for three weeks and shorten the fourth week,maybe to 40 or so, then go back to adding a mile to your previous high. You'll be at 60 in less than half a year.
I appreciate you giving me the time to go in depth and try to help me out here. I'm gonna try to get my most of my runs back up to 60mins minimum again and try to push the pace a little bit on days I'm feeling good rather than hold myself back. I'll also work back up to 50mpw and climb to 60mpw by the end of February as well. I do feel like i need to incorporate more speed days faster than 5k pace. Perhaps I'll try to do a race or time trial and get a better read of where I'm at currently. Last race I did was a turkey trot which was my first race since i got injured back in late July.
I would not "push the pace" on regular daily general aerobic runs. Don't worry if the pace is 9 minutes a mile or even slower. Run relaxed and easy. If you don't run easy enough your body won't overcompensate and improve from the work you've done on hard days. You may need 2 easy mileage days between hard days. Do your long run easy too. Hard days could be 2 or 3 per week: short intervals or hill reps (200s etc), long intervals and a tempo run or short race. Run consistent mileage, 50 a week should be enough to improve to 18m for 5k.