How long into my mileage build-up should I wait before starting workouts?

just adding that I plan to take a `down week' every 3-4 weeks...

You should be doing workouts year round. There are no top runners today who are using the old fashioned block periodization.

well,, wrote:

You should be doing workouts year round. There are no top runners today who are using the old fashioned block periodization.

Not true, Des Linden, Bernard Lagat and Sage Cannaday all do so. It is beneficial; for those who are very strong aerobically

usually 4-6 weeks of base mileage are great before starting any workouts.

for you, I would suggest you start doing workouts in the 2nd or most likely the 3rd week of April. that would give 4-5 weeks of training plus workouts before your race in May.

cheers!

Sources?

Do it at the beginning. Try 6 x 200 hard, untimed, with untimed but short rest (maybe slow-job a 200). Do this once per week, building up to 10 reps if you have the time/desire. Of course you can and probably should vary things (e.g. swap it out for ~1min hill repeats), but if you want something simple just do what I outlined above. Just leave your watch at home for these early season workouts.

Four weeks to get used to the mileage. During this time do some strides / short hill sprints and some progression/steady state runs.

Building a base isn’t solely about aerobic development. Think about the #1 reason why people get hurt (besides maybe just flat out over training)... the answer:

“Quick Changes to training”

If you do nothing but easy running for a few months you are not preparing yourself at all for workouts. Now you throw 2 full workouts in per week and you’ll probably get hurt. You could maybe do 2 months of just easy running, but then you’d need at least another 4 weeks or so to slowly introduce faster running and full workouts.

Never just run easy for more than a couple weeks unless you have some sort of injury or just want to stay healthy but aren’t really training.

First, add in some strides. Super easy. Heck, start with just 2 moderate strides after runs and build up to 6 strides every other day.

Also, practice fast finishes. This isn’t necessarily a workout, but it allows you to run a little faster. On days you feel good, let it rip the last mile or 2. That last mile may be around your threshold pace if you’re fairly good, or maybe 5k-10k pace for average runners. You don’t need to plan these days, just go off of feel. I’d get into decent fitness over summer just by closing a lot of my runs sub 5:00 pace.

Add in some light workouts. For example when you’re running 25 miles per week maybe you do this workout: Warm Up 10 mins. 2x Mile at Threshold pace with 90 secs rest + 4x150m @around Mile pace with the goal of feeling smooth and relaxed.

This allows you to build your mileage because the workouts aren’t very exhausting, but keeps you used to some faster running. *You’ll also get in shape faster than if you just did easy runs.

OlympicHopefull wrote:

well,, wrote:

You should be doing workouts year round. There are no top runners today who are using the old fashioned block periodization.

Not true, Des Linden, Bernard Lagat and Sage Cannaday all do so. It is beneficial; for those who are very strong aerobically

he said "top runners"

I’m guessing you’re new to running, seeing as you’re starting at 15 mpw. Assuming that’s the case , increasing your weekly mileage by 5 miles/week is too much. I’d recommend sticking to the same # of miles for 3-4 weeks and then bumping up in miles the number of days/week you run (I.e. if your run 5 days/week, you should bump up 5 miles after 3-4 weeks at 15 mpw). Following this formula will take you much longer to get to 50 mpw, but (in my experience) is most effective in avoiding injury. For 5K/10k training I would build to 30-40mpw then incorporate workouts. I usually like to drop weekly mileage by 10-15% (depending on how intense the workouts are).

well,, wrote:

You should be doing workouts year round. There are no top runners today who are using the old fashioned block periodization.

Opposite. All top runners use block periodization. It's the official USATF model and all the elite coaches use a variation of it. They still do workouts in the general prep phase, it's just not specific to race-pace as in the specific prep and comp phase.

SausageKINGofCLE wrote:

I’m guessing you’re new to running, seeing as you’re starting at 15 mpw. Assuming that’s the case , increasing your weekly mileage by 5 miles/week is too much. I’d recommend sticking to the same # of miles for 3-4 weeks and then bumping up in miles the number of days/week you run (I.e. if your run 5 days/week, you should bump up 5 miles after 3-4 weeks at 15 mpw). Following this formula will take you much longer to get to 50 mpw, but (in my experience) is most effective in avoiding injury. For 5K/10k training I would build to 30-40mpw then incorporate workouts. I usually like to drop weekly mileage by 10-15% (depending on how intense the workouts are).

+1

How old are you, OP?

You should be doing workouts year round. In the base phase, they should be either light and easy (fartleks and tempos), OR hard but not event specific (if you're training for 5k/10k you may do 2 hard workouts a week, one 1500m specific workout a week and one half marathon specific workout a week). Which option you choose comes down to preference and your own personal training philosophy of what you think works better.

I think you can do workouts almost right away, like a couple weeks into it. Just make sure they're easy workouts that gradually get more difficult until you're in completely normal training. Start with doing an easy run followed with some hill sprints or strides, then do some runs that are a little slower than tempo pace and then some hills, then do some progression runs with hills, and after a few weeks of that you can do your harder long workouts, and gradually increase the intensity as you get closer to your target race before cutting back the couple weeks before it.

I'm 25 and ran track/XC in HS and college, so not quite new. I planned to start at 15mpw just because I've done too much too soon in the past, and because it'll be lousy where I live in mid-Feb.

buildingabase wrote:

I'm 25 and ran track/XC in HS and college, so not quite new. I planned to start at 15mpw just because I've done too much too soon in the past, and because it'll be lousy where I live in mid-Feb.

woops, sorry, forgot to quote the original question. long-time lurker, fairly-new poster!

3 days