|
by
Amby Burfoot
This safe, easy-to-follow
method will help you increase your mileage in a sound manner
The 10-percent rule (10PR) is one of the most important and
time-proven principles in running. It states that you should never increase
your weekly mileage by more than 10 percent over the previous week.
The 10PR gains its importance from the fact that the vast majority of
running injuries are overuse injuries. They occur when you run too much or
increase your weekly training program too quickly. Say you've been running
15 miles a week. For some reason--perhaps you want to prepare for an
upcoming race or you just feel that you're ready--you decide to pick up your
training. Instead of running 5 miles three times a week, you manage to fit
in five 5-milers. Your training increases from 15 miles a week to 25 miles a
week--a 67 percent increase.
The week of the race, your knee starts throbbing. By Saturday, you're
hobbling. You can't ignore the handwriting on the wall. You're not going to
be able to run the Sunday morning race. You have a knee injury.
For runners, the biggest enemy is often their own energy and enthusiasm.
You're feeling great, so you figure that you can handle more training. A
friend has challenged you to enter a race. Everyone in your department at
work has decided to get in shape for an upcoming charity run. Or maybe
you've been bitten by the marathon bug.
Events like these are big motivators, so you plunge excitedly into the
training. Great--except for one thing. Your body doesn't share in your
enthusiasm. It follows one simple, unchanging principle: gradual adaptation
to stress.
The gradual adaptation principle is one of the many examples of the body's
genius. Without it, no one could ever climb Mount Everest, swim the English
Channel, or run a marathon. With it there are almost no limits to what you
can achieve. But you can't bend the rules, or the system breaks, and you get
an injury or pick up a cold or suddenly become fatigued.
Follow the 10PR, on the other hand, and your body gets stronger and fitter.
If you're running 10 miles a week now, and you want to increase your
training, run 11 miles next week. And 12 the week after that. And 13 the
week after that. This may look like agonizingly slow progress, but in just 8
to 10 weeks, you could be running 20 miles a week.
Continue on the same path, and you'll be running 40 miles a week just four
months after you started building up from 10. And 40 miles a week, believe
me, is a lot of running. It can take you anywhere you want to go.
Once again, the race goes to the tortoise. In running, you will almost
always win if you follow the path of slow-but-sure.
5 Principles of Increasing Your
Mileage
- Increase your weekly training mileage by no more than 10
percent per week. For example, run 20 miles one week, 22 the
next, 24 the next, and so on.
- When increasing mileage, add to the distance of your
current runs rather than adding more days of running. This
method will continue to give you the rest and recovery days
you need.
- Don't increase mileage and speed at the same time. When
increasing mileage, keep running at your current pace. When
increasing speed, you should actually decrease weekly mileage.
- Also follow the 10-percent rule when building up the
length of your long runs. Don't, for example, jump from 8
miles to 12 miles. Take it more gradually.
- Consider running by time rather than mileage. This makes
it much easier to follow the 10-percent rule. If you do 120
minutes of training one week, you can do 132 the next. If your
long run is 50 minutes one week, you can increase it to 55
minutes the following week.
|
