10% Rule after Marathon



J

Joe

Guest
Hello all,

I ran the Chicago Marathon in October (my 1st one, finished in 3:50). I understand the 10% rule in
increasing weekly mileage. My question is, since I had a decent base before the marathon (averaged
about 45-50mpw for about 2
1/2 months prior to the marathon), do I have to start from scratch with the 10% rule, or can I up my
mileage again much quicker. I mean, I've done minimal running since the marathon due to a slight
knee pain, which I'm now over. I'm now back to about 20 miles per week. Would it be too drastic to
up to 35-40 miles per week right now, or should i just follow the 10% rule still? Thanks.

Joe
 
In article <[email protected]>, Joe wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I ran the Chicago Marathon in October (my 1st one, finished in 3:50). I understand the 10% rule in
> increasing weekly mileage.

The "10% rule" doesn't allow you to add 10% each and every week. In fact I think it's a badly
stated rule. Most coaches recommend no more than about 10% increase per month. But this is for
building milage.

> My question is, since I had a decent base before the marathon (averaged about 45-50mpw for about 2
> 1/2 months prior to the marathon), do I have to start from scratch with the 10% rule, or can I up
> my mileage again much quicker.

You should be able to bring it up quicker, but it depends on how long the layoff was.

> I mean, I've done minimal running since the marathon due to a slight knee pain, which I'm
> now over.

If the knee pain was caused by training (and not the race), you may want to adjust your
milage target.

> I'm now back to about 20 miles per week. Would it be too drastic to up to 35-40 miles per week
> right now, or should i just follow the 10% rule still? Thanks.

The advice Jack Daniels gives on coming back after a break is that the rebuilding period is the same
length as the break, and you progress over the rebuilding period to your previous training load. If
you use these guidelines, you should spend about 2 weeks at 20-25mpw and 2 more weeks at 33-38mpw
with no speed work. That's assuming you wish to return to your pre-marathon training load.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/
 
> I ran the Chicago Marathon in October (my 1st one, finished in 3:50). I understand the 10% rule in
> increasing weekly mileage. My question is,
since
> I had a decent base before the marathon (averaged about 45-50mpw for about
2
> 1/2 months prior to the marathon), do I have to start from scratch with
the
> 10% rule, or can I up my mileage again much quicker. I mean, I've done minimal running since the
> marathon due to a slight knee pain, which I'm
now
> over. I'm now back to about 20 miles per week. Would it be too drastic
to
> up to 35-40 miles per week right now, or should i just follow the 10% rule still? Thanks.

Glad to see your knee pain has subsided.

From the nature of your question it seems to me you are valuing the stress part of training, with a
healthy caution for possible injury, but not valuing the rest and recovery part of training. If so,
then you will be forever pushing mileage limits, getting injured, recovering and starting over. This
seems to happen to 50 percent of runners at least once each year if the source was quoted correctly.

Before piling on the miles, if you have not already done this, why not find out why the knee
hurt, short of pushing mileage limits. If you can, then you might prevent reoccurence with some
simple drills.
 
"Joe" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Hello all,
>
> I ran the Chicago Marathon in October (my 1st one, finished in 3:50). I understand the 10% rule in
> increasing weekly mileage. My question is, since I had a decent base before the marathon (averaged
> about 45-50mpw for about 2
> 1/2 months prior to the marathon), do I have to start from scratch with the 10% rule, or can I up
> my mileage again much quicker. I mean, I've done minimal running since the marathon due to a
> slight knee pain, which I'm now over. I'm now back to about 20 miles per week. Would it be too
> drastic to up to 35-40 miles per week right now, or should i just follow the 10% rule still?
> Thanks.
>
> Joe

The 10% rule should be a guideline. Some people can ignore it and others are doomed to follow it in
the fullest.

Think about what you need to do to go from 20 miles per week to 35-40. Does that mean making the
runs you do longer or adding an extra run or two per week?

I have a pretty set distances I run during a given week. 5, 6, 8 (or longer). For building mileage
it isn't a good idea to run your longest run twice in one week. Depending on what you are doing now
I'd take a short run and add a mile or two to it. And add a short distance. Keep steady for 2 or 3
weeks then increase the mileage. Assuming 3 runs per week of 20 miles total I'd add a 5 miler and
make 1 five miler a 6. Gives me 4 runs per week and 26 miles. After I'm happy with that 2 weeks
perhaps I'd add another 5 miler and maybe make my 8 miler a 10 miler. Now I've got 5 runs per week
and 32 miles per week over the course of 3 or 4 weeks.

The idea is to avoid the extremes. Don't jump from 20 miles to 30 by adding a 10 mile run. Do the
distances you can and increase the long runs as you feel comfortable. The total mileage is important
but how you get there is just as important.

Mind your knee and try to figure out the cause. Keep stretching and exercising opposing muscles,
cha, cha, cha.

My $0.02 Andy
 
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