wow, lyria--- that's AWESOME

Hey everyone. I have a question for you runners.

How many days a week do you run and for how far? I'm really starting to enjoy running but only do between 1-2 miles so far and usually only twice a week. My other workout days I do things like a stairmill.

I think I'd like to run 5 days a week and was just curious about how often you long distance runners go. My goal is to be able to eventually do 5 and 10 k's and possibly branch into sprint tri's.

I'm not a long distance runner but I am in a 5k training program.

I run 4 days/week and currently i'm doing run/walks (more run than walk) for a little over 2 miles. In the next few weeks, I'm going to be building up to 3.5 miles in preparation for the 5k.

After that, I hope to enter a 10k training program (or at least follow a 10k training plan).

Hi MotoMichelle!

At this point I am running 4 days a week. On Mondays and Wednesdays I will run to my worksite from the train station--5 miles. On Thurs or Fri I try to do a longer run (8-12--trying for more) and during the weekend I will do a 6 mile run.

When I started back in the spring I ran 4-6 days but shorter distances and more treadmill than outside. Soon, winter is upon us.... might be a change in routine coming. But I hope not. I feel a bit in a good groove.

hope everyone is having a cool running monday!

Thanks Nelie and Kitty.

I think I'm going to start running 4-5 days a week. I've had this excuse in my head of "Well, I don't want to overdo it or hurt myself!" but I really think that's just an excuse or really just a bit of a mental block.

You might want to look for a 5k training plan or 10k training plan online. From what I've read, in order to increase your mileage, you do need to do so gradually.

Hi everyone,

I had a rubbish week last week for running - stayed up to watch US elections, then had a couple of nights out which ruined my training plan. Sigh. But tomorrow I'm going for a seven mile run and hope to get back on track.

I'm keen to get faster after I ran ten miles in 1hr40 a couple of weeks ago. I've started trying to introduce a few very short (5-6 x 1 min) intervals of faster running into my regular 5 mile runs. It's really tiring! Any tips for how to improve my speed?

Happy running everyone (in the wind, rain, dark and cold ...).

in our next lives let's be neighbors and practice together

ok, so that's 10 min miles- right? that's my goal

Sounds great!

MotoMichelle -- I've been running for a while, and I'm training for half-marathon distance races. So, I run usually 4 days per week. 3 days are around 5 mile distance, and the 4th day is the "long run" for distance training, of anywhere from 9-15 miles depending on where I am in my training cycle. I use the other days for cross training, stretching, weight training, etc. The rule of thumb is not to extend your distance by more than 10% per week. This gives your legs a chance to adapt to the new stresses gradually. Ramping up mileage too quickly is the most common cause for injury. Just my 2 cents!

Southofriver -- the way to get faster is to run faster -- speed intervals. You are on the right track. If you look at runnersworld.com, they have quite a few different suggestions about how to do speed work. I find a lot of that confusing, personally, so I usually just do 5 minute sprint intervals on the treadmill, it's easier for me to keep track of! I'll warm up for 15 minutes at an easy pace, then do 5 minutes at a faster pace, 5 minutes recovery, repeat several times. You can pick shorter speed intervals, longer recovery, whatever works. Gradually you will be able increase your faster "pace", extend the intervals, do more repeats, etc. I also find that doing 5K races makes me faster, because it is one long speed workout! Increasing speed takes time, so be patient. The more intense your speed workout, the shorter it should be too. You should feel tired when you're done, but not completely wiped out. Hope that helps!!

Nelie - I will look into some training programs. Thanks.

Thanks, that makes sense. It's been a slow progress so far for me. Got to 1 mile a little over a month or so ago and every 2-3 weeks have bumped up another 1/2 mile. Just hit the 2 mile mark last week.

Hi all,

I finally...FINALLY ran a complete 5k. No stopping, no walking, just running. For me this was the hardest distance to attain. I am hoping now that I have done it once, I can keep my runs near this 5k distance and eventually add in more in a month or so.

I ran the 5k in about 34 minutes - I wasn't officially keeping time since I wasn't sure if I would get tired and just do my usual 2-2.5 miles. So I sort of gauged my pace and ended up at 34 minutes. So I guess that is decent for a first try.

Congrats Cakses!

rock and roll!!