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How many hours are people running each week on average? How many do you need to maintain/improve from your current level? I'm currently running around 3 hours per week which feels low but I'm coming back from injury and definitely improving with this amount so no need to up it just yet!
Depends on your goals Mark.
You are the one who knows where he wants to be and what your targets are.
Also the time you can spend running is up to you.
I know you wanted a number but it is each to their own depending on circumstances.
Hi Stagger, absolutely, just interested in what other people do. How much time do you spend running?
2 years ago I was doing 4-5 hours a week. Long Sunday run, Park run on Saturday and a couple of hour sessions in the week with more specific focus eg hill reps.
Struggled with injury for 12 months and now just do a modest hour or so on Sunday and maybe another in the week if up to it. However I do cycle 15 miles a day commuting and maybe a longer ride on Saturday up to 30 miles if time permits.
Form hasn't dropped off too alarmingly but am probably lacking some stamina for longer races and some top end speed (not that I had much anyway!)
When I have an interest in competitive running I used to run 3 times per week approx 60mins.
A hill, tempo and easy.
Always a couple of hours on my bike.
I would diet too because my best weight is around 12st.
I only did up to AM races though.
Like most have said, I guess it depends what you want from running etc.
I did once read that to be "good", you need to put in 8 hours or so per week - that would include speed work, hills and a long run in there
Very specific thing though, works differently for everyone. I usually do about 5 hours per week but it varies depending on which race I do at weekend
About five hours over four or five runs, usually only one long run, sometimes two.
I generally do about 7-8hrs a week, which I find quite a strain if I try to make every session a hard quality session. I try to make 2-3hrs of that nice and easy but it's difficult not to get carried away.
Up until about 6 weeks ago i was probably doing around 10 hours a week but at least half of that was cross training, e.g cycle, stairclimber, cross trainer... But this was not showing any noticeable improvement in my racing so I've changed my focus a bit...
Hopefully I'll start to see some results!
Last couple of months I've been doing up to 6-7 hours of running each week including a long run most weekends. This has made an improvement to my running but I still have a long way to go. Hoping to up my running to 9-10 hours a week over the winter as I am now looking ahead to the Three Peaks next year, although this will only be the equivalent mileage of 5 hours of benshep running!
When I was racing frequently (back in the 20th Century:p) I typically did 4 runs per week, totalling 3-4 hours, including one speedwork session. Whenever I tried doing more than that, I got injured; but in any case I was able to race at a level that satisfied me.
A few years ago, when I got the strange notion that I would like to do a few races again, I started doing 3 runs per week, totalling 2-2.5 hours (having been running once or twice a week in the intervening period). But see my recent post on the Injuries forum: last week I did two runs, totalling 1hr45mins, and I am still trying to recover from that!
At present I am doing 2-3 hours per week tops. Often less, much less. Its all dependant on wether I get a long run/day out in. I'm running ok at present, slowly improving over the last few years...glacially slow improvements that is. I find the more often I run, the easier my running becomes which suggests for me its regularity that governs my form as far as speed is concerned.
I stopped racing around 18 months ago and now go out for the sheer love of being on the hills, I average around 24 hrs a week and on average do around 130K a week.
So far this year I have done 5000K distance with 117,500 metres of ascent.
My stamina is good but if and when I decide I want to race again I will have to work on my speed, but to be honest I am very content just being out and enjoying my surroundings with no pressure to do anything other than what I feel like doing at any given time
Fantastic amount of time out! Brilliant! Demonstrates your liking/love of plan old off road running! I'll do well to get 1000 miles in this year, which will be best I've recorded!Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnK
JohnK, that's some serious time up in the fells! Impressive stuff.
Well, I've ****** my Achilles so I'm on around 0.5 hrs per week.
I run 5 days a week, over four weeks I go from 4hr to 4:20,4:40,5:00 then back to 4:00 so it helps with recovery,also do blocks so a few weeks of strength,speed,endurance I am 69 now so if I do any more I fall asleep a lot,price for getting old.
That's a lot of hours, no wonder your stamina is good! As other's have said, the kind of work you need to put in depends on what you want to get out of it. Broadly speaking more is better for just about any race distance but if you want to race loooong then you'll probably struggle if you can't get the volume of training in.Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnK
I've peaked about 12hrs/wk this year which is less than last year but with more quality work and some gym stuff besides. Hopefully get more mileage in over the winter. 2,667k and 152,432m vert for the year thus far. You know, roughly.