How much do you run?
How far do you run?
How far should I run?
These are just a few of the questions that pop up when I tell people I’m a runner. Right off the bat, I’ll say that I can’t answer how far or fast you should run. But I will tell you that I typically run for 30-40 minutes at 5 times a week. I take Sundays and Wednesdays off, though I’ll often still go for a bike ride, a hike, or on a walk…though sometimes I’ll also just sit around eating ice-cream (yes, I know, it’s a habit which needs to stop).
I keep track of the amount of time I run, but I have no idea exactly how far I’m going. I suppose this is somewhat strange, and I keep saying I need to go to a track and run the circles to figure out how far I can run.
Am I running a half-mile in 30 minutes? (Oh, I hope not)
Am I running a marathon? (Yes, I’m sure that’s it…)
But the truth is, I don’t know. So far, I don’t have any races planned and I’m fine with my relaxed running style, though it would be nice to find out how far I’m going. I’m not claiming that my way is best. Truthfully, I don’t really know. I just do what feels right for me.
I’ll also say that when I began, it was more like 10 minutes each time. And that’s okay.
10 comments ↓
Hey I randomly stumbled across your blog from “Complete Running Network”… I use mapmyrun.com to measure my runs… works pretty well I guess (never really drove to double check). You could try that out if you wanted - membership is free. I’ve been running since high school, but I only consider myself “serious” for the past 2 years. (Sort of serious anyway). I’m currently running 30-35mpw, so 5-6 days a week. Mostly just replying to let you in on mapmyrun in case you didn’t already know about it. Good luck running.
Thanks Lindsay. I ran in high school as well but turned into a couch potato shortly afterward, and I’m just now getting back into running. I’ll definitely check out http://www.mapmyrun.com. Thanks for the tip!
Buy a Garmin and lose all joy in running when you become obsessed with the distances, speeds and pretty pictures!
I run 3-4 times a week normally and between 30-60 minutes for each run except my Sunday run which is a long run where I got between 1.5 - 2 hours.
I love Runner’s World’s mapping. It keeps track of everything. Right now, I’m starting to train for a Half in November, so 4-5 times a week, (except last week!) I also used Couch to 5K to start, and that is three times weekly.
Good luck on YOUR runs!
I’ll have to check out these high-tech mapping approaches myself sometime. I used to run a lot road courses measured by car odometer but my recent road runs have been like yours, just for time, with distance merely estimated. A lot of my trail runs this year have also been unmeasured, only clocked for time. I just use a estimate for distance on those. I don’t think there’s any requirement that most runs be measured for distance rather than time. On the other hand I do like to see how I’m doing now and then, so this year I’ve run several measured one mile time trials on roads plus three trail races. I do have the urge to run a little on a track sometime.
I’m recovering from an injury but I was doing 3 days a week of running, 30-40 minutes on my easy days and 60-110 minutes on my weekend run, where I would alternate longer runs with harder ones.
Not enough. Not far enough. Farther. That in a nutshell are my answers to your questions.
But when I’m in a rhythm– which unfortunately hasn’t been for a while, but into which I’m trying to get back– I run a minimum of three days a week and strength training on two other days, with two rest days, usually Friday and Sunday. I’ve been obsessed in the past with keeping track of my running, but lately I haven’t. My tool of choice: RunningAhead.com, of which also the Runner’s World website uses a variation.
I just stumbled upon your blog. I like what I see. I just started a blog to keep me accountable to exercising. I also want to run a marathon and thought if people were reading about my training progress I would be even more motivated to really make it happen. I’m definetely going to link to your blog. Cheers.
So, my wife and I are currently running about 45-50 minutes (about 5.5-6 miles) M-F, in the early morning. We had been doing 6 days a week and taking sunday off. We knew that if we didn’t break it up a bit with some cycling, we wouldn’t be able to do this sort of thing in 20 years. We ended up taking saturday mornings to hop on the bikes and do about 20 miles. It was a good decision.
I run with a partner and we try to run 4 times a week for 15-30 minutes. We don’t run the whole time, sometimes we get caught up in talking and so we end up walking more than running. We can run 1 mile in 9 minutes though. (I know that it is slow, but we are proud of it, neither of us have ever really ran before)
Devin, my boyfriend and I wanted to try cycling as well but I’m currently bike-less, which is unfortunate. I do agree that it’s a great way to break up the monotony.
Bobbie, that is something to be proud of and I don’t even consider that slow, especially not for a beginner! I didn’t even time myself when I first started out, but I’m sure it was much slower than that. Best of luck!
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