How much running/cycling??

This blog follows on from Mph's "Run fat boy run" post, where the question posed was "how much running/training do you do?" Well now that's an interesting question and my guess would be that everyone you ask will come up with a different answer, depending mainly on A) their personal circumstances and B)what distance races they are training for. Personally I'm still in a bit of limbo between this years off season and next years base training. Having started the year by running 30 miles and biking 320 miles/month in January, increasing to running 100 and biking 600/month by April, I'm probably now back to only running 10 (!) and biking 300. Many people will probably argue that it's quality that counts not quantity but I needed to build up my base endurance as that was lacking for me personally.



Suffice to say for now, if you are starting back to running from 'nowt then don't overdo it to begin with otherwise you'll end up with lots of DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness - oops sounds like it is too late for that), shin splits and a general lack of enjoyment. Build up gradually, no more than a 10% increase in mileage per week, build in some simple stretches before and after the run and remember that the first mile is the worst as it takes a while for your cardiovascular system to rev up and deliver the extra oxygen to those muscles.

Perhaps I can pass on some thoughts about training hours from Philip Graves who visited some of our students today in York and spent an hour with us discussing how he plans out his training year. Philip, born in York is a professional triathlete and in 2009 he won both the Ironman 70.3UK and Ironman UK events at just 20 years old. He will be base training from Dec - Feb with long steady rides, skills based stuff and drills. From Mar - Apr he builds up the intensity during the race preparation phase and then during the race season (he is focusing on Olympic distances - Middle distance triathlons now) he races every 3 weeks. He averages 30 hours training per week, preferably somewhere hot!

A running colleague of mine who admits to being lazy, opts not to train much but races every weekend, as his own way of training! (His PB at a marathon is 3.09, whilst Philip Graves posts 2:52 for his marathon after a 2.4m swim and 112 miles on his bike!).

So I doubt this has answered your question, but it's a start and I look forward to hearing everyone else's viewpoint! If anyone has a training plan for how to improve your half marathon time I would be interested!  (MF)