Show of hands, who has blatantly ignored this rule? Both of my hands are in the air... I mean, that would take forever! Say you're coming off of injury and are maybe up to 10-miles a week (and that would actually be pretty good). So next week you run 11, and then 12.1, and then its 2 months before you get to 20-miles and 4 months before you're back to a 40-mile week?! Jeesh...
Turns out, I'm not really a risk-taker, or completely crazy. In fact, recent studies have debunked the 10% rule. Depending upon your experience, propensity for injury, etc. you can deviate from this hard and fast rule. Initially, starting off conservative is probably a good idea if you're coming off of injury... but you may be able to add more than a mile a week! Additionally, if you've been holding steady at a certain weekly mileage for a while (say low 40's), you might be able to jump by 15-20% (say to upper 40's) and be fine. However, when increasing mileage, you also have to keep intensity in mind. For example, making up the miles in an easy run will do a lot less damage than trying to add it in an extra interval workout.
This brings up my question... is there are rule for increasing intensity? Turns out, the 10% rule is meant to apply to more than just miles... the intensity at which you do them also needs to be considered. Now the rule makes a bit more sense to me. I don't know about y'all, but when I put in too many "quality" workouts in a row, I wind up exhausted and hurting. However, if I add the same, if not more miles in easy runs, I can actually feel better on harder workouts. So, in conclusion, I think the rule needs to be re-written (or the original form re-emphasized). So running friends, I offer you this suggestion:
Increasing the intensity of your weekly workout regimen by more than 10% might not be so much of a good idea.
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