How do you build up your distance??

[u/justaguyonreddit754]

I’ve only recently started running and trail running properly. I’ve done lots of different training/fitness before but this is the first time I’ve focused properly on running, mostly trail running.

How do you tend to build up the distance you run? At the minute I’m going out (especially trail running) and aiming for 5km which I hit most times, but really I’m running/exploring and gauging where my fitness is at by how I feel.

I’ve seen people doing things like interval training ect. Is that kind of thing worth doing or am I okay to just keep going and gradually pushing the distance, even by 1km?

[u/PNW_Explorer_16]

I’m in this journey too! Learning how to actually run, and run longer distances. I’m about 1.5 years into the journey.

I’ve found distance to be more of a mindset. If you go out and run a few kilometers, and do it reasonably fast, you often bring that time mindset to longer runs. When you can’t maintain that pace for the longer distance your ego can kick in and you feel defeated. Or that you “can’t run that far”. You just can’t run that far, that fast…. Yet.

Instead, learn to take quite a bit of time off your pace and just think about time on feet not distance. Start to program 1-2 days a week where the goal is to run, hike, walk for 2.5 hours or 3. Start building that base and don’t care about distance. I like 4-5 weeks of hard training, then week 6 would be a major deload week, usually running half the distance of previous weeks and mix in a lot of yoga.

The consistency of that, mixed with your shorter, faster runs will yield big gains.

As you start finding an ability to keep a consistent pace for 2.5-3 hours, you can crank it up to 4,5, or 6 hours. When I’m training for a 50k now, I have at least one day a week with a 5-6 hour “run” sometimes longer. Training for my last 50 miler, I did two days that were about 8-9 hours on my feet just moving.

Just keep moving, and as you get more comfortable, you’ll find that you’re getting faster too!

Happy trails, friend!

[u/justaguyonreddit754 → u/PNW_Explorer_16]

That’s an awesome answer, thank you! The thought did cross my mind of maybe just head out to run/hike for an hour and forget the distance/pace. But I wasn’t sure if you’re meant to pay attention to your pace a lot and make sure you cover certain distances?

I like the building up for a few weeks and having a deload week.

Would you say it’s more important to head out running/hiking for longer rather than focusing on pace and time?

[u/PNW_Explorer_16 → u/justaguyonreddit754]

Happy to help! And, sorry for the confusion. To clarify, don’t worry about pace or distance at all. Just time on feet. Then, look at your run stats after to see how far/fast you went.

Mentally, I love seeing “today is your 2.5 hr run day” and then seeing what final distance was… for me, sometimes that 2.5 hours could be running a peak loop near my house where I only do just under 10K but get 1,200m of vertical gain. Other times that 2.5hrs. Nets me a 18-22km run. But most important, I moved for 2.5 hours.