Increase running days.

[Antonio_the_Aussie]

Hiya folks. Have been running for over a year and recently completed a half marathon. I run 3 days a week. When is the time to increase the number of days I run? Or should I just keep it at 3 days. I would like to improve my time.

[misswobble Marathon]

It’s hard to say without knowing where you’re at but you could add in another day and go longer, slower just to see how it goes. Always evaluate as you go and be ready to switch if you run into problems

Do a mix of distances and tempo’s, fartleks, intervals etc. Maybe download a structured plan. I use Nike Run Club which has audio coached runs and I love them To run quicker you have to get stronger! That means putting more slow miles (on longer runs) on your legs. Parkruns are back! You could maybe add that in to your regimen

I’m an older runner so I have to take care not to go mad. Patience is key 😃

[Antonio_the_Aussie Half Marathon in reply to misswobble]

Similar to you, I use the structured plans on Runkeeper. May change them to 4 days and see how I go. I'm not young myself... 56 soon.

[misswobble Marathon in reply to Antonio_the_Aussie]

When I moved to running four times a week it nearly killed me but I’m fine with it now. Just do things carefully and gradually and see how it goes.

[roseabi Ultramarathon]

Add an extra run for a few weeks and see how you feel!

[sTrongFuse Half Marathon 10 Miles]

It's up to you really. I'm 2 and a bit years into running and I run 3-4 times a week most weeks. Three of those runs are just me earing up the miles at a leisurely pace, usually on my own, and the fourth is with my Sunday running group where we do a bit of pace work.For me, lock down started just as I hit my first anniversary and that I took advantage of our allowed daily exercise outings to switch from 3 to 4 runs. It's also when I started upping my distance from about 20-25km each week to the 40-50km that it is now; just as an excuse to spend as much time outdoors as I could justify.

Everyone is different so there are no rights or wrongs, just try for yourself and see what works for you. The key thing is just listen to your body and see where it takes you.

[RunWillie Marathon]

I’ve been running over a year and run 5-6 times a week. Most of my runs are at a very low intensity though as I run to heart rate. I only run one fast 5k and one tempo/threshold. The rest are zone 2 👍🏻