How and Why to Run More This Week, This Year, and This Lifetime

By Bri Boley,
CTS Ultrarunning Expert Coach

“How do I become a better runner?” In the days of the internet and social media influencers, that question has a million answers, many of which contradict each other. Filtering information down to what’s supported by science and experience is one of the leading reasons athletes cite for hiring a coach. They want to know what is actually important and how to apply it. And the simplest and most effective way to become a better runner is to… run more. That’s not a flippant or snarky answer, nor is it an easy piece of advice to safely and effectively implement.

Training for ultramarathons means you need to run a lot, easy most of the time, and hard a little of the time. You need to run often, and sometimes long. Your work:rest ratio needs to be dialed in. And you need to take care of your body holistically as a human, not only as a runner. All this you need time. Time is your friend, both in terms of training duration per week as well as accumulated experience, in months and years, as an athlete.

Given that most of us are short on time, the question becomes how can you run more? Well, for that we need think of “run more” in three ways: by volume, by frequency, and by cumulative training experience.

Run More by Running Longer

It is well established that there is a correlation between increased running volume and faster race finishing times. One study showed a strong correlation between typical and maximal training mileage and marathon times (p = .0004). In this study, the improvement associated with  training 50 miles per week vs 30 miles per week was a 25:32 faster marathon for men, and 31:41 faster marathon for women. Using a 4-hour marathon time for the sake of math, that is an 11.1% average improvement for men and 13.1% average improvement for women. To put this into perspective, training interventions such as incorporating strength training, consuming caffeine, and wearing supershoes might individually lead to performance improvements in the range of 1-5%. So, what exactly is so magical about a higher running volume? To answer this question it’s important to understand the changes happening in the body during endurance training.

Aerobic exercise triggers a cascade of events at the cellular level that stimulate adaptations in response to the stress being placed on the body. These include increased capillary density to get more oxygen to working muscles, increased mitochondrial development to use that oxygen more quickly and efficiently, increased cardiac output which raises VO2max, more efficient use of fat and carbohydrate for energy production, and more efficient recycling of lactate for energy and for fatigue resistance. Additionally, bone, tendon and ligament density increase along with muscular strength, which in turn increases musculoskeletal durability and can improve running economy. In short, increasing running volume is an umbrella that covers a large percentage of what we look to achieve in ultra-endurance training and performance.

Run More by Increasing Frequency

When I coach athletes in the earlier stages of their ultrarunning careers, goal number one is often to increase frequency. I like to try to get most athletes up to training 5-6 days a week for several reasons. First, habits are formed through consistency. There is a quote I like which states “Motivation often comes after starting, not before. Action produces momentum.” Said another way: Momentum requires consistent action, which lends itself to habit, which in turn means you don’t have to rely on daily motivation. We generally love training, but it’s not necessarily something you always want to do. It’s just something you do either way.

Secondly, certain physiological stimuli continue having an effect for up to 48 hours post-exercise. Training again within this window can keep the signal for adaptation rolling. There must be balance with adequate recovery between workouts, but you don’t want too much downtime between runs. Again, momentum is your friend here.

Lastly, for busy athletes such as those of us with jobs and families, creativity with your training might be essential. You may not have 4-hour chunks of time to run every week, but you can still get the total volume in if you break the runs up into shorter, more frequent sessions.

Run More by Running For More Years

Different adaptations require different amounts of time to develop. This article (PMID 27570626) highlights time course for physiological adaptations related to endurance training. While some adaptations occur rapidly such as increased hemoglobin concentration due to altitude stress, others are more chronic and less finite. Mitochondrial density and function in muscles gradually increases over the course of a single season but also accumulates over a period of years. Some muscle fibers can change their behaviors from fast twitch to more like slow twitch, also on the scale of years. Additionally, it becomes increasingly important to stay consistent as a masters athlete. VO2max, collagen production, bone density and muscle development all diminish with age, but consistently exercising can dramatically slow these processes.

Adaptations aside, there is another reason why experience is so important in our sport. A study (PMID 21487147) that surveyed runners racing two different 100 milers found that the number one reason cited for DNF was nausea or vomiting. Other factors high up on the list included inability to make time cutoffs, inadequate heat acclimation, and blisters. “Inadequate training” was very low on the list, but in truth, inadequate training probably underlined most of the other reasons cited. After all, the gut is trainable. Heat acclimation is part of training. And certainly, the grit required to make time cutoff is part of training. But these things can take years to learn and perfect.

How to Safely Run More and Not Get Injured

Here are some practical suggestions for how to safely and effectively add more running into your life:

• Follow a coach’s guidance or the 10% rule: During build periods, total weekly volume should only increase by ~10% each week.
• If you run fewer than 5 days per week, begin increasing frequency by adding one short run per week, then possibly another after you feel comfortable at this new load.
• Once you are up to your desired frequency, increase the duration of 1-2 runs only. Once you’re comfortable at this total volume, increase the duration of other runs until most or all runs are longer than before you increased frequency and you’ve reached a desired volume.
• Take a recovery or de-load week periodically- typically every 3-5 weeks- to allow your body to absorb and adapt to the increase in training load.

Lastly, remember that although running more – whether making individual runs longer, running more frequently, or running across a longer span of years – can play an important role in making you a faster, stronger, more durable athlete, training must still fit into your life and lifestyle. At a certain point, adding more running will be more disruptive to your life than it is beneficial, meaning that level of running is not sustainable. Longevity in the sport is the ultimate way to increase your lifetime running volume!