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The 10% rule....
By jerryallison in Run to Eat. Eat to Run.
February 7, 2010

When I first started running, I just ran. I didn't count miles. I didn't count days of the week I ran. I got up at 4:45 a.m., laced up the shoes and was out the door by 5 a.m. (I don't do that much anymore).

But when I started racing, I started reading Runner's World, learning about tempo runs, strides, hill workouts and the like.

And I learned the all important 10 percent rule, which is only increasing your weekly miles by ten percent each week. So if you are running 20 miles this week, you can run 22 miles next week. This rule is said and repeated because it helps prevent injury and helps the body adjust the stress of running.

I haven't always believed in this rule. For more than a year I ran on and off. Six miles here, six miles there. Then I signed up for a race, I didn't fully train for and a month before it, I found out I had a stress fracture in my foot.

Doctor sidelined me. My Dad told me to lay off running. All I could think about was running, the marathon I wasn't running. Plus, beautiful spring days, I couldn't run because of my foot.

It was a lesson. Too much too soon is bad for the body, reinforcing the 10 percent rule.

Now I live and breathe it.

I look at training plans, I adjust accordingly. I haven't been injured since and hopefully never again.