Moving Forward

Treadmill is ok. as long as you get out on the road at least 2 x a week!

I would recommend getting off the treadmill at all costs. You do not race on a treadmill, why train on it? Treadmill running is the closest thing you can do to running in a confined space, and definitely beats sitting on your rear end, but it is still not quite your normal running.

Also, if time permits, try running no less than 6 miles a day 6 days a week. Ease off the pace to about 10:00 - 10:30 per mile at first. If everything is fine after a couple of weeks, if you have the time, make it no less than 7 miles a day, if not, just up the pace a bit.

I run outside every Saturday, and when the weather is nice I run trails at least once a week.

Sasha, time is always the issue. I work full time, and have a family. Besides trying to do the other things I want/need to do. What would this schedule do for me. Running longer, but slower? Is this for better endurance? Even though I have run for a while, I have never really taken the time to get good at it.

Running long and relatively slow does more for you than short and running fast. Go to the Racing Team page and see how they train. You'll find about 90% of their mileage being done at 1 minute or more slower than their marathon race pace, and you'll also find they are putting in a lot of miles. This is a well-proven pattern of success in long distance running. Everybody on the blog who changed from the Runner's World training style with complex low mileage schedules to a simple 6 days a week run as many miles as I am fit for at the time has experience significant improvements. As an example, check Michelle Lowry's blog. She is a mother of 3 small children, and she does work as well. When she first joined, she was doing the Runner's World thing - let's see how little mileage I can get away with if I throw in speed work here and there. Her short-term marathon goal was 3:20, and for her long term goal she wrote 3:10 - is it even possible? Well, after a few months of proper training she ran 3:00:43!

Time constraints make it difficult to put in the miles, but there is always a way. You have to get creative, though. I've found some interesting ways to do it. Run with a stroller. Run to the store literally, bring your groceries back in the stroller. Run around a park while the kids are playing. Park a distance away from where you are going and run to and back to get in an extra mile or two for the day.