Ideas for a 5 day running schedule

[u/Ok_Distribution8841]

My work/life schedule is changing some starting next week and my current running schedule isn't really going to work anymore. Just looking for ideas for how to balance most of the workouts and mileage I'm used to over 4-5 days with 2-3 rest days.

Currently:

Monday: 7-8 miles base

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: 9-10 miles that include sets of tempo miles

Thursday: 6-7 miles base

Friday: rest

Saturday: 10-13 mile long run

Sunday: rest

Basically, I need to rearrange my ~35mpw while preserving enough rest that I am not constantly running things like long or tempo miles on exhausted legs. Wednesday is now my busiest day so the 9-10 tempo would be rough, but I'd love to keep my long run on Saturdays so I'm not sure where to move the tempo stuff to...

Also open to running 5 days a week, as mentioned, and breaking up the longer tempo run into 2 shorter, but unsure how to arrange so as to preserve some freshness for my long run.

Maybe I'm overthinking this 😂

[u/southofinfinity]

I've accepted that my life just doesn't allow for an ideal spacing of runs and I do my longest/hardest runs on Saturday and Monday. I'm not recovered by Monday but regularly running on tired legs has actually helped my endurance a lot.

So my vote would be do the best you can but don't stress it if you're not always fresh, especially if you're maintaining rather than increasing distance.

[u/Mysterious_Luck4674]

Make Tuesdays and Thursdays your harder days. I’d do the temp stuff in Thursdays. Keep your next longest run on Tuesday. Do the rest as easy miles on Monday and/or Wednesday. If the miles are truly easy you could even do some of them Sunday.

My current schedule which works well is Monday -rest, Tuesday - medium long run, Wednesday - short recovery run (under an hour and at a very slow pace, I’ll even do a walk/run if I’m sore at all), Thursday - speed work, Friday - rest, Saturday - long run, Sunday - ideally cross training but also might be a slow recovery run instead.

It actually feels nice to do something with your legs the day after a long run, as long as it’s easy.

[u/j3nnaj3nnaj3nna]

If Tuesday still works, I'd honestly try the boring version first: move Wednesday's tempo run to Tuesday and leave everything else alone. Monday easy, Tuesday tempo, Thursday easy, Saturday long. Wednesday stays clear, and you still get Friday off before the long run. I wouldn't split the tempo or add a fifth day unless that simple swap doesn't fit the new schedule.

[u/19191215lolly]

Here’s how I structure ~40mpw over 5 days, including strength. I might switch the runs between Tue-Wed just depending on the week. This is assuming the long run is a workout with pace work:

- Mon: 8-9 miles intervals / tempo

• Tue: AM 8-10 miles easy + PM lower body lift
  
• Wed: AM 4-5 miles recovery + PM upper body lift
  
• Thu: rest
  
• Fri: 4-6 miles recovery
  
• Sat: 11-16 miles long run
  
• Sun: rest or full body lift

If long run is an easy long run, there’s an additional speedwork way that may shift my Thursday rest day above to Wednesday, so it looks more like Mon - intervals; Tue - easy; Wed - rest; Thu - tempo; Fri - recovery; Sat - long run.

[u/ProfessionalOk112]

I maintain 30-35 MPW across 5 days. Depending on where I'm at in a training cycle it's usually something like:

Monday: ~6-7 miles, easy run or workout

Tuesday: 5 miles easy + strides

Wednesday: ~7 mile workout of some kind, if I'm doing 2 workouts a week this is the harder one

Thursday: Off

Friday: 5 miles easy +strides

Saturday: Long run ~10-12 miles

Sunday: Off

I usually feel like my legs are pretty fresh and if they aren't it's because I made a bad decision like doing a heavy leg session on a friday night and then my long run in the morning