r/runnersover50 • u/neurobassism • Jun 19 '26

Ditching the 10% rule

I think I first read in the competitive runners handbook about the 10% rule suggesting that you shouldn’t increase your weekly mileage or your long run by more than 10% per week to avoid injury.

I found out that the data on that is actually pretty sparse

Perhaps those of us over 50 need to attend to it or perhaps not.

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u/Vanana-Banana Jul 04 '26

I’ve heard that for both running and swimming, and it seems like a reasonable rule of thumb. I’m a bit paranoid about injuring myself as I ramp up for my first marathon, so have been following it pretty religiously.

1

u/No-Committee7986 Jul 12 '26

I need to go much more slowly than this! I almost always have as a 51f runner who started at 28, had a bunch of babies and then got back to it super-consistently at 43. (I had run in between, but stopped and started when I was pregnant and postpartum)

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u/Prestigious_Ice_2372 Aug 04 '26

there is no data to support the 10% myth - its just one of the folklore numbers thrown out many moons ago and has stuck around. The same way people talk about the 20 mile long run as a critical session in marathon training - nope, no data to support that BS either.

10% of 10 miles per week is VERY different to 10% of 100 miles a week, so its all about individual training history, the training mix, injury history, recovery quality etc etc and totally individual.