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I Average 40 miles per week for running and ramping up to a marathon I peak at 60 miles. After the marathon I take two weeks off.
The normal rule I go by is 10% for milage increases, but I am wondering how a base plays into that? Can I go back to 40 miles a week? How long and how fast can I go back to that?
After a marathon or any race many people, I cant think of a solid reference - maybe Greg McMillan, suggest to do a reverse taper. Using McMillan's it would be 50% of normal (20 miles) for following week, 75% of normal for the next (30 miles), 80-90% for the third week, and back to normal from there.
Alternatively, Hal Higdon relates a saying from some other famous runner (Prefontaine?) who says take one day off for every mile raced. So kick back and relax :) or do some cross training.
I like to jog the soreness off over 1-2 weeks. I like to think that this easy work out is helping me to recover and push my body to replace the muscle and add a little.
After a break from a season of consistent mileage, you should run a week at lower mileage (if you were running an average of 45 minutes a day on easy runs, you might do 30 - 35 minutes a day your first week back with no long run), but then you can quickly pick it back up to your normal mileage. After that, you should continue following the 10% rule.
