I Added Five Minutes to My Run Time Every Day for 30 Days

Throughout January, I added five minutes to my run time every day for 30 days.

This was a challenge I had been pondering for some time as I had increased my mileage substantially over the last few months. But I wanted to see if I could get to that next level as a runner. I wanted to know if I could get to a 200-mile month like the more elite runners can do with their eyes closed.

I started this challenge with 30 minutes. Starting with any less wouldn’t get me to where I wanted to end up. I knew five minutes a day was more ambitious than it sounded.

My last run would end at two hours and fifty-five minutes. I thought, “No problem if I train, I can do a three-hour run.” I failed to grasp the severity of the fact that it wasn’t just a three-hour run. It was a two-hour run.

A two-hour and five-minute run.

A two-hour and twenty-minute run.

A two-hour and forty-five-minute run.

And so on.

But it didn’t matter. I made up my mind. You have to be a bit extreme these days to get traction with the general public. I wouldn’t recommend this training plan to a client or new runners. This was scarcely a plan at all. But it was something I felt I needed to do for three reasons.

1. I want to spend more time exercising outdoors and live a more adventurous life. I have spent so much of my life at a desk, surrounded by four walls and an inviting, bright screen. I needed to find a way to get outdoors and do something physically demanding, which is the state in which I have always felt most alive and present.

2. Each year I set one fitness goal far beyond my current skill level. I then set several smaller goals to help me achieve the overarching goal. In the strength and conditioning field, these are called process goals. This challenge is one process goal on the way to my overall goal for the year – running all four distance Spartan races in the same calendar year. That includes the 5k, 10k, 21k, and 50k distances. I knew I needed to start building my aerobic base early to get to the 50k by the end of the year.

3. I wanted to challenge myself mentally. My mileage and pace are quite literally a walk in the park for some runners. But this would be a battle for a 37-year-old desk jockey with little athletic background. Not to mention, this was only stage one for me. Throughout the year, I have challenges planned using faster paces.

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Week 1

I tied the bandana around my cattle dog’s neck. He tried to lick my face, but I dodged him just in time. Then, I put his collar on and secured the leash. My wife owns a dog training and boarding business, so in addition to my cattle dog and border collie, we always have other dogs around the house.

When my wife learned I would run dozens of miles over the next 30 days, she said, “Good. Take all the dogs with you.” And she wasn’t kidding. Over the last 30 days, I’ve run with nine different dogs.

Ranger and I hit the road for my first daily run – a 30-minute jog around the neighborhood. This was my first time running every day. My first run and really the first week lulled me into a false confidence as I trotted around the block and walking paths near my home.

Since the amount of time I was running was still reasonable, I could incorporate different types of runs. I included a tempo run here and there, some hill repeats, and high-intensity interval training (HIIT). By the end of the week, I thought this challenge would be a breeze. Spoiler alert…I was wrong.

I did learn a few important lessons during that first week that I would carry with me for the rest of the challenge.

Week 1 Lessons Learned

1. Fueling matters. During the first few runs, I was winging it when it came to calories. The first four runs I did before breakfast. Then, I hit a wall by the fifth run (50 minutes). Now I eat before I run. As the short runs began to turn to longer runs, I started eating during, which made all the difference.

2. Running for time is different than running for speed or distance. When you run for time, there’s no getting out of it. Running faster won’t end it any sooner. Running in January in Washington meant running in the dark and pouring rain. When you run for time, you have to accept that you will be in less-than-ideal weather for a while. You have to settle into the discomfort.

3. I run better in the early morning. One day during week one, I ran after I got off work in the evening. It was my most challenging run so far. Maybe it was the absence of caffeine like I get with my morning cup of coffee, or perhaps I was too tired from work. In any case, I almost exclusively ran in the morning following that run.

Week 2

I fumbled my phone as it slipped out of my hands and landed on the wet dirt. I set a goal of filming my challenges throughout 2024 and sharing them on my Instagram and YouTube accounts. Filming in the rain was more difficult than I expected. Thankfully, my phone was still intact.

I set it against the trunk of a small tree and watched myself walk out of frame. I jogged across the screen, not looking over at the camera. Over the month, I filmed hundreds of these shots. I tried to find interesting angles and background scenery for each video.

Not only did my videography skills increase over this challenge, but wanting to create exciting shots forced me to explore each area I ran. I walked along an old out-of-service train track. I climbed boulders above rushing rivers. I lost the trail on my mountain runs more than once, only to find it and lose it all over again.

My plan to live a more adventurous life was underway, and I enjoyed every minute. Speaking of minutes, by week two I had spent over a thousand minutes exercising outdoors. Throughout the year, I decided to keep my minutes clock running with each outdoor fitness challenge. This will enable me to quantify my goal at the end of the year and improve upon it in the years to come.

With each long run, I could feel my endurance improving. I knew I needed to be careful to avoid the pitfalls of running longer distances every single day. The last thing you want is to end up in office of your physical therapist.

I wanted this challenge to lead to health benefits and not injury or illness. That’s why all my runs were “easy runs” at a pace just above brisk walking.

Here are a few reasons NOT to do this type of challenge, especially if you haven’t ramped up to it over several months like I did.

Risk of Injury: Rapidly increasing mileage puts a strain on muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones, increasing the risk of overuse injuries such as stress fracture, tendonitis, and muscle strains.

Muscle Fatigue and Soreness: Running long distances requires conditioning and strength in specific muscles. Increasing mileage too quickly can lead to excessive muscle fatigue and soreness.

Impact on Recovery: Adequate rest and recovery are crucial for the body to adapt to increased training loads. Insufficient recovery time due to rapid mileage increases can lead to overtraining syndrome. Overtraining can lead to decreased performance, fatigue, and increased risk of injury.

Gradual Adaptation: The body needs time to adapt to increased training volumes. Gradually increasing mileage allows for physiological adaptations such as improved running economy, muscular endurance, and a host of aerobic adaptations.

Risk of Burnout: Pushing too hard too soon can lead to mental burnout and loss of motivation. Overdoing it early on may lead to abandoning your goals.

Disruption of Training Schedule: Injuries caused by rapid mileage increases can disrupt training schedules, leading to setbacks.

Avoidance of Plateaus: Gradual progression allows for steady improvement in performance while reducing the likelihood of hitting plateaus.

I took on this challenge understanding the risks because it contributed to other things I wanted to achieve. If you’re looking to take on a running challenge, I recommend working with a health or fitness professional to design a plan that matches your current fitness level and allows you to gradually progress over time. The most important thing is to stay healthy. If you aren’t healthy (e.g., injury-free), then you can’t train. And what fun would that be?

Week 2 Lessons Learned

1. Plan for the inevitable. First of all, you should take rest days, in general. During this challenge, I didn’t take any days off because that’s what I committed to. But I wish I did. Not necessarily because I felt like I couldn’t run, but because unforeseen anomalies in my schedule (my car broke down one day, for example) resulted in me doing an hour-plus run at 8PM.

I’m glad I was so consistent but if I had built in a few rest days to the challenge, I could have used them on days when life got in the way. The lesson here is life happens. Plan for it.

2. Scenery helps. Whenever I would do my runs in a nice location, I enjoyed the experience more. I felt more alive when surrounded by trees and trails. Finding a new spot to run felt more like exploration than exercise. I’m fortunate that there’s no shortage of beautiful scenery in Washington State.

3. Form matters. I read in Steven Magness’s book Do Hard Things that one of the primary differences between recreational and elite runners is that the elite tune into their runs, not out. Elite runners focus on their form, foot strike, arm position, and breathing. And they do this for hours on end.

Recreational runners tune out. They relive childhood memories. They ruminate over to-do lists. They think about what they will eat after their run. In other words, they daydream. Focusing on each step is the best way to increase your pace without additional effort. When you lock in your form and maintain focus throughout your run, you will likely see a slight but noticeable increase in pace.

Week 3

All my runs are over two hours at this point. I’ve had to reduce my weekly strength training from three times per week to once or twice. I did this for two reasons. One is to recover better from my long runs. And two, to save myself more time.

I began waking up at 4:30 AM every day to allow enough time for my runs before work. I split my runs into two sessions on days when I had an early work meeting. This also worked well with the dogs. Since I couldn’t take any one dog on a ten-mile run, I split the morning into 1-to-2-mile session with each dog. Then, during my lunch break or after work, I finished whatever time I had left on the clock.

About 15 minutes from home, I found a route that cuts through a small downtown with expansive views of Mount Rainier and the Cascade Mountain range. The footpath continues past the main street and into the surrounding fields of small family farms.

On my final run of the week, I ran past the farms and continued down the footpath a few miles beyond my previous stopping point. My longest run so far. Just past a bend lined with tall conifers emerged a river. As the sunrise burned orange and pink above the water, I stopped my Garmin and sat on a rock overlooking the river.

No roads or parking lots lead here. It’s early enough that no other people were out. You would have to travel miles down the path in either direction to know this spot existed. I reflected on my journey so far. I never would have found this stunning location if I hadn’t started this challenge.

I sat on that rock for a few minutes, feeling grateful. I know I’m not a serious runner. But after a couple of weeks of pushing myself past my comfort zone, I felt like I was improving. Maybe I was even becoming a faster runner with better endurance. Only time will tell.

Week 3 Lessons Learned

1. Mobility and stretching help. Before and after each run I would do some mobility movements and static stretching. I always felt better and looser after. I believe this contributed to the fact that I was hardly ever sore the following day.

2. Know your route. I began to follow more runners on social media. I thought it was a joke when they talked about the importance of knowing where bathrooms are located on a route. But as my run time got longer and longer, I realized how vital bathrooms are.

At the risk of TMI, it’s not as easy to hold it when you are bouncing up and down on a run for two hours compared to sitting stationary in a car on a long drive.

When you are on a long run as opposed to a quick 20-minute jog around the neighborhood, you also are fueling and hydrating the entire time, so you will inevitably need to use the bathroom at some point. Because of this, I had to trade one of my favorite nature runs for a run that was a bit more populated. The nature run had zero bathrooms along the route, while the other had three.

3. Footwear matters. I fell in love with the Altra Escalante 3s during this challenge. However, I only owned one pair of them. This is a problem in the Pacific Northwest in January. I did most of my runs in the pouring rain. If it wasn’t raining that day, I was running through swimming pool-sized puddles from the previous day’s rain.

That meant I had to wash my shoes several times and use my backup pair, Brooks Ghost 15, more often than I’d like. Even though the Ghosts are excellent shoes, I never ran as well in them compared to the Escalantes. I only experienced minor shin or knee pain when wearing my Brooks during this challenge. So, I broke down and bought a second pair of the Escalantes. Problem solved.

Week 4

I wised up and started setting out all my gear the night before my two-hour-plus runs. I took a water bottle, a Stinger waffle, a fruit bar, and a GU energy gel. I had a snack every 45 minutes or so while I ran. It really does make a difference. I would feel tired and sluggish if I waited too long to have some calories.

I started running the same route every day at this point. The road that cuts through the town so I can use the bathrooms if needed. I stayed locked in on my form for about an hour, which is 60 minutes longer than I could when I started. When I hit the second hour, I felt my mind wander. Whenever I caught myself, I redirected my attention back to each stride. Running is a lot like mediation in that regard. When your mind wanders from your breathing, you refocus.

My aerobic endurance has increased throughout this challenge. I ran between 10 and 12 miles every day. That’s nearly a half marathon! It’s incredible how the distance I once thought was impossible (5 miles) has become my warm-up on these longer runs. My mindset adjusted with each increase in distance. Once I was regularly running over five miles, my mind unconsciously accepted that’s what we do every morning. We run over five miles.

I stopped including various types of runs (intervals, tempo, etc.) and stuck to my “as slows as possible” strategy. I was too afraid I’d injure myself at this high volume in such a short amount of time. There were several days when my distance actually decreased despite increasing the time. This was a good sign that I was keeping my pace slow.

Not a single run at this stage in the challenge could be considered a “hard run.” Long runs, definitely. But the hard part was the consistency and the sheer amount of time involved.

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Week 4 Lessons Learned

1. You will adapt. There is something in the strength and conditioning field known as the SAID principle. SAID stands for Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands. This means your body will adapt to the demands and stress you place on it.

My body adapted more quickly than expected to running long, slow distances every day. After a while, I began craving a run. Even after being tired and beat up, there were several days I looked forward to my run the next morning. This makes sense to me. I love being outside. I love being outside while exercising even more. With this challenge, I finally created a system of accountability that allowed me to stay consistent with my outdoor exercise.

And it felt great.

2. Push past your comfort zone…smartly. Every day running is too much. I know this as someone who has worked out consistently for over twenty years. I especially know this as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. But I still wanted to challenge myself to do something a little bit extreme. A bit extreme is being too generous. Plenty of advanced runners and professionals put in a week what I did in 30 days. Plenty of runners have put in more miles than I did in a single race.

But for me and my training history, running over 200 miles in a month was a big deal. It shifted my understanding of what’s possible.

That’s the point of doing things that push you past your comfort zone. Your comfort zone is your routine. It’s what you do without much internal friction. That meant strength training a few times per week and running 20-30 miles. Increasing that mileage to 40-50 miles per week and beyond is what getting out of my comfort zone looked like for me. You have to determine what makes the most sense for you.

3. Follow a plan. A challenge is a great way to get started, but you need a plan to be competitive. Whether you’re training for a full marathon or your local 5k, the best thing you can do is follow a plan tailored to your fitness level, health history, and lifestyle. Find a coach or personal trainer who can help you develop a plan. If you don’t have the resources to hire a coach right now, find a book that includes training plans for various skill levels.

Now that I’ve spent a lot of time building my aerobic base, I’m going to capitalize on that time by following a plan from one of the best running coaches of all time, Jack Daniels. I’ll be using Daniels’ running plans and tweaking them to my needs to prepare for the races I have planned later this year.

4. Minutes add up. My biggest take away from this challenge is that minutes add up and they must be tracked. I’ve never tracked the time I spent during an activity before. Tracking this challenge allowed me to see how quickly the minutes add up when you devote daily time to your goal.

Running every day is too much, but devoting time to becoming a better runner every day isn’t. You can spend time practicing visualization and goal-setting strategies. You can work on relaxation techniques that will be useful when you’re amped up before a big race. You can get a massage or work on mobility. You can meal prep so you stay on a healthy diet. There are ways to devote daily time to becoming a better runner without overdoing it.

Imagine you apply this mentality of daily effort to any skill you want to develop. Pick a skill and commit to a few minutes a day. Track the minutes.

It’s that simple.