Building back up

Hi, I've been running for many years now - averaging 3 runs a week adding up to 15-20 miles.  Have taken part in half marathons and my last race was London marathon in April.   

Since June, I've hardly run at all - due to illness. Averaging 1 or 2 runs a week and not even reaching double figures. Average pace 10 min mile. My last longest run was 6 miles three weeks ago.  I'm ready to start building up the mileage again but can't remember the golden rule..... Is it not to increase by more than 10% a week or 2 miles a week?  I don't want to overdo it but am hoping to do a half marathon next Spring.

Any tips anyone?

If you ran a marathon in April I wouldn't worry about the "10% rule", that's more for noobs who need to strenghthen their ligaments, tendons and supporting muscles. If you can run 6 miles you're fine. Your limit will be how tired you are, and aerobic/muscle fitness, so just run as far as you can/want to.

I went right back to scratch, running 1 mile X 3 for a week, then 2 miles, 2.5 miles. I built up very slowly and took time out to recover over the summer. Built up to 45 - 50 miles a week before I added any speed work.

I feel a whole lot stronger for doing that and am now running better than I have done for a long while.

I'm having a very easy week this week but will start building back up again from tomorrow. Will start adding back some hill work.

Go with how you feel, don't try to push too hard, there's plenty of time and in the scheme of things, even if it took you 5 weeks, that's not long.