Most of the answers to your questions will depend on how much you were doing before, how long you've been running, what your times are etc.

But generally speaking, run as much as you can without getting injured or sick of it. Don't get caught up in weekly mileage totals or trying to hit a certain number each week, just do what you feel you can handle. If you're really tired you may need to back off a little ( or more likely slow down a bit ) but if you feel good, don't be afraid to challenge yourself a little. Your mileage will naturally fluctuate up and down from week to week. You should feel a little tired from day to day but if you're really wiped out you're doing too much.

As for slowing down your runs, if you're running enough you'll be too tired to run fast every day. Similar to your weekly mileage question, don't try to run a particular pace every day, go with how you feel, a little faster if you feel good and slower if you're tired. As Bob Hodge ( 3rd place in the 1979 Boston marathon ) says, " just get out and run twice a day and let the pace come to you. "

If your buddies want to hammer the pace every day you are probably better running alone, at least some of the time.

Here's a couple of links that will explain it all better than I can.

http://www.coolrunning.com/forums/Archives/Archive-000003/HTML/20020106-18-002241.shtml[/URL" target="_blank">


http://www.bunnhill.com/BobHodge/BaseTraining.htm[/URL" target="_blank">