The dog days of summer are upon us. It is even hot and humid at sunrise. Many runners, including myself, hate to run hard in the heat. Moreover, it can be dangerous to race distances longer than a 5K in extreme conditions. We can, however, turn a negative into a positive and use the summer as a time to prepare for a fall marathon.

The key to successful marathon training is to run as many miles as possible. Of course, each runner must factor in things such as family and work responsibility, past weekly mileage, running goals, injury history, etc. However, if you compare runners of equal abilities, the one who consistently runs the highest amount of miles per week will probably run the fastest marathon.

Whatever your current mileage base is, it is possible to double your weekly mileage over the course of the summer by planning to do it methodically. The results will be most impressive in your fall marathon. Here is a way to do it.

First, follow the ten percent rule. This means that you should never increase your weekly mileage or weekly long run by more than 10 percent in any given week. It is readily acknowledged by most running coaches that this conservative approach will help stave off running injuries that could prevent you from being in shape for the marathon.

Second, schedule a recovery week every fourth week. Instead of increasing every week by ten percent, drop your weekly mileage by 33 percent every fourth week but maintain your weekly long run. Then pick up where you had left off the previous week and increase each of the next three weeks by ten percent. This easy recovery week helps you recover both physically and mentally.

Third, run all of these miles at an easy effort. This effort should be a very easy conversational pace that is 90 to 120 seconds per mile slower than your current 10K race pace. For those training with a heart monitor, this means keeping heart rates in the 60 to 70 percent range on easy days and 60 to 75 percent on the long run. Try to stay away from speed work while going through this increased mileage phase to reduce the risk of injury (most of us do not want to run really hard in the heat). You can still get in six to eight weeks of quality speed work in the fall before the marathon.

Fourth, make sure that stretching, proper nutrition, and adequate hydration are part of your training. Our hamstrings and quadriceps muscles in particular become tighter and tighter as our mileage goes up. A proper post-workout stretching program can help prevent this tightness. We need more fuel, especially complex carbohydrates, when increasing mileage, too. Hydration levels must be maintained.

Finally, do not be afraid to take a day off or back off in extreme heat. It is okay to do this. Instead of doing your long run on a 95 degree day with high humidity, look at the long- term weather forecast and find another day to do that long run when the temperatures are a bit cooler.

Kirt West is a private running coach for motivated adult runners. Questions can be sent to kirtwest@comcast.net.