140 miles per week.

Okay, maybe we can get this back into a good, thought-provoking discussion. I want to bump my mileage up, but I am coming off of a three month break this summer and am currently slowly and sensibly raising my mileage so that I don't come back too quickly. I am in the 60-70 mi/wk range right now, will bump that up to 80-87 mi/wk for the indoor track season and then hopefully hold it around there until the end of my outdoor season this spring. So, starting the week after outdoor track nationals, in early June or whatever, what are some smart ways that I can get my mileage up over 100 mi/wk and further. I'm interested in the progression up to those levels, when/if days off should be taken, down periods of time, etc. Any thoughts?

Yeah, I agree if so many people have experience running 140 miles a week I too would like to know how they go about doing it. From where Im standing once you get into that 120 "red zone" its tough to crack into the bigger numbers. Personally I find getting to 100 in singles pretty easy compared to 120 with doubles. 140 on a consistent bases sounds like a great idea on paper but Im curious to know who is consistenly in that range. It seems like unless your elite, running 140 or more for more than a few weeks will not neccessarily leave you injured but it just leaves you feeling burnt.

bump

Nobody else seems to be giving there 2 cents so I will give mine. I think that getting up to 100 mpw is relatively easy. Now im not saying anyone can do it and im not saying that everyone should do it. It just seemed to me that once I was up to 65-70 miles a week at a decent pace it was easy for me to take the watch off for a few weeks and slow it down until I could get the bigger volume up. What this meant for me was I had to make an effort to spend more time running alone. Im the kind of guy that when Im running with a group of guys who are at an equal level of me we are all going to end up running just a little too fast. You gotta spend some time alone and just focus on how far your going and not worry about hanging with a group. Also, the thrill of hitting the big "triple digits" is motivation enough. Once you start doing that for a month or so you say ok I can probabbly do more and you build up even past your previous best weeks and next thing you know your stretched out thin someplace around the 115 range. So then you back down to 65-70 again and your back where you started. I don't know how guys can consistently do the real high miles because it seems like your legs will never recover.

You need to let your body guide you. I actually found that a good way to adjust to a new, higher level of mileage was to go to a level that was HIGHER than where I wanted to be. So if I was hoping for, say 115, I'd do a couple of weeks at around 125-130. Then the 115 seemed easy.

But, ask yourself what the point of going to a certain level of miles is. Why 80-87? Is that a goal or a stopping point along the way. I'm not saying it should be either one, but it helps to know what you're trying to accomplish.

For my part, I didn't do too much in the line of gradual increases. When I wanted to go from 70 to 100, I moer or less just did 100 one week. But I had some back and forth, I might have been back to 80 or so afterward, then maybe back to 100 or 90 or so.

If you need a break, take it, but don't assume you will.

running 140 miles is very very very easy to do.

as long as you do it slow enough. if you are in good shape you should never struggle to run 18-21 miles a day in double if it is at the right pace. I just feel, and have seen through expierence, that people sometimes think they are ALOT better than they really are, so they always think they need to be running faster, leaving them absolutly dead when trying to pick up to high mileage.

bad habits lead to bad runners, in many aspects of our sport, mileage and pace is no different.

NIKE FREE ME: You have a lot of great ideas, that 14:12 is awesome and I'm shooting for around that too. What were the key workouts you did before you hit that time?

Oh yea. NIKE FREE ME: Could you post a week of your training? I'm just curious to see, thanks.

wow, are you serious? never thought I would be asked to post any of my training, im gunna feel mighty gay if you are messing w/me. I know, i know...im a loser.

well, most of my workouts as stated are nothing special. for most of my non-progression runs i try to hit 4miles every half hour, or 2 every 15min, breaking it up nicely (8m per hour, 12 per 90min, 16 for a duece. ect..). i tend to start out on every easy run at 8-830 pace but drop any lower lan 7 flat pace (only on days i feel good though). But an hour progression run is usually only 9 miles or so, so all-in-all not much faster than my normal 8 miles for an easy hour. but is start out much slower and hold it for about 15 min or so before i start to slowly but surley push the pace down as my body allows, then by the end i more than make up for the 10min miles at the begining with sub 5:10 last couple of miles. and on days i feel like i could run that 4:50-5:10 pace forever, instead of droping in down hard for a borderline all-out(but comfy) last mile, ill hold on to it for another 15 min for a 75min prog run. depends on what i feel like having fun with at the time, whether i want a very fast finsih on the track, or a solid "could run fats forever" feel. but with this in mind, here are a few of sample weeks, base building and in season racing. I tend to more focus on each day rather than weekly numbers, b/c then if i do get a little twinge or whatnot, i dont go crazy over the numbers to catch back up, but rather jsut take on each day 18-22 miles at a time.

week of base building done last march, between indoor and out- summers look alot like this, but only two prog runs a week usually.

mon: am- 4 miles easy, pm- 2 hours easy at practice

tues: am- 6 miles easy with hill prints, pm- 75 prog run, 2 mile cool down

weds: am- 8 miles w/solid last 2 miles, pm- 2 hours, hard last 20min

thurs:am-8 miles easy, pm-75 prog-last mile 4:47, 15min cd

fri: am- 6 miles easy with hill sprints, 2 hours easy,

sat: am- 75 min prog run-last mile 4:44, pm-easy 75

sun: am- 12 mile easy, pm- 8 miles easy

--total-- 145

during season example- this xc season-

mon: am-8 miles easy, pm- 12 miles for practice

tues: am 4 miles easy w/hill sprints, pm- 60-prog run, 4m cd

weds:am-8miles, pm- 12 for practice

thurs: am- 8 miles w/hills, pm 60 prog run, last mile 4:41, 15min cd

fri: am 6 miles easy w/strides, pm- 8miles easy w/strides

sat:XC RACE - 5miles - 24:34Xsummtin for 2nd, pm-8 miles easy

sun: am- 8 miles easy, pm- 60 prog run, last mile 4:42

----total---130

now some are gunna say these are my best weeks, but not really. they were about average. the 145 is a little high, im usually around the 140 level, with just a couple/few prog runs a week. and on race weeks i feel good the day after my race, like not sore much, ill run a prog run based on how i feel. it really makes it fun to have guidelines such as this, becuase you know what you need to do day-to-day but you dont know exaclty what you are gunna do until you are doing it in a way. keeps you on your toes, and for me it is all i need to have to stay motivated as one run ends, knowing that the next is just about to begin.

the miles can build you up, or tear you down. it is all about how you approach it. I know what they do for me, and thats all the evidence i need to know.

word

NIKE I'm not messing with you at all, that is great training man, thanks for sharing

nike free, do you ever run any interals or vo2 workouts?

wondering.. wrote:

nike free, do you ever run any interals or vo2 workouts?

not really. i mean, in season sometimes my coach has me do some under paced 400's or 1000's, but that might be only like once every 2 weeks in xc, and in the peaking part of outdoor (trying to better that system this year, b/c my body didnt really react well to the radical shifts in training philosophies in the biggest part of the season i think).

i dont see the need to do much intervals or v02 workouts mostly b/c im focussing on long term devolopment now. until i feel like i'v maxed out my aerobic improvment, what can these workouts do for my longterm that perfecting my threshold level wont?

its weird, but it is what seems to work, for me and alot of others.

I was close at 250 to 350 a week for about seven years, and YES those miles make a big difference. I think you have to vary your pace on different workouts to get the most value out of them. I would run leasurely 88 milers that took all day, and 5 mile runs where I would sprint between telephone polls. All sorts of different paces were run depending on how I was feeling that day. The miles didn't seem to make a difference to me; I was still a wimp and too slow. But over time I got stronger until I had some really good races.

how the heck did you fuel yourself during those 88 mile runs? you would have to have aids station set up every few miles, or else you would collapse. then again if you can run sub 2:00 for the marathon, anything is possible.

Excellent work. Periodic high mileage is the key.

Malmo is a friggin legend with race times to prove it. I hate to disagree with him, but 140 mpw, even at 7 minute pace, is NOT wasted time, unless you have the capacity to run 140 mpw with progression or tempo runs.

As part of phase training, I had incredible results with a 16 week base of 100-120 mpw interlaced with 4 straight weeks of 140-150. When I dropped to 80 mpw, even my sprinting improved. I dropped from 33:45 to 30:52 in one year. I couldn't break 60 in 400 meters and dropped to 54.3.

Dude, if you are really Gerry L than I have a question for you. How in the hell did you run 350 a week without feeling like crap all the time. I mean I guess its possible and all but wouldn't the cartilage in your knees wair down to nothing?

Not too old wrote:

Excellent work. Periodic high mileage is the key.

Malmo is a friggin legend with race times to prove it. I hate to disagree with him, but 140 mpw, even at 7 minute pace, is NOT wasted time, unless you have the capacity to run 140 mpw with progression or tempo runs.

My eyesight may not be as good as it used to be, but WHERE did I say 140 mpw at 7:00 is wasted time?

I just wanting to take this time to say one thing-Malmo friggin rules. end of story