Going from 0 to 100 kilometers/week in 9 weeks - can it be done without getting injured?

I'm sure you'll be fine. Just don't be retarded and try to go crazy on every run. The key things I found were to truly go at a relaxed pace, to stay on soft surfaces as much as possible, and lastly to make sure you get a lot of sleep as you really begin ramping up the mileage.

Easily! You'll be fine if you take care of things that ache. Always take care of injuries before they get full blown. Prehab is key.

If I get injured during this milder buildup, then we can say for sure that you can't take a sedentary guy and build him up to 100 MPW in 9 weeks.

yes, if you can't, noone can ever accomplish this.

the letsrun guinea pig wrote:

I've just read John Molvar's Lydiard workout program, where he claims that "you can and should take a sedentary office worker who has never done anything physical his whole life and get him up to 100 miles per week in 9 weeks":

This is the same John Molvar who is the head coach at Gordon College...a school with records of 15:47 at 33:00+. 8:39 for the 4 x 8. 11:06 for the DMR.

Yeah, I think we should listen to this guy about training.

B. Johnson wrote:

This is the same John Molvar who is the head coach at Gordon College...a school with records of 15:47 at 33:00+. 8:39 for the 4 x 8. 11:06 for the DMR.

http://www.gordon.edu/athletics/records.cfm?iSportID=47&iSeasonID=224

Yeah, I think we should listen to this guy about training.

Their sprint records aren't much better. 19.43 for the 110 hurdles??? Man, I could run the hurdles faster than that while juggling some oranges.

Korre wrote:

If I get injured during this milder buildup, then we can say for sure that you can't take a sedentary guy and build him up to 100 MPW in 9 weeks.

yes, if you can't, noone can ever accomplish this.

Ah, the mysterious Noone shows up again!

perspective wrote:

Their sprint records aren't much better. 19.43 for the 110 hurdles??? Man, I could run the hurdles faster than that while juggling some oranges.

FYI, the world record for juggling while running the 110 hurdles is 18.58:

I did that this summer. My weeks:

4

6

33

23

22

20

27

25

42

38

46

62

Now I'm doing 70 a week.

beentheredonethat wrote:

I did that this summer. My weeks:

4

6

33

23

22

20

27

25

42

38

46

62

Now I'm doing 70 a week.

You jumped from 6 to 33 in a week? I call BS unless you've done a lot of running right before doing that 4 MPW your first week. There's no way a sedentary guy or someone who quit running a long time ago can make that kind of jump without getting injured.

theres a difference from 0 to 100, and 0 to 60

lol take it slow and easy and youll be fine.

I believe that Lydiard said that anyone can run 10 miles. The key is the speed of the run. Dont be shy about running very slowly during the initial buildup period which could last several months. To get to 100K/week you need to average about 9 miles/day. At 10 min/mile, that would be 90 mins of running every day or more if you run slower. A buildup to 100K in 9 weeks is no big deal for almost anyone.

Entering his fourth season as the men's and women's head coach for cross country, indoor, and outdoor track & field, John Molvar has been competing at, a fan of, and studying the sport of running for over 30 years. He graduated from UMass-Lowell in 1983 with a degree in Chemical Engineering and went on to spend 22 years as a nuclear engineer for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. At UMass he competed with both the cross country and track programs and was a member of an NCAA Division II Championship-qualifying cross country team. He has continued to race post-collegiately, competing in various road events over the last 20 years.

An avid student of the sport, Molvar has studied many of the dominant training systems over the years and is an expert on the coaching principles of Arthur Lydiard, arguably one of the greatest coaches of all time.

"My philosophy is to always place academics and ethics first and to build championship contending teams utilizing Lydiard’s principles in a disciplined and character building but enjoyable atmosphere" said Coach Molvar.

John, a lifelong Christian, resides in Newburyport with wife of 18 years, Karen Molvar, and their two sons.

Sure those school records aren't very good, but 1500 students, $27,000 tuition, Div 3, and Christian Liberal Arts - he hasn't exactly been dealt pocket aces before the flop.It's a little arrogant to make assumptions about a guy's coaching abilities based solely on the school's records.

B. Johnson wrote:

the letsrun guinea pig wrote:

I've just read John Molvar's Lydiard workout program, where he claims that "you can and should take a sedentary office worker who has never done anything physical his whole life and get him up to 100 miles per week in 9 weeks":

This is the same John Molvar who is the head coach at Gordon College...a school with records of 15:47 at 33:00+. 8:39 for the 4 x 8. 11:06 for the DMR.

http://www.gordon.edu/athletics/records.cfm?iSportID=47&iSeasonID=224

Yeah, I think we should listen to this guy about training.

Whatever, I began running in college (not for a team), within 9 months I broke 15:30 for 5k, self-coached. And I only had one person to work with, not potentially hundreds or thousands. I ran a lot faster later, does that make a good coach? That guy must be an idiot, I just followed Daniels' training and got better results in less than a year than he did in his whole career.

Bin Der Dun Dat wrote:

Sure those school records aren't very good, but 1500 students, $27,000 tuition, Div 3, and Christian Liberal Arts - he hasn't exactly been dealt pocket aces before the flop.

It's a little arrogant to make assumptions about a guy's coaching abilities based solely on the school's records.

B. Johnson wrote:

This is the same John Molvar who is the head coach at Gordon College...a school with records of 15:47 at 33:00+. 8:39 for the 4 x 8. 11:06 for the DMR.

http://www.gordon.edu/athletics/records.cfm?iSportID=47&iSeasonID=224

Yeah, I think we should listen to this guy about training.

oddball wrote:

You jumped from 6 to 33 in a week? I call BS unless you've done a lot of running right before doing that 4 MPW your first week. There's no way a sedentary guy or someone who quit running a long time ago can make that kind of jump without getting injured.

I went from 0 to 15 to 40 in July. Did some lunges and ab work during the week of 15. 0 running for 3 weeks before. very little from mid April to the end of June. 50-60/wk in March and early April. Just so happens I will crack the 100k/wk mark today and finish my 7th week with 65 miles. Just start slow. (If you are anything like me after 7 weeks you will still be slow)

Caveman wrote:

I believe that Lydiard said that anyone can run 10 miles.

That was decades ago. Back then people in general probably could, but nowadays it´s a completely different story.

It won't test Molvar's thesis. There's a world of difference between a lifetime sedentary dude and someone with many thousands of miles in his legs, who's been out of running for mere months.

As a 41 year old recreational runner, I went from 0 to 100k/week in 3 or 4 weeks this spring, no problem. I don't believe I could've safely gotten to that same mileage in many months, when I first started running. Even taking a couple years to get there, those years had more than their share of injuries.

nsmb, male mesh model wrote:

It won't test Molvar's thesis. There's a world of difference between a lifetime sedentary dude and someone with many thousands of miles in his legs, who's been out of running for mere months.

It can't prove Molvar's thesis, but it can falsify it. If the OP can't get from 0 to 100 in 9 weeks despite the advantages of many lifetime miles and a milder buildup (0 to 100km/week instead of 0 to 100 miles/week), then it's nearly impossible for a sedentary guy to build up from 0 to 100MPW in such a short time.

I don't know whether anyone's still interested, but that other Molvar thread posted just recently has motivated me to post my experiences.

Weeks 1-4: Nothing much happened

Week 5: Felt pretty tired during the rest of the day when I wasn't running, but I got more sleep and pushed through it.

Week 6: Got two blisters on my right foot. They didn't hurt much, so I kept running.

Week 7: Felt some pain and tightness at the lower part of my left calf. I stretched and massaged it, but it didn't improve much.

Week 8: My left calf is OK now, but my Achilles Tendon isn't. I started icing, putting in heel lifts, running slower, and eccentric calf drops to address the problem.

Week 9: Despite those measures, my Achilles tendon is getting slightly worse each day. After Wednesday's 18 km run, I decided that it's better to stop now than risk rupturing it or having it progress to chronic tendonosis.

Week 10: I successfully completed 100 km this week. No, I didn't run; I biked the whole way.