how long until you get the benefits of higher mileage?

I'm only answering because there is a chance you're not a troll. The goal of higher mileage is not to enable you to run your easy runs at a faster pace. There are no awards for easy run paces. If there were, many Kenyans would finish last.

Keep the easy runs slow, and in time (maybe 1-2 more months), you should find that you can recover from your tempo runs and speedwork more easily. These will eventually lead to faster race times. It's a ladder, and you have to go up one step at a time but maintain those easy and long runs as the bottom rungs - otherwise your ladder collapses. Your recovery days will still be easy runs, but the fatigue lasts much less than if you were running 30 MPW.

It works.

If you can run 100 miles in a week then you will immediately achieve 13:25 fitness. Immediately.

asdfasdfas wrote:

If you can run 100 miles in a week then you will immediately achieve 13:25 fitness. Immediately.

This is not true. It took me MONTHS of 100 mile weeks before I achieved that kind of time. Not worth that kind of investment.

Quoth Malmo in response to an almost identical thread:

"Almost immediately. Whether it be high school, college or after, bumps in mileage resulted in immediate higher level performance."

i don't know about 13:25 but I dropped a minute three weeks after finding this site. mileage immediately went from 30 @ 7:15 pace to 100 @ 9 pace. a year later i got DII scholarship offers #truestrory

Don't listen to the 100 mpw guys.

Just keep plugging away at 40-45 mpw and when you feel comfortable start including some easy rep workouts into your training. Easy rep workouts complemented with form drills will help with your running economy.

Once you are more efficient then you can bump up your mileage to perhaps 50-55 mpw. But for now remain prudent.

Easy runs are all about feel. During the summer I would do 7:00 pace but during the school year would do 6:15. Just run off feel and it will all be good.

Cheers!

I ran 50ish through most of college cause my shins were so bad from playing soccer growing up. But Senior year I did 70 a week. Morning runs were 6 min to 6:15 pace. workouts were workouts and my recovery runs were as fast as they needed to be for my body to get ready for the next day. I also did ice baths 5 to 6 days a week. My 5k dropped from 15:30 to 14:50 and 1500 from 4:05 to 3:52.. More mileage at a higher intensity helps. Just be smart about it and don't jump into a bunch and hurt yourself. Take care of your body, and eat after hard runs. I also dropped from 148 down to 142 over those couple of months. Girlfriend hated it but coach loved it. oh and I'm 6'3 so I was skin and bones

"Subject: how long until you get the benefits of higher mileage?"/quote

When your orthopedist tells you,you have to quit ,which will be sooner than later.

bump

skinbones wrote:

Ive been recently running 40-45 mile weeks, up from 30. My body and legs are still getting a little tired from the increase in mileage about a month after I started increasing it. Any ideas on when I should start feeling like I can run my easy runs a bit faster?

It's can remain tough for some time. They say training benefits you about 2 weeks after it's completed. A month IS a long time to feel like you're overtraining, so I'd expect you to handle the mileage better soon. Just don't lose hope! It will feel easier eventually.

Not if his orthopedist is in agreement with this comprehensive study done at the Stanford School of Medicine. It has some big words and equations in it, so be careful gravity guy.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2556152/

gravity hurts wrote:

"Subject: how long until you get the benefits of higher mileage?"/quote

When your orthopedist tells you,you have to quit ,which will be sooner than later.

I've read some research that states you would get you first noticeable "bump" in fitness around 12 weeks with a consistent increase in volume. Then, another smaller, less significant "bump" again around 20 weeks. No specific percentages of anything measured were provided, though.

Hope this is what you were looking for.

@skinbones:

I recently kicked up my mileage at the start of june from 30 to 50 mpw, and i ran a few 5ks and didn't do so well on them. I was incredibly sore, i've been doing doubles 4-5 times a week and a 10-12 mile run on the weekends. I started putting in a few days of rest here and there, and took a few easy days, and i felt incredibly refreshed, and ran an unofficial time trial loop with my soon-to-be college team mates and shattered my PR. They were huffing and puffing, and i was keeping up a conversation with them, and the second i noticed their delayed/laboured responses, i rock n rolled and used a street corner to disguise my pace increase. I was gone, give it a few rest days if you're feeling sore, ice after your runs, and you should see the benefits of your increased mileage.

I would only expect a direct product of traditional American upbringing to ask this question.

Please stop thinking about mileage numbers!

Then start thinking about principles!

maybe never

i think you have to be commited to try even if it doesn't work for you

Jiggie with Juggie wrote:

Morning runs at 6 min to 6:15 pace for a 15minute 5K runner is too fast.

Unless their main training session is in the morning.

3 weeks is normally required to build baseline in running. The benefit of doing long runs is cell change and it also improves aerobic capacity,and gets your legs stronger.

victor cole wrote:

3 weeks is normally required to build baseline in running. The benefit of doing long runs is cell change and it also improves aerobic capacity,and gets your legs stronger.

Mythology. More mileage doesn't = better aerobic capacity,

it means better endurance, not the same thing at all.

The improvement in endurance comes mostly from the ability to concentrate for longer.

Mr E-man wrote:

Quoth Malmo in response to an almost identical thread:

"Almost immediately. Whether it be high school, college or after, bumps in mileage resulted in immediate higher level performance."

malmo is correct. The benefits of extra mileage should be felt almost immediately, otherwise you are doing too much.

The idea that runners should suffer weeks of fatigue from extra mileage before they feel the benefits is a perfect example of misinformed masochism, a trait seemingly common in a lot of runners obsessed with the stupid 'no pain no gain' ethic.