distance guy wrote:
Let's take it in order...
40-50 is NOT a lot if you work to that point gradually....
And as far as "taking over your life".
Despite the QOD (which I put up), I'm going to basically defend her 100%.
As someone who used to run 100+ a week, and now probably runs 10 mpw, I'm amazed that i used to get up and run 15 miles a day and it wasn't mentally challenging in the least. My grandmother used to say, "I can't imagine how awful it would be to get up each day and realize I had to do 15 miles." I'd laugh as there was no decision to be made. When healthy, It was just something i did.
Now I'm older and barely run, "How did I have time to do that?"
(I had time because instead of reading this thread and typing up a 15 minute response, I"d be halfway through a 6 miler)
Now to me, 50 mpw seems like a lot. That's 7 miles per day and I have probably run 7 miles once in the last year??
But think of it this way. 50mpw for 4:16 marathon (that's 9:52 pace) is basically the time equivalent of 75 mpw for your average male college runner as she's basically 50% slower. She races at just under 10 minute pace. So at a minimum she's running for 500 minutes a week which is 8+ hours. That's a lot. Actually, I just found another article where it looks like she averages 10:15 pace on her training runs:
http://articles.philly.com/2013-05-13/sports/39205799_1_boston-marathon-full-marathon-luke-humphreyDespite what people say, I'm willing to argue that 90% of college runners don't spend 8.5 hours plus per week actually running for the year counting tapering - certainly not if you count weeks off (they'd have to aveage 75 mpw). They should, but they don't.
So 75 mpw is a decent amount for a college runner who is their prime physically and College runners are all in the top 5% talent wise.
Take someone who is 32 who isn't a big natural talent and it's a big accomplishment and a big commitment.
As someone else said, a 16 miler is taking 2:45 minutes. How many of LetsRun.com's visitors have ever done a training run that long? I'm willing to say again less than 10%. Before my first marathon, I did a 30 miler to give me confidence and it took about 3 hours but most people aren't doing something like that.
I like football but only through it around with the kid across the street. I don't do d1 football practices.
Go easy on her.
I think the Hanson's 16 mile cap makes sense. People shouldn't be talking about miles per week. They should be talking about minutes per week of running.
For 4 hour plus people, they have to train less miles per week as they are slower. Then they go out and do a marathon which is the equivalent of a d1 runner running an ultra.