20 miles a day

It makes you a good runner. Not a great runner. You need to do workouts, lifting, core, strides, and sprint work to become a great runner. And obviously that's only if you have talent.

The reason there was more depth back then was because the people who were running 20 miles a day back then are the people that are sitting around now, not because it's an optimal training plan. The proof of this is that the people at the top are much faster than they were then.

Well I know its not an optimal training plan like you said. Yes our top guys are faster, but we also have a lot less depth. Which is why I wonder if everyone did the 20 miles a day thing wouldn't we have a lot more depth in the marathon like back then? and doesn't that mean that the training plan is at least guaranteed to make you pretty good(not great) if you don't get injured.

bump

Kenyans run more than any other country's athletes. Doping allegations aside, 140+ mpw is very beneficial for marathoners.

The top 5 kenyans run approx 20miles a day or more and.. they don't crosstrain. So don't give me the "You have to xtrain to be great". No you have to be underweight and kenyan.

NotAustin didn't you try out the 140 mile weeks and wasn't it a huge failure? I thought you were all about the 60mpw and 1 day off thing now

soon to be collegiate runner wrote:

The proof of this is that the people at the top are much faster than they were then.

I'm sure Shorter, Dixon, and Salazar would beat Ritz, Men, and Hall.

peekay wrote:

NotAustin didn't you try out the 140 mile weeks and wasn't it a huge failure? I thought you were all about the 60mpw and 1 day off thing now

haha yeah it didn't work out too well during the summer. I felt really fit but wasn't mentally ready for it. The mental toll was ridiculous due to how small my town is I was running the same place every day and it was a bore.

But yeah one run a day now. Last week was 68 miles. I take Sundays off now. I'm pretty fit. Not sure if I'm in better shape or not than the high mileage weeks in the summer, I'll find out once I do some races because without racing I have no clue where my fitness is at.

And I'm just curious about the 10/10 Mon-Sat and 20 miler Sunday routine(doesn't mean I want to do it though). It seems that a lot of 70s guys did it. But I want to know what people's thoughts are on it.

Read all of this:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=1143599

And this one, even though it references 120mpw (I particularly like the post by craigmac4h near the bottom of the first page):

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3406903

And probably this one too, even though it nominally concerns 100-110mpw:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2372073

Then go for a run.

soon to be collegiate runner wrote:

It makes you a good runner. Not a great runner. You need to do workouts, lifting, core, strides, and sprint work to become a great runner. And obviously that's only if you have talent.

Perhaps for the 1500-10,000. I don't think that type of training is necessary for the marathon.

My old coach was an 8:35 steepler and 2nd/3rd man on a national championship CC team. His summer training was 10 in the morning/15 @ night - 6 days a week. He was injured 1/2 of his career, is about to turn 60 and has not been able 2 run a step for nearly 5 years b/c his body is shot.

Ca$hclay wrote:

My old coach was an 8:35 steepler and 2nd/3rd man on a national championship CC team. His summer training was 10 in the morning/15 @ night - 6 days a week. He was injured 1/2 of his career, is about to turn 60 and has not been able 2 run a step for nearly 5 years b/c his body is shot.

Ok, let's not get carried away with histrionics. I've known plenty of guys that ran 130-140mpw, 7 days a week, pretty much year round, for a decade and are just fine now.

I'm a 48 yr old male from NY that runs 20+ miles a day with folks that are in their 60's, 70's, and even 80' which in Retrospect have run their entire lives and are still strong runners and even sometimes better then young runners. Their advice: Never give up-be consistent.

In the 70s and 80s even if you were not the best you could make a living running the roads. Now Kenyans flock to every paying road race and Africans dominate the track races, leaving room for only the very top level Americans like Rupp. B and C level talent in the past could stay in the sport but now it's much harder and most drop out because of the competition.

so you're saying you can't have a job AND train/race at a high level on the roads???? mind blown...

Les wrote:

In the 70s and 80s even if you were not the best you could make a living running the roads. Now Kenyans flock to every paying road race and Africans dominate the track races, leaving room for only the very top level Americans like Rupp. B and C level talent in the past could stay in the sport but now it's much harder and most drop out because of the competition.

Les wrote:

In the 70s and 80s even if you were not the best you could make a living running the roads.

Completely false. Only at the very top you could make a living.

Les wrote:

In the 70s and 80s even if you were not the best you could make a living running the roads.

[/quote]

Where did this load of BS come from?

By best I mean best in the world -- Olympic medalist quality like Rupp. Shorter and Rodgers in the 70s. Salazar for a very brief period in the 80s. There were guys then who would were not Olympic medal contenders but could still stay in the sport. Maybe some worked at shoe stores part-time, but they were year-round roadrunners.