Do I need to increase my mileage to get a lot better?

Yes.

But by how much and realize that I plan on running next year and I really want to see the improvements from the jump in mileage as well. I've heard that's why coaches rather an undertrained than overtrained athlete.

There is no easy answer to this. Maybe more resistance work, maybe more volume. Lots of maybes.

A good coach who will actually help is hard to find too.

There is no easy answer to this. Maybe more resistance work, maybe more volume. Lots of maybes.

A good coach who will actually help is hard to find too.

Clearly you need more than 35-40 mpw in training to reach your potential. However, you do not need to go straight to the top shelf. Building up gradually with virtually no increased injury risk is the right choice. You can pick it up by 5-10mpw every time, so next year will be better for sure but will leave you on a very good trajectory.

I have good coaches just my coaches don't feel that running 50-70 miles a week is necessary to be fast. I see where they are coming from but i just want to get down to those times.

Of course running more mileage should make you faster. But I believe if you can do more speedwork you will see much better gains. YoYou are not even sub 2 in the 800. With endurance like yours it does not take much speed to do that. If you can get down to a 1 56 or 57 I think it will be much easier for you to accomplish your goals.

That is true so maybe 50 mpw would be good between indoor and outdoor and then during outdoor?

This is true but that 2:01 is outdoors last year so im sure I can go sub 2 right now

also yesterday we did 6x400 at 65s and they feel pretty good

It would be nice to have some more information on your training as either you have some talent or your training program must be good at least. Yes you should run more but jumping to 70mpw would most likely be a bad idea. 50-60 mpw would be as high as i would go based on your background. The easiest way to do this is add a few miles on easy runs where possible and run Saturday and Sunday with a long run in there to get you the extra mileage you need. This way you shouldnt upset your coaches. Guessing you only run five days a week or your workout volumes are really low.

It is too late to be asking this question. Stick with your coach's schedule, it has the best chance at leading you to 8:40 and 4:20 this spring. If you add more distance to your coach's well balanced plan that has taken you from 9:29 to 8:55 you will just get tired.

Last summer you should have done about 10 miles more than you did each week. That would have prepared you to do more now.

One thing you can do is between winter and spring, when your coach tells you to take two weeks off, you can run 3 miles easy each day. Every other day, during the second half of those 3 mile runs slowly speed up 3 or 4 times to about 400m pace. Each faster section shouldn't last more than 60 seconds. Don't let the part at 400m pace last more than 80m. It is better that these runs be too easy than too hard or you will throw your coach's schedule out of wack.

The second and third more important things you can do is to eat better food and sleep more at night. If you recover more completely between your coach's workouts, you will be able to do the next one just a little faster and improve just a little more. #2 and #3 are going to be very hard to pull off during the spring of your senior year so if you can do it you might just beat some guys you haven't beaten before. Good luck

Normal week rn

Monday-5.5 miles

Tuesday- 2 mile warm up 12x200 with 150 m rests at 33s 2 mile cool down

Wedsnday-6 miles

Thursday-8 miles

Friday-5 miles

Saturday-2 mile warmup race: ran a 4:28 mile then 1 mile cool down then then another mile before the 800 at 2:04 then 2 mile cool down overall 7.5 miles

Sunday-8

Total miles: 45.5

Another week

Monday-5 miles

Tuesday-4 mile warmup 4x3min on 2 min off 4 mile cool down

Wedsnday-4 had to leave practice early

Thursday-5 miles

Friday-2 mile warm up 1600 in 4:28 and 2 mile cool down

Saturday-2 mile warm up 3k in 8:55 2 mile cool down

Sunday- 10 miles

Total miles: 44.8

My coach allows us to run what we want on the weekends I run 7 days a week. Usually a long run on Sunday's. But he told us we should run at whatever mileage we feel comfortable at right now because he realizes we all have improved by a lot. But yeah sleep is an issue for me but I eat fairly well.

I feel the best route for you should just begin running consistetly higher mileage. Anywhere in the 50-55 mile range should be good for you. I agree with the poster that said you are NOT reaching your potential right now at 35-40 mpw. 50 miles a week at your age will not be detrimental to your college career, if you have the inclination to work hard, you should really just start running consistently 50 mpw, and hold that during outdoors. Best of luck in your goals.

Bboycriticalz wrote:

My coach allows us to run what we want on the weekends I run 7 days a week. Usually a long run on Sunday's. But he told us we should run at whatever mileage we feel comfortable at right now because he realizes we all have improved by a lot. But yeah sleep is an issue for me but I eat fairly well.

No need to bump up to anything close to 70 a week right now. Save that for next year.

TK likes to undertrain which is not necessarily a bad thing. You'll have room to grow.

Maybe add a mile or two to the long run, add to that 4 mile day, do a little bit longer of a cool down on race days and you're looking at 50+ a week.

I see you've somehow picked up on who I may be haha but yeah I'll aim towards trying to be around 50-55 I just have to work up to it. And yeah 70 isn't something I was even considering.

Yeah I'll work on bumping it a bit. Thanks

Even though I am a proponent of training correctly (which means more in your case) and I feel that would have helped if done starting last June, looking over the weeks you post here (and I assume they are a couple of weeks of recent indoor track) I think what some have said is right.

Leave it mostly as it is. Your goal is simple: run 4:19 and 9:20 or faster for 1600 and 3200. You have run 4:27 and the same pace as 9:30, so you really don't have too far to go.

What you have in your favor:

You are running every day. You are racing 1-2 times a week, that can take the place of an interval workout.

You also are only 7-8 secs away form your goal in the 1600 and 10-15 secs from your goal in the 3000.

What I would change:

Maybe increase your hard days by 2 miles. So that you are doing TWO 8-10 mile days per week and do a 12-14 mile long run.

So progress like this:

(next 2 weeks)

Monday- 6 miles easy; 6-12 x 100m strides at 400m pace on grass

Tuesday- 2 mile warm up, interval workout, 2 mile cool down OR 8 mile hard run (no warm up)

Wedsnday-6 miles

Thursday- 10 miles hard OR long fartlek

Friday-5 miles

Saturday-2 mile warmup race: ran a 4:28 mile then 1 mile cool down then then another mile before the 800 at 2:04 then 2 mile cool down overall 7.5 miles

Sunday- 10 miles easy

Total miles: 50-55 mpw

(first 2 weeks in February)

Monday- 8 miles easy; 6-10 x 100m strides at 400m pace on grass

Tuesday- interval workout OR 7-10 mile hard run (no warm up)

Wedsnday- 6 miles

Thursday- 10 miles hard OR long fartlek (60-70 minutes with WU and CD)

Friday-5 miles

Saturday-2 mile warmup race: ran a 4:28 mile then 1 mile cool down then then another mile before the 800 at 2:04 then 2 mile cool down overall 7.5 miles

Sunday- 12 miles easy

Total miles: 55-60 mpw

(last 2 weeks in February)

Monday- 8 miles easy; 6-8 x 100m strides at 400m pace on grass

Tuesday- interval workout OR 7-10 mile hard run (no warm up)

Wedsnday- 8 miles easy

Thursday- 10 miles hard OR long fartlek (60-70 minutes with WU and CD)

Friday- 5 miles

Saturday- 2 mile warmup race: ran a 4:28 mile then 1 mile cool down then then another mile before the 800 at 2:04 then 2 mile cool down overall 7.5 miles

Sunday- 14 miles easy

Total miles: 60-65 mpw

Other changes:

You may have no control over this, but I am big on avoiding intervals in January/ February in favor of doing aerobic base training instead, so I would do that kind of run instead of intervals. You will have plenty of weeks to do that in March-April-May. Fartleks with surges of 30sec-1min-2min-3min are good (and any mixture of that) but I would stay away from running faster than mile pace in the winter.

Since your indoor races at 800-1600-3000 are really just training races at this point, I would do a shorter warm-up and shorter run between races in favor of doing distance training after.

Like this:

1 mile warmup, strides; Mile race 4:28; easy mile, strides before the 800 at 2:04; 5 miles easy = 8.5 miles

But your way also seems just fine, and you have a better feel for how that is working for you than someone else.