Teamate thinks 100+ mpw during summer will make him faster.

Best way to get better as a runner is to train consistently day in and day out... there isn't a big secret behind running fast and there isn't a secret workout that'll do it... long term consistency, you're welcome!

Is he running those times on 70 miles a week? How many years has he been running?

If he doesn't get injured he will get faster

He will get faster. He will probably not take 2+ minutes off his 5k pr. Diminishing returns and all that. So many ppl making jumps like this get injured because they say to themselves, "Well 100 is good, feels easy, I'm recovering, why not try 110, ok I'm fresh. Why not do a month of 120."

He will probably knock a couple of minutes off his 5k PR, assuming he is currently running about 50-55mpw.

I hope he does it. I hope he shows up to the first day of practice and stomps all over the varsity guys who assumed that their spot on the team was assured and who don't take running over the summer seriously.

If you're on a good team where everyone practices consistently and does reasonable mileage, it probably won't happen. But if people are in the habit of slacking off over the summer, they'll get what they deserve when the former-JV guy takes their spot on the varsity team.

I had a friend do 80 mpw one winter and he ran 17:4x for 5k in the first race in the spring. I was readily beating him and his previous bests were high 19's on a good day. He showed up for that first 5k a different runner.

No speed work - just fast running when he wasn't exhausted.

If your buddy doesn't get injured and pays attention to nutrition then I think 17:XX is almost guaranteed. Mid-17s is probable. I don't think he'll go sub 17 though - at least not for XC. The accumulated training and mileage should help him reach sub 17 in 2016 though.

That is the best case scenario - but this will waht will probably end up happening:

Once the mileage gets higher and he WILL start getting more exhausted on daily runs he will lower his goals. Yes - going from low mileage to 100 mpw is a recipe for injury but your mind also knows this. It is remarkably efficient in persuading you otherwise when you're not ready for it - in terms of energy management and recovery.

running more long slow distance will train his body to run slow.

adding more miles wont make him faster, doing more quality workouts on 60 - 70 mpw should suffice enough.

no he will not wrote:

running more long slow distance will train his body to run slow.

adding more miles wont make him faster, doing more quality workouts on 60 - 70 mpw should suffice enough.

Who said anything about running slowly?

And the claim that "adding more miles wont make him faster" is beyond stupid.

16/32 runner wrote:

Hey all, my good teamate and freind thinks that if he runs over a 100 mpw this summer, he will end up faster than all of us. As a team we have never gone over 70 mpw, and even that is rare. Can someone give me tell me thier thoughts on such high mileage. Will it actually propel him up to our level?

Btw: his PR's are 5:19, 11:50, 18:37

Slowest varsity time last year: 16:32

You drink tea with this guy?

later wrote:

I had a friend do 80 mpw one winter and he ran 17:4x for 5k in the first race in the spring. I was readily beating him and his previous bests were high 19's on a good day. He showed up for that first 5k a different runner.

No speed work - just fast running when he wasn't exhausted.

Fast running as a 17 minute 5K guy is an oxymoron.

colder and wiser wrote:

I hope he does it. I hope he shows up to the first day of practice and stomps all over the varsity guys who assumed that their spot on the team was assured and who don't take running over the summer seriously.

If you're on a good team where everyone practices consistently and does reasonable mileage, it probably won't happen. But if people are in the habit of slacking off over the summer, they'll get what they deserve when the former-JV guy takes their spot on the varsity team.

The thing is that we don't slack off during summer, we usually end up at around 80 mpw. But he thinks that if he runs extra and destroys himself over summer that he will become better than all of us. I love the kid, he works his ass off, but I just don't see running himself into the ground as a solution to his problem.

Baconn wrote:

later wrote:

I had a friend do 80 mpw one winter and he ran 17:4x for 5k in the first race in the spring. I was readily beating him and his previous bests were high 19's on a good day. He showed up for that first 5k a different runner.

No speed work - just fast running when he wasn't exhausted.

Fast running as a 17 minute 5K guy is an oxymoron.

Remove the "oxy" and we have you :)

I went from ~80 miles a week to 100 miles a week in a year and my 5k dropped from 14:27 to 13:56. Same training other than higher mileage and faster workouts. Just make sure he keeps the legs turning with strides and hill sprints once or twice a week and has a tempo once a week so it's not all easy running and he will come out a monster.

He may need to do 130-140, with lots of strides a progression runs. See this epic thread: http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=1143599&page=2

if he does strides 2-4 times a week and stays injury free I don't see why he won't make a huge improvement.

He should do just mileage and strides. If he does workouts he'll get injured for sure. And I'd recommend he does a few summer races just to break up the monotony and to instill confidence that it's working.

Also, its important that he sticks with it. He'll feel like a zombie but needs to stick with it. You can't just do high mileage for a month and declare whether or not it works. It takes years of hard work to fully realize all the benefits of it.

My prediction if he actually does it, stays injury, and does strides 2-4x wk: 1650-1720. 2016 though he'll really notice the benefits and probably run like 1610-1620.

Just my 2 cents. He's just jv, so encourage him to do it. If he improves a lot and makes varsity, then your team is better. If not, well he's jv so it doesn't change anything.

Trollus Maximus wrote:

He will probably knock a couple of minutes off his 5k PR, assuming he is currently running about 50-55mpw.

It doesn't work like that. To go from a 16:32 to a 14:30 is a huge jump. First, there is a world of difference between 55 and 70 mpw. And to pretty much double your mileage to 100 mpw, is insane for a high school runner. I would say it matters more with what that runner does with the weekly mileage he currently runs. From my experience with high school runners, 70 mpw is plenty. You are talking averaging 10 miles per day. Not much for a 22 or 23 year old. But many high schoolers are just not strong enough to endure that mileage week after week. The additional factor is rest. will he be working? He will be exhausted increasing to just 70-75 mpw, believe me. Also, there is the factor of how far teenagers actually run. Today many people have GPS watches. But before those were around my athletes would say they ran 8 or 10 miles. I would check now and then, and they were off alot every single time.

Tell your friend to build to 65 mpw for three weeks. Then run 70/65 week for 5 weeks. That should be plenty for a high school runner over the summer.

welll wrote:

If he doesn't get injured he will get faster

Yep. That's pretty much it.

I'd encourage him and he'll probably end up faster. But he should do it smart and make sure he gets the right amount of rest.