High mileage days are more important than high mileage weeks.

I respectfully disagree. Taking it easy every once and a while is fine and you should do that, but the total accumulation of miles is what is going to build strength. I feel that I have made the most improvements from consistent high mileage day in and day out. When you do an 18 mile long run, the a 15 mile double the next day, then a 15 mile workout the next day, you're preparing your body for the grind of a long distance race 5k and up.

There is value in long runs and high mileage days. But you need a respectable volume consistently as well. You've always got the Law of Diminishing Returns lurking so your benefits from stretching a 10 mile run or day to 15 will be greater than you'll get from stretching a 15 to a 20, etc. You're only going to milk so much improved fitness from that big mileage day before it's time to recover and try to milk some more fitness out of the next day or two. Honestly, everything matters and when you start saying that A is more important than B so I won't do so much of B you're trying to short circuit the whole process.

Park Runs wrote:

Read this somewhere and am trying to wrap my head around it. I think it means that you don't need to worry about a seven day cycle but rather a two or three day cycle at a time. Especially for masters runners.

John Kellogg said just this for masters runners in a little document entitled "Mastering Running After 40". I'm not sure where I downloaded it from, but it's pretty interesting.

"Problem: Your pituitary gland releases less growth hormone as you age. One upshot of this is that you find that you lose your raceworthiness (anaerobic tolerance and speed) incredibly quickly following a competitive season and that it’s a shocking battle to get that sharpness back.

What you can do about it: Use multi-tier training. This utilizes small training pyramids which begin with slower, longer endurance work and which build through faster-paced training stages to a moderate-intensity, reduced “peak”. Then the process is repeated, with each stage performed at a higher intensity (faster average pace) than before.

Most young runners focus on six-month “macrocycles” in which they do long, slow to moderate distance for two or three months, tempo runs and long intervals for a month or two, then hone up with hard speedwork, time trials, and races. This general approach is preferred for those in their prime, but as a master, you need to shorten those macrocycles to weeks rather than months. That is, emphasize longer endurance training for about three weeks, ease yourself into faster tempo runs and stamina-oriented intervals for a few weeks, then introduce the harder anaerobic intervals, sharp speedwork, and time trials for three or four more weeks. This general cycle can be repeated several times per year, with more time or more intensity devoted to the anaerobic phase during the times you wish to approach peak racing shape. In a non-competitive season, you should still use the fast anaerobic training stage, but the intensity should be made deliberately lower, as though you were just “going through the motions”. More time and emphasis in the off-season can be devoted instead to relaxed tempo running and endurance-directed intervals with short rest periods. [Note: the multi-tier approach is not as effective for young runners as is periodization. Young athletes (particularly preteens and teens) cannot tolerate (and do not need) a profusion of stressful anaerobic training. Too much killer track work will burn youngsters out quickly and may harm their future running careers.]

"

https://runwestchester.wordpress.com/tag/john-kellogg/

Found it, thanks I read it on a different site earlier this week and couldn't remember where.

Cumulative Fatigue

"Returning to the issue of training volume, remember that high mileage days are more important than high mileage weeks. Even for younger runners, high mileage blocks of three to five days provide ample stimulus to the aerobic system. We tend to operate on a seven day cycle, but that’s not always necessary as far as running training goes! For example, you might build one of your higher training weeks around a Saturday long run by going very short on Friday and Sunday, then going higher on Monday through Thursday. A short, easy swim or bike workout could be substituted for running on Friday or Sunday or both. Where aerobic fitness is concerned, five high days out of seven are just about as good as seven out of seven, and the two low days can actually be somewhat therapeutic."

Couple of good threads on this subject.

140 miles per week

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

High volume mileage vs. long run

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=1890688

Everyone wants to find a "shortcut" for training volume. Look at Ed Whitlock. When he was healthy enough he worked up to 3 hrs/day of easy/moderate running with regular racing. As you get older it gets more challenging and riskier to do the high intensity piece of training. A big volume of easy/moderate running preserves the aerobic capacity. It does need to be supplemented with strength work as you age, and the older you get, the more important strength work and cross training become for injury avoidance. The more you run the better you run. It is just hard to do and stay healthy for older masters.

Is doing 10 mile days followed by 4 mile days better than 7 miles every day?

Many thanks for the link; this is a great reference.

Star wrote:

Is doing 10 mile days followed by 4 mile days better than 7 miles every day?

No. In my opinion and experience, consistency is more important than a spectacular training day mixed in with lackluster training days.

One of my favorite articles on the topic:

http://www.coacheseducation.com/xc/jack_farrell_july_00.php

letsrun archivist wrote:

John Kellogg said just this for masters runners in a little document entitled "Mastering Running After 40". I'm not sure where I downloaded it from, but it's pretty interesting.

I did a little search and found this:

The article you mention starts on page 262.

Definitely an interesting read. Thanks for the tip.

No. High mileage months (and years) are more important than high mileage weeks (or days). Long term consistency is key.

Also see this recent relevant article:

http://levelrenner.com/2015/12/20/weird-training/

We got to talking about his training one day. Due to a hectic job, he only ran 2 miles a day during the work week. On the weekend he ran 12-15 miles on Saturday and a race on Sunday. He probably managed an unconventional 30 mpw.

“Whoa Joe,” I said. “You aren’t training enough. Your weekly mileage is too low! Those two milers are a waste of time.”

He shrugged, “It’s all I have time to run.” He then he looked at me thoughtfully and said, “But you’re right. I need to change something.”

Several months later he crushed his marathon PR by 17 minutes with a 2:58! I collared him after a race and asked him how he had adjusted his training.

“I dropped those two milers,” he said. “I took your advice. You were right. They weren’t helping me.”

“What did you replace them with?”

“Nothing.”

For Joe, less was more. He ran long on Saturday and raced on Sunday. He had cut back to two days a week!

People are answering this question looking at it from 2 different angles.

Long term development: obviously it is better to do 50 mile weeks every week as opposed to alternating 100 mile weeks and 0 mile weeks (numbers are just examples). Long term development is about building miles over a long period of time consistently.

Specific race: we will use a marathon as an example. If you could choose a training schedule:

a) 10 miles per day 7 days a week, or

b) 30 miles on weekends with 20 mile long runs and 6 miles per day weekdays. (60 mile weeks)

I would choose option B.

br0ski wrote:

Specific race: we will use a marathon as an example. If you could choose a training schedule:

a) 10 miles per day 7 days a week, or

b) 30 miles on weekends with 20 mile long runs and 6 miles per day weekdays. (60 mile weeks)

I would choose option A for 4 months and option B for the last two months.

This is what I'm basically doing in prep for a summer ultra, except for the weekends will be higher mileage than that, pushing 40-50 miles (Friday eve-Sun eve).

6 months schedule wrote:

br0ski wrote:

Specific race: we will use a marathon as an example. If you could choose a training schedule:

a) 10 miles per day 7 days a week, or

b) 30 miles on weekends with 20 mile long runs and 6 miles per day weekdays. (60 mile weeks)

I would choose option A for 4 months and option B for the last two months.

I guess that's fair although I would maybe split it 3 and 3, but I am just pointing out that in marathon training, it is important to get big days/ big weekends in if you are limited in how many miles you are going to run. Over the long term obviously consistency in week to week is important.