80 miles a week. Is this ideal?

Need more information before giving advice. High School or college? PRs?

Any track sessions or tempo runs? 80 mpw is probably too much given that you are only running 50 - 55 mpw right now. I love that you want to increase your mileage, it shows that you are serious. However, more miles isn't always the right answer.

Why 80 specifically? To tell yourself that you're training 50% more than now? You could try increasing incrementally to 65-70 and see how that goes first.

Going to be a Sophmore in Community College. Never ran more than 30mpw in High School.

PR's from two years ago.

400m-50.8

800m-1:55

1000m-2:28

Mile-4:21

2mile- 10:01

I want to endure more during cross country season and be a leader for my team. I agree, this week I will be going 55 miles with my long run being 10 miles. Should I keep the same mileage during for the Month of June or increase it? I am also playing soccer for fun to keep my speed.

Long run is too short in my opinion.

55 miles is high school rookie mileage. You should try to hit at least 60-70, see how your body responds, take a "off-week" where you back down your mileage to 50-60, then make the move up to 80 or if you're feeling tired, do another week of 70 before you decide whether to stick there or go for 80.

If you feel good at a certain mileage then by all means increase it. Just remember consistency is king and all the training you have done will be for nothing if you increase your mileage too quickly and get injured. 80 mpw is a good target and is probably achievable, but don't get so set on getting there that you injure yourself trying.

Don't forget the tempos, interval sessions, strides etc either. Only doing mileage isn't enough on it's own.

Intervals during summer base? Really?

The most he should think about doing are 200m repeats or hill sprints to maintain speed.

formerD1 wrote:

Intervals during summer base? Really?

The most he should think about doing are 200m repeats or hill sprints to maintain speed.

Tempo intervals during base phase are just fine.

S: 2 hrs

M: 1 hr

T: 1.5 hr

W: 1 hr

Th: 1.5 hr

F: Threshold/Fartlek

Sa: 1 hr

If you're a quicker guy, you'll easily get in 80+ miles a week. These runs should all be off of "feel" where you go easy if need be or hard if you feel great and are itching to take off. You'll come into the season fit as a horse.

A few posters have offered you good advice. My submission is that, if you build up to it, don't ever go over 80 mpw. Even for marathoners, anything beyond 80 mpw is simply junk mileage that fools amass to impress other runners or gain some sort of false confidence by seeing it in their training log.

Quality over quantity...always!

Good point.

Junk mileage? I heard that term before in a book. It talks about how 70-85 miles a week is enough for vo2 max. More than that would be consider extra mileage that would be used only to burn the calories lol. Anyways, I will take your advice and keep it 80 or under. Thanks.

I agree, my runs are actually based on how I feel. For example, if I have a hectic day at work and I have a run in the afternoon of eight miles, then I start as a jog of 9:00 minute pace for the first two miles. After the first two, my body starts responding a little better and I feel more awake. Because I have been running on grass more often, I have been feeling healthier and stronger.

I will take that 2 hour run at the end of Summer. Would that be 15-16 miles? I think I would be able to average 6:30 per mile pace. I will also be racing this summer for the first time against good competition. Good luck to me!! Thanks for the advice.

You make a good point and I think I will have to be patient as well. I already talked to my coach and the plan is to get in one workout a week. I am doing my best to stay injury free. The only issue with me is overeating. I figured that eating light and healthy is one of the keys to this sport. My normal weight is 130 pounds, but I am currently 142. I am telling you man, the 7 eleven in the corner of my house is a problem.

that's disgustingyou have no discipline

B-ryan wrote:

You make a good point and I think I will have to be patient as well. I already talked to my coach and the plan is to get in one workout a week. I am doing my best to stay injury free. The only issue with me is overeating. I figured that eating light and healthy is one of the keys to this sport. My normal weight is 130 pounds, but I am currently 142. I am telling you man, the 7 eleven in the corner of my house is a problem.

Sub-85 wrote:

Even for marathoners, anything beyond 80 mpw is simply junk mileage that fools amass to impress other runners or gain some sort of false confidence by seeing it in their training log.

This is wrong. But perhaps you know better than all of the "fools" who have become world-class marathoners. Perhaps you even have support from exercise physiologists who, having failed to identify the reasons that virtually every notable marathoner runs more than 80 miles per week, have simply concluded that these marathoners are wasting their time or using "junk mileage" as a substitute for confidence achieved through superior knowledge.

I remember when Paul Pilkington, after winning the L.A. marathon, was told by an interviewer that it had been scientifically proved that running more than 70-80 miles a week had no beneficial effect on performance. Pilkington replied that he was aware of that claim, and when his competition started running only 70-80 miles a week, he would follow suit.

You are right! I won't let the junk hurt my training anymore.