Nick Willis' 10 week mileage high is 880 - What is yours?

My best ten week stretch came during marathon training in 2015 at age 43. 783.25 miles, with weeks ranging from 64 miles to 100 (once - my only ever 100 mile week).

That stretch left me redlining and forced me into an early taper for my marathon - stretching it out to 3 weeks instead of 2 and it also cost me a few workouts. Despite all that, it also produced the fastest of my 3 marathons.

Given that I am a Daniels-style "quality over quantity" runner, I was really surprised by this outcome, and it has shifted my perspective some. I still emphasize that quality part of things more, but instead of starting off a cycle asking myself "How many miles would be enough to train for a race of this distance?" I now ask myself "What is the most number of miles that I can reasonably expect to safely get in per week given life demands and my body's injury history?" A subtle shift, but an important one.

Probably in the 650-700 range during marathon training...nice steady 65-70+ MPW stuff.

Smoove wrote:

Despite all that, it also produced the fastest of my 3 marathons.

Given that I am a Daniels-style "quality over quantity" runner, I was really surprised by this outcome, and it has shifted my perspective some.

If Daniels hasn't communicated that quantity IS quality in distance running, then JD really is just the messiah for hobby joggers.

Nick Willis is a bum... why listen to him?

Because he's a bum with two Olympic medals.

I don't think that things fit so neatly into a box like that. It is more a question of nuance than of choosing sides.

All other things being equal, more miles is almost always going to make you a better runner. That being said, all other things are rarely equal. More miles also means a greater risk of overuse injuries, and a higher risk of burnout. It may also mean a degree of fatigue that hampers performance on quality days.

So while I think that increasing overall volume over time is the right goal (and I think Daniels would agree), I think Daniels emphasizes how to make the most of the number of miles that an athlete will be running, with that number being based on past mileage, injury history, life demands outside of running, distance of their goal race, etc.

I'm a nobody, 2:28 marathon, and I just checked and my 10 week peak was 989 for that last year, with a couple weeks at 110-115 and a couple in the high 80s.

I guess it gives me hope that I'll improve this time around since I'm on week 14 of averaging 105. As time has gone on I haven't really increased my peak mileage, just kind of got rid of the down weeks one by one.

rojo wrote:

His goal for the coming off-season is to run 1000 miles in 10 weeks - his previous best is 880 miles.

Pfft amateur. Amy Hughes, the woman who was turned down by Guinness for a treadmill world record 7 day mileage runs 350 miles a week in training according to her boyfriend.

1286 when living and training in Flagstaff post college for a summer. 9 weeks of 127 avg, with a high week of 143 for shits and giggles. Felt strong as hell until the anemia kicked in a few weeks later. Not the best decision I've ever made.

Just under 800 - probably 780-790.

Breaking the first rule of Letsrun Strava Club, there are some impressive distances clocked up there

https://www.strava.com/clubs/letsrunDOTcom

1205 with a high of 143 miles in 6 days (and 156 for the week). Skewed by a 65ish taper week for one of my best 10k races ever. 1 week after this I ran my best 10k ever and 3 weeks after this I ran my marathon PR. It shows that mileage is really important - at least for 10k and up.

rojo wrote:

I was reading an article on Willis that had this anecdote:

NZ Herald wrote:

Nick Willis will be giving the 5000m a crack next year and will try to race the event at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

His goal for the coming off-season is to run 1000 miles in 10 weeks - his previous best is 880 miles.

That reminded me that it's hard to average a lot of miles over a long period of time. I wonder what the most I averaged over 10 weeks.

On the other end of the spectrum, Frank Shorter may hold the record for 10 year long mileage average. Didn't he average something like totally ridiculous like 120 miles per week for 10 years including vacations? Amazing because if you take off just two weeks for vacation you lose like 4 mpw.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/athletics/news/article.cfm?c_id=19&objectid=11905144

Willis is one more example that it`s more important to run the right stuff in training and not very high mileage. The very best advice I can give is to stop count mileage and quit write a running diary if you have . Start to ask yourself what you need when it comes to paces and mix it in your weekly running. The weeks longest run up to what distance is your main goal.

COACH J.S

Happy weekend! :)

524 was my highest from 10 years ago

I'm at 474 right now - not bad to be relatively close to my highest ever.

right around 1400

Probably right around where Nick Willi's was. Maybe a little less, 800ish?

840- part of one of my best XC seasons

85, 85, 86, 88, 85, 86, 79, 85, 79, 83, 71

Doesn't nick willis only run 6 days a week? So it's almost like he's doing 116 mpw volume most of the time, but yeah, I imagine the rest day is a big help.

Mine was last year in the 10 weeks until mid September:

818.4 miles.

Had my first sub-3 marathon after that (and only). This summer is looking ok despite a slow start.

rojo wrote:

I was reading an article on Willis that had this anecdote:

NZ Herald wrote:

Nick Willis will be giving the 5000m a crack next year and will try to race the event at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

His goal for the coming off-season is to run 1000 miles in 10 weeks - his previous best is 880 miles.

That reminded me that it's hard to average a lot of miles over a long period of time. I wonder what the most I averaged over 10 weeks.

On the other end of the spectrum, Frank Shorter may hold the record for 10 year long mileage average. Didn't he average something like totally ridiculous like 120 miles per week for 10 years including vacations? Amazing because if you take off just two weeks for vacation you lose like 4 mpw.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/athletics/news/article.cfm?c_id=19&objectid=11905144

Next very good advice would be to stop compare your weekly mileage and start to compare the paces you are able to hold up in your weekly training instead. It`s not how many miles you run that decide your results....It`s more important how you run your miles.