How do you guys who can't run more than 30-40mpw train?

Yo dont need high mileage to be good. I am very successful with 40mpw (;

40min distance runs at 6min pace, 4 workouts a week. Lots of lifting and core.

Seriously.

Treat each mile as a precious moment. 40mpw spent smartly will get you great results. Boring 100mpw looking like a dying sloth is missing the point. Get creative with your miles!

Curious rine wrote:

injury prone????

Like most things in life, running injuries would go away if you ignore them long enough. The best way to prevent future injuries is to ignore the current one.

I was a 40 mpw guy my freshman year and at various other periods in college, and for most of my adult life.

Nothing terribly surprising about what I did. I typically ran 5 days a week, looking something like this:

M - 6 miles with a 20 minute tempo mixed in

Tu - 6 miles easy

W - 6-8 miles with a track rep or interval session

Th - easy 6

F- off

Sa - 10-12 mile "long" run

Su - Off

I wasn't in peak shape with this kind of schedule, but I feel like I was able to get a reasonable amount of fitness from it.

Long run: 40m is all I need, for what I do.

Tempo run: I only call it tempo, because you do. 40m total.

Long intervals: I don't need short intervals, so I run long intervals. 40m (see a pattern yet?)

Run: 20m one day, just because.

I might run the other days, but odds are I'm doing something else.

M - 50 min

T - Vo2max intervals + weights

W - 50 min

Th - 50 min

F - Threshold workout + weights

S - 90 min

Su - off

Also do some swimming on top of this.

For the marathon, nine-day cycle:

Day 1: 20-mile progression, easy to MP

Day 2: Off or bike

Day 3: Bike

Day 4: 1 mi warmup; 5 mi LT; 1 mi cooldown

Day 5: Off or bike

Day 6: 14-mile progression, easy to LT

Day 7: Bike

Day 8: 2-mi warmup; 5 x 1000m; 1-mi cooldown

Day 9: Off or bike

36 miles per week. Plus 40-80 miles on the road bike. Essentially the cycling replaces the typical easy/recovery runs.

Island wrote:

Yo dont need high mileage to be good. I am very successful with 40mpw (;

As a troll, yes. You could probably do just as well by not running at all.

Have them sell there car and cycle everywhere and stationary cycle while watching tv and stationary cycle while doing your job if you have a desk job and stationary cycle while you are surfing the internet

Libertarian vegan wrote:

Have them sell there car and cycle everywhere and stationary cycle while watching tv and stationary cycle while doing your job if you have a desk job and stationary cycle while you are surfing the internet

You can do a lot of training on max 40 mpw

One long run 10 miles

5 miles or less recovery run

Intervals

5 miles

Intervals/hills tempo

5 miles

5 miles

I normally run 4-5 times a week for about 40 miles total:

Two track workouts + a tempo and a longish run. Sometimes an easy run, but often I just cross-train (swim or bike).

I hit the gym 3-4 times a week and work on core/lift/pylometrics etc...

Doesn't work for the marathon, but works well for shorter distances.

Tried several times to slowly increase mileage to 50-60 MPW and every time I got slower and eventually injured.

"train" is the key word. I can't see anyone being very competitive at longer distances with that mileage, but they could still be fit and if trained smart could do reasonably well. On the other end of the spectrum, not serious athletes, I think you could go a long way to ending obesity if most people had to run at least 30 miles a week. I think 30 miles is the start of being pretty healthy. Having everyone run 6 miles 5 days a week would be pretty great.

I've a life outside running.

It is a myth that anyone needs high mileage; this idea has never been scientifically vindicated. High intensity, low volume training likely works as well as anything. A typical rebuttal goes like: “we tried that during ____ era and it didn’t work.” Two problems with this: 1) it is not a valid way to measure the results of training, and 2) a true high-intensity, low volume protocol looks radically different from what most people assume.

end of obesity wrote:

"Train" is the key word. I can't see anyone being very competitive at longer distances with that mileage, but they could still be fit and if trained smart could do reasonably well.

Don't I know it... with my life, schedule, injury potential, and age (mid-50s), it's getting ever-tougher to find the time and motivation to get any regular super-35 mile/week training in. Quite easy for me to know why my recent 10k-half performances aren't what they were, even accounting for age.

end of obesity wrote:

"train" is the key word. I can't see anyone being very competitive at longer distances with that mileage, but they could still be fit and if trained smart could do reasonably well. On the other end of the spectrum, not serious athletes, I think you could go a long way to ending obesity if most people had to run at least 30 miles a week. I think 30 miles is the start of being pretty healthy. Having everyone run 6 miles 5 days a week would be pretty great.

Depends on ability. I trained with a guy who did the training I listed & ran 8:44 for steeplechase & 30xx 10km

Needless to say I did the same training but was s lot slower - 33:14 10km