help me go from chump to champ with mega miles

Shitty week because I've been having some leg problems:

Monday: 3 miles 6:54 pace @3:00 PM, 7 miles 7:05 pace NIGHT

Tuesday: 3 miles 7:12 pace @1:00 PM, 7 miles 7:18 pace NIGHT

Wednesday: 3 miles 7:02 pace @2:00 PM, 5 miles 7:08 pace NIGHT

Thursday: OFF

Friday: 4 miles 6:58 pace @4:00 PM

Saturday: 8 miles 6:33 pace NIGHT

Sunday: 3 miles 7:10 pace @5:00 PM, 6.5 miles 7:00 pace NIGHT

Total: 50 miles 7:00 average pace

My first race (6k) is on Saturday and I want to feel fresh. What do you guys suggest I do between now and then?

I assume you will be training through the race?

Have you been doing any strides at all?? I would hit another 50-60 mile week, maybe go to the track tues and thurs and jog curves, stride the straights for a couple miles... Good Luck!

thanks. i'll do some strides tomorrow. legs have been feeling shitty but i think i'll be okay. should I am for a time like 19:30 or so and try to even/negative split this thing? or just do my best to stick with a pack of the fast guys?

i don't know how fast I could run in the race since I haven't been doing many workouts really... I did 4xmile in 5:05 pace about a month ago but haven't done that much fast running otherwise

Try your best to run smart and even/negative split. If you’re feeling shitty and adjusting to higher mileage the last thing you want to do is go out over your head. Things can go downhill real fast, I’ve been there.

ok 1930 it is

Ran a 22:04. Felt like sh*t. Winner ran 19:25. I am fcking mad about how slow I ran.

I was going to email my school's coach to see how fast I would have to run to try out for the indoor track team but doing that after this poor of a performance seems like I'll get laughed at

anyways i realize that im doing too much easy running and not enough working out. next race is an 8k on the 29th so between now and then ill do 80+, 80+, 80+, 50 (race week) and do two workouts a week during the 3 80+ weeks and one workout the week of the 8k

I don't understand why you thought you were going to do well in the race. Look at all the milage you've been adding on. You mention in your posts how you don't feel great.

Adding milage, especially this aggressively is not an immediate gradification thing. Hell no. You've got some time before this comes back.

Keep working consistently. And make sure you balance you milage and your workouts. Be weary of adding volume and intensity at the same time.

Yes a 1930 6k on an xc course was not realistic. But I ran a 17:14 5k during a tempo a month ago the day after doing 4x1 mile repeats at 5:05 pace... 22:04 is like an 18:10 5k it doesn't add up. I'll keep working though I think adding consistent workouts will help a lot.

Read this, don't decrease your volume.

Generally, higher mileage should get you better results BUT you must consider that it generally also (unless you do it steadily and slowly):

1) increases risk of injuries

2) wrecks your health (vitamin, enzyme, mineral etc stores that may result in immune problems)

3) makes you slower if you are above 27-30 years of age

malmo says that you should run twice a day every day, wejo says he got better because he started running more, john kellogg says high mileage is the missing ingredient... the gains will come

Monday: 2 miles 7:19 pace run to gym 3 miles 6:30 pace gym track, 2 miles 7:18 pace run back from gym NIGHT

Tuesday: 7 miles 6:59 pace NIGHT

Wednesday: 3 miles 7:34 pace @2:00 PM, 6 miles 6:52 pace PM

Thursday: 2.5 miles 7:03 pace run to gym 2.5 miles 7:00 pace run at gym 2 miles 6:44 pace run back from gym NIGHT

Friday: 4 miles 7:15 pace @5:00 PM

Saturday: 1.5 miles warm up 22:04 6k AM, 6.5 miles 7:12 pace NIGHT

Sunday: 3 miles 7:22 pace @4:00 PM, 6 miles 7:34 pace @8:00 PM

Total: 55.1 miles 7:05 average pace

This week will be 60-80 miles with a 400 meter repeats workout midweek and a 5k time trial with the running club on saturday

Hey man..

I am confused by your training. Why do you run at 7 min pace all the time? Don't you ever have any easy days where you log 10-12 miles @ 8 min pace? I think that woul be beneficial.

As far as my background, I am new-ish to running ~(2 years) and I just started doing higher mileage (70-80 miles per week).

I've been getting way faster and threw down a 4:48 mile the other week and a 17:28 5K during a tempo run last week.

A lot of my runs are easy runs - I do 1 tempo per week and 1 fartlek run per week, but otherwise I am taking it easy.

The only other thought I had was regarding hills. How many hills are you doing each week? I do a lot of hill work and I can tell it has helped me.. maybe something to look into.

generally 2000-2500 ft per week. I did not realize this but 3760 feet 2 weeks ago and I have been feeling trashed since that week. I didn't realize that it was so high that week. I haven't been working out much since I've been adjusting to the mileage

I’m gunna give you some advice I wish someone woulda gave me when I was younger, you can’t rush this man. To get fast, It’s a long slow process and unless you are already very accustomed to high mileage training, you can’t increase both mileage and intensity at the same time and expect good results. The stress of both these things is too much for the body to immediately recover and adapt to. That is why athletes typically do a base period of a slow taper up to high mileage with light workouts/strides and allow their bodies to gradually adapt to that stimulus before starting the serious race specific training.

For you since you are very high mileage naive, I would give your body the time it needs to adapt to this higher workload before worrying about race results. It can very well take you a year or so before you feel comfortable at this high of a mileage. The weekly totals, though nice to see are not what make you fit. It’s hitting them consistently week in and week out, gradually adapting and then adding new stimuli with harder workouts. It all has to happen pretty slowly or you will hurt yourself or burn out or get disheartened when you don’t see the time you want. But I promise if you go gradual and stay consistent and then slowly start adding in harder and harder workouts when you are finally comfortable at this mileage you will see some big big results. This could happen a few months from now or a year or more from now, it all depends how your body responds. Good luck with the training man.

wiz khalifa wrote:

I am fcking mad about how slow I ran.

It's because you do too much slow running. And all that slow running has made you even slower.

One definition of madness is to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result.

There was a poster here many years ago who had the same obsession as you. He thought that if he ran 140 miles per week for months, he would become much faster. So he did just that, a 7 minute mile pace. And when he eventually raced he found to his surprise he was slower. He was just running his body into the ground.