Couch to 100mpw Experiment- Training Log

Will be looking forward to updates.

0 to 100 miles in 13 weeks?

Honestly good luck, but I doubt this will turn out like you think it will.

Couch to 100mpw and back to the couch. That's how this will end. In a nice overuse injury.

Never understood the attraction for high training mileage.

Wasn't just something on letsrun that a Kenian ran 2:06 with 60-70 miles per week?

You need to get faster in order to run a marathon faster. And if you run faster you cover more miles in that time. That's what the Kenians are doing when they run a easy 12 miler in 70 minutes or so. Or a 25 miler in 2:20.

They basically get to their high mileage with not much more running time than the average Joe.

Anyway, can't wait until this experiment ends with a fracture.

Good luck.

Big Kippy takes his easy runs at 7:30 pace. Volume > everything else in distance training

Poirot wrote:

Couch may be exaggerating but that is where I am starting after a year of no running. Never run more than 55 miles in a week before when I was and currently out of shape but want to see what would happen if I started running 100mpw. I'm 28, 6 foot 2 and weigh 147lbs. PR's are slow with 39 minute 10k and 3:12 marathon. Have not had serious injury and want to try out this fabled letsrun thought experiment. What can the average healthy male run if seriously trained?

Experiment starts Monday with a build-up to 100mpw by the end of the year for a spring marathon.

Zero to 100 in 12 weeks?

Better chickity check yourself before you riggity wreck yourself.

Go ahead annd set up your doctors appt now dude

50/55/60/50//66/72/79/66//85/92/100/85//100/100/100/100

This mileage progression not only exceeds no more than 10% extra mileage each week, but also has a recovery week every 4 weeks, and there's still 5 weeks at 100 miles (unless you consider the taper, in which case you get two or three weeks at 100).

50 to 100 in 12 weeks is very possible. Make sure intensity is low, i.e. no more than two hard days a week and minimal fast track workouts. Good luck my boi

He's doing 0-100, not 50-100.

Poirot wrote:

39 minute 10k and 3:12 marathon ... want to try out this fabled letsrun thought experiment. What can the average healthy male run if seriously trained?

Those times are not "average", not by a long way.

This should be interesting. I've recently (this year) cut out most workouts and just added volume. I'm amazed that I haven't lost any speed. I've set PRs from 1 mile to 1/2 marathon since, with virtually no speed work. I've only hit one 100 mile week and that was probably premature. Change your time frame and maybe this experiment will actually do you some good. Good luck.

Poirot wrote:

Couch may be exaggerating but that is where I am starting after a year of no running. Never run more than 55 miles in a week before when I was and currently out of shape but want to see what would happen if I started running 100mpw. I'm 28, 6 foot 2 and weigh 147lbs. PR's are slow with 39 minute 10k and 3:12 marathon. Have not had serious injury and want to try out this fabled letsrun thought experiment. What can the average healthy male run if seriously trained?

Experiment starts Monday with a build-up to 100mpw by the end of the year for a spring marathon.

Ha! I'm interested to see where you go with this. I'm a bit older (41) and a LOT heavier (170 lbs right now), but have very similar PRs (40-mid 10k and 3:12 marathon). Never run more than 62 miles in a week (and I've only done that twice). I've often wondered what I could do averaging 60 or 80 mpw, let alone 100!

Poirot wrote:

Couch may be exaggerating but that is where I am starting after a year of no running. Never run more than 55 miles in a week before when I was and currently out of shape but want to see what would happen if I started running 100mpw. I'm 28, 6 foot 2 and weigh 147lbs. PR's are slow with 39 minute 10k and 3:12 marathon. Have not had serious injury and want to try out this fabled letsrun thought experiment. What can the average healthy male run if seriously trained?

Experiment starts Monday with a build-up to 100mpw by the end of the year for a spring marathon.

My prediction is once you realize how much time it takes to even run 70 miles a week you'll probably fold. Unless you're unemployed or have a real easy job, it's incredibly difficult to put in 100 a week. If you don't want to get injured, then you're looking at probably three 1 hour sessions in the gym doing various exercises to strengthen the glutes and hips. Prepare to have no more free time

I did something similar back in 2011 while preparing for a marathon. Three months before big mileage jump I was averaging 42 mi per week. Had a freak out after seeing the race date quickly approaching. So flipped the switch and after a two week build up started covering 100+ mi per week (8:30 avg). Twice a week I ran three times a day, before work, during lunch, and after work. Other days twice per day. Took Sundays off. No dedicated speed work, just some pickups or fast finishes thrown in if I felt good. Held it together for only 5 weeks straight and then tapered. Results? Marathon PR and placed 4th in age bracket. My best performance at that distance. Looking back, one of the most interesting things, other than the lack of speed work, is I only ran two 20 milers during this cycle. Good luck!

Forest Gump again wrote:

Couch to 100mpw and back to the couch. That's how this will end..

GOT EM'

Agreed, 100mpw is insaenly time consuming you really cannot work full time and do it (and still be sane). The most i've ever done is 79 in a week and i was on vacation.

Add 100 beers in that same week to unlock God status

Rattle Pad wrote:

Racket wrote:

My prediction is once you realize how much time it takes to even run 70 miles a week you'll probably fold. Unless you're unemployed or have a real easy job, it's incredibly difficult to put in 100 a week. If you don't want to get injured, then you're looking at probably three 1 hour sessions in the gym doing various exercises to strengthen the glutes and hips. Prepare to have no more free time

Agreed, 100mpw is insaenly time consuming you really cannot work full time and do it (and still be sane). The most i've ever done is 79 in a week and i was on vacation.

At 7 min / mile, 100mpw takes only 1:40 per day. Unless you work 80+ hrs/wk, you should have enough time. It's all about motivation.

The Way We Were wrote:

At 7 min / mile, 100mpw takes only 1:40 per day. Unless you work 80+ hrs/wk, you should have enough time. It's all about motivation.

LRC is full of people with tons of free time. Good for you. 1:40 is my long run on a good Sunday and I've run faster PR than OP on 30-40mpw.

Rattle Pad wrote:

Racket wrote:

My prediction is once you realize how much time it takes to even run 70 miles a week you'll probably fold. Unless you're unemployed or have a real easy job, it's incredibly difficult to put in 100 a week. If you don't want to get injured, then you're looking at probably three 1 hour sessions in the gym doing various exercises to strengthen the glutes and hips. Prepare to have no more free time

Agreed, 100mpw is insaenly time consuming you really cannot work full time and do it (and still be sane). The most i've ever done is 79 in a week and i was on vacation.

Im currently running 60mpw and i work 60 hours per week snd have a family. Over the winter, i was doing 70mpw and working 60 hours and not running on sundays. Im pretty sure, if i took Saturdays off work and worked 2 hours less per day, i could have found all the time in the world to run an extra 30 miles without much struggle