Is it physically impossible for many people to successfully run more than 50 mpw?

It has nothing to do with discipline and time. The time commitment to run that much was rarely a concern.

What was a concern was the sky high injury rate and the near constant fatigue and exhaustion that comes with running that much. The effects are exponential. 25 mpw is nothing, 40 mpw is tiring but tolerable, and 50 mpw just hits you like a ton of bricks.

WTH I'm 66 and 50 mpw seems . . . low.

high mileage isn't what it's cracked up to be wrote:

It has nothing to do with discipline and time. The time commitment to run that much was rarely a concern.

What was a concern was the sky high injury rate and the near constant fatigue and exhaustion that comes with running that much. The effects are exponential. 25 mpw is nothing, 40 mpw is tiring but tolerable, and 50 mpw just hits you like a ton of bricks.

if you're getting injured then you're doing too much too soon. running is like any other sport, you got to ease into it and make time for recovery.

i've recently started weight training (low weights, high reps) because i'm in my 40s and have started to notice a decline in overall strength and stamina. i lift three times per week, but skipped yesterday because i was too tired and my body didnt feel up to it. i'm not going to make it up either, i'll just hit my next session and try not to miss too many as i build strength.

same thing with running, cycling, anything really. as long as you're recovered enough and don't do anything dumb or detrimental, you shouldn't get injured. granted, some people can't handle high mileage, but this is about you.

I'm 175 and I can assure you, I'm healthy. BP taken a week ago, 116/64. I run about 40 a week

That's just 7 miles a day. It not all that challenging, even for an old f__c5 like me.

I've been running for around 7 years, so I doubt it's too much too soon. I hit the 50 mpw wall in year 3 and haven't made much progress since, so I suspect that it's some kind of biological limit.

It's just really tough to get both mileage and recovery in, as they're pretty much mutually exclusive. Running 30 mpw feels great. Recovery is easy, and I haven't gotten a single injury from that even when I cranked the intensity way up and did 3 hard workouts and a race each week. But you just can't get enough recovery in on "high" mileage. Before you've fully recovered from the past few runs, you got another long run coming up, or you'll miss your mileage goal. It's just like being stuck in a hole that keeps getting deeper and deeper.

Physical damage isn't the only problem handling high mileage. My grades the first year of college declined drastically when I started hitting 100 mile weeks due to exhaustion. When I cut back the mileage my grades improved drastically.

I broke 14 for 5k but get injured any time I get close to 50 MPW. I am out of college and have found that 35-40 is my sweet spot.

high mileage isn't what it's cracked up to be wrote:

You know you need to eat more, but you have no appetite, and even junk food doesn't look appealing. You know you need to sleep and recover, but it's almost as if you're too exhausted and nervous to sleep.

You don't need to eat more. You need to eat better. What do you eat and drink after your run?

You also need to sleep better. When do you run, and when do you go to bed?

Deena Kastor once said that most people who think they are overtraining are actually under recovered. You need to figure out the recovery routine that works for you.

Just Another Hobby Jogger wrote:

high mileage isn't what it's cracked up to be wrote:

You know you need to eat more, but you have no appetite, and even junk food doesn't look appealing. You know you need to sleep and recover, but it's almost as if you're too exhausted and nervous to sleep.

You don't need to eat more. You need to eat better. What do you eat and drink after your run?

You also need to sleep better. When do you run, and when do you go to bed?

Deena Kastor once said that most people who think they are overtraining are actually under recovered. You need to figure out the recovery routine that works for you.

I typically get a smoothie, a multivitamin, and dinner after a run. I go to bed around 10:30 and wake up at 6:30 on weekdays. On weekends, I'll stay up until around midnight and get up around 8:30.

Everything's fine as long as I stay below 40 mpw. It's when I get near 50 mpw that I start losing appetite and have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep.

high mileage isn't what it's cracked up to be wrote:

Just Another Hobby Jogger wrote:

You don't need to eat more. You need to eat better. What do you eat and drink after your run?

You also need to sleep better. When do you run, and when do you go to bed?

Deena Kastor once said that most people who think they are overtraining are actually under recovered. You need to figure out the recovery routine that works for you.

I typically get a smoothie, a multivitamin, and dinner after a run. I go to bed around 10:30 and wake up at 6:30 on weekdays. On weekends, I'll stay up until around midnight and get up around 8:30.

Everything's fine as long as I stay below 40 mpw. It's when I get near 50 mpw that I start losing appetite and have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep.

Maybe you could try taking melatonin when doing higher mileage.

Also, it's strange how your appetite goes down with increased training load. Other runners have the exact opposite experience. Increased physical activity results in a huge appetite in other individuals. In fact, some people find that their appetite increases so much that they overeat and gain excess weight.

All of these types of posts are honestly depressing. I'm not a rah- rah "you can do anything you put your mind" sort of idealist, but you guys are going way too far the other direction. No, you do not need to be born with freak athleticism and live in ideal circumstances to achieve mediocre times or do the mileage of many high school XC teams.

It will (obviously) be harder for some than it will be for others, but simply building volume and managing recovery has been a staple of success since us humans started pursuing athletics. Just simply show up everyday, sleep and eat good, and repeat, day after day, year after year. I mean honestly, how many years of at least 30mpw did you do before trying 40mpw? And then how many did you spend at at least 40mpw before trying 50? Running --as with anything worthwhile-- is not an overnight success. It is built up, often slowly and non-linearly, over the years and decades.

Now if you mean a fit male with no running background who tries to jump into 50mpw? Yes, obviously they will likely get injured. You need to build into these things

The Subprime Minister wrote:

Much less than 1/3 healthy men ... wrote:

You have to realize poster, in the real world, outside the (150 to 250) folks who post here, there are healthy men in (175 to 225) pound range. Most healthy men are not (125 to 150) pounds. The vast majority of healthy men whom are about (175 to 225) pounds cannot run 50 plus miles a week.

A 175 lb man is not healthy and someone over 200 lbs certainly is not. Health isn't like pronouns where you can just choose what you like.

At my height, anything under 200 is pretty detrimental to my training in terms of recovery and strength. I'm not blowing up the track or running the times I was in college, but I am running the times I was in high school at 75 lbs heavier than I was, and with literally 3x the strength.

I averaged 50 mpw for 12 years with no injuries. Not very fast (39 10K pr) I wish I had run 60 mpw.

The Subprime Minister wrote:

Much less than 1/3 healthy men ... wrote:

You have to realize poster, in the real world, outside the (150 to 250) folks who post here, there are healthy men in (175 to 225) pound range. Most healthy men are not (125 to 150) pounds. The vast majority of healthy men whom are about (175 to 225) pounds cannot run 50 plus miles a week.

A 175 lb man is not healthy and someone over 200 lbs certainly is not. Health isn't like pronouns where you can just choose what you like.

You are caught up in overly simplistic b.m.i. formula. Medical doctors use b.m.i. instead of percentage of body fat because accurately measuring body fat percentage is both too expensive and too time consuming. There are many healthy men with less then 10% body fat whom are average height and weigh well over 200 pounds. Have you ever seen robust high school hockey players defeat skinny fat jv high school XC runners in P.E. 600m run?

Mr. Slowpoke wrote:

No, you do not need to be born with freak athleticism and live in ideal circumstances to achieve mediocre times or do the mileage of many high school XC teams.

We don't know what events the OP does or what his times are. But it's certainly possible to run world-class 800m times on less than 40 mpw. More is not always better, especially for fast-twitch and heavier runners.

Also, very few high school XC runners actually hit 50+ mpw consistently and not just for a week or two. The top 2-3 guys on the top teams might, but even on a good team, the vast majority of runners will not exceed 40 mpw for any significant length of time.

Victoria Chang won the girls Foot Locker XC Championships the year I graduated. Her average volume was 20 mpw with a longest run of 6 miles:

To the OP, in all sincerity, you may just want to swim for your aerobic exercise.

No you are fat and don't work hard.

Just Another Hobby Jogger wrote:

The Subprime Minister wrote:

A 175 lb man is not healthy and someone over 200 lbs certainly is not. Health isn't like pronouns where you can just choose what you like.

Depends on one's height. 200 lbs is healthy for someone who is 6-7.

Always funny how you guys seem to think only ectomorphs can be healthy.

175 might not be healthy for you light framed, small boned and no muscle kids, but for us girthy boys, I can way 195, have a six pack, run +50 miles a week, and probably run faster than y’all. Because my muscles, tendons and joints are big and strong enough to take a beating.