140 mile weeks with only 10 mile runs?

Don't do it without a coach!

I'm just about done with a 140 mile week this week, (2 more runs to go). I've done it in basically 10 mile runs every run. I really do feel like a zombie, but the one thing I can recommend is find a way to make running a way of getting to school/work. I worked out a route of 10 miles to work. Therefore running is not only training, but a means of transportation. If I don't run that day, I don't go to work, I get fired. so it sort of gives you another incentive to get out there every morning.

Make sure you have an available shower and cloths at work.

Otherwise, if your just out to try it, don't. It sucks. stick to 120.

Douglas Burke, what kind of times did you end up running off this training after that 2:30 marathon? Sounds like you were in great shape.

Tim Faith wrote:

I'm just about done with a 140 mile week this week, (2 more runs to go). I've done it in basically 10 mile runs every run. I really do feel like a zombie, but the one thing I can recommend is find a way to make running a way of getting to school/work. I worked out a route of 10 miles to work. Therefore running is not only training, but a means of transportation. If I don't run that day, I don't go to work, I get fired. so it sort of gives you another incentive to get out there every morning.

Make sure you have an available shower and cloths at work.

Otherwise, if your just out to try it, don't. It sucks. stick to 120.

I think this is what former American marathon record holder (on a NON-AIDED course) Pat Petersen did in New York City of all places. 10 miles to work and 10 miles back every day.

The goal here is to be consistant and put a number of these weeks together. Running one of them and feeling like a "zombie" is not the point and isn't helping you.

'10' mile runs would add up to 10 miles. well short of your goal.

so if i were training for a 5k could i do something similar to this but with 2x7 miles each day and a 12-14 mile run on the weekend and just throw in a little more simple speedwork stuff every couple days to keep foot speed up?

Ignorant Poster wrote:

'10' mile runs would add up to 10 miles. well short of your goal.

cute.

Old School Approach wrote:

That very schedule is one of the reasons why we had so much depth in the marathon in the 70's and early 80's.

It's a grueling schedule, so you better be mentally and physically tough before you attempt running 10 in the morning and 10 at night everyday.

I doubt you will get many serious posts in this thread, there are like 6 people that frequent this board who ever hit that kind of mileage.

huh...running 140 mpw isn't as tough as you make it out to be. Yes I was tired for the first week or two,but your body adjusts to it. And although I'm only running at 8 min pace (I just finished High School, so any other pace would be suicide), I really don't see why more people don't run in the 120-160 range. Even at 7 min pace, or faster...Your body can handle it as long as you build up to it. Even without building up to it...i mean I jumped from never running more than 91 mpw senior year to running 105, 124,140 (3 weeks from june-july). Without any injuries.

140 miles for one week at 8 minute pace isn't hard.

140 miles a week for months or year on end, while doing the majority at a decent clip AND incorporating harder runs and workouts is a different story.

I really don't understand what you're trying to prove by plodding 140 miles a week and saying it's not hard. What you are doing ISN'T hard.

You are a perfect example of someone who doesn't 'get it'.

Old School Approach wrote:

140 miles for one week at 8 minute pace isn't hard.

140 miles a week for months or year on end, while doing the majority at a decent clip AND incorporating harder runs and workouts is a different story.

I really don't understand what you're trying to prove by plodding 140 miles a week and saying it's not hard. What you are doing ISN'T hard.

You are a perfect example of someone who doesn't 'get it'.

...Well how many years have you run 140+? And at What pace do you train at? You seem to know a lot about training @ 140+ mpw's w/tough workouts..

Course Living in Arkansas does give me an obscure perspective.

I ran competitively back in the 70s.

During my best year I averaged 132 miles a week, with a streak of 15 weeks at 140 - 147.

The pace in the mornings was always easy and by feel. It was just 'getting it in'.

In the evenings I would meet 7-8 other guys and we would go for at least an hour.

Someone always felt good so our night runs would always be steady and a few times a week someone would take off and hammer from the start and the group would just hang on.

Pace might be 7:30 at the start and end at 5:20 or we could just all run 6:00 the whole way. It all depended on who was feeling good (someone always was).

We would usually designate two runs a week specifically to run hard and we would run a hilly, marked 10 mile course, usually in 53-55 minutes.

I ran 2:17 and change for the marathon. I wasn't famous. I had no contract. In 2009 my time would rank me in the top 15 in the country.

Back in the day I wasn't even the best in the small, little group I met with. Two other guys had faster marathon times than I did!

Are you a coach now?

I did about the same thing, 2 times a day, 8-12 miles, when I was a sophomore in college. It was my first time doing any high mileage.

At that time (1989) I decided that the only way to improve was to run a lot of miles, so I got up everyday at 5am for 8-10 miles, then again 8-12 miles in the afternoon about 4pm. I became VERY sore very quickly, but this passed, and I lost about 15 pounds within weeks.

This allowed me to run my first marathon (Cleveland 1989), with only one "long run" of 15 miles.

It's a decent approach to base building, and not stupid, but you will most likely not run your best 5km!

Jason

Jason, would you share your take on marathon training?

It would great to get another perspective, especially from someone who ran a 2:18!

I use the K.I.S.S. system of training. KEEP IT SIMPLE (and) STUPID....There are 2 things that you have to do to train to run a marathon:

(1) Run workouts that get you to the finish line (a function of long runs and overall volume) AND

(2) Workouts that get you to the pace you want. In order to improve your time, you should make the degree of improvement reasonable (2-10 minutes). Tempo runs of 4-16 miles are the way to go for this, with 8-12 mile tempos at marathon pace or SLIGHTLY faster being the most frequent marathon pace workouts. Doing a 10km or 10mile time trial occasionally is a good thing.

I seem to do the best when I avoid interval workouts, but yes in the 2 months before I ran 2:18, I did a few faster workouts:

(a) 8x1000 in 2:54 average with 3 minute rest (dirt track in Kunming, 6000 feet alt.)

(b) 4x1000 in 2:48 then 2x2000 in 6:00 in Bangkok, about 2 weeks before the race.

(c) 4km in 12:10 then 2km in 6:00, about one week before the race, in Japan, the day before I flew to Berlin.

Those are the only interval workouts that I did during my training for Berlin that year.

I was in better condition in a build up when I did ZERO interval in Feb. 2006 when I DNF'ed Tokyo 60:34 at 20km, but this DNF was not a result of not doing intervals.

Regarding (1), "Reaching the finish line," it is well known that I have screwed up myself by doing long runs too fast. I have destroyed at least 3 good marathons by hammering the long runs too fast (5:20-5:30 pace). I suggest running your long runs about 30-40 seconds per mile slower than marathon pace. If you are feeling REALLY good, just keep your pace, then hammer the last 2-4 miles and STOP AT 20 MILES!!!!

Yes I agree that doing 1 of your long runs up to about 28-30 miles is a really good idea. In the 3 months before Berlin, I ran 3 runs of over 40km but all were at 6:00-6:30 per mile, including one run in high altitude (Dali China) of about 46km at about 4:00/km (6:25/mile).

casesomething wrote:

so if i were training for a 5k could i do something similar to this but with 2x7 miles each day and a 12-14 mile run on the weekend and just throw in a little more simple speedwork stuff every couple days to keep foot speed up?

Absolutely, assuming that total volume is appropriate. Meaning, can you sustain good paces for the majority of it. The other most important consideration, besides consistency, is the appropriateness of volume. It took a long time for Shorter, Nenow, and the others to learn how much was best and how to decide when and if to increase.

i can definitely handle it. i've been running for years but this year i've started to get a bit more serious about it and im going into my senior year of high school. usually all the running i ever did was the 25-30 miles of mainly track work each week that my coach had the team do. i got tired of the mediocrity of my junior year, so now i'm stepping it up this summer, averaging about 50 mpw, and now that the season is approaching, i'm going to start working my mileage up to around 70-80 mpw hopefully. so far everything is progressing beautifully. in the last few weeks of summer i'll probably do 2x7 miles each day, 12-14 mile weekend long run and more speed stuff thrown in every few days than a marathoner would do.

i like this because it's remarkably simple but it should still be effective 5k training. then once the season starts, my mileage will probably start to wind down and more track work will be done because my coach doesn't even know what a tempo run is. but instead of it being like years past, where i can't take advantage of all the speed stuff he has us do, the base mileage i have from summer should help maximize my gain from the frequent workouts my coach has the team do.

Leave it to a high school guy to ruin a thread.