100+ miles, is it worth it?

Thanks, FSW

I hadn't thought about running twice a day. I usually just do 11 or 12 miles every afternoon. I just ran a couple 50k's last nonth and want to do a 6 hour race this year. I usually run about 7:30-8:00 pace.

FSW wrote:

my marathon p.r., done on 70/week, is 2:39.

.

Have you not run a marathon since going to 110-130 mpw? How much did your 10k/other race times change since increasing to 110-130 mpw?

Milrunner wrote:

I know you can get improvement with high mileage but for the local road racer is it really worth it.

No, nothing good is worth trying, not school, not work, not fishing, not loving, not nothing. The chances are you will never be the best at anything you try during your lifetime, so why bother? Why try to be at the best ou can be?

Your best hope is to lock the doors, turn on Oprah, MTV or Jerry Springer and surf the net. That's as good as life will ever get.

You're welcome.

ebrunner wrote:

FSW wrote:

my marathon p.r., done on 70/week, is 2:39.

.

Have you not run a marathon since going to 110-130 mpw? How much did your 10k/other race times change since increasing to 110-130 mpw?

Hell, my 800 and mile time improved when I upped my training mileage into that range.

malmo wrote:

No, nothing good is worth trying, not school, not work, not fishing, not loving, not nothing. The chances are you will never be the best at anything you try during your lifetime, so why bother? Why try to be at the best you can be?

I think at some point most of us less talented runners realize that we can be relatively more successful in other endeavors--school, work, fishing, etc. Running 100+ miles/week may take away from our ability to focus on these other things, and it can be hard for a mediocre runner (who may happen to be exceptionally smart or business saavy), to justify making such a committment to running.

Paul Tergat used to be a basketball player (and wanted to be pro), but eventually realized he was better at running, and so he devoted himself to running. Chances are, even if he trained just as hard at basketball, he still wouldn't have set any NBA records. That doesn't mean he wouldn't enjoy a pick-up game now and then, just that he probably should focus the majority of his time/energy on something else, and keep basketball a hobby. Success involves natural ability, desire, and hard work. Successful people find out what they are good at (or have realistic potential to be good at) and then devote themselves to that thing.

I say do it. You can get out and run and improve or you can just stay where you are at and run your same training schedule. I feel that the more you run the better you get. It is just like any other skill. You have to practice it to get better.

If you've got to ask, it's probably not.

Don't worry about the results so much, if they come, they come. Try to focus on the process and enjoy the training. Why is 100 mpw still some kind of magic number?

My marathon PR of 2:42:58 & the weeks of volume preceeding the race: 7.5, 2.5, 8.5, 20, 30, 24, 25, 38, 33, 32, 38, 50, 43, 50, 40, 37, 27, 41, 58, 59, 40, 12, 21, 31, 29, 17, 32, 28, 37, 48, 48, 50including the marathon. That equals 33 miles/week for 32 weeks. What would I have done at 100/week?

ebrunner wrote:

I think at some point most of us less talented runners realize that we can be relatively more successful in other endeavors--school, work, fishing, etc. Running 100+ miles/week may take away from our ability to focus on these other things, and it can be hard for a mediocre runner (who may happen to be exceptionally smart or business saavy), to justify making such a committment to running.

Then why bother running at all?

My marathon PR of 2:42:58 & the weeks of volume preceeding the race: 7.5, 2.5, 8.5, 20, 30, 24, 25, 38, 33, 32, 38, 50, 43, 50, 40, 37, 27, 41, 58, 59, 40, 12, 21, 31, 29, 17, 32, 28, 37, 48, 48, 50including the marathon. That equals 33 miles/week for 32 weeks. What would I have done at 100/week?

2:27:36.91 ?

jzs, can you tell us a little bit more about what you did with the mileage?? 2;42 is impressive off that volume

I ran fast & hard, hovered around 6min/mile almost every run. Many days way under 6min/mile. Only 3 long runs of 16, 18 & 15 all of them as fast as 6:30 pace. Tons of 5 to 10 milers at what turned out to be MP or faster.

correct. i have not run any other races since increasing my milage ...and i have just begun incresing my milage in late november. i am just trying to adapt to the volume at this point, but it is going really well so far.

malmo wrote:

Then why bother running at all?

To keep fit, as a hobby, etc. If one already is spending 1-1.5 hours/day running, they may decide they would be better off spending the extra hour improving on some other part of their life. At that point, the marginal cost of running more would exceed the marginal benefit.

Proof positive the fast aerobic running is beneficial, even in low volume! I bet if you added an extra 5 mile run 4 times per week to your previous schedule, you would drop another 15 minutes. Way to go. Thanks for showing others that quality distance running can make you strong. Tinman

tinman, i agree with you, but what do you suppose would happen to this guy, if he slowed down, doubled his milage, and worked his way back to the same pace in daily training?

i mean, if you are a mediocre runner looking to improve, you have to start somewhere right?

[quote]JonnyO wrote:

When i do 100+ mpw its no harder than when i used to do 40-50 mpw. a hard weeks training is a hard weeks training regardless of the mileage

Huh? That's pretty cool, maybe you should just up it to 150M/wk, or 200, etc. Afterall, "a hard weeks training is a hard weeks training regardless of the mileage." You truly do have some magic up your sleeve, JonnyO. Or maybe it's all in the science - perhaps when you increased your mileage you adjusted your aerodynamics accordingly to make it easier - an aerofoil hairdo, possibly?

A fan,

BDG

Mike, you are killing me with that photo! How's the Winter training going? Have you cut back on the cigars?

Topic: 100 mile weeks.

I hovered around 60-80 mpw for a year and then one week just jumped up to 100+. I didn't stay there. With the Tempo's and Mile repeats going on too, my fatigue level was at an all time high. But just the couple of weeks there and coming back to it/close on my long week, I think that it does have some great bene's.

ty

i assume your post has something to do with some little internet pissing contest that you have with jonnyo? in any case, i think he is right. since i have increased my milage and adapted to it...my 100 mile weeks are no more tiring than my 50 mile weeks used to be. i know i get hurt less