how long until you get the benefits of higher mileage?

My body just has felt like crap the past two weeks, and my legs have felt pretty heavy while running. I'm thinking maybe I should start to tone it down or should I tough it out for another 2 weeks?

so if someone is doing 10 miles per week then they should not do more then 11 next week? can a zero mile per week runner never surpass that? that is absurd. a 100mpw runner can "safely" be at 145+mpw within a month? the 10% rule is broken at low and high milages.

lydiard said that he could take a runner doing nothing and get him to 100mpw within 10 weeks....something like

Week total

3

11

22

34

45

56

66

78

90

100

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. It is very smart and has had millenia to realize what it can and cannot handle

As for the original question, you should feel the benefits right away. You may also feel SLIGHTLY more tired/more stiff/hungrier, but you should feel stronger too.

J.O. wrote:

malmo is correct. The benefits of extra mileage should be felt almost immediately, otherwise you are doing too much.

I'll plump for 2-4 weeks, with the caveat that you need to be fresh to feel the benefits. I sure as hell don't feel the benefits on day 3 or 4 of a high mileage week - I feel TIRED.

I find that two weeks up, one week down works very well. You run through a little fatigue on the up weeks, you recover and feel better on the down ones, and your fitness should steadily improve. Just make sure there is a point in each 'microcycle' where you recover and feel fresh.

I'm a returning masters runner and after a longish period at 50-60, I got in just one month at 70-75 in Jan/Feb this year. At the end of week 4 my performances rocketed to a new level - and seem to have stayed there after dropping back and doing more speed work.

nyloco wrote:

Not if his orthopedist is in agreement with this comprehensive study done at the Stanford School of Medicine. It has some big words and equations in it, so be careful gravity guy.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2556152/

gravity hurts wrote:

"Subject: how long until you get the benefits of higher mileage?"/quote

When your orthopedist tells you,you have to quit ,which will be sooner than later.

HaHaHaHa ! You're an orthopedic surgeon's wetdream. Keep believing in "studies" stealthily funded by Nike .

just passing by. wrote:

asdfasdfas wrote:

If you can run 100 miles in a week then you will immediately achieve 13:25 fitness. Immediately.

This is not true. It took me MONTHS of 100 mile weeks before I achieved that kind of time. Not worth that kind of investment.

If you run 200 mpw it only takes half the time.

You went straight from 30 mpw to 50 mpw? No wonder you're tired.

J.O. wrote:

victor cole wrote:

3 weeks is normally required to build baseline in running. The benefit of doing long runs is cell change and it also improves aerobic capacity,and gets your legs stronger.

Mythology. More mileage doesn't = better aerobic capacity,

it means better endurance, not the same thing at all.

The improvement in endurance comes mostly from the ability to concentrate for longer.

How do you know.

Big Leg wrote:

My son or daughter or queer, increase your mileage slowly and feel it. Take it from behind two times daily will make you stronger. An iron arse! Be gay , be happy out there. Spread your almost virgin ass so your bodies can double with you.

not only was that not funny, but it was so poorly written that i'm sure nobody even knows what you mean.

Tom Cruize wrote:

just passing by. wrote:

[quote]asdfasdfas wrote:

If you can run 100 miles in a week then you will immediately achieve 13:25 fitness. Immediately.

This is not true. It took me MONTHS of 100 mile weeks before I achieved that kind of time. Not worth that kind of investment.

I agree. It wasn't immediate. It took me almost a year of 100 mile weeks to get to 13:30 for 5k. i started at 15:40 though, so that might be why it took so long.

long dong silver wrote:

J.O. wrote:

Mythology. More mileage doesn't = better aerobic capacity,

it means better endurance, not the same thing at all.

The improvement in endurance comes mostly from the ability to concentrate for longer.

How do you know.

***********************************************************

How do you not know? Can't you feel the improvement in concentration when you have better endurance?

But looking at the real science rather than the accepted dogma, you will see that it doesn't take much mileage to get the aerobic conditioning whereby the absolute VO2 max is maximized, mainly due to hypertrophy of the left ventricle which maximizes stroke volume and delivery of oxgyen along with increased mitochodrial density and the associated aerobic enzymes.

So in a nutshell: You go from zero miles to 20 mpw and in a few weeks your absolute VO2 max goes from the untrained state to the trained state, but your endurance is weak. You gradually increase to 120 mpw and your absoulute VO2 max is still the same, but your endurance is very strong.

Lydiard never said that.

champions dare wrote:

...

lydiard said that he could take a runner doing nothing and get him to 100mpw within 10 weeks...

Is it just me or is there an obvious part missing from this discussion, namely; climatic conditions. I am currently in a much warmer part of the continent than I am used to and the effects of the heat in the first week here have been very pronounced. I feel like crap running similar mileage to what I was running in my more temperate natural environment. So if you are building mileage as the temperature is progressively getting more and more oppressive, feeling horrible and rough is completely normal and to be expected. Of course, some might argue that you should adjust your training to compensate for the climate and your ability to deal with it, but the point I am making is that mileage increases alone may not be the key factor in feeling good or bad. For myself, I am going to continue to try to acclimatize without adjusting mileage but by adjusting pace. Also, I would think increasing mileage goals in the middle of an intense effort build up mid-season is not very intelligent and will be a sure fire way of messing up your performance goals.

If you're feeling overly fatigued and sore, take some rest. Don't make the mistake I did this past winter and get injured and ruin your season. Take a few easy light days and refresh yourself. Don't increase the mileage too quickly if you don't think you are handling it well. Don't run your easy days too fast, those are for recovery. Eat well and make sure your getting the things you need so your body can adapt physically to your new work load. Hope it works.

@randy

i did increase from 30- 50 MPW by means of doubles. I'd do a 4 mile easy followed by a 4 mile tempo at night 4 times a week, on Friday, I do an easy 20 minute jog to a smoothie store and buy my favorite smoothie, and on saturday i'll do an 80 minute long trail run, and take off completely on sunday. I occasionally add in trackwork intervals, for instance, i did a bleacher to bleacher 3 mile run around the track loop, up and down each step followed by 6x200 (Hitting 37, 35, 34,34,32,29). I do my core work with a medicine ball, and to my 20 15 10's after every run. My goal is to walk on to a D1 NCAA team in late august. I have learned to use the easy/rest days to my benefit in making me feel better after recovery.

My times are RAPIDLY dropping now that i've been able to get rest. I only started up the 50 MPW a month ago, and it gets better as you go.

champions dare wrote:

so if someone is doing 10 miles per week then they should not do more then 11 next week? can a zero mile per week runner never surpass that? that is absurd. a 100mpw runner can "safely" be at 145+mpw within a month? the 10% rule is broken at low and high milages.

lydiard said that he could take a runner doing nothing and get him to 100mpw within 10 weeks....something like

Week total

3

11

22

34

45

56

66

78

90

100

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. It is very smart and has had millenia to realize what it can and cannot handle

As for the original question, you should feel the benefits right away. You may also feel SLIGHTLY more tired/more stiff/hungrier, but you should feel stronger too.

Apparently you can't read. The starting point was 30 miles not 10. I applaud your effort to try to be a smart ass though. My post also says NO MORE than 10% increase in volume, it doesn't mean it has to be 10% each week, the application of common sense comes into effect here, obviously you don't have any. Clearly you should stay in school. If you are a high school runner, 100 MPW is absurd. Going from 3 miles to 100 in ten weeks is absurd. Doing too much too soon is the downfall to any type of training.

oh right the track loop...

rekrunner wrote:

Lydiard never said that.

champions dare wrote:

...

lydiard said that he could take a runner doing nothing and get him to 100mpw within 10 weeks...

He certainly did.

ktown killa wrote:

rekrunner wrote:

Lydiard never said that.

He certainly did.

Did he really? Where?

Randy Oldman wrote:

ktown killa wrote:

He certainly did.

Did he really? Where?

IN REAL LIFE.