Would you run 100 mpw if you could run a 14:00 5k?

I would do this if I did not have to deal with the effects of the mileage / all the little things. As some other posters have noted, running this much makes you so tired the rest of the day and requires you to get 8-9 hours of sleep every night. Additionally, the stretching, drills, rehab, etc. that goes into staying healthy takes so much more than the 12 hours of pure running.

But, if all I had to do was just run the 100mpw and not all the other stuff (granted this would be for a maximum of 6 months), then yes.

I know you didn't ask me but as I had stretches of time when I was doing 120-150 a week I might as well respond. I usually ran doubles most but not all days as a rule. But there were times when I just ran once. Doing 100-110ish on one run wasn't difficult. Above 110 doing just one run a day started to be a struggle. I've gone as high as 120 a week in singles, as I recall because I knew of some others who did it and wanted to see what it was like. I managed it but I think at that level of mileage I was needing to go slower than was ideal. And I wanted no part of doing 130-150 in one run.

All of this was different than what I usually did and was either experimental or because of unusual circumstances. Normally I ran twice a day even when I was just doing 90-110 a week.

No!

But I wish I'd tried 80mpw when I was 18, just to see what I coulda done. I'd done a 4:22 mile off of 40 mpw... then moved on to other pursuits.

Sure. However, each time I run 100+ mile weeks for any extended period of time - I get injured. Stress fracture in my cuboid bone, debilitating pain in my hip etc.

Thought i was on the Fred Kerley choking his wife thread and this seemed like an odd take.

Yes

Sure - it would do it to break 14. There’s not a lot I wouldn’t do for a guarantee at a PR

I ran upwards of 120-140 and avg 100mi a week for a year and easily avg 80-100 for a decade and ran no faster than 15:45 5k and 2:32 marathon.

Genetics > Training.

Alan

100+ a week is still less than 2hrs a day....there are 24 hrs in a day.

Alan

If simply running 100mpw got me to 14:00 I would do it in a heartbeat. The problem is needing to recover properly in order to handle the mileage. I love running and training so putting in the work has never been an issue. Unfortunately, I have to work full time to support my family. I also love my social life, my marriage and my son so I don't have the time to rest enough to absorb the training.

Damn that's impressive. I managed 1- 100 mile week while on vacation for my daughter's wedding. I couldn't imagine doing it again while working a full time job.

I remember talking to Ed Sheehan when he was running for Harvard. He'd quickly gone from average at best, to running 9:00 and under for two miles, he woulda been 19 or 20. I said, "What did you do to improve?"

Ed says "90 miles per week."

I knew Ed from high school XC racing in Easter MA.

I wouldn't; part of what makes running interesting for me so far is wondering "I wonder what time I get if I run X mileage"

That's the way I took your answer, some people look for the worst.

agree

Maybe you have not run a 5K? Its a gut buster and if your best is 15 min, i would say sub 5 PACE isnt easy at all. As a matter of fact it would be literally your limit, not running "easily".

Would take that deal for sure. I averaged 56k last year. I wish I could average 56 miles without getting injured, let alone 100.

I peaked at 130mpw in college and ran 14:11 (pre-super shoes!). I had a certain coach who now has an ncaa champion and our mileage was...extreme. I believe if I had "only" run 100 I would have run sub 14. Oh well.

Please just name him and we're all good.