What is considered high mileage for high school girls?

redmeansdead wrote:

But is this mileage during the outdoor season? If so then they might be doing alot of intervals and speed work in addition to racing. Perhaps 15 per week isn't as appalling during the outdoor track season as it would be during cross country season.

Wrong.

If they run just 5 days a week (which is true for maybe 50-90% of female HS runners) then that is still 3 miles per day. That assumes NO AM RUNS EVER and just 1 mile warmup and warmdown and just 1600m of intervals. EVERY DAY. I think I did that light a workout about twice in four years.

So if someone was running 6-7 times a week that would be a ridiculously light load every day. We did 3 miles probably twice in season, and twice during a taper, per season. You couldn't do that every day and expect to be successful.

I used to swim more yards than that in middle school.

The above plan is quite ridiculous if you ask me! There is no reason why a HS girl should run 2 60:00 runs plus a 90:00 run in the same week, along with two workouts. Keep the miles down around 30-50 a week and like the above poster mentioned, don't burn them out. Some of these girls' best days are ahead of them in college. I think that is what is wrong with american distance running these days. HS coaches need to look at the big picture and bring these girls or boys along slowly. There should be a huge difference in the training of a frosh in HS and a Senior in college! A girl running 70 a week in HS has nowhere to go in college and will most likely burn out or not get better. As a college coach and former hs coach, I myself also like the diamond in the ruffs that come from small programs where the girls might be running 20-30 a week and still running good times. They have more room for improvement due to the fact you can increase their workload and intensity. Too many HS coaches want eveything out of their kids in the 4 years they have them. 10 CC races a year, and 16 track meets where they run 4 events 2-3 times a week. Burnout and nothing left for college. Just some more thoughts!

You have a point, but I think too many people are assuming that the pace for a 90 or even 60 minute conditioning run is the same as what someone might run a 6 x 400 interval session. That's ridiculous. If a coach is having their young athlete set a blistering, balls to the wall, suicide pace in a 60 minute run, let's say, then yes that is going to lead to burn-out and/or injury. But if the young athlete is running that at say, a conversational pace or even a bit faster, that is NOT the same as dropping the hammer on a 60 minute run.

60mpw. If they are seniors and have not burnedout/injured and they are good... then I would recommend that they run 60-70. 35-45 in season.