My experience has been the opposite. I have found that most people, who are of normal weight (not obese), they can work up to 50miles (80KM). It's once you get past 50 miles that you start to see people who just can't do it.
That can change quite a bit with how you get to 50 miles, too much too soon, or if you are overly aggressive with speed work, but just running 50 miles a week is pretty easy. But otherwise, 50 miles is just 10Km a day with a 20Km long run on Sunday. That's not asking a lot.
It really wouldn't be like this at all, because soccer involves regular spurts of high speed running.
It's clear from all of your responses that you're running too fast on your easy days.
If you don't want to run 50 mpw, then don't.
If you do, run way slower on your easy days.
high mileage isn't what it's cracked up to be wrote:
Nitpicking here, but a 7 min mile is several orders of magnitude easier than a 30 mile week.
7 min mile is easier for a 25 yr old man. 30mpw is easier for a 45 yr old woman.
high mileage isn't what it's cracked up to be wrote:
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50 mpw would be like playing a full length soccer game every day with no rest days. How anyone thinks that most people can handle that volume of activity is beyond me.
Most people can’t. But most runners, can. If you can get up to 45 mpw, there’s nothing special about 50. Nothing magical happens at 50. It’s a mental block for you. Slow down, way down, like a minute or two per mile, slower. And be much more gradual and you’ll get there. Slow down, in pace and build up.
I am one of these unfortunate runners.
Even if I do a 4 month buildup, with down weeks every 4, I get injured once I hit 50 mpw. It’s like clockwork. The highest I can maintain while remaining healthy is 40. I’ll never understand why.
why is 175 lbs unhealthy, doctor?
What is your body type? It maybe be running is not best suitable sports/activity for you. I would say that for at least 1/2 the people. Actually most likely even more like 3/4.
The issue isn't your body it's your mindset. With your current attitude you will never run 50 miles a week and not "break down". You are in a cycle of anxiety that isn't gonna allow you to recover. People on here saying that 50 miles isn't much don't have the same mental block in the same area you do. I say this as someone who can run 120+ miles a week for months but cannot go to sleep with a dirty kitchen because it bugs me so much. We are all weird and I think the first step is admitting that mentality goes a long way into getting rid of mental blocks that are keeping you from sleeping/eating running more.
a great quote from a great coach: there is no such thing as over training just under recovering. - Coach Vigil
Mileage doesn't dictate how much you need to recover.. how much you can recover dictates how much you can train.
GettingFasterDude wrote:
high mileage isn't what it's cracked up to be wrote:
[
50 mpw would be like playing a full length soccer game every day with no rest days. How anyone thinks that most people can handle that volume of activity is beyond me.
If you can get up to 45 mpw, there’s nothing special about 50. Nothing magical happens at 50. It’s a mental block for you.
The OP and many others on here, including myself, already feel bad at 45 mpw. 50 mpw is a nice cutoff. The limit may not be at 50, it may be 49 or 53 or 48 or 51.567. But it's nowhere near the 70-80 mpw range that some people are claiming.
Aren't some studies proven that 4 mile easy run is better revovery than no running?
In strava I see lot of runners not running for many days and then run 15 miles in one day. That could be reason for injuries.
How many times a week You do strength workout?
Are You going to gym? Are You jumping?
Zev wrote:
high mileage isn't what it's cracked up to be wrote:
I hear a lot about 100 mile weeks, but based on my experiences, it's physically impossible for many people to get to even half of that amount. I obviously don't have an exact figure, but my rough guess is that no more than 1 in 3 able bodied young men of a healthy weight can handle it.
It's simply a question of workload vs. recovery. Even if you slowly build up to it and take down weeks, there is a point where you simply cannot handle the miles without breaking down. Sometimes this takes the form of injuries, and sometimes this takes the form of a big performance drop. Either way, running 50+ mpw will not lead to good performances for most.
I know many people, including myself, who've failed to succeed on 50 mpw. Many attempts end in stress fractures, Achilles problems, and other injuries, but the ones that don't feel downright miserable. You know you need to eat more, but you have no appetite, and even junk food doesn't look appealing. You know you need to sleep and recover, but it's almost as if you're too exhausted and nervous to sleep.
It's like you're on a Himalayan climbing expedition or something. Every run feels like you're dragging a load of elephants even though you haven't gone anaerobic in months. Downhill runs feel like flat surfaces, flat runs feel like climbs, and shallow climbs feel like you need hiking poles to ascend them.
And then come the races or time trials. So far, you've avoided bringing your watch or running with anyone else because finding out how slow you are would be too demoralizing. But you can't avoid the clock forever. So you take one off day, one short easy day, and then step up to the line. You're way off from your PRs, get outkicked by people you know you should easily beat, and are left wondering the following:
Why should I even go through all that if it just makes me slower?
I'm a Masters Runner and until June 2020 I was running 55mpw for several years, plus an additional 50-60mpw cycling. Full time job 830-500 on top of it. I live alone which is a bonus, but I still had an active social life and got all my stuff/chores taken care of and managed to get 7-8 hours of sleep per night.
It can be done, and rather easily at that. It just takes discipline and managing your time wisely.
I got rather sick (not covid) in June of 2020 and didn't run much last year either. Currently back to base building and I should be back to 50-55mpw by the first day of Summer 2022.
16;38; 37:39.
not fast at all, but proof it can be done.
I am intrigued by your times because your 5K time is much, much, better than your 10km time. An equivalent time for your 10K would be about 34:30 -35:00. You might want to contact coach JS for a training plan to get your 10 km time down to optimal level. Just an idea.
high mileage isn't what it's cracked up to be wrote:
I hear a lot about 100 mile weeks, but based on my experiences, it's physically impossible for many people to get to even half of that amount. I obviously don't have an exact figure, but my rough guess is that no more than 1 in 3 able bodied young men of a healthy weight can handle it.
It's simply a question of workload vs. recovery. Even if you slowly build up to it and take down weeks, there is a point where you simply cannot handle the miles without breaking down. Sometimes this takes the form of injuries, and sometimes this takes the form of a big performance drop. Either way, running 50+ mpw will not lead to good performances for most.
I know many people, including myself, who've failed to succeed on 50 mpw. Many attempts end in stress fractures, Achilles problems, and other injuries, but the ones that don't feel downright miserable. You know you need to eat more, but you have no appetite, and even junk food doesn't look appealing. You know you need to sleep and recover, but it's almost as if you're too exhausted and nervous to sleep.
Yes its physically impossible for some people, because they are so dense that they cannot gradually build up mileage, decrease intensity to match the increased volume and make sure their nutrition and recovery is up to par. It seems like you are one of these people.
"Wannabe Distance God"
Tim Tay's.
Read it, learn it, love it.
OP may or may not be able to sustain 50mpw. But the facts that (a) he loses appetite when he runs more, and (b) he finds it harder to fall asleep when he runs more, suggest that he might be doing something wrong. (I experience the opposite when I run more, and that's probably true about most runners.)
lvrhs1992 wrote:
In strava I see lot of runners not running for many days and then run 15 miles in one day. That could be reason for injuries.
It's probably because they don't see their shorter runs as "impressive enough" to put on strava. It's all about bragging rights.
I know many weekend-warrior types who only run on Saturday and Sunday with 0 miles from Monday-Friday. But none of them are doing anywhere close to 15 miles in one day.
jazzytherunner wrote:
Also, it's strange how your appetite goes down with increased training load. Other runners have the exact opposite experience. Increased physical activity results in a huge appetite in other individuals. In fact, some people find that their appetite increases so much that they overeat and gain excess weight.
Just Another Hobby Jogger wrote:
OP may or may not be able to sustain 50mpw. But the facts that (a) he loses appetite when he runs more, and (b) he finds it harder to fall asleep when he runs more, suggest that he might be doing something wrong. (I experience the opposite when I run more, and that's probably true about most runners.)
He's overtrained. 50 mpw leads to overtraining for many:
https://hss.edu/article_overtraining.aspTraining-related signs of overtraining:
Inability to train or compete at a previously manageable level
Delays in recovery from training
Performance plateaus or declines
Thoughts of skipping or cutting short training sessions
Lifestyle-related signs of overtraining:
Prolonged general fatigue
Increase in tension, depression, anger or confusion
Inability to relax
Poor-quality sleep
Lack of energy, decreased motivation, moodiness
Not feeling joy from things that were once enjoyable
Health-related signs of overtraining:
Increased occurrences of illness
Increased blood pressure and at-rest heartrate
Weight loss; appetite loss
Check, check, check.
I agree. Our bodies are capable of amazing things. The caveat is that there are a huge number of potentially limiting factors, both mental and physical. Recovery can be more nuanced than we generally assume. (From my n=1, I suspect I've spent much of my adult life chronically dehydrated and borderline anemic. Probably within the generally accepted limits of healthy, but factor in the demands of training.. suddenly you wonder why it seems to be falling apart.)
In your case, I would definitely ask myself the value of pursuing that arbitrary number. And then, what do you most want to accomplish?
pretzel man wrote:
"Wannabe Distance God"
Tim Tay's.
Read it, learn it, love it.
Outstanding post!!
The Truth Hurts wrote:
I am one of these unfortunate runners.
Even if I do a 4 month buildup, with down weeks every 4, I get injured once I hit 50 mpw. It’s like clockwork. The highest I can maintain while remaining healthy is 40. I’ll never understand why.
Because you are doing too much too soon. Take 2-3 years and you can build up from say 35 now to 70. It takes years not months to adapt to mileage increases. Most people aren't patient enough and do a 25% increase and wonder why they get injured.