I'm a 40' 10k runner. What will happen if I start running 110mpw with just easy runs

I've done something very similar and am still a 40' 10k runner.

Excellent idea! What people lack is a basic aerobic fitness. Weight, body fat %, lean muscle development etc. You can only achieve this easy volume. It's the foundation for any intensity. Use the high milage as part of a process and as you move to higher efforts reduce volume.

Cancelino wrote:

Imagine no workouts. Just 20 miles on Sunday, and other days with 10 easy and 5 easy.

How much can I improve my times?

Get a coach if you are seriously thinking about it....

"I'm a 40' 10k runner. What will happen if I start running 110mpw with just easy runs[?]"

If you make it to the starting line healthy (big "if"), you'll run between 38 and 40 minutes.

But after you finish your pulse will drop below 120 faster than those of most of the people who finished a kilometer ahead of you, so I suppose that's some consolation.

Anyone who thinks they can predict his times after doing this is non-sense. Though injury is likely (I mean, it's likely for almost any runner at some point in any scenario), but in theory he could be a person who excels at this training. (As a natural 400-800 person myself who also runs a 40min 10k, i would NOT)

Only one way to find out! For science.

But maybe try easing in to some 80 miles weeks before 110. 110 is a lot even for runners. I know people run more, evenn160+, but 110 is a lot.

I'm not actually going to run 110 mpw. I don't have the time and especially the will to actually do it. And I know that with workouts someone improves much more. But, let's say that I will start actually doing it. Suppose a healthy athlete with a BMI of 19 racks loads of miles, what will his results be after 2 years?

Look, I don’t know the OP and how he would respond to training. Maybe if they’re lucky their body will respond to high volume-low intensity but most people at least need some sharpening. I’m not re reading the whole article but I have many times over the years and I believe that Wejo ran some quality days in his training, but the original post asked about ONLY running that many Easy miles and no speedwork included.

what will happen? You'll get really bored of all those miles.

Honestly , if you are a hobby jogger probably not at all . One speed for all distances . I mean a guy I know runs the 400 meters at his 10 k . Poster child Hobby jogger

Don't know enough about you to predict but I tried this in my late 20s. At the time I was an 18:30-19 min 5k runner and just did easy runs twice a day. I didn't intend to build mileage that fast but I just ran what felt good and went from running 20 mpw to 100+ in about a month. I ended up running 52 straight 100 mile weeks.

After three 100 mile weeks I ran a 5k in 17:11 (a pr at the time)

after seven I ran a 16:42;

after three months I ran a 16:23 on the track

after 9 months I ran my first HM (no taper) and went 1:14.

So I essentially ran 8-9, min pace all the time because it felt good, but I just jumped into a race almost every week or every other week and used those as my workouts. Had a lot of fun, ran way faster than I thought I could and was never injured.

Juice Springsteen wrote:

Look, I don’t know the OP and how he would respond to training. Maybe if they’re lucky their body will respond to high volume-low intensity but most people at least need some sharpening. I’m not re reading the whole article but I have many times over the years and I believe that Wejo ran some quality days in his training, but the original post asked about ONLY running that many Easy miles and no speedwork included.

I understand that, but it’s still wrong that he would only get better at running easy pace. With quality added, the fitness gains would simply be much greater (if the athlete could handle it)

A lot of posters are reporting the risk of injury. If the build up is slow and sustainable, the injury risk is lower than that of doing hard workouts.

Mileage alone doesn't do it. If you're young, you should still have speed, but you need the workouts from 150-300 speedwork but to 4-6 mile tempos if you are going to really drop a lot of time.

150-300 speedwork up to 4-6 mile tempos.

Hmmm. About as easy to answer as this: I work 40 hours per week and make $80K per year. How much more $ can I make if I work 80 hours per week?

52 straight 100 mile weeks is a lot of training, 14/15 hours per week.

What was your long run?

How did it feel with regards to fatigue? Harder than what you were doing previously with workouts? Did you have any problems with niggles? Did you have to stretch/roll/massage more?

What did you do after this streak, presumably reduced mileage and added workouts? Did your performance regress or improve?

Cancelino wrote:

Imagine no workouts. Just 20 miles on Sunday, and other days with 10 easy and 5 easy.

How much can I improve my times?

Try it out and let's see.

What's your current weight?

Assuming you do it gradually, at some point If you stick to 110m per week, you would probably get injured by some wear and tear injury, since even the elites at the peak of their marathon training run 115 miles only for about two months after building up, and then they rest after the race for a few weeks or even a month, and then build up again from about 60 miles per week. So annually they run only about 4 month 115 miles and in two different periods