Running high mileage is significantly easier than people think

what sort of paces were you running then and now?

and what kind of build di you do to get from 50 to your now 80+. was it aggressive or did you ease into it

how long from 17 to 15 mid for 5k?

I agree. I don't think 100mpw is that high of mileage though. Once you've done it and pushed your overall volume up you realize it isn't that bad. Anything more that you're doing or have done before is "high mileage" until you reach that point. Then just rinse and repeat.

You Use to be why I can no longer stand Strava. Bunch of 25 MPW people with 22min 5k prs running every easy run at 7 min pace. And they all compliment each other for how fast they are every day and probably look down on actual fast runners who take easy days slowly.

Most people who do doubles are unemployed.

It is hard to get to 100mpw with singles.

god the real one wrote:

You Use to be why I can no longer stand Strava. Bunch of 25 MPW people with 22min 5k prs running every easy run at 7 min pace. And they all compliment each other for how fast they are every day and probably look down on actual fast runners who take easy days slowly.

correct. common in high school as well

You’re right! I’m a sophomore in college right now. My Junior year of HS I averaged about 25 mpw and then Senior year I hit 10 weeks averaging 70 mpw. Freshman year of college I hit 4 100 mile weeks (2 in a row and the other 2 spread out). Right now I’ve averaged 100 or more for the past 6 or so weeks and after the 4th week I PRd in a 5k solo time trial (going 15:54 w/ my last lap being 60.x and 8 laps in a row at 77.x) at 5k+ ft altitude (just a month trip there). My old PR was 16:03 in the spring dying the last few laps at sea level with track workouts and tempos (only one tempo and hill workouts before my recent PR). The results were pretty large right away and then slow, I dropped my mile time my senior year 15 seconds, about 4 seconds indoors this year and then not at all in my time trials for “outdoors”, but this 5k shows a lot of promise for progress to start again. It’s a long process, but if you can maintain speed, you will improve a lot. Take your easy days (relative to PRs) easy! No need to go under 7 most days unless you’re a sub 15 min guy!

I don't know if it will work for everyone, but mileage works for me, and I wish I had tried it in high school. Back in the late 80s/90s, I though running 35 mpw was far - that's almost 6 miles, 6 days a week! Even though I remember feeling like I could be doing more on my easy days, which were often just 4 miles. I really wish I had taken a year to find out how I would have responded to running even 60 mpw in high school.

build build wrote:

what sort of paces were you running then and now?

and what kind of build di you do to get from 50 to your now 80+. was it aggressive or did you ease into it

how long from 17 to 15 mid for 5k?

So I used to have an obsession with every 'easy' run being sub-7 pace. I still do occasionally hit sub-7 but to be honest I rarely even look at my pace. I just use my watch for distance and might occasionally glance at my pace and think "Hey, this is pretty quick/slow".

Some runs have been as slow as 8:40 pace. I think the slowest mile I recorded was a 9:10.

I ran a 17:09 last May and was still in similar shape until around December. TT'd 15:35 last week.

I did it in quite a weird way. I ran easy every day, doubling as often as I could, and hit the target mileage each week. Then I took one rest day and did 5 extra miles the following week. (So basically a week of 70, 75, 80 etc.)

Then I started including 2 sessions per week, and I find now that 70 miles feels like nothing. I've had several weeks on the trot hitting the 90s at times, I always imagined I'd get injured training like this but I haven't had any injury troubles whatsoever. Been hitting this sort of mileage since around April. Feeling fitter than ever before.

Forgot to mention that I am OP, just logged in on a different device.

god the real one wrote:

You Use to be why I can no longer stand Strava. Bunch of 25 MPW people with 22min 5k prs running every easy run at 7 min pace. And they all compliment each other for how fast they are every day and probably look down on actual fast runners who take easy days slowly.

Yeah, sorry about that haha. At least I never used Strava! People can change though if you teach them how!

You must be unemployed.

Doubles?

100mpw?

Ain't nobody got time for that. Some Olympic champions aren't running that much.

Quality > quantity.

Who said it was hard? Most just don't want to commit that kind of time to running.

The only people I know who can sustain high mileage + full time job have the following characteristics:

Only need 7 hours of sleep per night

Naturally quick easy pace

No other hobbies

Super understanding spouse

why do you allow this to upset you?

Wowee wrote:

Some runs have been as slow as 8:40 pace. I think the slowest mile I recorded was a 9:10.

If you do most runs slower than 9:30 pace, you can build up to 150 mpw.

You may need to slow down to 10:00 if you want to go up to 180 mpw.

True. Been there and done that before. Did a whole bunch of miles at 10-11 min/mi pace. But at that pace training just feels like a complete slog. You'll also take a beating to your ego when casual joggers speed past you. The only time I'd run that slow is if I'm on a scenic trail and can take in the scenery. Otherwise, I'd die of boredom running 10 min miles on a suburban area.

Another downside to high mileage is that you literally become a ravenous wolf. Assuming that by running one mile burns 100 calories, tacking on an extra 50 miles per week would mean an increase of 5000 calories consumed. That's the equivalent of eating 2 extra days worth of meals. Of course, it's real easy to find calorically dense foods these days, but you'd find yourself hungry all the time. I've found while running high mileage I'm always hungry outside of running.

adios99 wrote:

You must be unemployed.

Doubles?

100mpw?

Ain't nobody got time for that. Some Olympic champions aren't running that much.

Quality > quantity.

I fail to see why I'd need to be unemployed. Here's a very simple way I can fit my runs into my day:

Wake up 6:15

Set off 6:45

Run 8 miles, get back 7:45

Set off to work 8:30

Arrive home 17:30, get changed

Set off again 17:50

Run 5 miles, get back at 18:30

~3.5 - 4 hours of spare time

Bed at 22:15, 8 hours of sleep

It's not my fault y'all chose to have 7 kids and have to spend every minute looking after them.

It really is.

Forgo all quality for a few weeks and bump the miles with easy runs. All of a sudden your mindset shifts.

I used to think that 40mpw was my "injury ceiling" but after a few 90s, I'm now tapering and 55/60mpw seems like I've hardly ran at all.

socks>shoes wrote:

Forgo all quality for a few weeks and bump the miles with easy runs. All of a sudden your mindset shifts.

I used to think that 40mpw was my "injury ceiling" but after a few 90s, I'm now tapering and 55/60mpw seems like I've hardly ran at all.

Same for me, on crappy mileage. I thought 20 miles a week was a lot... upped to 30 and it felt impossible at first. Slowed down, ran a few weeks at 40 and on at 50. Now 30 is easy and 20 seems like a rest week.