Running high mileage is significantly easier than people think

PBandY wrote:

High Mileage Runner wrote:

Like I mentioned before, if you have no spare time because you have kids to look after, that's your fault. Nobody forced you to have kids at such a young age.

It's not that you can't. It's that you don't want to.

1) I appreciate the discussion you've started. Over the last 10 years, I've trained pretty seriously and have broken barriers that I never imagined were possible for me. However, I've also been hobbled by injuries and am in a serious "soul searching" mode with regards to running. As someone who is routinely running my easy miles at 6:45 to 7:00 minute pace (and now believes that has played a big part in my cycle of injuries), I thank you for sharing your anecdotes and success. It's made me re-think how I'm training.

2) Unprompted, you've dinged parents twice in this thread. I've beaten people faster than you while wearing a breast-milk vomit stained singlet and after 3 hours of sleep.

babushka_lady wrote:

build build 2 wrote:

.....

also to everyone saying this high mileage isnt possible with a job/family is full of sh!t. if you work 10 hours a day (including lunch break + commute), sleep for 8 that leaves 6 hours for other stuff. Call it 1 hour for cooking and eating and other misc. chores like laundry. then still 5 hours left. take 1 - 2 hours of running a day, plus 2 hour long runs. the time is there, people problem is motivation

amateur triathletes will put in 10-12 hours a week just to be average at 70.3/140.6 distances and that doesnt include the commute they have to get to a gym to swim . the better ones are putting in 15-20. to run 100 mpw you really only need to be doing 10-12 hours a week

The problem is, this isn't at all accurate.

-Most amateur triathletes you're talking about are middle-age crisis folk who have jobs that allow them time to train, and the internal need to validate themselves with athletic performances, which often leads to additional trouble in their personal life as they eschew their families for the aforementioned validation. They're also swimming, on average 2x a week and depending on that wetsuit to boost their performance. The swim is the most meaningless part of 70.3/140.6. Additionally, most of the running and biking they do is aerobic, so they're not traveling to places to do workouts, which is something serious runners would do.

-"Sleep for 8 hours" yeah buddy. Everytime I see this on letsrun it completely ignores the fact that not all the time you spend in bed is spent "asleep". Depending on your sleep efficiency, you could need 8 hours of time in bed to get 6.5 hours of quality sleep. Anyone properly running 10-12 hours a week is going to need on average 9-10 hours in bed to get the quality sleep necessary for recovery. Unless you plan on burning the candle at both ends until you get injured, which is also what a lot of your "average triathletes doing 10-12 hours a week" are doing.

-I've never heard of an "average" person holding down a legit 8 hour/day job, which is 9 with lunch, and 10 hours for the average commute, and closer to 11 hours when you consider all the time spent getting ready for work as well, I've never heard of someone like that putting in 15-20 hours of training for triathlon.

-What are you cooking and eating where it only takes you 1 hour a day? It takes me at least an hour to eat enough dinner to support the training I already do.

-"the problem is people's motivation". Ah yes. If people can't do it, they must not want it enough. Classic dumba$$ libertarian thinking. Not very different from "those people are poor because they don't work hard enough to get a job". Both are often said by people with little to no self-awareness.

Truth of the matter is that you can't be on 100% of the day. Even on my best days, it takes me 15 minutes to decompress after getting home from work before getting ready to run, which is something else you didn't factor into your little 'schedule'. Running doubles, you're probably showering 2x a day, getting ready for runs, decompressing after runs - that could easily be another 1.5 hours on top of the running you're already doing. And you're saying that you've got to have the mental and physical energy to do intense workouts on top of that?

The only way this would be possible, would be if you're single, don't actually work 8 hours a day, work from home, or you're a genetic freak who can thrive off of 4 hours of sleep.

Also, nowhere in this entire thread, is a reason for why 100 mile weeks are necessary

dadsfadsfdasfdsafdas wrote:

High Mileage Runner wrote:

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. You've attempted to mock me but in the process you've made a complete fool of yourself. I will refrain from mocking you in retaliation as I sympathise with those who suffer from dyscalculia. I shall explain why you are incorrect:

8 miles in 1 hour is a pace of 7:30 per mile, while a 27 minute 10k is a pace of roughly 4:24 per mile. Despite what you suggest, running 8 miles at 7:30 pace does not suggest I am in the sort of shape in which I could sustain a pace over 3 minutes per mile faster.

Spend more time reading this board. Run a mere 3 mins/mile slower than your 10k pace is going to leave you burnt out and injured in no time at all. I have read that on numerous letsrun threads so it most be true.

And lets not even mention, you. aren't even hitting 100mpw. Run a more reasonable 140mpw and see where the time goes....

babushka_lady wrote:

The problem is, this isn't at all accurate.

-Most amateur triathletes you're talking about are middle-age crisis folk who have jobs that allow them time to train, and the internal need to validate themselves with athletic performances, which often leads to additional trouble in their personal life as they eschew their families for the aforementioned validation. They're also swimming, on average 2x a week and depending on that wetsuit to boost their performance. The swim is the most meaningless part of 70.3/140.6. Additionally, most of the running and biking they do is aerobic, so they're not traveling to places to do workouts, which is something serious runners would do.

-"Sleep for 8 hours" yeah buddy. Everytime I see this on letsrun it completely ignores the fact that not all the time you spend in bed is spent "asleep". Depending on your sleep efficiency, you could need 8 hours of time in bed to get 6.5 hours of quality sleep. Anyone properly running 10-12 hours a week is going to need on average 9-10 hours in bed to get the quality sleep necessary for recovery. Unless you plan on burning the candle at both ends until you get injured, which is also what a lot of your "average triathletes doing 10-12 hours a week" are doing.

-I've never heard of an "average" person holding down a legit 8 hour/day job, which is 9 with lunch, and 10 hours for the average commute, and closer to 11 hours when you consider all the time spent getting ready for work as well, I've never heard of someone like that putting in 15-20 hours of training for triathlon.

-What are you cooking and eating where it only takes you 1 hour a day? It takes me at least an hour to eat enough dinner to support the training I already do.

-"the problem is people's motivation". Ah yes. If people can't do it, they must not want it enough. Classic dumba$$ libertarian thinking. Not very different from "those people are poor because they don't work hard enough to get a job". Both are often said by people with little to no self-awareness.

Truth of the matter is that you can't be on 100% of the day. Even on my best days, it takes me 15 minutes to decompress after getting home from work before getting ready to run, which is something else you didn't factor into your little 'schedule'. Running doubles, you're probably showering 2x a day, getting ready for runs, decompressing after runs - that could easily be another 1.5 hours on top of the running you're already doing. And you're saying that you've got to have the mental and physical energy to do intense workouts on top of that?

The only way this would be possible, would be if you're single, don't actually work 8 hours a day, work from home, or you're a genetic freak who can thrive off of 4 hours of sleep.

Also, nowhere in this entire thread, is a reason for why 100 mile weeks are necessary

dadsfadsfdasfdsafdas wrote:

High Mileage Runner wrote:

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. You've attempted to mock me but in the process you've made a complete fool of yourself. I will refrain from mocking you in retaliation as I sympathise with those who suffer from dyscalculia. I shall explain why you are incorrect:

8 miles in 1 hour is a pace of 7:30 per mile, while a 27 minute 10k is a pace of roughly 4:24 per mile. Despite what you suggest, running 8 miles at 7:30 pace does not suggest I am in the sort of shape in which I could sustain a pace over 3 minutes per mile faster.

Spend more time reading this board. Run a mere 3 mins/mile slower than your 10k pace is going to leave you burnt out and injured in no time at all. I have read that on numerous letsrun threads so it most be true.

And lets not even mention, you. aren't even hitting 100mpw. Run a more reasonable 140mpw and see where the time goes....

High Mileage Runner wrote:

Babushka, you do realise there are 24 hours in a day, right? I have no idea how you've come up with such silly logic about how it's 'impossible'.

Let's even assume you need to spend 9 hours per night in bed (which isn't true) here's some simple maths:

9 of the 24 hours are spent sleeping, that's 15 hours remaining.

8 of the remaining 15 hours are spent at work. That's 7 hours remaining.

1 of the remaining 7 hours is spent travelling to and from work. That's 6 hours remaining.

1 of the remaining 6 hours is spent preparing and eating food. That's 5 hours remaining.

1 of the remaining 5 hours is spent performing other miscellaneous tasks, such as showering and cleaning. That's 4 hours remaining.

This leaves us with 4 hours, during which you need to spend 1-2 of them running. Now please explain to me why you don't have time. Even if you argue "It takes way more than an hour to cook" (which isn't true) you'd still have 3.5 hours to complete less than 2 hours of running.

Any other tasks, such as shopping, getting hair cuts etc. can be performed on weekends when you have the whole day at your disposal.

Like I mentioned before, if you have no spare time because you have kids to look after, that's your fault. Nobody forced you to have kids at such a young age.

It's not that you can't. It's that you don't want to.

Swim Bike Run wrote:

babushka_lady wrote:

The problem is, this isn't at all accurate.

-Most amateur triathletes you're talking about are middle-age crisis folk who have jobs that allow them time to train, and the internal need to validate themselves with athletic performances, which often leads to additional trouble in their personal life as they eschew their families for the aforementioned validation. They're also swimming, on average 2x a week and depending on that wetsuit to boost their performance. The swim is the most meaningless part of 70.3/140.6. Additionally, most of the running and biking they do is aerobic, so they're not traveling to places to do workouts, which is something serious runners would do.

-"Sleep for 8 hours" yeah buddy. Everytime I see this on letsrun it completely ignores the fact that not all the time you spend in bed is spent "asleep". Depending on your sleep efficiency, you could need 8 hours of time in bed to get 6.5 hours of quality sleep. Anyone properly running 10-12 hours a week is going to need on average 9-10 hours in bed to get the quality sleep necessary for recovery. Unless you plan on burning the candle at both ends until you get injured, which is also what a lot of your "average triathletes doing 10-12 hours a week" are doing.

-I've never heard of an "average" person holding down a legit 8 hour/day job, which is 9 with lunch, and 10 hours for the average commute, and closer to 11 hours when you consider all the time spent getting ready for work as well, I've never heard of someone like that putting in 15-20 hours of training for triathlon.

-What are you cooking and eating where it only takes you 1 hour a day? It takes me at least an hour to eat enough dinner to support the training I already do.

-"the problem is people's motivation". Ah yes. If people can't do it, they must not want it enough. Classic dumba$$ libertarian thinking. Not very different from "those people are poor because they don't work hard enough to get a job". Both are often said by people with little to no self-awareness.

Truth of the matter is that you can't be on 100% of the day. Even on my best days, it takes me 15 minutes to decompress after getting home from work before getting ready to run, which is something else you didn't factor into your little 'schedule'. Running doubles, you're probably showering 2x a day, getting ready for runs, decompressing after runs - that could easily be another 1.5 hours on top of the running you're already doing. And you're saying that you've got to have the mental and physical energy to do intense workouts on top of that?

The only way this would be possible, would be if you're single, don't actually work 8 hours a day, work from home, or you're a genetic freak who can thrive off of 4 hours of sleep.

Also, nowhere in this entire thread, is a reason for why 100 mile weeks are necessary

In a word; BS.

Say you WORK 50 hour weeks. That give you 118 hours remaining.

Sleep 8 hours per night, every night: 62 hours.

Spend 20 HOURS on family time: 42.

1 hour family dinner: 35

10 hours on household chores, cooking, etc 25

1 hour in the mornings: 17

1 hour of commuting: 12.

12 Hours remaining.

Reality is,

Most people don't work 50 hour weeks.

Most people don't eat dinner as a family.

Most people don't spend 20+ hours with their family every week.

There is time, make the most of it. I hate it when people blame kids for lack of commitment. I have a client with three daughters. He has been to Kona 4 times as an amateur. Drops his daughters off at soccer practice and gets an interval run in during their practice, instead of sitting his butt in a lawn chair like all the other parents. When tournaments happen, he takes his bike. He'll watch the first game, go on a 2+ hour training ride between games and be back for the second. His daughters look up to him as he trains his ass off and provides for the family as well and spends time with them. During the summer, they go on runs together and make it their family time.

Another client - Working mother in corporate America. Drives into the office Monday with clothes for the week and drives home. Might work an extra hour or two on projects on Monday. On Tuesday-Thursday she'll ride her bike in and use it to get a 15-25 mile workout ride in (corporate building gym with showers). She'll either then run home (6-8 miles) or ride home and swing by the pool. Rinse and repeat till Friday when she drives in again to pick up dirty clothes. This way, she's using her commute time AS her workout time. Win/Win regarding time management and workload.

And about cooking, ever tried meal prepping? My wife and I cook on Sunday and those last through Wednesday. We cook again Wednesday and those last through Saturday. Saves us at least an hour per day in not having to cook or clean the kitchen.

Don't use your kids as an example. Set an example for them.

High Mileage Runner wrote:

So I ran all through my teenage years but never really went above 35MPW. I always thought that was my limit. "I get injured if I do more than 35 miles in a week." And this seemed to be the case, as I was injured on a very frequent basis.

Fast forward to last year. I finally 'got a clue' and decided to learn how to train proplerly. I'd been pushing far too hard on every run. My easy runs were more like tempo runs, and my hard sessions were always 10/10 effort, my body just couldn't hanlde the intensity.

In the latter stages of last year, I was running 50 mile weeks for the first time in my life. The difference being that I took my easy runs easy and stopped going all out on hard days. I also do pretty much all my easy days as doubles unless I absolutely can't find time for a second run.

Now I can only look back at my past self from a year ago and think about what an idiot he is. These past few months, I've been averaging just under 80MPW with a number of weeks at 90+, I now think of 70MPW as an easy week. My 5k time has dropped from low 17's to mid 15's. My 10k pace is now faster than my 5k pace was less than a year ago. My HM pace is now faster than my old 10k pace...

If you told me this time last year that I'd EVER run a 90 mile week I'd have laughed in your face but now I think doing 100 or even 110 doesn't sound that bad, I think most people underestimate what our bodies are capable of.

So the point of this thread is to say this:

If you're one of those people who says "If I go over 30MPW I get injured every time!" You're wrong! Just run a week of nothing but easy doubles and once you've done that before you know it you'll be running that same mileage with 2 hard sessions and some gym work thrown in.