Finding Mileage Sweet Spot

Training Advice/Discussion General

3 years ago 04/19/2021 4:20am EDT

Hey!!! I am a relatively new runner (slightly 1 year into running) and am currently in my base training and am hoping to find my mileage sweet spot.

Currently, my schedule has 2 main workout sessions which have a total of about 8 miles worth of quality work. On the other days, I run about 35 miles worth of easy running (8 miles on normal days and 10 miles on long runs). This total up to about 40+ mpw excluding warm-ups, cool-downs and strides. I have been around this mileage for about 4-5 weeks.

I understand that finding mileage sweet spot is through trial and error. I heard that over the sweet spot, the person might be susceptible to injury or not able to perform optimally on workout days. What are some signs that I am at my mileage sweet spot? What are also some methods that y'all have used to find out this mileage?

3 years ago 04/19/2021 4:33am EDT

re: NotRadio

Keep watching out for how your body is recovering in between workouts and if there are any niggles or sore areas developing. Sometimes a person can be doing great at a mileage and then there training changes, say like higher speed reps and suddenly something gets sore and they have a little injury develop. I've had this happen many, many times with everything going fine and then suddenly something gets sore. Make sure to get easy on your easy days, that is one of the best way to slowly bump your mileage up with just doing easy, easy miles. Make sure you are getting good nutrition and enough protein, that makes a big difference with recovery. When I've slacked on getting enough protein my recover ability plummets. Currently I'm doing 160k/ week with now issues . But I've also done much less mileage and had issues. Listen to your body and know when to back off.

3 years ago 04/20/2021 4:10am EDT

re: NotRadio

There's no fixed mileage sweet spot. It's a moving target. If you want to get close to your potential as a runner, you need to constantly strive to increase your mileage season to season. As the guy above said, listen to your body! What could be your peak load now will become a down week in a few years or even months. Recovery time is very trainable.

There's a law of diminishing returns in play, but it's up to you to decide when the gained performance is not worth the risk anymore. Don't worry about it now, 1 year into running you have no idea of your eventual limits. They are most likely more close to 100mpw than to 40.

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