Fax wrote:
Literally how you gonna run that much and have a healthy balance between all facets of your life? And these are the type of people who probably also do strength work, too.
I'm not running 100 mpw, but I've been gradually building over two years, since resuming running and I'm up to 80 mpw, now. I used to think 80 mpw would have been impossible for me. While I've never ramped it up as high as 100 mpw, now that I've conquered 80, 100 mpw and beyond seems attainable to me now.
High-mileage helpers:
Having a significant other also highly committed to fitness, helps. My wife spends a lot of time on her own fitness, practicing and teaching yoga, which helps. She also used to run. It's hard for her to tell me not to do a 2 hr run, when she's spending two hours on a yoga class, if you include the commute. If she was an anti-exercise slug, it would likely create more conflict than it does, which currently isn't much, if any.
Having an agreeable work schedule, helps. I have a full time job, but the hours are very regular and predictable. I used to have a full time job where my hours bounced around between days, nights, and every shift in between, which made high mileage nearly impossible. Regular hours have made it possible.
Not having babies or little kids, helps. I have kids, but they've gotten old enough (12 and 15) that they don't need constant care and have their own activities they want to do with their friends and don't need (or want) mom and dad around them 24/7. When we had little kids, high mileage would have been hard, seen as selfish by my wife, not to mention take me away from the most fun times I spent with my kids. Now that they're older, and I'm older, high mileage makes more sense, as long as my body can handle it.
Doing your runs before everything else, helps. Probably the biggest thing that's allowed me to build from 15-40 mpw, up to 80, has been a commitment to get up early and do the running first thing in the a.m., before my family wakes up. I'm not a morning person at all, and physically my body feels most ready to run later in the day. But now that I'm used to it, running in the a.m. has been hugely helpful (not to mention helping beat the Southeast heat). It's pretty hard for the wife, family or friends to pull me away from a run, if I've already knocked out 10 miles before they've woken up. Also, I've grown to love running when almost no one else is out there. Early a.m. running has also made it such that if a social event comes up in the evening, I'm ready to go and never have to bow out due to running. It's already in the bag before the day has even started.
The only downside of the early morning running, is that it means a lot of falling asleep on the couch an hour or two before I normally would go to sleep. But it's not entirely bad, because that's typically the time of day I'd otherwise be pis$ing away on a forgettable show or pointless internet wandering.
It's doable. But you've got to be committed, disciplined and the planets of work, family and significant others must be aligned.