Winter Training 800-3200 HS

yeah try and step up the mileage some, and then just do threshold workouts, fartleks and hills for a while. After a few weeks of that you can jump on the track and do some VO2 max stuff, and maybe some 1600/3200 race pace stuff as well (just dont make it too hard, or you'll peak early). With a good winter I'd bet you could run in the 4:25/9:35 range.

if you're in highschool don't bump it up, 60 miles is pushing it for a highschool athlete, if you go any higher it's going to mean it will take a lot more work for you to improve in college. consistency on the other hand does bring great improvements and i think if you just keep plugging in those 60 mile weeks you'll have a great track season, come this summer as you head into college (which i hope is the case after almost 2 years at 60) consider spending the summer at 70, then do what your college coach lets you do. I know highschool runners who were doing 90 mile weeks in highschool and i thought they were gods cause the guy run a 9:40 duece, now he is in college and in my conference, and while i'm still a 55-65 mpw runner he is a 120 mpw runner with a 15:09 track 5k while i've got a 15:28. the way i look at it if i'm ever doing 100 mile weeks i'd better atleast be under 15:00 for 5k. anyway about it this kid is my prime example of burn out, sure he's still running well, and competing at a high level in his conference, but that's not much improvement for the amount of work that he's doing and that's cause he did too much in highschool

Are you really claiming that your path is better because it's more "efficient"?

I think the goal of racing is to beat your competitors. It's looks to me as if your high mileage friend is continuing to kick your butt. There are no medals for "most efficient use of training time".

Most guys are done with serious running by the time they finish college. Jobs, family, and other things begin to take priority. Strike while the iron's hot and stop worrying about burning out, especially while you're getting your ass kicked by those willing to do the work.

If you've spent two years in the sixty mpw range and stayed healthy, then, sure, bump up the mileage a bit this winter. You should take about a month-and-a half to two months to build up from wherever you usually start mileage-wise to a peak week of 70, not incorporating anything faster than threshold pace (30s/mile slower than CURRENT estimated 5k race pace) other than 6-10 x 75-150m strides 2-3 x week after your easy runs. I wouldn't do anystructured workouts during this time, sticking to aerobic fartleks, long hills, and cutdown runs (using effort as your gauge rather than a watch) 1-3 x week depending on how you feel.

Once you've built up to this new peak mileage, you should definitely be careful. If you feel something coming on either sickness- or injury-wise, drop the both the intensity and the mileage. Also, you shouldn't be hitting your peak mileage every week. A four-week cycle might go something like:

Week 1) 70 mpw w/ a threshold mile workout, a 30-40 minute tempo run, and a 14 mile long run

Week 2) 60 mpw w/ a 5-8 mile cutdown from 90s/mile slower than 5k pace to threshold, 12-20 x 400 @ 5k pace w/ equal recovery, a 20 minute continuous threshold, and a 13-mile long run

Week 3) 70 mpw w/ a 30-40 minute tempo, a long hill workout, and a 14 mile long run

Week 4) 50 mpw w/ a 12-mile long run, a 20-30 minute tempo run, and a 3k-10k race (this doesn't need to be done every cycle, and can be replaced by a hill workout, a a workout w/ 20 total minutes of threshold [like 4 x 5 minutes], or some shorter 5k-paced stuff like the 400s workout again)

Consistent uppage

is that too much intensity each week?

yo

so you wouldn't do any 3200 pace work