how many miles a week should you do for high school running and how many days a week

I've started looking at yearly volume for my athletes.

I was shocked by our miles per week, because all though we have seniors running upward of 60 - 70 miles a week during the summer, we probably average closer to 40 - 45 a week for seniors for the entire year (2000 miles in 50 weeks).

I think this is too little, but it seemed like more since we have those higher mileage weeks in the summer.

So when anyone asks me now how many miles we run a week, I don't tell them the highs during the summer, I tell them the average for the year.

Our goal:

9th - 30 - 35 mpw avg

10th - 40 - 45 mpw avg

11th - 45 - 50 mpw

12th - 50 - 60 mpw depending widely on the athlete, some thrive off higher miles and some don't, so we go case by case for each kid.

prillman, what are your pr's??

GOOD QUESTION !!!

IF YOU DID 50 a day that would be about 350 for the week, right? I think that should be your max. More than that and I can see it would get in the way of your social life.

AS FOR A MINIMUM, I would need to know WHAT YOU WANT out of your running. If you want to be fast and fameous and win money but want it to come to you by a fairy taping you with a wand so you don't have to actually WORK to make it happen, as most runners want, then the 60 usatf suggests is fine. (Hope your fairy godmother is a good one) If you actually WANT to succeed, have the desire to actually make it happen, then I think 60 is a joke. 250 would be better. Two or three workouts every day. Seven days a week. Not only run; think running; sleep running; eat running. Make it happen.

not fast...lol i'm shooting for 17:30 or so for 5000 in track i'm still 19 and i'm a soph in college but i should be there in the 5 mile its like 31:03. what about you man... idk about 250... i know that frank shorter was doing like 170 in the mountains which equals out to like 220 or something (just what i've been told)

oneHScoach wrote:

I've started looking at yearly volume for my athletes.

I was shocked by our miles per week, because all though we have seniors running upward of 60 - 70 miles a week during the summer, we probably average closer to 40 - 45 a week for seniors for the entire year (2000 miles in 50 weeks).

I think this is too little, but it seemed like more since we have those higher mileage weeks in the summer.

So when anyone asks me now how many miles we run a week, I don't tell them the highs during the summer, I tell them the average for the year.

Our goal:

9th - 30 - 35 mpw avg

10th - 40 - 45 mpw avg

11th - 45 - 50 mpw

12th - 50 - 60 mpw depending widely on the athlete, some thrive off higher miles and some don't, so we go case by case for each kid.

You're doing an excellent job. Annual goals are a must for serious, year-round runners.

That said, I hit the mid 80s some weeks my senior year (I think I averaged 60 or so for the year) and I dropped more than 4 min from my 2nd to 4th year in XC.

its totally dependent upon the athlete, i think systems such as the above are too limiting, not only on maximums, but on minimums also...kennedy ran 40mpw in HS i think...I ran 100 some weeks over the summer, though averaged about 60 for the entire year my senior year. I wouldn't recommend what I did however. There was a great lack of consistency, and it led to some erratic results i think.

some people can run 100's, some people thrive off of 40's...whatever floats your boat, especially on a high school level.

yeah i've been up to 84 w/ the xc team but never anywhere close to that ever b4 then like 35 when i was a senior in high school (lots of intervals) but i saw rather slowly actually... i want to try to hit about 100 or so to see how my body handles it and to see how much that will improve me as a runner... i'm pretty excited...i'm just curious but what state do you coach in?( just wondering b/c i know some states are like huge miles and others don't go quite as big)

prillman57 wrote:

i want to try to hit about 100 or so to see how my body handles it and to see how much that will improve me as a runner...

You don't have to run 100 miles in a week to run a 17:30 5K.

If you keep doing high mileage at your fitness level, you will probably never run 17:30.

well that will most likely be my peak week for this track season not consistanly i know that my legs won't turn over if i'm running 100 miles but w/ speed work twice a week i'll be fine