Getting the Most out of 30 mpw

1. depends on what you are training for

2. what intensity you are training at

3. your goals

4. How fast your are running these 30 miles

5. depends if you are doing any speed work

You can be very productive with running only 30 miles a week.

Sorry about that. I should have told you what I'm doing.

Sun. 6 miles (6:45)

Mon. 4 miles (6:30)on hills (2 up 2 down)

Tuesday 3 miles (6:45)

Wednesday 5 miles (VO2 stuff 5 x 1000, 4 x 1200 etc.)

Thursday 3 miles (6:45)

Friday 4 miles (6:30)on hills (2 miles uphills and 2 downhills)

Sat. 5-6 (6:45)

Goals sub 34 (10K) and sub 16:20 (5K) on roads

OP: Depends on what you're training for, but the mix looks good. One small possible variant: going longer on Saturday and taking Sunday off (again, depending on the target distance).

you'd better not be doing much easy running.

i agree, assuming the OP has a good fitness base. with those stated goals, probably a safe assumption.

i'd go for 4 runs a week and make 3 of them quality, with one of the quality runs being the long run:

one long run

one tempo/long interval

one speed/short interval

one easy day

Here's a typical 30+/- week I did in my 20's:

Sunday: Day off

Monday: 6 x 880, 440 jog recovery, 5:00 or faster pace

Tuesday: 5 miles, 6:20 or faster pace

Wednesday: 3 mile tempo run, 5:20 or faster pace, or 4 mile tempo run, 5:30 or faster pace

Thursday: 5 miles, 6:20 or faster pace

Friday: 6 x 880, 440 jog recovery, 5:00 or faster pace

Saturday: 8 miles, 6:40 or faster pace

When you do low mileage, intervals and tempo runs have to be your bread and butter. And the shorter distance runs you do need to be more aggressive than if you are a high mileage runner. I think that's the only way you are going to achieve good times and compete successfully against higher mileage runners.

Typical week for me...I only run (3) days a week.

Example:

Tues: 3 miles warm-up +

5 x 1000 w/400 RI

3 miles cool-down;

Thurs: 2 miles warm-up +

4 miles @ Tempo pace

2 miles cool-down;

Sat: 10 miles @ Marathon Pace.

Still run pretty decently for my advanced age (41).

i'm 17, i do all of my mileage below 5k-10k pace

"5k pace is golden. It eliminates the need for higher mileage" Seb Coe

my training is

day 1 12-15 miles @ 5:00-5;10

day 2 6-7 miles @ 4:30-4:40

day 3 hilly 4-6 miles @ 4:40-4:50

day 4(sometimes) 10 miles @ 5:00

none of these are continuous, i stop about every mile or so

i have the miles marked on all of my routes

in other words

day 1 12-15X 5:00-5:10 mile with 1 minute breaks

day 2 6-7X 4:30-4:40 mile

etc, etc

I also do lots of strength and form stuff, which every runner should do, not just low mileage ones

Don't overthink it man. I ran about 15-20 miles a week (maybe less) in about 3-4 runs the summer before my senior year. My only foundation prior was a 4:52 mile track of my junior year the first season I ran. I didn't have a plan, but I ran EVERYTHING hard. I ended up running a 15:54 5k (legitimate course) at altitude in cross and eventually a 9:30ish 3200 in track the following spring, though I was running 50+ miles per week by that Winter. I also knew a guy in college who ran a 4:06 mile in high school running only 3-4 miles a day in the offseason, but he blasted everything. Just run hard and get adequate rest, maybe one low-key longish run.

only running 3-4 times a week has been great

by allowing a full recovery between maximum effort runs, I have improved much faster then i has thought possible. I was only an 18 min 5k guy a few months ago. i improved my average weekly pace by about 10-15 seconds a week. Now it is less the 5 seconds per week but its better then nothing

This topic is analogous to boiling water at room temperature, but ...

This will total 67 to 75 miles in two weeks. And that's the lowest total I'm willing to let you haggle me down to. Take it or leave it. If you want to knock off some jogging before or after the longer workouts or not run at all on some of those 3-4 mile days, maybe you can slice it to 30 per week. Just don't let me know about it. You basically get out of this sport what you put in.

Day 1: 1.5 miles of warmup jogging, 4-8 strides, 2 x 800 on track at current 10k race pace with 2 minutes recovery after each one, 20 minutes on road (include a couple of easy hills if possible) at current 10k race pace, 3-5 minutes walking/jogging, 800 in 2:40, 1 minute recovery, 800 in 2:35, 1 minute recovery, 4 x 400 starting at 77 and getting faster (last one as fast as possible without tying up) with 1 minute recovery after each one, 1 mile jog (about 9.5 to 10 miles total)

Day 2: 3 miles on a soft surface at 7:00 per mile or slower (3 total)

Day 3: 4 miles at a slow to medium pace plus 4-6 short strides at the end (4+)

Day 4: Same warmup as Day 1, 3 x 1,000 on track in 3:20 with 1 minute recovery after each one, 3 x 1,000 in 3:12 with 2 minutes recovery between each one, 4 minutes walking/jogging after the last rep, 2 x 600 - first rep in 1:50, second rep pretty much all-out with 1:30 recovery between reps, 1 mile jog (7 total)

Day 5: 4 miles at a slow pace (4)

Day 6: 7 miles at a slow starting pace and a medium general effort but picking up the pace to comfortably fast during the last 20-25 minutes, 1 mile jog with 6-8 short strides at the end (8 total)

Day 7: 0-3 miles at a very slow pace (0-3)

Day 8: 3 miles at a slow to medium pace plus 4-6 short strides (3+)

Day 9: Warmup, 10 miles at a strong pace (within 30 seconds per mile of current 10k race pace), 1 mile jog (13)

Day 10: 0-3 miles very slow on a soft surface (0-3)

Day 11: 4 miles at a slow to medium pace plus 4-6 short strides (4+)

Day 12: Warmup, 12-16 x 400 starting at current 5k race pace and getting faster (most around 3k race pace) with the last 2-3 reps as fast as possible without tying up with 45 seconds recovery between reps, 1.5 miles jog (6-7 total)

Day 13: 3 miles at a very slow pace on a soft surface (3)

Day 14: 4 miles at a slow to medium pace plus 4-6 short strides (4+)

Geoffrey,

Am I missing something? Are you a 13:30 5k guy?

i'm training for the 800m. if i'm just doing 20-30 miles a week. what should my week look like? I'd like to break 2:00 for the 800m and 4:40 the mile. i usually have:

sunday: 8-10 mile medium long run

monday:1600-1200-800-800 @ 5:00 pace + mile WU, CD

tuesday: 4-6 easy miles

wednesday:4-6 easy miles + 95% 400, 300, 300, 200, and a few

100s with 3-4 minutes rest. i'm guessing that

provides some anaerobic benefit?

thursday: 4-6 easy miles + some 60m accelerations & strides

friday: 8x300m steep hills with 90second jog rest @

59-63seconds

saturday: off or short, easy run

mabye. I might do a time trial soon

Quit doing so much junk mileage and run hard more than once per week. I have shin problems I can't get rid of and ran a 15:38 last year off of 20-25mpw and some x-training.

This is what I did this week.

Sun: 10mi in 6:05mi pace

Mon: nothing

Tues: am 5k 16:40 w/ 4x200 in 33 to 28

6.25mi with warmup & cooldown

pm 60min aquajogging

Wed: nothing

Thu: am 2.5mi in 13:38 (5:27ish), 1/2 mi jog, mile in 4:53

strides 6.5 mi total workout

pm 60min aquajogging

Fri: nothing

Sat: going to run some trails tomorrow so my mileage will be high this week.

I'm probably in 16:10 shape now. I'll find out next weekend when I race.

do you really do nothing on your off days? I do strength stuff and it really helps

NewHill wrote:

Sorry about that. I should have told you what I'm doing.

Sun. 6 miles (6:45)

Mon. 4 miles (6:30)on hills (2 up 2 down)

Tuesday 3 miles (6:45)

Wednesday 5 miles (VO2 stuff 5 x 1000, 4 x 1200 etc.)

Thursday 3 miles (6:45)

Friday 4 miles (6:30)on hills (2 miles uphills and 2 downhills)

Sat. 5-6 (6:45)

You have too many medium runs.When you run low miles you gotta make the hard days count but do fewer of them.

Suggestions:

Monday and Friday are the same both too slow to help your racing.

Change friday to an ez day

Change monday to 3 runs.Alternate each week between:

8 miles at current 10k plus 25 sec per mile

6 miles at current 10k plus 15 sec per mile

25 minutes fartlek run:

fast at current 5k race pace until you start to fatigue

recover at 6:30 pace until you feel ready to run 5k pace.Repeat until you get to 25 minutes.

btw I ran a 5000 on the track in 16:45 a few months before turning 50 off 1 quality run every third day.The other 2 days I just road my bike real ez for an hour.The run was similiar as to what I suggest you do.Good luck!

Also swap wednesday vo2max workout with the ez thursday run so you get 2 days of recovery after the monday quality.Then you get friday , saturday and sunday to recover from the vo2max.Give them muscles and tendon a chance to get STRONG