for those who run 90-100 mile weeks

I started doing that in my sophomore year of college. I went straight from about 60-70 mpw to about 110, then 125 where I stayed for a long time.

I got hella sore the first two weeks of 110, but just kept on truckin'. Pace was not fast, about 6;40 per mile. I was doing 8 in the morning, 12 in the afternoon, or 8/8 or 10/10 very consistently, 7 days a week. Not much quality stuff.

Jason

Took me years to build up to that kind of mileage. Much easier to progress with your mileage if you take a "down week" every 3rd or 4th that is 25-30% less than the level you're at.

I am currently running 90 miles a week and have been for the last 3 weeks. I have ran consistantly in the 80's the past year, all which are done in one run a day at anywhere from 5:55 - 6:25 pace. I have built my way up from 45 - 50 4 years ago , to 60 - 65 3 years ago, to 70 - 75 2 years ago and 80 - 85 last year. A simple progression that has kept me injury free so far. There are different ways to get there as other posters have shown. I would say take the safe way and do not jump too much to soon, the lay off of a stress fracture is not worth it, all though i would not know first hand.

I have a question regarding mileage. I'm a soon to be HS senior who has been running 50-65mpw since January, but before that I was running 25-40mpw but /w higher intensity. I've found that higher mileage at a lower intensity works best for me, probably because I don't have much speed. I started my base work June and started with about 70mpw and have recently reached 90mpw, so far I feel good but I don't know if there are going to be any negative long term effects from doing this much mileage now. So is it too soon to be doing this much mileage?

If you want to up your mileage slow down. I never run anything at 5:55-6:25 pace anymore. There are freshman to be at NAU now training with us and they put 8 minutes on us today in a 9 mile run. We laughed about it, but at the same time there is no way I could run the pace they did day in day out and get a lot of miles. Maybe I'm just old.

I agree Wejo. As a freshman in high school, I progressed to a max of 76 miles over the winter, but the miles were fairly slow (7:30-8:00 a mile). And then I come on here and tell people about my training and my goals to run 4:40 and 10:00 in track and they say I'm not doing my miles near fast enough. When I get under 7 I feel like I'm really pushing. And 6:30-6:45 is way faster than I would like to go on any type of easy run or long run. When I'm running high mileage (i.e. more than 55 per week) I don't feel like I have enough left to run faster than 7 minutes per mile on all of those miles. Anybody have any input?

Input badly needed:

Are you saying you are going to be a sophomore in HS this upcoming fall? If so and you ran 76 mile in a week (probably 65 average) your freshman year (14 years old) thats waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too high. You have to chill out a tad. If under 7 is hard for you, lower the mileage and run faster for now. I know a steady base for several years is the best way to get the most out of your training, but under 7 should never, ever be hard for someone "advanced" enough to run 76 mile in a week and stay healthy. Pick up the pace and lower the mileage some, not too much in both cases though. See, in HS the longest you ever run is 3 miles, which is not very long. In college, the 100mpw thing is great since you are racing up to 6 miles.

didn't wejo just say he has trouble going sub-7... are you saying he isn't "advanced"??? i run 100+ miles a week and sub-7 NEVER feels comfortable on an easy day... but i seem to race OK... for aerobic development (which is the primary purpose of a "base") it's the miles, not the pace, that matters-- the wider the base, the taller the building...

well I've never run 90-100 although I plan to in the near future...

from my experience, before last years cross season, and after outdoor track, I took 2 weeks off no running. (the year comming up was my HS senior year) I knew I would be a captain on the cross-team so I wanted to actually do something... having the IAAF world's in my hometown also helped to inspire me...

so everyday, starting around the 10th of July I would run 40-50 minutes (6-7 miles) around my neighbourhood...

By the end of August, these runs had progressed to well over an hour a day, and I was logging 70 mile weeks... I held this through untill november, when I had some injuries... These plauged me and although I was proud to be sent to the national cross jr. meet for Canada ( something I had never dreamed of) I ended up burnt out and placed badly...

However I had learnt my lesson... Cross Is ALL ABOUT THE MILES. Those who run lots in the summer, show there stuff in the fall... Believe me though by seasons end I had been burnt out, I had run some great races, and lots of great training.. like every sunday 10-13 miles at 6:30 pace

and a 27:54 5 mile road race (which I have since lowered to 26:47)

2nd in the city xc, 3rd provincials, etc etc

to put it simply, most of the people who'm regularly beat me in track distance, I was spanking around in cross...

so yeah I built them up maybe too fast, like 40-50-60 in 3 weeks but It was all a great time and I felt soooo good...

-just my 2 cents

I hit 90 twice (or was it three times?) this past spring, which was my senior year of high school. It took me around four years to get there, but that includes XC skiing in the winter for two years, and other less serious seasons. The theory I developed is that your peak weekly mileage in any season should be about 10 miles higher than your peak from the preceding season. I only train and peak seriously for XC and outdoor track. The key is to have a steady build up, but not to overdo it. Jumping from, say, 45 miles at the peak of XC to 85 miles at the peak of outdoor track is probably asking for trouble.

And I don't listen to the naysayers who say that high schoolers should be running short and fast. You can accomplish similar things by running short and quick or long and slower, but in the long run (no pun intended) you'll have a better base and better durability from high mileage training. As far as burning out, there's plenty of ways to burn out. Run too many hills, too many tempo runs, too many 22 milers, but the biggest contributor to burn out is too many races.

Bert, just go for it. Thousands have gone there before you. You'll be OK. Here, from my high school logs:

3/4...46

3/11..80

3/18..75

3/25..52

4/1...58 2 mile 9:54.5(2) 2 miles 9:37.1(2)

4/8...38 Foot Injury

4/15..43 2 mile 9:57.1(3) 2 mile 9:52(2)

4/22..81 1 mile 4:40

4/29..88 2 miles 9:32.2(1)

5/6...74 2 miles 9:26.8(2)2 mile 9:38.4(2)

5/13..77 2 miles 9:26.8(2)

5/20..70 2 miles 9:17.6(3)

5/27..72

6/3...75

8/5...79

8/12..81

8/19..107

8/26..59

9/2...23

9/9...33

9/16..64

9/23..110

9/30..108 3 mile XC 16:34(1)

10/7..104 2.75 XC 13:51(1)

10/14..106 3 mi XC 16:18(1) 3 mi XC 16:25(1)

10/21..86 3 mile 15:54(1) 2.5 mile 12:39(4)

10/28..87 3 miles 15:18(2)

11/4...79 2.7 mile XC 13:56(1)

11/11..72 2.5 mile XC 12:55(3)

2/3...34

2/10..57

2/17..75

2/24..86

3/3...99

3/10..103

3/17..87

3/24..109

3/31..79 1 mile 4:23.5(2)

4/7...95 2 miles 9:25.1(1) 2 mile 9:17.1(2)

4/14..76 2 mile 9:27.1(1) 1 mile 4:21(1)

4/21..85 2 mile 9:18.2(2)

4/28..86 1 mile 4:17.9(1)

5/5...100 1 mile 4:24.0(2)

5/12..91 2 mile 9:30.6(1)

5/19..82 2 mile 9:10.2(1)

5/26..76

6/2...47 2 mile 9:15.0(3)

6/9...41 1 mile 4:16.4(5)

Bert,

Just to contradict wejo, I share my experiences.

I ran my first 100 mile week after my Freshmen year of college. I was still 18. In HS I topped out at 75-80 a week and about 90 my Freshmen year.

I run 100-120 a week now, out of college. The slowest distance run (Sat)is at 6:30 and the fastest is about 5:20 . I do 15 and 20 milers every week and do not go slower than 6:00 minute pace on those (1:51 for 20 today). All at altitude, mostly on my own, 85-90 in singles. I have been gifted with the ability to recover from these faster paces and still put in two-three quality workouts each week as well. I would not consider 6:00 pace hard, just steady pace.

Each season as I build up towards top milage I plateau for a couple-few weeks and try to cycle in a "down week" every 21 days. So something like this 30, 40, 50, 70, 75, 75, 80, 80, 85, 75, 85, 85, 90, 80, 90, 90, 95, 85, 95, 105... I jump over some of this if I am not starting from scratch (ie.. 1 week off instead 1 month off). Always have patience. A 90 mile week is still great training. As proof of my methods I have run fast, I have also been hurt. Good luck.

Signed,

None of your business, but you might guess.

Well I will be hitting my first 100 mile week here in a couple weeks. I cant wait. I love doing mileage. It just makes you feel so much stronger. Here is a tip. If you start building and then get some major fatigue back down a little bit. In high school I ran 40 mpw. I wish now that I could have run more, but I was just listening to my coach at the time. Last year as my first year running in college I averaged 60 mpw during track and then averaged 70 mpw during track. I hit 80 though twice and have felt strong doing that. Now this summer I have been at 80-85 for a few weeks now and am going to build up to 100 over the next couple weeks. If I start getting to tired from such a jump I will back it down to 85-90. The thing is, to really increase your mileage you have to be patient and just wait it out. It may take a couple years to get from 60 mpw to 100 mpw. Or it may take 4 years. Or you may never get to 100 mpw because your body just cant do that much mileage. I think mileage is a key to success, but you have to be smart doing it and cant overdue it to early.

Whaddya'll think about how to split up the day's running?? I'm a sophomore in college and have been getting in some decent miles (97,98,116,97,108 for the past weeks)by putting in 13-16 every morning and another 3-6 in the afternoon. I've found that I'm becoming extremely strong and the weekend 20+ miler doesn't even feel that bad. All my runs are around 7 flat pace with the last mile usually well under 6. i've raced 5K in 16:07, but expect to blow that out of the water very soon based on some tempo runs, etc. Just another perspective.

Have finally worked up to 90-100 weeks. However, I personally have found I can only do it spending at least 70% on soft surfaces - trails and rubberized track (for intervals). 100+ road miles/week is pretty brutal.

What kind of times do you run off the singles schedule? Are workouts incorporated?

I was wondering what you guys do about nagging injuries. Lately I've been building up to about 85mpw, but the inside of my right knee has been bothering me. The weird thing is that it doesn't hurt when I run. It onlys hurts after and before runs when I'm walking around. Should I take some time off, or should I just keep running and hope it goes away. I've been icing it some, but it hasn't gotten any better yet. Has anyone else get odd injuries like this when building up their mileage?

I was wondering what you guys do about nagging injuries. Lately I've been building up to about 85mpw, but the inside of my right knee has been bothering me. The weird thing is that it doesn't hurt when I run. It onlys hurts after and before runs when I'm walking around. Should I take some time off, or should I just keep running and hope it goes away. I've been icing it some, but it hasn't gotten any better yet. Has anyone else get odd injuries like this when building up their mileage?

yeah, ive had some little things like this bother me before (and currently) when I up my mileage during base period. You learn to tell what you can run through and what you cant. If it doesnt hurt you while you run, I think you should be ok.. but if it gets worse I would back down a bit. Try icing a little more, take some Aleve, and maybe try running on an even softer surface then you currently are.. Also get some new shoes if they look worn out on the inside or outside.