I'll be a senior next year at a DIII school. Throughout the winter and spring i trained at 110 a week consistantly with no real problems and ended up running a PR in the 10k by just over a minute. We have a new coach for XC and he seems to disagree with my mileage. so my question is simply: is 120 miles a week for summer training overkill? or reasonable if i can handle it?
Difference strokes for different folks, if you can handle it then go for it.
The thing about alot of D3 coaches is that they're high school coaches looking for more money. They don't necessarily have any coaching education.
I meant to type more.
If doing what you're doing led to that big of a PR, you're probably doing the right thing. The only warning I'd give is that there is a such thing as too much for everyone. Don't fall into the mindset that if 110 is good, 120 is better, you want to be rested for xc, especially since its your last year.
Unlike DI coaches who are just plain greedy and would put you on their inflexible program that gives you a 90% chance of getting seriously injured so that the 5 guys that can still run with cortisone shots and an OD of ibuprofen at the end of the season win the conference and make the coach look good. (and also tend to not know anything about physiology or training)
No way wrote:
The thing about alot of D3 coaches is that they're high school coaches looking for more money. They don't necessarily have any coaching education.
Most part-time DIII coaches make less than they would coaching in HS. Very few (less than 5% I would guess) full-time DIII coaches are making more than they would as a HS teacher - far less in fact.
There are bad coaches everywhere. Some of the best coaches are in DIII. You are a tool.
Yes, I'm a tool.
Maybe my experience is the exception. Both of my coaches actaully were high school teachers that were high school coaches.
Also, I never said DI coaches were great. The position of coaching an NCAA team is a tough one no matter who you are because you have to balance the team success with individual development.
120 per week is definitely high for non-marathon events. Some people do it, but it's definitely not the norm, no matter whether you run D3, D1, or pro level. 110 is more like high-end of the normal range for the 8k/10k distances you'll be racing.
Did you see that thread sometime last year entitled 'sub-30:00 10k guys--your training?' Lots of 29:xx guys posted what they do, and none of them were running over 100 miles per week. They were, however, doing a lot of running on non-workout days at 6:00/mile.
Personally, I would stay at 90-110 and focus more on quality. If last year was only your first year running 110, you can seriously take another minute off that 10k PR without increasing mileage. After you graduate you can bump it to 120 and take a swing at a marathon.
I am running 115-120 right now for marathon training, and honestly I don't think it would be a good way to train for 10k. Doing 13/5 doubles on a lot of the easy days means I can only do hard workouts every 3 days or so, and the fastest pace I get to on the easy days is around 6:20/mile. I really don't think that such little quality is good from a 10k perspective.
Of course Wejo improved his 10k by running 170 per week.
Summer is for base mileage- as much as you can handle- but listen to your body and mind and take it easy if you feel you are overtraining or burnout as injury could halt your progress. Good luck and stay motivated and committed.
I was a DIII all american in XC last year and although I missed a big chunk of the summer I did get in a solid few weeks during the early season of 120. I attribute a lot of my success to those extra miles that a lot of people think is over kill.
Summer is for base mileage- as much as you can handle- but listen to your body and mind and take it easy if you feel you are overtraining or burnout as injury could halt your progress. Good luck and stay motivated and committed.
what were/are your times across the board before/after this mileage increase?
I would listen to the posts advising you to listen to your body. I'm training for a marathon right now, but also working a full-time job. I realized that I was heading towards either an injury or some sort of other nasty blow-up. I ended up having to back it off about ten miles per week. Life in general is much better now. It'd be nice to be able to easily run over 100 ever week like I did late in college, but right now my body just can't handle it. Eh, such is life. Not really sure if that helps any.... increasing your mileage seems like the next logical step if all other conditions remain the same this summer, but there are other variables you can change as well (increased quality, more days of singles rather than doubles)... best of luck!
before / after
1500 4:24 /4:23
3k 9:47 / 9:31
5k 16:16 / only had one shot and had a terrible day so im going to leave this out but i went through my 5k in 16:20 the race i ran 32:52.
10k 33:53 / 32:52
scratch that my 1500 pr was 4:27 before the increase, not 4:24
Could you post an example of your 110 mpw schedule? Based upon your times, perhaps there is room for improvement in how you utilize those miles.
Dude, my 3k's over 30 seconds better than yours but you'd smoke me in a 10k, by over 2 minutes. Are those times for XC or track/road?
Seeing those 10k times just gave me big hope for the cross season.
What was your mileage before the 110. I would have expected a greater drop in the 1500 but you seem like a true distance guy. I would say go for the increase but do occasional time trials or workouts to monitor the effort. Each workout should be the same times but the later one should feel easier.
hey i'm from towson
what's with your name?
forest wrote:
Of course Wejo improved his 10k by running 170 per week.
I thought Wejo never ran more than 150 and he only hit that like once? If you are referring to his one sample week he once posted here of 7/17 almost everyday of the week, that was an April Fool's Day joke.