100 mile crash week experiment

Okay day 1.

Did 8 this morning and 7 at lunch....piece of cake (even if they were slow easy miles).

You'll likely need more than one week to notice anything, but good luck.

Add in short hill sprints twice a week or you'll lose too much speed.

Why dude? Look at the proponents of crash training. Multiple WR at the time. Don't it stink of PEDs? Oh yeah, I crash train out of nothing, and became a world beater. Are you that naive?

Nah....crash training is most likely rubbish....absolutely zero scientific backing and anybody who thinks thats the reason those Chinese women ran so well needs their head examined.

But like I said....I have nothing to lose and seems like an interesting challenge.

Not many hills around here so might just do a few short strides instead....but the workout on Day 7 will be at a fast pace.

And I agree by the way...its unlikely this will do much for my fitness....will be interesting though.

Day 2:

3.5 mile warm up (including 6xstrides)

6x1000m with 2 min rest(3:31, 3:30, 3:28, 3:36, 3:31, 3:36)

2.5 mile cool down

intervals 1, 2, 4 and 6 done into a headwind.

Day 3:

15 mile long run

Feeling quite good actually dont really feel any more tired than my usual training but only three days in. 15 mile was a bit of a shock to sytem as its been a good while since I ran that long. Legs quite sore after but had an ice bath+a good feed and seem to have done the trick.

Thanks for the report, Jim. I'm quite curious about this experiment. Keep them coming.

Why the 100 mile week? If you live in almost any other part of the world, the "magical" 100 mile week is 160.9344 km. You'll find much more success keeping a consistent 60-70 mile week. With your lower mileage background, you'll have a lot of trouble handling this week and are setting yourself up for potential sickness/injury. Distance running success is consistent training over months and years, not one magical week.

why discourage the rouge? if he can run a 100 mile week then return to 60-70 he'll see some gains. as long as he doesn't take a big step back in mileage or get injured it will be good for him. many coaches recommend dabbling in higher mileage before you start doing it on a consistent basis.

If he survives it will open up a lot of doors. It will show that he can bump up his mileage, and a good amount of mental barriers will be broke down.

Jim Smedley wrote:

day 1 - am 8 easy pm 7 easy

day 2 - 4 mile warm up, 6x1000m with 2 min rest, 2 mile warm down

day 3 - 15 miles

day 4 - am 6 easy pm 10 easy

day 5- am 5 easy pm 2 mile warm up, 10x1000m with 1 min rest, 2 mile warm down

day 6 - am 5 easy pm 10 easy

day 7 - am 5 easy pm 3 mile warm up, 4x200m with 200m recovery jog, 8x400m with 400m recovery jog, 2 mile warm down

If you are going to run your first 100 mile week you are certainly trying everything you can do to insure that you fail or become so discouraged that you never try it again.

1) 15 mile run? Are you nuts? 5 and 10

2) a 2nd 10x 1000m effort? Why? Do 5 or 6, or better yet skip it entirely.

3) 4x200, 8x400 with long recoveries? OK, but as long as you aren't killing yourself in the repeats.

The best way to do your first 100mile week is 5/10 every day, with 2-3 tempo runs ala SOM. Throw in one session of 12-16 (200-300) or your 4x200/8x400 session, or a hill workout.

Use just a smidgen of commons sense here.

Thanks for the input guys.

Four days in now,starting to feel it in the legs a bit now but overall not feeling too bad at all.

Day four:

AM 6 miles easy

Pm 10 miles easy

Incorporated 5 short sprints into 10 mile run. Found the last couple miles of 10 miler tough.

Really do appreciate all the input guys. Malmo the idea is to increase intensity as well as volume.

I agree it is a risky experiment and its not going to be a pleasent week but like I said I have nothing to lose and its as much for the challenge/curiousity as it is for fitness gains.

Plus I am actually glad of the workouts as I would find grinding out 10 mile easy runs every day very draining mentally.

Ok day 5 in the bag:

AM 5 easy

PM 2 mile warm up, 10x1000m with 1 min rest, 2 mile warm down.

This workout was pretty hellish...really felt the miles in the legs...averaged 3:53 for the 1000's which is slow as shit but happy to get this done. Mentally very tough too to have to do ten reps with such short rest but got it done.

Did this last night and feel good today...legs not in too bad a shape.

I'm starting to see the biggest problem with doing 100 miles is not just the quantity but fitting the quality work in as well....real struggle to maintain a good pace on the 1000's last night.

Keep it up.

blaznbison24 wrote:

Why the 100 mile week? If you live in almost any other part of the world, the "magical" 100 mile week is 160.9344 km. You'll find much more success keeping a consistent 60-70 mile week. With your lower mileage background, you'll have a lot of trouble handling this week and are setting yourself up for potential sickness/injury. Distance running success is consistent training over months and years, not one magical week.

I think even in America a 100 mile week is 160.9344 km.

Jim Smedley wrote:

I'm starting to see the biggest problem with doing 100 miles is not just the quantity but fitting the quality work in as well....real struggle to maintain a good pace on the 1000's last night.

This is why just about everyone, from Malmo back to Lydiard, tells you to build the mileage up first, make sure you've adapted to it, then start to introduce the quality. It's generally reckoned that after about 8-10 weeks you will be feeling strong, your runs will naturally be getting faster, and you'll be ready to introduce more quality.

In my experience (and I topped out at about 85), you can get through one week on willpower alone and the promise of a few days off, but it needs about 10-14 days to know you're adapting to it and feeling stronger. Next time you feel ready for this, do what Malmo says and shoot for 3 cycles of (2 weeks up, 1 week down) with less quality.

Good luck with the last couple of days, though

Yeah I agree 100% blah blah...definitely just willpower getting me through this week and I def dont think I could do another week like this in a row.

Its good though, if I can complete this week it will give me some confidence and I reckon now during the winter I will give the Malmo/lydiard thing a shot and do a couple of weeks up around 100 with just easy miles and see how I go.

Like I said this was always just a once off challenge/experiment rather than something I really thought would bring me good gains.

Remember to eat well (extra protein, water, etc.) and to get an extra hour or so of sleep today and tomorrow. If you can find a pool, swim in that for a while as well.

joiwef wrote:

I think even in America a 100 mile week is 160.9344 km.

Most Americans track their training in miles and for some reason, like nice, rounded off numbers. I doubt our kilometer friends don't attribute 160.9km to be a nice, magical number.