I just talked to my coach today and he read me his plan for me during track season for the 1500 meters. He is keeping me ouot of indoors and he says I will be at peak mileage 12 weeks before my peak race. I am worried because to me it sounds like 12 weeks is too far out. I wont be able to have the endurance if my highest mileage is done 12 weeks out from my peak race. Should i challenge him on this is should i let it go? I want my highest mileage week to be 8 weeks from my peak race.
I am kind of concerned with this myself as the plan I'm following will be more like 10 weeks out from the peak.
However, if done right I don't think it should be too much of concern, especially with the 1500. Your aerobic endurance will last quite a while, and you will be doing other workouts that help keep it up even though you are dropping mileage. I believe that you should keep the distance run near the same mileage, perhaps slightly shorter, but not much, for several weeks after your peak mileage week. If after your peak work you do a distance run every week and continue to do a variety of workouts consistently, then your aerobic endurance will last quite a while. Even if you lose a little of it, it will be necessary to do the workouts that build strength and anaerobic power, which will give such a boost on top of your base that you won't notice any loss in aerobic base.
Just my understanding, would like to hear others' take, too.
For 1500 training, I would think that would be a good thing. Maybe I'm wrong on this, but it was my understanding that for shorter races, maybe 5k and down, you're supposed to hit your highest mileage not during the competitive season, but during the later part of base training, then drop it slightly and compensate with more quality and race-specific workouts during the season. I'd still keep up a pretty good level of mileage, though, until late season, when you taper/sharpen for the peak race.
I am a little concerned as well that you aren't having this conversation with your coach rather than a message board. 12 weeks may be just fine it depends on how much the mileage drops off during that 12 weeks and how long your training cycle is.
Get off the message board and talk to your coach, tell him you want to understand what you are doing so that you can believe 100% in the program so it will be as effective as possible. Be diplomatic and earnest in your approach to him. It you approach it properly he will respect your interest and attitude. If he finds out you are questioning him on a message board then he'll probably be pissed. Get off the board and go see him.
Red blood cells last for like three months. Long distance running plays a big role in their production. So, if you peak at 12 weeks out, then you should still be getting direct benefit from that mileage. The bigger question is what your mileage looks like before and then after the peak.
But don't assume that a few weeks of high mileage are necessarily better than lower mileage weeks of race-specific training. You need specific training to get the most out of the mileage you did. There's not enough evidence here to incriminate your coach.