Whats the highest mileage a high school runner should run?

I'm in highschool and hit about 57-67 a week with a few 70s thrown in with speed work and minimum 14 mile long run (usually more around 16). Im capable of more but not extremely sustainably.

Phishguy wrote:

Whats the most mpw a high school runner should run? 50 mpw?

With the exception of maybe one or two, all the boys at Footlocker run more than that. If you don't get hurt or burned out, 60-80 is fine.

No one should answer this question with just a flat mileage figure. You should at the very least consider the athlete's age,gender, how many years he or she has been running, and the event. To simply say a high schooler should average x amount of miles is way too simple.

Most high school boys should be ablet to handle 60-80mpw just fine by their junior year. Some can handle more than that, but honestly, if you're running 70mpw, you're doing quite a bit and getting a very good training stimulus. Some might only be able to handle 50 or even less, but I think 60-70 is a good mileage for most to aim for and then feel things out from there.

Mileage is a very individual thing. For what it's worth, most top boys high school runners build up to 65-75 miles a week by the time they are seniors. I was not a top high school runner, but managed to do a lot with very little talent. I built up to about 80 miles a week the winter of my senior year with a high of 91 miles and I did just fine. For >90% of high school runners, the answer to "how much should I run" is "MORE!"

what your your times that track season?

The longest a high schooler races is 5k. So however far you can cover in 90 minutes a day. That can be one or two runs. Over 90 minutes depletes glycogen, which is for marathoners.

I have an athlete that qualified for NXN on 40MPW.

Phishguy wrote:

Whats the most mpw a high school runner should run? 50 mpw?

How about girls?

I was a state champion and running around 9 flat for 3200, I topped out at 70 mpw at the beginning of the season as a senior, later in the season was around 55-60 most of the time. As a freshman I was at 40 mpw, slowly increased throughout high school. Then continued increasing to over 100 in college to be an All-American in the 5k.

The highest I really heard of was topping out at 90, but I think that's a bit high for high school.

60

I hate to sound like a noob but....

How are HS kids getting in 70M weeks? I know when I've been in the 60s &70's it feels like I cam constantly "grabbing miles", meaning I'm tacking on an extra couple of miles here or there throughout the week just to get to my weekly totals up. So what would normally be a 6M recovery run turns into 8M, my 13M long run turns into 18, maybe I toss in an extra mile for the w/up and c/down after track work.

Mostly I'm not questioning the validity of the training, it's more the logistics and time available. When I was in HS classes started at 730 and ended at 230. I guess I could have woken up at 5am to get in a morning jog then hit practice that afternoon, but man that's a difficult schedule for a 17 yr old.

What I did wrote:

I was a state champion and running around 9 flat for 3200, I topped out at 70 mpw at the beginning of the season as a senior, later in the season was around 55-60 most of the time. As a freshman I was at 40 mpw, slowly increased throughout high school. Then continued increasing to over 100 in college to be an All-American in the 5k.

The highest I really heard of was topping out at 90, but I think that's a bit high for high school.

Great advice!

A progressive build-up from 40mi to 60mi over 4 years is ideal. The key is quality over quantity. Physical development during this time is HUGE, there's a massive change in a young athlete's body between the ages of 14-18. With regard to college, I think 100 mpw is too much. 70-90mpw is ideal depending on your body type. Again, quality over quantity is key. Being able to run 2-3 quality sessions a week with solid recovery and quality runs blended in is paramount.

Wake up at 6:00, go out for a little more than 30 min to get 4 miles in. Then shower, put school uniform/clothes on, and eat breakfast. Leave home by 7:45 and school starts 15 min later. Then go through the school day and at practice do a mile warmup then five miles. Put a minimum 10-mile long run on Sunday and that's 70. Personally I keep it at 60 though I was up to 75 last few weeks of summer, 70's are for next year.

for high school training I'm a firm believer in quality over quantity.... hovering in the low to mid 40's typically. I want my runners to get to college and thrive, not be burnt out.

Phishguy wrote:

Whats the most mpw a high school runner should run? 50 mpw?

I had a girl who went to NXN multiple times average 53 over the course of her senior year and feel that was a little too much now that I look back on it. She would’ve run more if I let her.

I'm a current high school senior and during my 70mile weeks, this was the sum of getting in 70. During the school year plus having a job makes it that much more difficult to get those early morning runs in that highest schoolers would do to achieve 70. I think anywhere from 70-90 in High school is a very very achievable junior/senior year with athletes like dathan rhitzenhein and alan Webb having great high school success but also having a good career after that.

Some ideas I'll throw out there beyond what has already been said:

1. The highest mileage a high school runner should run greatly depends upon how much (2 or 3 days?) and the nature of the intensity/quality they are doing. An athlete running a race, a hard VO2 Max session, and another workout each week should run less volume than an athlete that does one lactate threshold session and one 5k/10k-pace focused workout each week. In other words, the more days of intensity and the higher the intensity of the quality work, the less mileage the athlete should run. The fewer days of intensity and the more moderate the intensity of the quality work, the more mileage they can and should be able to handle on the other days of the week.

2. The body doesn't know mileage. It knows duration and intensity. I live right by a bunch of hilly semi-technical single-track trails. I might run 7 miles in an hour on those trails but 9 miles at the same effort level if I was on flatter dirt roads. As long as the duration and intensity are the same, my body will scarcely know the difference between those two runs when it comes to aerobic fitness.

3. Most high schools start so early (especially when we think about a teenager's body clock) that it can be counterproductive to run before school because the kids have to wake up so early. On the other hand, doubles are an easy and effective way to run higher mileage, especially as you're building mileage over a few years like you do in high school. My solution - double as many non-school days as you can. Double on Saturday, double on Sunday (I can already hear people screaming "But Sunday is long run day!" Says who?!? If I'm coaching a high school team, the long run is important. There generally isn't practice on Sunday, so why would I have my athletes do one of their most important sessions on their own? Monday would be my long run day). That gives them 9 runs per week when school is in session. They can double more when school isn't in session (school is only 180 days a year, after all).

All that said, I see no reason why you can't take a runner doing two moderately intense workouts a week and a couple doubles and have them average 70-75 minutes of running per day after they have a few years of building up to it under their belt. Some could handle more, some would have to do less, but most could do it effectively.

Let’s stop thinking in terms of “mileage” and start thinking in terms of “duration.”

For instance, a pro can run 6 flat per mile as an easy pace. However a typical high schooler is more like 7:30. So over the course of an hour run that’s a 2 mile difference.

So if a pro runs say 10 hours in a week they cover 100 miles. However a high schooler only covers 80 miles in the same 10 hours. Therefore, a high schooler running 80 mpw is equivalent to a pro running 100 mpw.

That said I think 80 is a good max. That leaves room in college to increase mileage without necessarily increasing duration.

Building up to 8-10 hours a week of running is a good sweet spot for the elite mile to 5k high schooler.

But working on other things is important too. Strength training and sprint training should not be ignored. Neglecting these areas make one injury prone and slow despite a huge aerobic capacity.