My track coach actually said

He's actually a volleyball coach. His specialty in track is sprints and he has some good sprinters. Our school is 3 years old and just to tell you how our track team is set up last year I was the only distance runner we had. This year we actually have 3 of us but 1 is only running the 1600.

Last track season he would see me running long runs on Saturdays and he would tell me "your not a machine, you need to rest". During the season I take Sundays off to rest after our Sat meets.

If you are looking for a way to get your mileage in during the week two words: MORNING RUNS! You will get your mileage plus breaking it up will allow you to get the rest everyone else is talking about.

Yeah, I do 2 a days twice a week.

I'm in the same boat... yesterday my coach was mocking schools that are running 40 miles a week because their "long miles" are going to make them slow. And he's old as dirt so he won't listen to any new ideas. It sucks when there's not much you can do but I definitely agree that morning runs can do wonders

A local coach tells his runners they should not do ANY training over the winter. He does speed work on consecutive days and rus barely any mileage.

A parent who's a friend of mine (I coach at a neighboring school) asked me to give him some advice. I told her that I want him to keep doing exactly what he's doing.

They have double the students we have and can't come close to competing with us.

water boy wrote:

That a high school distance runner doesn't need to run any more than 16 miles a week. I tried to tell him how many miles most runners put in a week and he just doesn't get it and told me that I'm running way to much mileage (60mpw). I am a 1600 and 3200 runner.

Remember that the HS coach is giving you the minimum that he wants you to run. If you want to succeed, you have to do more than the minimum.

Now, I know that he did not call it a minimum, but runners that see the coach's plans as the minimum fare much better.

This does not apply for those who have very good coaches, because a good plan will be sufficient. However, if your coach is also the football coach, then my statement applies. If he has a distance background, it varies.

runn wrote:

A local coach tells his runners they should not do ANY training over the winter. He does speed work on consecutive days and rus barely any mileage.

A parent who's a friend of mine (I coach at a neighboring school) asked me to give him some advice. I told her that I want him to keep doing exactly what he's doing.

They have double the students we have and can't come close to competing with us.

Good to see you helping the sport.

When the coach says "you shouldn't run MORE than 16 miles a week" it would be pretty ignorant to assume he's giving a minimum. Last I checked, MORE would imply that he's giving you a maximum.

Running in the morning cuts into shower masturbation time!

DO what YOU want to do . don't listen to your coach if you think hes wrong... it's your running that matters

No more than 16 mpw seems pretty absurd, but then again you are about to begin the outdoor track season, so 60 mpw seems like a lot to me. 60 is probably a good number during summer base building, but by now I would expect you to taper that down quite a bit. Not to 16, but definitely less than 60.

I think high schoolers (especially seniors) can handle 60 mpw without a problem as long as they are smart about it. And you need to build up your mileage now so it's not a shock to your body when your college coach has you running high volume. But I wouldn't be running 60 mpw in the spring if I were you.

How much do you all think I should cut it back to? Our first meet is Mar 17th.

ask your volleyball coach if he ever heard of Jim Ryun. Maybe you can find his bio. in the library of do a google search. I believe Jim (a miler) ran 70 miles a week (10 a day) and it seemed to work for him. Your coach's plan is for you to run two miles a day X 6 and then do a 4 mile long run on Sunday?

My h.s. coach sent us running out into the cow pasture next to this rural school for 30 minutes while he went on a smoke break, so we were probably running 4 to 5 miles a day.

I was always good with handling mileage, ran upwards of 60-70 as a frosh, 70-80 as a soph, and 90-100+ junior and senior year. Certainly much more than the 20-30 our coach told us to do. I think the mileage really helped, sometimes it just takes time to adapt to it. Back off if you feel really horrible, but if you are okay on 60 then stick with it.

Also, what really helped me handle the miles in HS was starting to treat my body like a runner. On less miles, you can get by without doing core work, stretching, ice baths, icing, elevation, naps, and other injury prevention stuff, but doing it really helped me.

anti-tard wrote:

When the coach says "you shouldn't run MORE than 16 miles a week" it would be pretty ignorant to assume he's giving a minimum. Last I checked, MORE would imply that he's giving you a maximum.

Well, that is what I said, tard

What if your track coach has his middle and distance runner do only 20 miles a week but 90% of it is speed work? (with no warm up or cool down and long periods of standing around between sets at "race pace".)

Perhaps the coach should be brought up on charges???

University of Arizona Xc Coach wrote:

16 to 18 is the most that highschool and college distance runners should be running during the xc season. Definately no more than 20 miles per week.

During track season, distance runners should stay under 15 miles per week, but also include speed intervals into their workouts.

-University of Arizona Cross Country Coach

Are you really the University of Arizona coach?

Lots of guys responding to the fact that they are regular high mileage athletes, even some doing double days.

Why no listing of track times to back it up, or maybe they like to impress by saying Im on 60/70m a week.

Have any of you taken into account that you are still maturing body wise and that improvements will come through natural maturation until you are 20ish.

So maybe the improvements you experience is down to natural maturing and not mileage, there could be a lot of needless mileage going on.

I ran 16 miles a week in HS and sucked. Don't do 16 miles a week.