Average summer mileage for incoming college freshman

65?

Just don't try to max out the miles this summer to get ready. You have no idea how frustrating it is to be injured for frosh cross.

Confused Briton wrote:

65?

Just don't try to max out the miles this summer to get ready. You have no idea how frustrating it is to be injured for frosh cross.

This. If you are suddenly encouraged to jump your mileage a great deal, take the whole summer to do it with gradual increments. Decrease mileage every fourth week for a "rest" week and gradually increase the amount of mileage you get done for every 4 week set.

Bump

Completely depends on the individual. I'm assuming you're thinking of racing XC. I'm also assuming you aren't already killing the miles, so a modest increase of no more than 5-15 mpw to your current mileage would be really solid. Don't try to hit some random number, think more about progressing from what you have done before. Even if that only brings you from 40 up to 50 mpw, trying to jump up any more is a bit too much of a risk right before going to college. Like other people said, you really do not want to come in injured.

I'm sure you know this, but I have to say it - mileage is just one aspect of training. Use the base phase as a starting point for speed (i.e. short hill sprints) and threshold training (i.e. try to build up gradually to 5-6+ mile tempo runs). You ultimately want to be good at racing 8-10k as fast as possible, mileage is just a means to an end.

90+ at any respectable university.

i (incoming frosh) told my college coach that the highest mileage i've ever reached is 65, so he's starting me off easing into it. first week was really low (like mid 30s) and just works up to 60 by the end of the summer, with every 4th week jumping down a bit.

backwardsrats wrote:

90+ at any respectable university.

bullshit. Most college coaches try to easy freshman into college-level mileage. Unless you were doing 80+ in high school I doubt they'll be having you do 90+ the summer before college.

Wrong.

Avg. as asked about; probably more like 60-70mpw. Any respectable coach wouldn't expect a freshman to come in already running 90mpw if they expect them to be good students and adjust progressively to the workload and intensity of training twice a day and still work toward success in the classroom. 90mpw would be setting them up for injury, illness, fatigue, can't manage study time etc... How many 18-19 year-olds contribute top 7 out of the gate anyway? Best to get them around the block once safely, get them ready for the track season then into the next summer full training program if any "respectful" coach actually wants to develop the athlete to their full potential. Injured athletes don't train and don't get better.

Agree with OFC ... 60 - 70 is about average.

I bumped up to consistent 50-60s with a couple of 70s the summer before my freshman year - also worked a manual labor job. In HS, I usually ran 30mpw and bumped it up between Thanksgiving and New Year's day ... getting in a single 70.0 the week of Christmas. Having run a few 70s prepped me for running with the team in the fall ... mostly psychological for me, but I knew that I could do it consistently.

The following years I did more mileage over the summer and early fall and by my senior year managed a month of mileage at ~100MPW.

I was doing 75. I had done up in the low 70s the summer before. I'd say I was on the high side for my class.

Bump

Coaches don't care about success in the classroom. Doing 90 MPW is not going to burn out an incoming D1 caliber runner. Agree that average is 60-70, however, if you do want to contribute out of the gate you'll have to run the mileage that the upper classmen are running 80-90.A difference of 20 miles is not going to make a difference in study time. It's and extra 2 hours a week or 18 minutes a day or so . You easily waste that time BSing around before and after runs. OP has a choice between laying up and playing it safe with 60-70 or going for it with 80-90.

Old Fart Coach wrote:

Wrong.

Avg. as asked about; probably more like 60-70mpw. Any respectable coach wouldn't expect a freshman to come in already running 90mpw if they expect them to be good students and adjust progressively to the workload and intensity of training twice a day and still work toward success in the classroom. 90mpw would be setting them up for injury, illness, fatigue, can't manage study time etc... How many 18-19 year-olds contribute top 7 out of the gate anyway? Best to get them around the block once safely, get them ready for the track season then into the next summer full training program if any "respectful" coach actually wants to develop the athlete to their full potential. Injured athletes don't train and don't get better.

No matter what the caliber runner, 90 miles a week will definitely burn out an incoming freshman, especially at a D1 program. There's a difference between high school miles and college miles. At most respected D1 Universities, there's a slim chance any freshman would be running the mileage the upper classmen are running. If this were so, what type of training would they be looking at in future years? 115-120 mile weeks?

Thank you. D1 is a funny term. In D1 there are schools like Florida, Oregon, OK State and teams that have only 3-4 sub 26:00 guys. That's a huge range.

Coaches are big on the class room. That's the whole reason you are at college in the first place. An average freshman (say.. 15:30 5k) on average may run in the 60s his FR year. However is you have a 800-1500 running XC he may only run 50 a week his first year because he might have been able to get by on lower mileage.

Middle of the road D1 schools say top 7-10 is all 25:50s or under. (I don't know, say 1 sub 24:30, 1 sub 25:00, 3-4 in the 25:00-25:30 range, 2-3 25:30-25:59 guys) I would hope would have Freshman running in the 60-70 range.. moving up to 80-100 Senior year depending on how they adjust.

Blazer69 wrote:

If this were so, what type of training would they be looking at in future years? 115-120 mile weeks?

What kind of upperclassman at a good D1 school isn't running 115-120 mile weeks?

I agree, but... Florida in the same category as Oregon and OSU?

keanu wrote:

Blazer69 wrote:

If this were so, what type of training would they be looking at in future years? 115-120 mile weeks?

What kind of upperclassman at a good D1 school isn't running 115-120 mile weeks?

Almost all of them.

This is pretty much what the evidence says is ideal for long term development. High school runners should do periods of high mileage running and periods of moderate mileage. Those who do constant high mileage tend to peak earlier in their careers. Of course, they're still better off than those who do no high mileage.

You can't generalize like this. Ninety miles per week is a lot for most freshmen, but it all depends on what their background is. An 18 year old can easily be ready for true high mileage if he's been working up to it for years. Ninety miles wasn't considered too much in the 1970s. High school runners also recover very, very well, which makes it easier.

Lydiard gave us the insight that base miles convert into speed, a paradigm shift. But he also burdened us with the metaphysical number 100. Young runners shouldn't count miles or do doubles, which are fake miles. People adapt to mileage differently. A good coach coaches athletes differently. Summer should be spent developing aerobic capacity while not overtraining.