Question for HS girls’ distance programs: what is your avg weekly mileage?

The girls team at my high school averages lik 20-25 miles per week in cross country, probably less in track. Best girl on our team runs 5:20 for the mile, not under 12 for 2 mile though.

yeah about 20-25 for the average girls, a little less for younger/slower runners, up to 30-35 for the top girls. if you have anyone with a lot of talent then anything goes, but this is the general guideline. this is on 6 days a week, and is more than it sounds like. 25 is about 4 miles per day, and a 4 mile run can be non-trivial for your run-of-the-mill kid. at 35 you are getting lots of six mile runs, which is honestly fine--that's around 50 minutes of easy running.

obviously the really good programs are running way more than this, but whether these teams are actually good, or just smashing a bunch of rocks together and hoping for diamonds to fall out, isn't entirely clear

Background:

I'm a senior who's been running since indoor my freshman year.

Last outdoor I was consistently around 5:25 in the 16, my 800 and 3200 PR's are 2:25 and 11:54. I ran 3:07 or 1k less than two weeks ago.

I consistently run 40 miles/week, plus or minus a couple miles. But I also supplement a lot by adding on longer warm-ups and cool-downs. Girls on my team are probably around 25-30ish miles/week just because they get less mileage during the week from slower distance paces and only running 5 days a week. I run long runs plus an easy 40 on the weekends (so 40 miles in 7 days most weeks).I'm the only girl under 5:40, the next closest girl is just under six (5:58) so I'm with the guys most of the time. My freshman year I probably was consistently around 30, sophomore year was probably consistently 35 miles/week, and last year was when I started consistently hitting around 37-40ish miles/week. I'm still improving at 40 miles/week and my coach does not want me to go any higher as he told me during cross country when I had hit a couple 42-45 mile weeks that I was getting "reckless." He wants to leave me some growth for college running especially if I can still improve without an increase in mileage right now.

Mileage is definitely an individual thing and some people thrive on more volume and others thrive more on less mileage, maybe a little more quality, depending on muscle fibers and other factors. It's all about figuring out what works for you so hearing one person runs x amount of miles may not work for another person. Typically if you err on the distance side (your 2 mile matches your mile ability more so than your 800), than running more volume will probably help you, or even supplementing some non-impact cardio like cycling can help (I was doing that my freshman year). Mid-distance people usually train a little differently, especially in high school, will typically thrive more on cruise intervals instead of a tempo run (4xmile with short rest a little faster than tempo instead of a straight out 4 mile tempo run) that a distance kid will thrive off of.

TLDR: You should really focus on running consistent mileage which you can stay healthy at. Personally, I consistently run 40 miles/week.

That's great input, thanks very much! Let's hear from some more runners/coaches/programs...

and "not an expert"- you are remarkably focused and clear for a person of any age- thanks!

Our school does not have anybody under 5:30 or 12:00 in recent years. The mileage after XC was less than 10 per week but with weights, plyometrics, agility drills, and some fitness videos. About 10-12 weeks before sectional meet for spring track, team started intervals on track three times per week (plus less than a mile total warmup and cooldown combined), and usually 1 or maybe 2 weekly recovery runs of 3 miles, and runners not training on weekends, so I guess that's around 10 to 15 per week, mostly high intensity but with like 5 to 8 minutes standing rest between all intervals. Any threshold or long runs are done only during XC season.

This varies a bit depending on the type of runner, but here is what the majority of our team AVERAGES (not max week, which most people claim they run each week).

Seniors: 40-45 mpw

Juniors: 35-40 mpw

Sophomores: 30-35 mpw

Freshman: 25-30 mpw

We don't run very fast on most of our runs and we don't do many workouts (3 every 2 weeks), but this includes 1-2 doubles, a long run, a race, basic speed stuff (think 5-10 seconds) and a ton of strength training in all different forms.

Oddly enough, decent mileage really benefits our 800 meter girls most of all. Out of ~15 girls out for track (distance), 4 ran mid 2:18 or faster and one other one definitely could have (2:17 relay, so technically sub 2:20), as she was a 5:03/10:42 girl.

It depends on the season (xc/it/ot) and the training age of the athlete.

Most are at 35-40. Two of them really love running and will occasionally hit 70, but they are exceptional and only run with the boys on the team, who generally hit 50-60, and sometimes hit 70.

I took over a girls high school job in a small town in CT two years ago. When I inherited the team the fastest girl ran about 23 minutes for a 5k and my top 5 consisted of 27min + girls. Needless to say, not the greatest group of runners. Aside from some mentality and culture changes in the first year, the biggest change I made was "jacking" up their mileage (they were only running 15mpw at best). Year one was a bit of an adjustment. We were 17th at our state class meet, 3 spots better than the previous year. This past fall we got a large group of freshman who (with one promising freshman from the previous year) averaged around 45mpw with some weeks over 50). We finished with 1 girl under 20', 1 more under 21, and 3 more under 22'. All freshman and one sophomore. We finished 10th in our class meet (the team's highest finish in about 6-7 years). The girls bought in and really started to like the mileage. This upcoming year (fall 2015) my girls ASKED to be running at least 50-55 consistently and their goal is to be top 4 in our state class and conference championship meets.

In my opinion, increasing mileage if done slowly, and carefully is the best way to see long term improvement.

Way to pat yourself on the back, brah. How about doing us a favor and just answering the question and putting the narcissistic crap aside.

share the knowledge! wrote:

Way to pat yourself on the back, brah. How about doing us a favor and just answering the question and putting the narcissistic crap aside.

Whoa! Where did that come from? Didn't get your morning jog in yet? F'ed up your own thread, nice.

Freshmen start in the 20s and might move to 40 by the end of the year depending on how they respond. From this point it's truly individualized. We sneak up the mileage if it continues to work. We have about eight each year that can break 5:40/12:00 with one to two a year challenging 5:00/11:00. We've had 10:50 girl run 50-60 mpw and a 10:40 girl never run over 40 so it's really a case by case basis. Also had a girl run 18:20 on 20.

60 Miles per week.

We have 6 girls that can run in the 5:20s and two girls that are looking to break 5 minutes this year. Last year one of our juniors ran 10:57 in the 3200m. Same girl ran 18:34 in the 5k at Nike Heartland Regionals.

We scored a perfect 15 at the state meet in 2013 and 19 last year.

OP here- that was not me who was rude to you. I appreciated your post, and great job with inspiring the team and growing the sport.

Based on the info in your post, I found your school- the progression year over year for the individuals is impressive. What do you do to train in the harsh winter conditions?

wedontlose wrote:

60 Miles per week.

We have 6 girls that can run in the 5:20s and two girls that are looking to break 5 minutes this year. Last year one of our juniors ran 10:57 in the 3200m. Same girl ran 18:34 in the 5k at Nike Heartland Regionals.

We scored a perfect 15 at the state meet in 2013 and 19 last year.

It was not a registered name wrote:

OP here- that was not me who was rude to you. I appreciated your post, and great job with inspiring the team and growing the sport.

The narcissistic post wasn't mine. I don't have to troll an anonymous web site and brag about myself to massage my self-image.

impressed with progression wrote:

Based on the info in your post, I found your school- the progression year over year for the individuals is impressive. What do you do to train in the harsh winter conditions?

We just run outside and bundle up. The kids have created a culture with the expectation that you will run everyday no matter what. If it is dangerously cold which I consider -12 Celsius then we will do a circuit workout.

It's not the mileage, but what you do with that mileage. Running 60 mpw over 7 days may not be as beneficial as a 35-40 mpw 6-day week. It's the quality that matters, not the quantity.

Coach K wrote:

It's not the mileage, but what you do with that mileage.

\

Exactly. A few programs have tried to copy us over the past few years, but they don't know what they are doing. We aren't doing any super secret special workouts it's the culture that has been built here.