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

Maybe, maybe not.

We run between 35-55 depending on the girl and her experience.

I think my current group will get up to 60 next year. They're a little more into it than previous classes. Like another user said before, the culture is there.

We build them up like this:

Fr XC - daily peak run length of 5mi

Fr Spring - 5.5

So XC - 6.0

So Spring - 6.5

At this point we have a conversation about what they really want to do and what they're willing to do. If they like mileage, etc., we take them further. If not, we'll hover around 6.0 -6.5 and focus on some other things.

Jr XC - 7.0

Jr Spring - 7.5

Sr XC - 8.0

I haven't had anyone do this on a typical daily run, but my current group wants to do 8.5 miles for their senior spring track season. We'll see.

Long runs get up to 90 minutes and we keep them there until midseason. Our mileage, imo, is substantial enough to maintain this 4-6 weeks from state.

We do higher than normal volumes of tempo/threshold work that ranges from 10k pace up to half marathon pace depending on the point in the season. We work the whole threshold spectrum for 5k girls.

We do lower than normal volumes of interval/race pace work. We only do race distance volumes broken up in small chunks that progressively grow into larger chunks until we're at something like 3x1600@goal 5k w/ 2:00 min rest.

Our average at region (pancake flat) was about 19 flat and roughly 19:40 for hilly courses. It seems like it is working for this group. We also have a history of several sub-12ers each year, but 16/32 training is a little different.

Great stuff. You say you do more volume than typical for threshold/tempo stuff - how much are you talking about? Programs I'm familiar with will do ~4-6km of true threshold work. If you're doing 10k pace, how much volume? Likewise for threshold and half marathon pace.

We do cycles of 6x800, 8x800, and 10x800@recent mile plus 50s with 1 min rest.

this is over a 3 week period. 6 should be very manageable, 8 not bad, 10 doable but requires focus.

cruise miles are usually closer to 60s over mile pace.

This ranges in cycles of 3 them 4x1600 with 1 min rest to 4 then then 6x1600.

my best girls will pop those in about 620 per mile during winter. Closer to 630 or so during texas fall.

the two best I have are currently averaging about 257 for 8x800. They get faster on each rep. These are true 10k girls, though. 400 speed is 66 to 68 all out. They will do 10 of them this week. I dont have all girls do this, though. Most do cycles of 6 and 8 three times per season. We drop the pace each time we hit 6 again.

The fastest girls are the type who will have splits less than 20s per mile for every distance up. Normal girls in our program average plus 20s per distance up.

so 520 1600 means 1120ish 3200, 1840 track 5k, 19ish flat xc 5k, 19mid hilly xc 5k. I have some that can run those xc times off of 530 to 535 1600 times, though.

Our Varsity runners:

Freshman 30-35. Try to average 5 miles hilly on distance days. Long Run of 7 miles. One hard workout a week of about 7-8 miles. 6 days a week.

Sophomores 35-40. Try to average 6 miles on training runs, lengthen long run to 80 min. One hard day but add a tempo or fartlek run. 6 days a week.

Juniors 40-50. 7 miles a day average. A long run of 80 min. A longer adventure fun run once in a while in the summer but with lots of stops. Workout, tempo/fartlek, long run. Add in pool workout double days 2-3 times a week in mornings. 6 days a week.

Seniors 45-55. A few elite (FL qualifiers) have hit 60+ Mostly to upping the long run to 12-14 miles. Everything else is the same. All "doubles" we do in the pool. The girls love them and are sometimes a great shake out. Plus it reduces pounding. Kids just are more fragile than they were 20-30 years ago.

Great stuff. Do you ever have trouble with girls not being able to handle the volume of 6x1600? Like in terms of injuries and so on? Do you take it easy for longer than usual after that session?

I have some that don't like going that high. I used to force it a little based on talent level, then I realized it was more about mental approach and perhaps even type of runner. So now I let them decide. Some experienced runners only do cycles of 3 then 4 or maybe 3, 4 then 5. Others can handle 6. I've had some ask for more, but we haven't gone there yet. Maybe when they're older.

I rarely have injuries. Maybe 1 stress reaction a year (calendar not season). I've had about 4 stress fractures in 7 years at this school. Two were acute (meaning not a true stress fracture and actually a break that resulted from falling outside of practice.)

In short, I don't force it. But I try to get every athlete to go big at least once before they leave. Some athletes' true talent is hidden until they get larger aerobic volumes. We only know about the girls with a little speed under their belt in middle school.

I have gradually built the girls up to 45-50mpw by JR/SR year. Still have a way to go but our week looks like this in say xc:

Monday 20min easy w/o (changes over the season) 20 easy

Tuesday 60 easy plus plyos/sprints

Wednesday 20 easy w/o (allways a threshold workout) 20easy

Thursday 60 easy plus 8x80m

Friday race

Saturday 75 easy plus 8x80m

Sunday off

In track the only change is meets vary more on which day of the week they fall.

Thanks for training info. What is the range of times are they running for XC and track?

Citius5000 wrote:

I have gradually built the girls up to 45-50mpw by JR/SR year. Still have a way to go but our week looks like this in say xc:

Monday 20min easy w/o (changes over the season) 20 easy

Tuesday 60 easy plus plyos/sprints

Wednesday 20 easy w/o (allways a threshold workout) 20easy

Thursday 60 easy plus 8x80m

Friday race

Saturday 75 easy plus 8x80m

Sunday off

In track the only change is meets vary more on which day of the week they fall.

hey! I got to a school that made it to NXN once and has won I think 5 XC and 4 track state titles since 2000. our top training group which is our varsity 7 and 3 more runs 36 miles a week throughout the season. our number 1 and sometimes number 2 girls (or none sometimes), depending on how much better they are than the general pack, might amount to 2-3 miles more per week as they add extra reps or tempo mileage. However, those girl usually don't add a lot of easy mileage. (I know this is really old haha! thought I'd share though :))

training week:

monday tempo (5)

tues easy (7)

wednes track (1m wu, 3 miles of work, 2m cd)(6)

thurs intermediate (5)

fri easy (5)

sat easy (8)

that's 36 mpw! make wedn 4 miles of work and tempos and intermediate 6 miles for 39 mpw

Coach K wrote:

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.

Its really not. 35-40 mpw is better than 60 with no workouts, but a girl running 60 mpw is going to beat one running 35-40 if she is putting in quality workouts. You can get quality workouts at any mileage, you just have to take the easy runs easy and not workout too often..

Some of my runners have been successful at the age class level and gone on to continue improving through University and make senior National Teams and compete at Worlds. Typically 25-30mpw in the heaviest weeks as highschool runners. I worked 400/800m speed a bunch and tried to avoid high mileage. While it seems to have worked, I still don't know if it's the best choice for long term dev.

And by some, I should clarify 1 to WA Worlds, but some to National Teams for smaller events (NACAC U23, XC Worlds, Universiade, World Juniors,...).

I did not coach any of them after the U20 age.

So much depends on training age, runner type, maturity level, etc...

Our girls are anywhere from 20-60 depending on a number of variables.

Said every coach in the 90's... when USA distance sucked.

Anyone else see a pattern here?

Answer Type 1: We don't have any girls under 5:20. We don't run a lot.

Answer Type 2: We have many girls under 5:20. We run a lot.

hmmmmm.....

I love seeing girls training discussed!

On average, our varsity girls run around 40 mpw during XC season and 25-35 mpw in track (depending on events). We use the offseason to build to those numbers. I think we'll end up with 7-8 girls sub 5:40 this year (this is a bit higher than normal).

I really like low to mid 40s as a goal for HS girls. It's low risk enough that there are very few injuries and girls see a lot of improvement and success off of it. We contend for a top 5 state finish and are middle of the pack at the Nike Regional Championship races pretty much every year. We are considered fairly high mileage compared to the teams in our area, but I don't view us as a high mileage program.

Our girls that have run collegiately feel they are prepared for college training, but still have room to improve. Most of their college coaches like to see them running around 50-55 mpw their first season, so it's felt like a natural progression for them.

This was my 5th year as assistant coach for a girls team, all under the same head coach. Our times are probably a little shy of what you're looking for (we've had some hit those, but I wouldn't say multiple people hitting those marks every year) but we've had an individual with state championships in XC/indoor/outdoor and a team that has consistently been top 5 at XC in the biggest division in our state.

I'd say that the max mileage our runners will do is:

Monday long run: 9

Tuesday workout: 6-7

Wednesday regular run: 5-6

Thursday workout: 6-7

Friday easy pre-race run: 3-4

Saturday race: about 5 miles including warm-up/race/cool-down

Sunday post-race: easy 3-4 miles on their own

So if you add that up, it's around 40 or a little more. Maybe up to 45 mpw if it's a week with no race. I don't think our best runner (probably would've been around 5:10/11:10 if corona hadn't wrecked her senior year outdoor season) ever got over 50 mpw. Freshmen (assuming they ran as 8th graders) probably build up to about 30 mpw by the end of the season. Then the mileage gradually increases from there.

We also train M-F in the summer. About 30 mpw plus whatever the girls do on their own on the weekends.

The biggest thing IMO is building the culture (I don't think we're perfect with that, but I think it's been improving over the years). What you need is for runners to hold themselves and each other accountable. When it's time to race a kid has to push herself, and if she can't or won't do that who cares what mileage she is running?

small state.. state champs in XC last two years.. should have been this year before Covid and hopefully next year as well. Mileage varies alot by age, training history, injury stuff etc... in our top 7 probably anywhere from a low of 25 to a couple girls this year hit 50 -52 MPW maybe 2-3 weeks in summer and 2-3 weeks early season. Then those top two were 40-45 for m,ost of XC season then down to lower for peak meets at end of season. the two that ran the most were our top two and are juniors.. they have gradually built up from low 30's as freshman to now.. Will be similar this year may have them sniff 55 mpw if things go well.