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

LRC posts remained split between mileage or speed work.

If the coach is not good enough, mileage is the holy grail, until the athletes physically or mentally burn out.

My girl's team did between 15 and 65 last year. The amount of mileage really depends on the individual. They will run faster if they can do more mileage but not all can handle higher mileage. Varsity girls averaged around 40 miles per week with only 1 girl going over 50 miles per week. If I thought more of them could handle over 50, I would have had them run that but I didn't think they were all ready for that. Mileage was not based on ability as one top runner was at 65 miles while another top runner was at 25. The 65 mile per week runner thrived on high mileage and would not have been as successful at lower mileages. The 25 mile per week runner would fall apart when she got much above 30-35 so I kept her lower and her talent helped her shine.

I have no problem with a high school girl doing 60 to 70 miles if she has built up to it slowly over a few years and is not injury prone. I've had 8 different girls run under 19:00 in the last 4 years and 2 under 18:00. I've had 15 girls run sub 12 for 3200 during that same time frame.

My girls are in the 25-30 MPW group. We typically have several girls run in the 21-25 range for a 5K. Most are very young, so with a missed Track season, I have no idea about mile times

share the knowledge! wrote:

Of course, mileage is just one piece of the puzzle- but still- what is the approximate mileage per week for most of the year?

If you don’t want to name the program- that’s fine- but let’s hear from coaches or those who ran in a good program.

What's a good program? How about, consistently multiple runners under 5:40 mile and 12:00 2 mile. Not necessarily having runners with national or even state level times- but a handful every year hitting these marks.

Thanks for sharing!

A 5:40 mile is way worse than a 12:00 2 mile. A 5:40 is probably worth a 12:10 - 12:15.

MatthewXCountry wrote:

share the knowledge! wrote:

Of course, mileage is just one piece of the puzzle- but still- what is the approximate mileage per week for most of the year?

If you don’t want to name the program- that’s fine- but let’s hear from coaches or those who ran in a good program.

What's a good program? How about, consistently multiple runners under 5:40 mile and 12:00 2 mile. Not necessarily having runners with national or even state level times- but a handful every year hitting these marks.

Thanks for sharing!

A 5:40 mile is way worse than a 12:00 2 mile. A 5:40 is probably worth a 12:10 - 12:15.

They’re equivalent it’s just that most girls don’t run enough mileage to be strong enough to convert a 5:40 to a 12:00. Maybe it would make more sense if I compared it to guys a 4:20 and 9:20 are equivalent but the 9:20 is more competitive because most highschoolers don’t have the aerobic strength to convert really well from the 1600 to 3200 especially girls who typically run far less than boys.

Those times are pretty closely equivalent in our program. If a girl is running in that 5:35-5:40 range, I would expect her to run between 11:50-12:15 in the 3200 depending on her strengths as an athlete and what sort of races I can get her in.

I actually find it really difficult to find good quality races for 12:00 3200m runners. It’s an awkward zone where they aren’t competitive enough to run varsity for our program, but most coaches that have JV kids that can run that are going to put them in 2-3 shorter events to score more points. A lot of programs in our area don’t even bother entering kids in the 3200 unless they have a stud in the event so I think a lot of kids never learn how to race it well.