90+ Miles a Week

I don't know how fast you are but my first guess would be that you're running too fast on your easy days but I'm not sure. I ran 100 miles a week on three doubles and at least 11 miles every morning. I would run 15 miles three times a week (as my morning run). It's the summer, if you do strides once or twice a week and a tempo run once a week with all that mileage, you should be good. I would err on the side of caution and run closer to 7:00 pace than 6:30 but again without knowing your times I have no idea what paces you should be running.

Looks good, but I'd say to cut down from two long runs, and concentrate that mileage more on one long run. Long runs should be about 20% or more of your mileage, so it would be 18+ miles for you. Just do that one day a week.

You could do faster paces/ tempos on the 10 mile days just to keep your speed sharp.

Your schedule looks good without doubles, but I think that you'll need to incorporate them into your training when you hit 100-110 mpw. You'll be surprised how easy it is to get in mileage with doubles.

Your plan is NOT effective. Your feeling that doubles are not beneficial is WRONG. Your runs should be shorter so you can do 110, immediately, and like the other poster suggested you won't have to slow down when you reveal your 8k XC PR is 27:00.

I know how you feel in chasing big dreams, and I am doing it as an older runner (mid-forties). Your schedule is nice and straightforward, and you have been given excellent advice here. Do not change too much. Perhaps a single weekly 18 (or more) would help. Try it and see what happens. The main thing is this: keep running. You will continue to improve as long as you avoid injury. Remeber this: any running is better than no running.

Double sessions ~ 3x per week.

Slow down.

Back off the mileage every ~4th week to recover.

lkmsutr wrote:

Your plan is NOT effective. Your feeling that doubles are not beneficial is WRONG. Your runs should be shorter so you can do 110, immediately, and like the other poster suggested you won't have to slow down when you reveal your 8k XC PR is 27:00.

Hey 27 min is not bad. But you'll need sub 25 to make it top of d3.

Agreed though. People that think doubles are not beneficial end up injured and slow. My personal advice is to go a little longer Sunday and take it slow on Monday. Also the occasional tempo or AT in the middle of runs is good when you feel comfortable with the mileage.

My pr is 25:51 for the 8k (which is relative to the course not shape) and 5k pr is 14:58 (on a track)

You are wrong about doubles. Terribly wrong.

justsomeoldcoach wrote:

You are wrong about doubles. Terribly wrong.

What I meant was that I don't feel that doubles are as beneficial as a single run. For example if I were going to do a 15 miler, it's better for me to do that 15 instead of a 10 then a 5. If I am wrong about this, could someone please explain to me why doubles are better than a single run (other than helping prevent injuries).

chasing big dreams wrote:

justsomeoldcoach wrote:

You are wrong about doubles. Terribly wrong.

What I meant was that I don't feel that doubles are as beneficial as a single run. For example if I were going to do a 15 miler, it's better for me to do that 15 instead of a 10 then a 5.

And what justsomeoldcoach meant was you're wrong about that. If singles were better than 99% of pro runners wouldn't do doubles.

There are lots of threads on doubles on here, doesn't need to get re-hashed again.

Like others have said, you are wrong about the doubles. I would double as many times as you can handle. Start with a few doubles per week and add a double until you are running 5-6 doubles per week.

I would not worry so much about daily pace - run what you need to each day. Sometimes it will be slower than others, but the point is nice, relaxed running in the summer. Some days you'll feel great and you'll rip off a great (fast) run. Good job. Just be consistent and build your mileage.

What about strides? I would be doing at least one session of strides per week, if not two.

In my opinion the hardest thing about cross country is not peaking too early. It's such a long season. This depends on your coach and training program, but when I did tempos or intervals over the summers I'd come into preseason a little too sharp. I'd be in awesome shape in early October but be fading when it mattered. Of course you'll do some harder running spontaneously on days when you're feeling awesome, but I'd recommend holding off on structured tempos and intervals until the last few weeks of the summer, if at all. For now your job is just running easy, running a lot, and getting strong as f**k.

I also think doubles are fantastic and that everyone should do them. Especially once you're aiming for 100+ later in the summer. As for what pace to run, I'd just go by feel. Don't be afraid to run extremely slow sometimes if you're tired, or faster if you're feeling good. I feel like most college runners run too narrow a range of paces (including me back then). I also agree with the poster who mentioned taking a down week (maybe like 60 miles) every few weeks to really let your body soak in all the work you'll have been doing.

Good luck, and keep chasing those big dreams!

That is the most important thing here: keep chasing those big dreams. As long as you are out on the roads and trails, you are in the chase. Each step paves the way to your success.

All the best to you.

Great thread so far. My goal is similar with about 105 ish as top mileage for 5-6 weeks, and my xc pr is a touch better as is 5k, but we seem to be similar runners so I'm enjoying this thread a lot.

You shouldn't be doing 15 to start with.Say you do 15 today. That does some damage. Next day you do only 8 for a total of 23.Now say you do 5+8. That's lower than your initial 15. But you can do 5+8 the very next day. The total is now 26. Not only the total is higher, it is more balanced. Less chance of burning out or injury. Hope this helps. The numbers don't matter, the concept does.

chasing big dreams wrote:

justsomeoldcoach wrote:

You are wrong about doubles. Terribly wrong.

What I meant was that I don't feel that doubles are as beneficial as a single run. For example if I were going to do a 15 miler, it's better for me to do that 15 instead of a 10 then a 5. If I am wrong about this, could someone please explain to me why doubles are better than a single run (other than helping prevent injuries).

Based on a 25:21 8k PR, what sort of pace is too fast over the summer for easy runs, long runs, etc? Also, what kind of pace should a person with that PR be doing his different runs over the summer at?

Ideally 15 mile run would be better than 10 +5 mile runs. however, you are less likely to get hurt running 10+5. My pr is 25:55 so we are about on the same level for cross country. 10+5 double is the way to go way better on your body as far as recovery goes.

When I was in college I would consistently train in the 90-105 per week range in the summer. A typical 90 mile week would look like this for me

Mon - 10

Tues - 5 am, 10 pm 15 total

Wed - 12

Thur - 11

Fri - 5 am - 10 pm 15 total

Sat - 9

Sun - 18 miles (I found it easy to stick to the rule that my long run would be 20% of my weekly mileage)

My morning runs would be about 6:30-6:45 pace, the other runs would be 5:45-6:10 pace. I was a DII All American in XC.

As I added more miles, I would bump up my long run to stay at 20% of my week and add the remaining miles to anywhere else. For me, I probably trained to fast for the normal runs, so I had to do a couple morning runs a week and force myself to run slow.

ifyouthinkso wrote:

When I was in college I would consistently train in the 90-105 per week range in the summer. A typical 90 mile week would look like this for me

Mon - 10

Tues - 5 am, 10 pm 15 total

Wed - 12

Thur - 11

Fri - 5 am - 10 pm 15 total

Sat - 9

Sun - 18 miles (I found it easy to stick to the rule that my long run would be 20% of my weekly mileage)

My morning runs would be about 6:30-6:45 pace, the other runs would be 5:45-6:10 pace. I was a DII All American in XC.

As I added more miles, I would bump up my long run to stay at 20% of my week and add the remaining miles to anywhere else. For me, I probably trained to fast for the normal runs, so I had to do a couple morning runs a week and force myself to run slow.

What school did you go to? Was your teammates training similar?