Would it be better to do the miles in 6 days and take one day off every week? Currently I am doing it in 7 days, except once a month where I take a day off. Obviously it is much easier to hit higher mileage in 7 days instead of six. Basically which makes you better/more fit etc.
do it in 8
Absolutely depends on whether 50 mpw is currently high mileage for you or not. By the wording of your post, it sounds like you consider this to be "higher mileage" for you. If this is the case, I would do it over 7 days, rather than running even more mileage per day than you are used to for 6 days for the sake of having one day off. Make two consecutive days (following your longest day) the easiest. Something like this:
13 - long-ish run
3 - recovery pace
5 - easy run
10 - medium-long run
6 - easy run
8 - speedwork / tempo w/warm up/cooldown
5 - easy run
I would do it in 6. You will see the same fitness benefits from running roughly 58 miles per week but you will still get that day off. That is how I did it my last year in college, 55-60 miles in 6 days with a rest day and I feel like that is where I gained the most aerobically (versus 60 to 65 in 7 the year before).
Run0978 wrote:
Would it be better to do the miles in 6 days and take one day off every week? Currently I am doing it in 7 days, except once a month where I take a day off. Obviously it is much easier to hit higher mileage in 7 days instead of six. Basically which makes you better/more fit etc.
I would say 6 days is better.
That way you can get 60 hours recovery between two runs if necessary.
Even better if one day is short, just 5 miles or so, and another day is doubles.
Later on you'll just make that run a 12 miler and you've got 62 mpw. You'll add another 10 to the off day and you've got 72 mpw. Then you can work on adding a couple miles to each run and then take a day off each week at 80mpw. Then add the day back and you're at 94.
The first question is Why the fixation on 50 mpw? When I was in my best shape [3:01 marathon] I was typically running 35-40 mpw, with I think 45 @ the most. That was what my legs could tolerate. Now, I probably could have broken 3:00 with higher mileage, but frankly I was in pretty good shape and never got injured. To run 50 mpw just for the sake of hitting 50 doesn't make sense. Now, perhaps your goals are higher than mine were, and maybe you need that higher mileage to get there, but you haven't said. All things being equal, a day off lets you recover from your hard efforts, and it's that recovery that allows you to get stronger and faster. Take the day off. You'll be better off for it.