How many miles a week did Steve Prefontaine run a week if you had to guess?
How many miles a week did Steve Prefontaine run a week if you had to guess?
60 to 140 MPW depending on the season.
ovoindian wrote:
How many miles a week did Steve Prefontaine run a week if you had to guess?
The late Charlie Maguire told me that he stayed with Prefontaine at his trailer for four days after Nationals one year. He said that at that time he ran with Prefontaine every day and did exactly what he did and that they ran 60 miles in those four days.
60-70/week HS
70-90/week College
Relatively little jogging
Does this number include runs to the liquor store?
dsrunner wrote:
60-70/week HS
70-90/week College
Relatively little jogging
Charlie's comment about his time with Prefontaine was in response to someone who said Prefontaine did 70-80 a week. He added, "Do you think in the three days after I left he only ran 10-20 miles? I think he didn't count his morning runs into his total."
HRE wrote:
ovoindian wrote:How many miles a week did Steve Prefontaine run a week if you had to guess?
The late Charlie Maguire told me that he stayed with Prefontaine at his trailer for four days after Nationals one year. He said that at that time he ran with Prefontaine every day and did exactly what he did and that they ran 60 miles in those four days.
Charlie also told me in 1983 that Pre had shitloads of "pills" in his trailer.
ovoindian wrote:
How many miles a week did Steve Prefontaine run a week if you had to guess?
In Tom Jordan's book "Pre" I think it talks about that when Pre was running in his best form that he ran about 90 miles a week and felt like he was that was all he could handle at the time. But that usually consisted of some pretty high quality miles. He had 3 interval workouts a week usually and almost all of his "normal runs" were at 5:40-6 minute pace during the base and 5:30 during the competitive.
nobody care about him anymore.he only looks cool to the american..to the kenyan..Pre is nobody.even high school kenyan can easily beat Pre in his prime
Shortly after his death (I think it would have been in 1976, my first year at university here in the UK) a British international runner told me that he heard that Pre seriously upped his mileage when he started to run 10k on the track and was intending to do well in excess of 120 a week in preparation for a double in Montreal with the 10k as his main focus. How he knew this I have np idea! but maybe Pre was influenced by Viren's periods of very high mileage?
I was a subrcriber to T&FN in '74. When Pre ran his 10,000 AR (27:42?), I believe they reported he'd been doing 140/week for the buildup to that race. HIgh spring mileage, very little speedwork.
Presumably he'd done some speedwork when he dueled Frank Shorter and set an AR 12:51 three mile a bit over a month later.
Pre is ancient history, and maybe not the smartest racer ever, but he had style and charisma beyond most top runners of any era. He captured the zietgeist and inpired a generation.
This just reinforces for me what I've read many times: If you want to run your best, mileage is key (in distance running).
So this begs the question: What is the sweet-spot mileage during a non-base-phase to perform to maximum personal ability in the 5k? and in the 10k?
Initially I would have guessed 80 and 90 mpw respectively, but after reading some of the posts above, I wonder if it's closer to 90 and 100 or more.
Insight, anybody?
I care about Pre, Mr. Green Flash, I also care about grammar and writing better than your average 6 year old, which you can't do.
I was given his 1975 journal by a friend of his. It details his workouts for the year up to 25 May. His miles per week are as follows.
89-70-81-66.5 On the last day of December he ran 16.5 miles and on
New Years Day he ran 11.0
64.5-84.5-119-113.5
114.5-127-130-96
114.5-102.5-98-84.5
83-96.5-90.5-79.0 ending on 25 May
I wonder if those fluctuations were due to how he was feeling on any particular day or week, or if they were due to races, or to family/commitments/schedule. Were those rises and falls in his training optimal?
I'm just a hobbyrunner wrote:
This just reinforces for me what I've read many times: If you want to run your best, mileage is key (in distance running).
So this begs the question: What is the sweet-spot mileage during a non-base-phase to perform to maximum personal ability in the 5k? and in the 10k?
Initially I would have guessed 80 and 90 mpw respectively, but after reading some of the posts above, I wonder if it's closer to 90 and 100 or more.
Insight, anybody?
I doesn't beg the question, it raises the question.
These phrases mean very different things
The fluctuations appear to be due to travel. No travel of huge significance. He states after the high mileage weeks his legs were tired.
Thanks for the correction.
Unfortunately you forgot to talk about running at all.
Furthermore, I don't think you're correct that those phrases mean very different things. I know you wanted to stress your point, but you did it at the expense of precision, which is the same mistake I made.
Mileage during the 2 phases of the year that you are not competing is important. While you are racing, mileage is the least important. Its the % of the mileage that is given toward certain physiological states. If you are running at least 10% of the week at lactate threshold pace you are wasting time.
I don't think he "started to run 10k on the track." He ran one, which went exceedingly well. Pretty much the same situation as Webb, although I've heard Webb looked more relaxed.Jordan's book quotes someone--I can't remember who--saying he used to tease Pre mercilessly that he was going to take a beating once more at 5,000m in Montreal before finally moving up to the 10,000m to win gold at Moscow. I've never heard a claim that he planned to run the 10,000m in Montreal.
mark b wrote:
Shortly after his death (I think it would have been in 1976, my first year at university here in the UK) a British international runner told me that he heard that Pre seriously upped his mileage when he started to run 10k on the track and was intending to do well in excess of 120 a week in preparation for a double in Montreal with the 10k as his main focus. How he knew this I have np idea! but maybe Pre was influenced by Viren's periods of very high mileage?