Highest Mileage Jump You Have---Without getting injured

What is the highest mileage jump you have done without getting injured? I would really like to know. Thank you.

from 60ave to 100ave- which i maintained for the next 9 months- in 2 weeks. my previous highest milage week had been 85. the whole panic over raising your milage quickly is very overblown. if you will just SLOW THE HELL DOWN and let your body adapt to the volume you'll be fine.

don't be a baby wrote:the whole panic over raising your milage quickly is very overblown. if you will just SLOW THE HELL DOWN and let your body adapt to the volume you'll be fine.

Bullshit.

Every time I've made a big jump quickly, I've hurt myself.

It's one thing if you've been running a while at 85, dipped to 60s for a while and then jump to, say, 80, 95 in two weeks.

It's quite another if you've been averaging something like 50 and try to jump to 80 and 100 over two weeks. You MIGHT get there safely by slowing down, but chances are very good that you'll hurt yourself trying a stunt like that. I know I have, every time I've tried it.

When I first started running (age 16), I went from 0 mpw to 60+ mpw. I did 8 miles the first day and 9 miles a day the rest of the summer.

I haven't run for the past couple of winters (I ski), but when I get back into it, I always get right back into it so 0 mpw to 70-80+ mpw, though my body makes me go slowly for the first couple of weeks.

I've never had an injury from running too much. My only real injury was a sprained ankle or two in 20 years of running.

Pete wrote:

don't be a baby wrote:the whole panic over raising your milage quickly is very overblown. if you will just SLOW THE HELL DOWN and let your body adapt to the volume you'll be fine.

Bullshit.

Every time I've made a big jump quickly, I've hurt myself.

It's one thing if you've been running a while at 85, dipped to 60s for a while and then jump to, say, 80, 95 in two weeks.

It's quite another if you've been averaging something like 50 and try to jump to 80 and 100 over two weeks. You MIGHT get there safely by slowing down, but chances are very good that you'll hurt yourself trying a stunt like that. I know I have, every time I've tried it.

No, Pete, YOU are the frail anomaly. Milege won't kill anyone.

I went from 65 to 100.3 two weeks ago and had to take two days off on the third week, because of a hip problem. I was ok on the rest of the third week, but ended up last week with only 44 and a race

So, I think your body senses when there is a big jump, and brings you back down to earth the following week-ha

but I am 50 years old too.

I have been interested in this question for awhile. How does one do this? Is there a difference if you are returning to high milage after having been there before or just trying to build up to high milage for the first time. Two years ago I built up from 50 to one 100 over a three month period for the first time. I was just very systemmatic in listening to what my body was telling me and overlooking the muscle soreness for the most part but really looking for location specific pain and energy fatigue. I really learned how important it is to keep up the caloric intake or you end up running flat. I'd much rather run with tired legs than energy flat. I am in the process of doing this again and it appears to be easier (but recovery days must be very slow). I spoke with a well known Masters runner this weekend, a 55 year old 2:40's marathoner. He says that build ups of 20 miles per weak are not much of a problem if you run them slow enough to allow your body to adjust to the load, he said he runs most at 9:00 min miles. Of course he said this having finished a 27:40 5 Miler. He races frequently and the rest is slow. Isn't that what Ed Whitlock does also??? HMMM

uiy wrote:

I went from 65 to 100.3 two weeks ago and had to take two days off on the third week, because of a hip problem. I was ok on the rest of the third week, but ended up last week with only 44 and a race

So, I think your body senses when there is a big jump, and brings you back down to earth the following week-ha

but I am 50 years old too.

100.3? Is that a radio station or something?

How do you know it was exactly three tenths of a mile?

malmo wrote:

No, Pete, YOU are the frail anomaly. Milege won't kill anyone.

It's always especially amusing when former elites lambast sub-elites for being injury prone.

I agree whole-heartedly with Pete; any big jumps have also landed me with bad injuries. Running places great stress on the muscular and skeletal system; it isn't enough to just "run slow" 100 miles per week. Some bodies cannot handle it. In short, malmo, you have no idea what you are talking about. Trying to apply your training history to any other runner is a hallmark of myopic idiocy.

When I was younger, I was really stupid in my approach to mileage. I once (not knowing jack about training yet)decided that I needed to run more mileage because I had heard what the elite guys were doing. So, in the middle of one summer (1998) when I was working construction and running about 50 mpw, I decided to run one 100 mile week---really REALLY dumb. I didn't get injured, but having never done that volume before, I couldn't sustain it and ended up back at 50+ feeling like crap for the next 3 weeks.

Since I've had my fair share of injuries. If I had been a little smarter and taken a long-term approach to building mileage I know that I would be much better off today. I train comfortably now between 100 and 120 mpw, but in early stages of building mileage back up I make sure that 2 days of the week are extremely easy mileage. Active recovery---maybe as slow as running a 10 miler in 80-90 minutes. One of those days is usually monday, and is an easy 5-8 miles. Workout days usually total 18-24 miles.

I've found that it's much more difficult for me to handle 7 days a week of 15-18 miles/day than it is for me to run 3-4 days at 18-24 miles, 1-2 days at 12-15 miles, and 1-2 days at 5-10 miles.

With the high school athletes I coach, my main focus is to get them through all 4 years healthy by slowly building their volume. With 4-5 weeks of drills, light running and "aerobic hill repeats" prior to a season, I've found that all the beginners I coach will keep injury free for the season, and usually can average about 30-40 mpw. For my more experienced runners, I do very gradual increases. My top female runner averaged 40-45 mpw as a sophmore, 50-55 as a junior, and now is getting comfortable with 60-65 with a max of 70. She'll be in a great position coming into college because she gradually built up and has never had to deal with being injured.

Go away wrote:It's always especially amusing when former elites lambast sub-elites for being injury prone.

I see my earlier reply to malmo got deleted, and probably rightfully so (I used foul language - gosh).

I don't think I'm injury prone, by any stretch, but I've had my share of injuries over the years. In my early years, which were all low mileage, the only time I was ever hurt was when I went from 35 mpw to 70 miles in 7 days. That landed me on the injured reserve (runners knee) for a month.

When I started building my mileage to more respectable levels over the last couple/three years (50-100, average usually 65), the only times I've been hurt is when I've made big jumps into mileage terrain I hadn't travelled before.

The past year and a half (knock on wood) I haven't had an injury that's taken me out for more than a coupla days (achilles trouble, hammy pain). Part of this is because I've been into "higher" mileage, and part of it is I've learned from my mistakes and recognize when I need to back away from certain aches and pains.

Perhaps malmo, and countless other elites-to be, have never been and never will be injured, regardless of training approach. I expect, though, that most of us lesser mortals ought to use a dose of caution along the way.

Here are my mileages the lastcouple of months : 58,56,20,23,35,46,52,40,82,82 I guess you could say this is a pretty good jump. No injuries. I feel stronger than ever.

I DONT WANT TO BE INJURED.COM wrote:

What is the highest mileage jump you have done without getting injured? I would really like to know. Thank you.

Is it possible that it is not really malmo who made that post? I'm actually curious as to whether you can do that with a name that I would have thought would be registered.

Go away wrote:

It's always especially amusing when former elites lambast sub-elites for being injury prone.

I agree whole-heartedly with Pete; any big jumps have also landed me with bad injuries. Running places great stress on the muscular and skeletal system; it isn't enough to just "run slow" 100 miles per week. Some bodies cannot handle it. In short, malmo, you have no idea what you are talking about. Trying to apply your training history to any other runner is a hallmark of myopic idiocy.

Who's "lambasting" Pete for being injury prone? I'm not. I get a vicarious thrill every time Pete posts another PR on Statman's list! It's a simple statement: 1) Pete is injury prone 2) Pete is an inexperienced runner who is finding his way, attempting to speak for us all 3) Pete is among the anomalies. Simple enough.

I'm speaking about the vast middle of the distribution curve. I'm speaking of the hundreds of atheltes, high school kids to college kids, from over 35 years of obsevation, I've seen bump their mileage. Injury isn't the nemesis here. There is no mileage troll waiting to get you just because the second derivative of your weekly milege exceeded what Runner's World tells you. Fatigue will be the factor you'll have to deal with when going to new levels. This I'm sure of: fatigue will pass and fitness will follow. Listen to your body and you'll reap the rewards in the fall.

Testimony from the "won'ts" and the "can'ts" of the world is dime-a-dozen here. The sooner you figure out that our sport is all about what you can do and not what you can't, the better. It makes it all the more rewarding. Good luck.

malmo, you're statement along the lines of "the more i ran, the more talented i became" has always been one of the most simplistic, and yet honest statements i have ever heard about running.

You crack me up, malmo.

You're welcome, Pete.

Well, some people are different I guess. Also, it is reasonable to believe that most of the time that you guys are jumping, you are jumping to mileage numbers that you can't handle. And the reason, you jump is probably because deep down-- you feel that you can't handle, so you want to try. Jump to something you feel like you can handle, then if you can, go higher.

My last 6 weeks have been:

0,0,31,85,84,85, Feel fine this week, knocked the morning run out of the way today. I didn't jump to 100 because I didn't feel I needed to. Maybe when the urge strikes me. But I feel somewhat comfortable, with this volume. I can be consistent.

One more thing, DO NOT try to jump up your mileage "doing singles" then complain about not being able to handle it.

Lets say, a 60 mile per week runner, does a 13 mile long run. Then decides to go to 85 miles per week on singles. Not that big of an increase in my book, benefits will outweigh risk, so take it. But NOT ON SINGLES. That is basically a long run every day.

I do about 11 runs a week.

When I was TRYING to become a distance runner I went from 5 mpw to 40 and got broken knees syndrome. Now several years later I am able to jump my mileage all over the place without problems (except fatigue). I am of the belief that everyone is different and there are no hard fast rules you can set. For me I needed to move up in mileage slower when I originally started, now it doesn't matter.