Real Low Mileage performers.

There was a kid back in the mid-80s from Alaska by the name of Doug Herron who ran a 1:48 in the 800 off of very low miles. I think second place in that state meet was like 2:00. I'm not sure he even trained the winter before. That guy had the most fluid stride I've ever seen. He could run a sub-50 second 400 and it looked like he was jogging.

I remember him, went to college in California somewhere and never heard from again?

been doing it for years wrote:

when i was 39 did 2:52 off an avg. of 26 mpw for the 16 weeks prior. peak week of 37 miles. 3 runs per week.

since then, i've done 2:57 when i was 45

I'm not very impressed. The thread is real low mileage performers, not real low performers.

im doing 25 miles a week while doing you mom ast the same timed....wow.

Hammer out some hills for 6 hours day and you will get fast

I believe that Charlie Robbins ran barefoot. Could that have been part of his success?

tsmallz wrote:

tell that to the africans...i think their dogs do the wagging.

You obviously have no idea what your talking about.

low miles wrote:

but never really went over 30 - 35 miles a week.

Here is a typical in season track week of training:

Monday... 8 X 400 @ 59-60 with 3 minutes rest

Tuesday... quick (for me) 6 miler... 6 minute or faster pace

Wednesday... shorter faster workouts... 6 X 300 @ 39 - 40 with 3 minutes rest

Thursday... 5 - 6 miler (6:15 - 6:30 pace)

Friday.... 5 miler easy

Saturday... race

Sunday... off

So on Monday you just showed up at the track and immediately jumped into 400 meter repeats? Did you not run any warmup?

One thing you should consider when listening to stories of low mileage success is what a runner counts when he gives a mileage figure. Today almost everyone counts any steps taken at faster than a walk towards their weekly or daily mileage, but it was once reasonably common to find people who didn't count warm-ups, cool downs, or recovery jogs into their totals.

add Jim Spivey to the list.

He has said (on these boards?) that he his typical base training weeks were in the 50's mpw range, and lots of weeks in the 40's.

And how many guys born and raised the US have run faster than him at 1500 or 3000?

1500 - 0

3000- just a few

(I'm amazed that the letsrun "more mileage is always better" moderators haven't deleted this thread. Good for them....)

My best season was my sophomore year in track. That fall was a bad one for cross country as I badly sprained my ankle and I ended up being outside the top 8 on the team. I ended up running maybe 4 days a week and maybe 5-7 miles a pop. We had a bad winter that year and I only got out to train a few times a week. I may have done twenty miles per week. During track season, I ran 50-65 miles a week and I did all my workouts at race pace for the most part. I wouldn't try to go too hard in workouts unless we were just doing quarters or 300's. On those I would run fast..usually 62-64 for quarters and 44 for 300's. I would usually run the last quarter all out and run 54-56. Anyway..that ended up being my best season in college. I ran 3:56, 9:09 steeple, and 15:12 5k. Nothing great, but my senior year I was doing 90-110 miles a week and I was doing 8X800 with 2 minutes rest between 2:07 and 2:16. I thought I could destroy my PR's. I Ran 14:48, 9:20 steeple, and 4:01 1500. Not much better. I placed worst my senior year at conference than I ever did!

bump

real low mileage=being lazy

if you want to be the best that you can be it is neccesary to run more than 30 mpw. You can still be really good off of just 30mpw but to be the best you can be youll need more. My opinion dont bash me.

2:52 is in the top 4% of 99% of all marathons...he is a top performer, idiot.

not very well wrote:

been doing it for years wrote:

when i was 39 did 2:52 off an avg. of 26 mpw for the 16 weeks prior. peak week of 37 miles. 3 runs per week.

since then, i've done 2:57 when i was 45

I'm not very impressed. The thread is real low mileage performers, not real low performers.

As Dr Martin said to me:

"If you think getting in 100 per week is the answer, then count in kilometers, you will get there a lot faster."

1984 mileage: Each month- week's totals/notable race

January: 54.5,40.5, 27.0, 45.0

February: 45.5, 42.5, 48.0, 33.5 / 3:56.17 Bloomington-I

March: 40.5, 29.0, 31.0, 43.5, 45.0 / 3:44.90 Florida

April: 60.0, 50.5, 56.0, 42.0 / 13:46.61 5k Drake 1st

May: 47.5, 42.5, 39, 22 / 3:53.88 Pepsi, 13:37 Knoxville

June: 34, 40.5, 27, 41.5, 33 / 3:36.42 Olympic trials, 1st

July: 36.5, 38, 40, 42.5 / 2:16.54 1k Prefontaine

August: 38.5, 30, 22, 35 / 3:36.60 Olympic Games, 5th

3:34.19 Zurich PR

Guess I was lazy at age 24.

One note - you can increase mileage all you want, and I did with coach's Mike Durkin and Ken Popejoy from 1987-1997, into the 60-74 range. But if you get injured, you 1) do not get to race; and 2) cannot pay your bills. There has to be a fine line between milage and staying healthy.

1988 I upped my mileage, coming off the bronze medal in the World's in Rome. After the indoor season, and training in Chicago, March had 76, 72, 64, 84; and April had 65, 65, 82, and 72. Of note, the 84 week was bumped up by working out with Seb Coe on the grass and the longest run of my life (1:53); and the 82 week I ran 3 sets of 3x800 (300 between intervals and 600 between sets) on tax day (4/15) in 2:15/2:04/2:12; 2:09/2:04/2:13; 2:14/2:05/2:11 for 14 miles for the day. I was still carrying 141 pounds, about 5 above summer racing weight, so was able to do the extended length of the workouts Mike and Ken required. But a week later, found the only stress fracture I ever had and had to go in the pool for 4 weeks. When I came out of the pool, I had 6 weeks until the 1988 Olympic trials - and did not make the team.

jspivey

That really you, Jim? :)

Cool! (If so....)

Skuj-

Yes ... the one who trained to hard in '88 to finish 4th in the Trials and not go to Seoul. But to speak truthfully, shape was there, but lacing in confidence in the Trial's final.

js

Bannister ran low mileage and what was amazing is that he did not run for 4-5 days before a race and kicked butts on race day, great runner.

16x wrote:

I remember him, went to college in California somewhere and never heard from again?

As I remember it, Doug Herron went to the University of Arizona, and I think he got down to the high 1:46s but no faster. I think he had issues with compartment syndrome, but I'm not totally sure.