whats it feel like to run 100 mpw?

I will ask you in the hospital

Easier in practice than what you think it is. Much more mental than physical.

Tired, you just get tired and hungry. There's nothing magical about it. Even when you get used to it your workouts also get harder and longer. Don't try to do it soon if you've been running only 20-30 a week. I used to run that much then for years did 50-60, then some 70s and 80s. Then I attempted serious training for a marathon and went up to 100+ many times and my body has gotten used to it. Still talent plays a much bigger role than hard training. I've run 1:09 and 2:28 but many people train far less than I do and run much faster.

I used to pick a week every Summer when I was in high school and go for it. You'd be surprised at how easy it is.

It seems hard and like a big number until you do it. Then once you cross it off the list “only” 90 miles a week makes you feel like a miserable failure who is losing fitness and not trying hard enough.

It's really not that hard. If it's been a lifelong goal for you, take the week off of work and do it. Even if you're currently around 20 miles per week, I think you could do it this year. If your goal is to just do it once to say you did it, I'd recommend doubles every day and maybe triples some days so that no one run is too taxing. Soft surfaces are your friend. Eat plenty of food, drink plenty of water, and get plenty of rest. Seriously, you'll be fine. Take the following week easy, obviously.

I did that for a while in college (not running for the team at the time).

It was just an hour a.m. and p.m., a 5-5 day on Saturday, and ten miles on Sunday. I was too tired in general for a "long run," but 10 WAS the longest run I'd do each week. The hours were just 8 miles. I was just running.

I'd float between 104-112 miles most weeks. It became its own thing, though. I'd never run speedwork or tempo stuff, because I might be too tired to go an hour the next a.m.

For me, it was self-defeating. I was much better at around 70 miles weekly, and doing the speed/tempo/long stuff better.

It takes a lot of time.

You need good support at home for the meals.

I'd done a lot of 70 mile weeks.

What got me over 100 was it mediately drinking Endurox, a carbohydrate protein supplement after each run. Big difference in recovery. Highest mileage was 108.

My dad was dying that year.

I ran a marathon and the JFK 50-miler that year. I've done two 50 milers. In each case, my resting heart rate before the competition was 40, and after the competition it was elevated 20 beats at 60 for 3 weeks straight.

As far as helping me to my best performances, I got the best results maintaining 70-75 miles a week for 4 to 5 months straight on soft hilly trails. 3 miles grass in the morning, 7-8 miles trails or grass in the evening, only 8 miles easy on Friday, 16 to 18 hilly miles very easy with ultramarathoners on Saturday, super easy 5 miles on Sunday. About 90% on soft surfaces.

I have also crossed train by running on the bottom of a pool in 4 feet of water, forwards and backwards for up to two and a half hours. For that I counted a 100 calories as one mile.

That's all for now. I've been running for 45 years.

ohia wrote:

ive had a lifelong obsession with getting to 100mpw, just to say i've done it and feel it. presently, around 20mpw with not much effort. the most i've ever done was about 72mpw, 12 yrs ago. it sucked but not terribly.

part of me wants to take a full week of work off, and attempt to put in a 100mpw week. my tactic would probably be to frontload the week with mileage like crazy then hang on for the rest.

what's it feel like and would it be a suicide mission to go from around 40 or 50mpw and drop a 100 mile effort?

I was curious too, and once threw in a 144 mile week and lived to tell the tale.

During that big-mile week, pace on some of these runs dropped more than a minute per mile off what I'd usually do. Dead tired.

week 1 - 33 miles

week 2 - 54 miles

week 3 - 52 miles

week 4 - 56 miles

week 5 - 33 miles

week 6 - 28 miles (injured)

week 7 - 64 miles

week 8 - 39 miles

week 9 - 144 miles

week 10 - 52 miles

week 11 - 57 miles

week 12 - 43 miles

ohia wrote:

ive had a lifelong obsession with getting to 100mpw, just to say i've done it and feel it. presently, around 20mpw with not much effort. the most i've ever done was about 72mpw, 12 yrs ago. it sucked but not terribly.

part of me wants to take a full week of work off, and attempt to put in a 100mpw week. my tactic would probably be to frontload the week with mileage like crazy then hang on for the rest.

what's it feel like and would it be a suicide mission to go from around 40 or 50mpw and drop a 100 mile effort?

Jumping from 40-50 mpw up to a 100 miles for one week is not a suicide mission. It's totally counter productive for training and you will be dead f'ing tired by the end of the week, but it's very doable. Don't front load the week with crazy mileage, it will just make the end of the week miserable. Keep the pace slow and doubles are your friend. Good Luck!

You balance being hungry(and not eating) with tired(without sleeping), if you work a day job. At 37, I have a newborn and a full time career, and find that once I cross the 85 mile threshold, including 2 quality sessions weekly, all I feel is tired and hungry and can't act upon either.

I've run 100-135 mile weeks continuously before the baby was born, but it's still tough on its own.

DC101GDub wrote:

Tired, you just get tired and hungry. There's nothing magical about it. Even when you get used to it your workouts also get harder and longer. Don't try to do it soon if you've been running only 20-30 a week. I used to run that much then for years did 50-60, then some 70s and 80s. Then I attempted serious training for a marathon and went up to 100+ many times and my body has gotten used to it. Still talent plays a much bigger role than hard training. I've run 1:09 and 2:28 but many people train far less than I do and run much faster.

Man, thanks for your reply! It's a fresh breath of air on this smoky forum. Yes, running 100mpw is not a magic but hunger and fatigue. Enough with with number obsession.

If you want do it, this is how:

Wake up early, run 7 miles before work.

After work, run 7 miles.

On Saturday do the same except in the evening run 8.

On Sunday do the same as Saturday.

Just feels like 'damn im going for another fvking run' because realistically you'll double almost every day. As mentioned previously, more mentally draining than anything. Doing once isn't bad, sustaining it is whats hard.

My recommendation for the break down

M: 10 miles am / 5 miles pm

T: 8 miles am / 4 miles pm

W: 12 am / 4 pm

T: 11 am / 5 pm

F: 10 am

S: 10 am / 4 pm

S: 13 am/ 4 pm

Or something to that measure. Don't run the same distance everyday (you will get bored, and when it starts to suck it will be depressing to have the exact same thing the next day) and don't do structured workouts

FWIW, here's how I jumped to 144. I have recently gotten to 80-100 mpw before, but was averaging 50-60.

You can really see my pace fall off... I was in around 2:50 marathon shape at the time... the 30-mile Sunday long was/is my longest run ever.

Mon AFT - 9.2 @ 6:30

Mon EVE - 14.0 @ 6:50

Tue AFT - 10.4 @ 7:40

Tue EVE - 6.0 @ 7:30

Wed AFT - 6.8 @ 7:24

Wed EVE - 12.7 @ 8:36

Thu AFT - 9.2 @ 7:12

Thu EVE - 6.8 @ 7:30

Fri AFT - 8.3 @ 7:18

Fri EVE - 13.3 @ 7:49

Sat AFT - 16.7 @ 8:10

Sun AFT - 30.6 @ 8:36

Week Total 144.0 miles

Tired and hungry. After a while any less feels like slacking. It provides a very satisfying exhaustion.

Easy enough to do if you just want to have done it, but it’s not going to be super effective training. You need a consistent training load.

If you want to see any significant benefits you’ll probably want to build gradually until you can string together 6-8 consecutive 100 mile weeks. Once you can do that you should notice some decent improvement in your running.

Feel free to ignore this advice. It’s not particularly reasonable.

If you were to front load your week with crazy miles, I'd say run 2.5 miles every hour for the first 24 hours. Then space the remainder of the miles out of the rest of the week. Easy-peasy.

As others have said. "tired and hungry" pretty well describes it. I never did enough to really get used to it. The hardest part is to accept that you're going to be starting runs -- long runs -- while not recovered from the prior day.

Naps help!

Two years ago, I did 100 kilometres in one week (from a base of 50 kpw or 30 mpw) while working full time and in the heat of the summer. It was fine but not a real stretch - as I often hit 80 kpw or more during training. An extra 60 kms (to hit 100 miles) would have been hard scheduling around work and life. If I was on vacation and meals weren't an issue, I don't see a problem adding three or four more runs to that - but that would be adding a ridiculous amount of easy pace runs to my current load with little (or negative) training benefit but with bragging rights to an uncaring audience.