2020 Challenge: 1000mi in 10 weeks

Nice goal, but what for ? Just for fun or for getting injuries ?

Good luck anyway...

When I was in my early 50s, I tried to do 1,000 miles in the first 3 months of the year. I think I made it 10 weeks at around 82 miles/ week until I got a cold and had to eject. Every run was on a treadmill!

I did one speed work day and one vertical k day (3,100 ft elevation gain).

Prefontaine91 wrote:

Nice goal, but what for ? Just for fun or for getting injuries ?

Good luck anyway...

I appreciate your only mild amount of snark.

I have been running for 9 years and have never been injured in a capacity that kept me out for longer than 3 days. This is with having hit multiple weeks over 110 miles in the past (just not 10 weeks in a row).

I am looking to lay down a base and want to do it in a way that will hold me accountable and consistent. This mileage is nothing too far out of my wheelhouse, and I will probably just be running strides, frequent progression runs by feel, and the occasional scheduled tempo.

And wondering if anyone else is in a similar position and looking to take on a challenge of moderate proportions

1000mi10wks wrote:

Prefontaine91 wrote:

Nice goal, but what for ? Just for fun or for getting injuries ?

Good luck anyway...

I appreciate your only mild amount of snark.

I have been running for 9 years and have never been injured in a capacity that kept me out for longer than 3 days. This is with having hit multiple weeks over 110 miles in the past (just not 10 weeks in a row).

I am looking to lay down a base and want to do it in a way that will hold me accountable and consistent. This mileage is nothing too far out of my wheelhouse, and I will probably just be running strides, frequent progression runs by feel, and the occasional scheduled tempo.

In the big scheme of things what you want to do is pointless. Run for nine years... so you are mid 20's early 30's? Hard to see how you can get significantly faster at this point. You can probably achieve whatever you want to do with a fraction of that mileage....

Running just to get to mileage targets is a crippling game (you shall see) and you might not realize it right now but socially dumbs you down....

If you’ve been running regular 90 mile weeks the last few months than I would say go for it. Since it’s been 60-80 you will be putting yourself at an increase injury risk.

The goal anyway is to get faster not hit an arbitrary number.

If you really need mileage motivation why not have a 10 week goal to average 90? That way you can start at 80 and work up to 100.

900 miles in 10 weeks would still be a personal record...

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What were your most recent prs? If you make it through this experiment injury free, It would be cool to like to see what happens to them.

dumb-o wrote:

In the big scheme of things what you want to do is pointless. Run for nine years... so you are mid 20's early 30's? Hard to see how you can get significantly faster at this point. You can probably achieve whatever you want to do with a fraction of that mileage....

Running just to get to mileage targets is a crippling game (you shall see) and you might not realize it right now but socially dumbs you down....

1. Mid 20s. In regards to: “how you can get significantly faster at this point?” - 9 years of training is NOT always 9 years of GOOD training, or even MEDIOCRE training, and this is mainly my case.

2. Achieve it with a fraction of the mileage? You’re probably right. Let’s say I run 80-85mpw as opposed to 100mpw, that saves me about 15 minutes per day in running. I don’t think I’ll be losing any sleep over those precious “lost” minutes, and I’m not concerned with injury. You know how some people are morivated just by the training? Some people by the end goal? Well hell, I am motivated by the number, so if it checks my motivation criteria I’m gonna do it.

3. Socially dumbing down: Well at this point I don’t think I can get THAT much worse in my social endeavors, and my good friends, family, and girlfriend don’t seem to mind.

I’ve run 15:48, 33:02, and 74:30 for the half. All on the roads. These were all ran in 2019.

I appreciate the advice here, and if I find myself in late January and I’m feeling bad I might tweak things. Will update come the New Year. Cheers.