Forums >General Running>100 miles
Long dead ... But my stench lingers !
Feeling the growl again
My bread and butter work outs at higher mileage M 8 Easy T- 16-18 miles with 5x5 minutes @ Vo2 max W - 20-22 mile Long Tempo - 1st 1/2 easy - 2nd half @ MP + last 2 Fast Finish TH- 8 easy F - 12-14 miles easy SA - 12-16 miles with a good LAT workout SU - 20+ miles long and slow I would run these in the morning and then M-F try and do 4-5 at lunch recovery pace. Tuesday - Wednesday sometime was great other times Wednesday turned into a 2 mile fast finish run. Now life is different. I run 85-110 MPW - Less speed - more enjoyment and I let life get in the way all the time.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
RunningEsq.
Nobody here can tell you that if you run 100 miles a week you will be sub-15, or conversely, that you will almost certainly get injured and burn out. We don't know you. No one knows what it will do to you. I'll preface this by saying that I've run as much as 131 miles in a weekk and have averaged 100-110 mpw for extended periods. This started when I was about 23 and I did it often until I was 28. If I could go back to college, the biggest change I would make would be to run more miles. We only ran 40-50 mpw in college and I was not good. I did not get good and go on to post a 10K time 30 seconds faster than my former university's current record until I consistently ran over 70 mpw. That was like a platform from which I could go on to bigger and better things. In my individual case, the increase was rather quick. After college, I quickly went right up from 40 mpw to 60 mpw. Within a year after that I was doing 70-80 mpw and dabbling up to 100 mpw. Another year and I was often hitting 100 mpw. So 2 years from 40 mpw to frequently 100 mpw -- and going from 2200 miles in a year to 4000 miles in a year. It is IMPORTANT to note that when I did this, I had already been running consistently for a decade -- since age 12. My joints, muscles, tendons, and ligaments had already had time to strengthen and my form was good. In high school, you don't have time in the bank to develop this toughness. So you are more LIKELY to get injured, but not in any way guaranteed. Have you had any injuries? DO you consider yourself injury-prone? People talk about how fast you can get running 100 mpw. That is true. What they typically ignore is that if you currently run 50 mpw, you have a LOT to gain from consistently running 60 mpw, then 70 mpw, then 80 mpw, etc etc. There are gains at all levels. You WILL NOT be as fast running 100 mpw six months from now as you would be running 100 mpw a year from now after spending time at intermediate levels on the way there. In other words, you are increasing the risk of bad things happening (injury, burnout) while giving up some of the gains you could have gotten with less risk. I would recommend working your way up there and see how it goes. Give you body the time to acclimate. If you do 50 mpw now, work up to 70-80 mpw by next summer. Then up to 100 mpw the summer after that. I did my 131 mile week cold-turkey when I was in the 70-80 mpw range. It hurt. A lot. I was always sore, tired, and slow. I likely got little out of those last 30 miles for the work I put in. As for not running 100 mpw in college, if you are running for a GOOD program you will likely be running close to that during cross country and track if you run the 5K/10K. Not-so-good programs get people who showed less talent in high school, and are therefore not going to train them as hard. Good programs also have depth and can afford to injure people on high mileage going for the fastest 7 guys possible, while smaller schools need everyone healthy every week. If you really want to see how good you can be, you need to escalate your mileage in a SMART manner and see what you can handle. You will see best results at the highest mileage that allows you to remain uninjured and recover between workouts. This will differ by individual -- I had a teammate who ran 14:53 and went to Nationals on less than 50 mpw. He could have been a lot better, but he got injured easy and could never do the miles to improve that time. I wish someone had told me all this when I was younger. I could have run 3-4 minutes faster over 10K in college and been comeptitive there, rather than running my best times at age 28 when the team aspect was long gone. 100 is just an arbitrary number. Run smart, not arbitrarily.
I'd agree with most of that generally..but there's an AWFUL big difference between building up to 100+ mpw as a college runner with a solid foundation or as a post-collegiate runner and a 16 or 17 year old junior in high school. I can't imagine there is any way 99.9% of high school runners, no matter how good, could benefit from 100 mile weeks any more than they could from 70 mpw. I ran for a pretty good D-II program for just one year in college, so I am no expert....but we peaked at 80 mpw and most other college runners who I talked to or intereacted with in any way...very few did 100 per week. At your best D-I programs, sure..I'm sure it does happen, but I don't think it's that common...at least not for the team as a group. Now...if a coach tells their best runners to do a little more, maybe, I don't know. That's not really the issue though. I don't think a HS runner should be running any more than 70 mpw at most...and even then it needs to be built up gradually. In college, there is definitely exceptions, but I'd still say only the very best should be going above 100...at least consistently. Now...that being said, I am speaking from the perspective of what is best for the runner for their entire running lifetime.....if a HS runner can survive a 100+ mpw without injuries, of course he'll benefit from it..but it could be extremely damaging down the line.
Nationwide? Certain geography? Wants scholarship or just to run? So many things to consider. 16:00 in HS is not going to get you a D-I scholarship or national recruiting.
Right on Hereford...
you don't need to run that much in high school, i don't care what anybody else says. you're body probably can't handle that. you will most likely get hurt, unless you've been running high mileage, say at 60-70 mpw for at least a year and half already. even then, i don't think it would be smart. what i think would be wiser, is to keep the mileage closer to 60-70, but increase the pace. you are only running a 5k in high school. trust me on this, going that high wouldn't be beneficial.
Finally - Running a lot of miles goes not make you a good / great runner. But I believe that it can help you acheive results closer to your genetic potential. for me, I genetically will always be a mediocre runner, so running lots of miles makes me the best mediocre runner I can be
One day at a time
I think there are some (smaller) D1 schools out there that will offer some money to a 16:00 runner...especially a runner from Maine. Some coaches will see him as a diamond in the rough with a lot potential. I'm not talking about a full ride, but there is money out there for a 16:00 kid.
The high mileage/genetic potential idea is one that I've been very interested in. Dopple Bock, obviously you feel that high mileage helped get you near your max. potential, but do you feel that it got you there quicker than say 50, 60 or 70 mile weeks? Could you have got there on lower mileage? Put another way, let's say ones genetic potential is a 35:00 10K. Are high volume (e.g. 90, 100, 100+) necessary to hit that 35:00 mark? Could you eventually get there on lower mileage or would lower mileage limit you to a slower time (36, 27 miluntes)?