training, how many miles is too many some say 70 is the optimum mileage and no more otheres say up to 100?
how much do you do and why?
:)
Printable View
training, how many miles is too many some say 70 is the optimum mileage and no more otheres say up to 100?
how much do you do and why?
:)
good question penguin
well ive several times tried to do 60miles a week but with a very hectic job, family, beer nites its fitting it all in
.
my trouble is i go up to this mileage and still try and race every week and i get sick and run down
45 miles a week seems alright with a speedsession thrown in or hillwork
and you
No more than 40 for me as I tend to get injured. I guess it varies. I love seeing Bisto's posts on todays training. Anyone who can consistantly log over 100 miles a week is increadibly lucky to have that kind of bio-mechanics in my opinion. I wish my knees could take that kind of punishment!
I have never found out what too much is for me :rolleyes: :o
The great thing about my new job is I get the mornings free (well apart from this week) so I should get a bit more mileage in, but the weekends just get so busy every week, I just don't get chance to do much :mad:
I've been doing about 70 mile per week for the last 4-5months.
I agree with daz, with beer,family and work it can be tough sometimes.
I've found that its become a chore to run and that i don't really enjoy it as much due to this.
Although I really enjoy sunday runs and a tough speed session.
somewhere between 30 and 50 tends to be my mileage depending on whether I'm on days or nights and on the length of my long run. Been running in this range for a few year now and I know my body is capable of more, sadly work and family life tends to limit me to this
I am planning to do some serious training in the next few months for the coming season of races. I have a rough plan for each week involving the following;
1x 2hour steady run over fells
2x 1hour hill work session/sprint-recovery session
1-2 races of 1-2 hours in total
3x 30 min swim sessions
2x 2hour on roadbike
2x 1hour on mountain bike
3-5x 40 min pilates/stretching
In total thats 3 miles in the pool, 20-30 miles running, a few hours on the bikes and a few hours lying on a mat doing stange contortions...
and once you do build up your milegae that naggin voice shouts
for gods sake you going runnin again jeez
i think anything above 60mls a week and your partner either has to be well into runnin or run themselves
if i do more than 5 sessions a week AJ lets me know :(
40 for me on fells use to be more when i was a road runner, now i hate road running, mixing it with biking and swim reduces any chance of injury for me( although i am at the mo, injured ) Will be upping my mileage later on. I try and get 1 rest day in a week.
This is an interesting topic. I suppose too much is when your body in subtle or not so subtle ways says "steady on ol boy"
For me, when reasonably fit, I do I suppose no more than 35 miles a week and most of this is done in 5 or 6 mile runs at a tempo pace on the trail or road mostly. If I try to increase it I just feel jaded and dont really enjoy it.
For the elites like Bisto, Oxo, RoadRunner, TGD etc they are bascially talented runners. Their bodies have been honed and almost expect a high mileage
For hardcore fell runners I reckon that total weekly ascent is much more critical than overall mileage. A friend of mine when training for the LAMM was doing over 10 000 ft of ascent weekly.
At present I get between 35 and 45 miles in per week. Also about 60-80 cycling on a sunday.
My road mileage will gently increase from now to early April (for FLM).
For me it's not the total number of miles that matter, rather the effort of each run. Only my +20milers will be easy pace runs and of course even easy pace can get hard to maintain after 2hrs. All other runs will either be interval sessions (currently 3 a fortnight), or midweek long run at just below marathon pace, or short run (5mile) ideally at just above marathon pace)
The most ive ever ran is 63 miles in one week. I have no doubts however that running twice a day is the singlemost best thing anyone can do to improve performance (im talking about a steady 4 or 5 in the morning and whatever you would usually do PM) This would add 20-25 miles PW if you did it say 5x a week. Unfortunately I can't manage to get up early enough to do this myself (have tried). But i have seen major improvement in lads who started to x2/day.
In the past I have suffered with injuries that can be directly attributed to over-mileage (stress fracture, Tendonitis) and I therefore altered my routine accordingly. I now only run 'a long way' every second weekend when marathon training. the other weekend I do 10 very fast, or race. And i only run one day per weekend. I nearly always have Friday as a rest day, unless i'm off work when i train harder than normal.
My theory is ,you do as little as you can to be as good as you can be.
Meaning,at this present moment i run about 35/40 mpw and come around 6th in v45 at our local fell/trail races .
I know if i increased my mileage to 60/70mpw i may hit the top 3 .
But ,and this is the point, my body will not take this mileage ,others can but i can not.
So the best i can do is the best i can do on 35/40 mpw.
think at present i am averageing 60+ not sure just running on time out, changed me training onto fells so it's taking more out of me at present.. so mon, wed, fri are 1hour plus runs with some nice hills in and amongst.. sat hills and sun long fell run with fog, o and there are more hills on sundays as well.. :)
I think I'm doing quite well training wise at the moment as I'm doing between 12 and 25 miles per week including races. If I run on my own I run as fast as I can, usually because I've got to get back to pick the kids up or for a meal. Forcing myself to run fast on the downs and flats as well as the ups seems to be good for my racing speed.
Agree about climbing - I try to do as much as possible most runs. 2000ft in just over the hour in Lyme Park gets me quite knackered.
Need some longer duration runs before Jura though, trusting that I've got a place!
I do 40 as a bare minimum. But rarely get much over that, early 50's very occassionally breaking 60 mpw. But I also try to maintain 2500m of ascent in that, normally aiming for around 3000-4000m of ascent. Living in Snowdonia that isn't too hard to attain as long as the weather is good.
That's 6 days running and one day football game. So
Sunday long 10 - 20 miles
Monday 6 - 8
Tuesday hill sprints then football training
Wednesday 8 - 10
Thursday 6 - 8 with the club in the hills at night
Friday 6 (or whatevers neccessary to hit target)
Saturday rest day, and football game.
I find that OK to maintain, putting in the quality sprint sessions is the hardest part of the training.
I'm a mostly 'run as I feel person', I run for 45mins every morning Mon-Fri on different routes on different terrain.
I train for hockey on Mon-Wed nights and play on a Sat so that's my only 'speed' work (mostly all sprinting in physical fitness sessions as part of hockey).
After many strains, I've found that I can't do short track/road speed sessions under 1k as a result of hockey as I keep straining my hamstrings, so do 3 mile sessions as quick as I can on a Thurs night every other week.
I've found that training on undulating routes on the road gives me speed for the fells, rather than purely running in the hills all the time, although my climbing speed is crap, but am deadly in a sprint finish!
i find unless i can achive at least 70 mile per week i am getting no where near my potential,i think to keep running consistant i need to do 75% of my running off road to avoid injury.consistancy is everything when you are a distance runner.:D
Listen to your body, run offroad where possible and take the occasional rest day or easy week. Do as much as possible within these contraints - for me somewhere in the region of 80-90 a week seems to be the optimal balance of getting fit enough and avoiding injury. It would be more if those buggers at work didn't require me to turn up in return for a salary....
Running rewards "time at the crease". If you throw enough time at it the rewards will come.
Just seen this! Believe me, my body is a biomechanical mess! My left foot is really crooked and relies very very heavily on orthotics. I see a chiropractor once every two weeks and get regular massage and physio. Without these things I would not be able to do anywhere near the training I can do.
Defining what is too much is very individual. Depends on biomechanics (I'm lucky to have had my problem solved perfectly by the first person I saw), working life, family life, priorities, health and injury history. I always thought the more the better, but there is a point where it becomes too much.
If a thing's worth doing it's worth doing to excess.
Don't know whose quote it is but it's my favorite one.
track fairy, enjoy it while you can, once you get old, not only does your body refuse to run that much but work tends to want more of your time as well...........