Is 15-20 mpw enough for high schoolers?

Thread Follower wrote:

I would think with a proper warm up and cool down before workouts and the race day would ADD 15 miles a week at minimum. Is warming up and cooling down now frowned upon and no longer recordable mileage?

Sure, any time spent on your feet running counts. But if this kid is a miler/2-miler, he needs a quality long run every week of more than 4 miles.

oldXChasbeen wrote:

Thread Follower wrote:

I would think with a proper warm up and cool down before workouts and the race day would ADD 15 miles a week at minimum. Is warming up and cooling down now frowned upon and no longer recordable mileage?

Sure, any time spent on your feet running counts. But if this kid is a miler/2-miler, he needs a quality long run every week of more than 4 miles.

How far of a long run would you recommend?

MrGambinus wrote:

Take it easy son. Time to shine is at about 25 years of age, not 15 nor 17.

Depends on how talented you are. Some people are only capable of shining in high school, so that's where they decide to put it all out. Far more difficult to be a stud at the collegiate or professional level.

OT22 wrote:

How far of a long run would you recommend?

What's the longest run you've ever done and longest recently?

Most solid guys in HS run 30+ miles a week. We have a miler on our team who ran 4:20/1:58 as a JR. and he was running between 50-60 mpw. I run around 35-40 but will bet stepping it up into the 45s. Most of the guys at Foot Locker are running 65-70 miles a week. Mileage is important. Im not a high mileage believer but neither a low mileage believer. Somewhere in the middle is always best. Good quality with good quantity. Cheers man and have a great season. Hope i was of some help.

Problem with that is: for some guys 45mpw is managable because they are rugged while for others 45mpw is very hard to sustain but they do it anyway 'cause everyone does'.

There are guys who just need to stay healthy and develop a solid body and 'machine'(which is best done at HS level) and after that is done the given talent and some more miles will do the rest once stress becomes managable.

Some other guys can pound 10 miles everyday without doing any strengthwork without breaking because they are the 'solid worker' type.

Mo does 120 mpw for a reason and Galen does 100 mpw for a reason. There is no pattern and maybe the coach says 15-20 mpw for a reason.

I can be terribly wrong and you could be the most solid type that has ever lived but you could aswell be very fragile and broken down after a season of 40mpw, a tad faster times paid with shin splints, muscle tears and nagging injuries the season after.

Problem with that is: for some guys 45mpw is managable because they are rugged while for others 45mpw is very hard to sustain but they do it anyway 'cause everyone does'.

There are guys who just need to stay healthy and develop a solid body and 'machine'(which is best done at HS level) and after that is done the given talent and some more miles will do the rest once stress becomes managable.

Some other guys can pound 10 miles everyday without doing any strengthwork without breaking because they are the 'solid worker' type.

Mo does 120 mpw for a reason and Galen does 100 mpw for a reason. There is no pattern and maybe the coach says 15-20 mpw for a reason.

I can be terribly wrong and you could be the most solid type that has ever lived but you could aswell be very fragile and broken down after a season of 40mpw, a tad faster times paid with shin splints, muscle tears and nagging injuries the season after.

Your coach is the guy who sees you running and he decides. Not the internet.

Forget the 4:12 kid he coached. Ask him how many sub-10 HS 2-milers he's coached. That's a better way of finding out his expertise as a coach. Anyone can have an ultra-talented kid drop in their lap. But a truly successful coach will have sub-10 2-milers year in and year out.

And why in the heck are you doing fast intervals in December?!?

gottasong wrote:

Forget the 4:12 kid he coached. Ask him how many sub-10 HS 2-milers he's coached. That's a better way of finding out his expertise as a coach. Anyone can have an ultra-talented kid drop in their lap. But a truly successful coach will have sub-10 2-milers year in and year out.

I like this a lot as an indicator of the overall program as well. Saw way too many people running sub 4:30 yet couldn't break 10 in the 3200 and the rest of the team would be a lot worse.

oldXChasbeen wrote:

OT22 wrote:

How far of a long run would you recommend?

What's the longest run you've ever done and longest recently?

I've actually been doing long runs of 12-14 miles. Is that too long?

MrGambinus wrote:

Problem with that is: for some guys 45mpw is managable because they are rugged while for others 45mpw is very hard to sustain but they do it anyway 'cause everyone does'.

The high schooler that cannot sustain 45 mpw is an extreme outlier (for males, at least, which is what this thread is about).

OT22 wrote:

oldXChasbeen wrote:

What's the longest run you've ever done and longest recently?

I've actually been doing long runs of 12-14 miles. Is that too long?

With this kind of answer, I suspect a troll. Plus I already answered this question a few posts up. I'll go along with you for now...

My gut answer is yes, that is too long for long runs after only 18 months of running and only a HS junior. It's not necessary for a 1600/3200 runner at your level and it's too much of a mileage jump from zero. Maybe next year you could hit that once a week or so.

For now, 7-10 miles for a long run is fine in my opinion, as long as these are at a brisk pace. Good luck.

I ran 4.03 for 1600m of 15 miles a week, worked out well for me. Though I was doing workouts like 2x800 in 1.58

15-20 miles per week is too little for anyone wanting the great aerobic base all great middle and long distance runners have.

15-20 miles a week, with other sports, especially soccer and cycling or as such.

those people that come out of nowhere actually have an excellent base from some other sport, i.e. wheating soccer...

once they get a year or two of specific training in they pop out the good times.

50 miles a week with half of it quality is good.

and visit the gym and develop all round muscles.

up to the age of 18-19 you want to be taking 2 days a week off, and one of those days really lazy.

finally, have fun with it, get serious maybe when there are big rewards to be had. even then, the serious guy usually loses in the OG, too tight....does not sleep well before...thinks too much ...

so have fun with it while being diligent more than serious.

this is an obvious troll.....

I try to individualize off season training to each athlete based on age, running background, etc. The most successful runner we ever had (Olympic trials 10K) rarely got above 50 MPW while he was in high school. As for what 'you' can do, you are in a tough spot. In my opinion you could easily handle more easy mileage. However, there is a lot to be said for following the advice of YOUR coach.

The answer for the OP is clearly to not take Sunday off. You aren't running enough during the week to need that day off anyway. I would start with a 4 miler on Sunday and bump it up to 6 the next week and then 8 and then 10, and assuming no injury problems, continue to do those 10 milers on Sunday until you get toward the end of the season when you want to preform well and then pare back.

too much mileage. you will become stale and overtrained.

rest on Tuesday and 2 miles on Thursday.

OT22 wrote:

I'm a male junior in high school and I have a coach who has coached some very successful runners. However, he only has our team running about 15mpw. How is that enough mileage? Our distance team this year is pretty weak. I've asked him before if I could run extra outside of practice and he said DEFINITELY NOT. What should I do?

OT22, Old Troll age 22? Why ask the question of what to do about a coach who advises only running "about 15mpw"? Since you are now doing long runs of 12-14 miles, it seems you are either trolling or could care less what your coach recommends and will do your own thing anyway.