Do people who run 100 MPW have girlfriends/wives, regular jobs, etc?

This. My fiancee is somewhat similar; she's not a runner but she does the elliptical and works out 2-3x a week, and supports my running. I fit it in so we still have dinner together (vs. running after work). Else I'd do it on my own then. Luckily I WFH and our company is loose with WFH lunch breaks so I just do my 6-8 at lunch break, and my big mileage on Saturdays. My run group does workouts Wednesday nights too so that's not an issue and those will come to an end after Columbus 10/17.

Not at 100 or 80 but I've been able to consistently go 55 and up with a peak of 64 this season. Next week is my ultimate peak of 70? or so, then comes a 2-3 week taper.

I figure if I can do this 50-70 mpw thing, and I'm short and overweight (5'2'', 126), most people can do it!

GFD has it. My situation is comparable but without the kids. “Blended working” (i.e. between home and office which is a 25 minute commute away) helps, as does a team that all value exercise/fitness and a gym/shower at the workplace.

The only agg I get from the wife is when I overcook a workout thereby rendering me useless for rest of the day.

GettingFasterDude wrote:

Not having babies or little kids, helps. I have kids, but they've gotten old enough (12 and 15) that they don't need constant care and have their own activities they want to do with their friends and don't need (or want) mom and dad around them 24/7. When we had little kids, high mileage would have been hard, seen as selfish by my wife, not to mention take me away from the most fun times I spent with my kids. Now that they're older, and I'm older, high mileage makes more sense, as long as my body can handle it.

When my kids were babies/toddlers I found it easier to find time to run becuse they slept a lot. I ran after 8pm and/or at 5:30am I've never had a 100 mile week but back then I was consistently running in the 70's during a marathon training cycle.

The hardest years to get runs in were "the soccer years". There was always a practice or a game to go to and they weren't sleeping 13 hours a day anymore. I ran far less during those years and I don't regret it one bit.

My kids are young adults now, and I've got all the time I need to train. My problem now is that I'm old.

GettingFasterDude wrote:

What am I missing?

if you factor in children and taking care of a house, your chores and misc will easily quadruple. You'd be amazed how much time you spend each week looking for shoes.

This also assumes your spouse is 100% supportive and takes no time for themselves. You also forgot about time spent eating.

I'm pretty efficient, train 10-12 hours a week, have 3 kids, a wife with a full time job, and a house and I have about 30 minutes at the end of the day that's free. The rest is accounted for. The weekends are booked up weeks in advance. I'd probably save 1.5 hours a day if I cut out letsrun trolling, but a man has needs.

It could be done, but you would be a monk.

Dated article, but still a good read on this topic. Joe was a teammate of mine.

It takes a lot of time, but I think it's doable. I mean, if I look at my iPhone daily screen time, I think I could figure out a way to fit more things in my day.

I regularly ran over 100 MPW for several years immediately after getting married when my wife was getting graduate degrees from Stanford and then The University of Michigan. The 5 years she spent at Stanford were very research driven in the lab for her, so she was away a LOT. It was very easy to train a ton then. That is when I did my two ultras and ran up to 140 MPW. Her University of Michigan graduate degree was only 2 years, and not as involved, and I was over my ultra running interest by then, so I was running closer to 60-70 MPW then. 2 years after she finished her second graduate degree, we had our first child, and my running went way down to almost nothing for a while.

I'm not saying people cant run 100 MPW with a family, but once my wife and I were both working and then after having kids, running that much wasn't as important to me as it had been.

I have a 4 and 1 year old with a very busy full time job. 70-80 has been doable for me but at 80 it gets tough. As others pointed out its less about the time spent running and more about the recovery. To accommodate running, kids, work and still spending some time with my wife I can only sleep 6ish hours a night (sometimes less). I start to really suffer at 80ish miles. I cant even imagine 100 while still being a decently dad/employee/husband.

That said, I dont have a lot of volume in my past and perhaps someone with a more extensive training history could pull it off.

Of the guys that I know that actually run 100 mpw, one of them has a regular job and none of the others have a regular job, wife, or girlfriend.

I have the answer to your question , but don’t have time to tell you right now… I have to go for a run.

Shoot me an email. "Meet the full time lawyer who broke 4:00." That needs to be an article.

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I just started coaching a guy today that ran reminds me of you. He ran 4:02 like 8 or 9 years ago and now is working full time but wants to break 4:00.

cramister wrote:

If you run 100 miles a week at 7 minute pace you run about 1:40:00 a day.

Get up, pop an hour run, go to work, run after work and then see family, maybe even do your second run during lunch, or maybe your wife or girlfriend can ride a bike next to you for 40 min in the evening so you can work out together.

People spend 40 min jerking off, or hours on TV/phones, so don't give me BS about not wanting to waste time after work for family and friends etc.

So much fax. Literally on lazy days I spend possibly 3-4 hours on my phone (reading good stuff, but still).

For me it is not about the actual time spent running, that is more than doable to achieve in my schedule. Rather its the fatigue - if I am running 15 miles a day, I'll definitely need a nap in the afternoon, and my wife aint having it.

The most I can run before my wife would probably divorce me is about 60-70 miles. At the mileage I am not half asleep and useless to my wife and kids by 6 p.m.

Short answer is usually no.

That was before the divorce right?

kmaclam wrote:

"Do people who run 100 MPW have girlfriends/wives, regular jobs, etc?"

Some even have boyfriends, husbands, regular jobs AND children!

To be honest - the hard part isn't the 100 mile weeks but keeping the girlfriends and wives separate from each other.

Exactly!!! Most of these trolls think that by running 100 mi per week they will improve significantly but not true if you suck at running you’ll get same results by running 50-60 mi than running 100.

Just accept it guys you are not talented enough to be a semi-pro.

Others have echoed what I think, but it is the most doable with caveats -

- You need a significant other that is supportive or at the very least tolerant of your hobby - if not, it’ll be virtually impossible as they will resent the time you spend running.

- A flexible schedule/work from arrangement helps. If you’re working 60+ hours a week and/or have a 45+ minute commute, it’ll be difficult.

- A job where your commitments outside of “normal” hours are minimal. It’s hard to run/workout if you are getting calls/emails/meetings in the early morning or late at night.

- Minimal home/social commitments or a significant other who is willing to cover them.

- Willingness to run/workout very early in the morning/late at night.

Once/if you have children - it becomes more difficult as you will have less free time to spend and you will have to debate if the time spent running is worth it. At this point, if you want to train at a quasi high level you will either need a very, very understanding and supportive significant other whom manages the household responsibilities while you train or you will have to pull the reins in.

There are people with high powered careers and significant others who train at a high level - but by then you will have room for virtually nothing else in your life. Once kids enter the equation, it’ll be virtually impossible.