What's it like running 100+ miles per week?

supragraf wrote:

tresholdftw wrote:

Its really easy if you do it the Ingebrigtsen way, and not the backward «train like the 80s» bowerman way. Choose your poison.

You obviously know nothing about Bill Bowerman and his training philosophies.

Im well aware of Bowerman and his philosophy of rather a bit slow than fast. I was talking about Bowerman TC, should have clarified.

What do you mean by "train like the Ingebrigtsens and not like Bowerman TC?"

Felt chronically always somewhat tired but not exhausted. In fact, I found you could probably just go run 30 miles without thinking about it any time you want. Even if you just finished a run. No issues re libido. I found it can just be a bit more mentally exhausting than physically. If you're trying to do it while working full time and parenting kids, it feels like all you do is try to carve out time to run, and stress out about having to make up mileage if you're forced to miss one. I remember often running in the afternoon or evening and thinking, "Thank God, I don't have to run again until tomorrow morning!" It's not like running for general health or fitness. It does wonders for performance but it's a bit of a grind.

wkbvkwjbv wrote:

The hardest thing for me when running higher mileage has been eating enough. How do you do it?

When I worked gradually up to and over 100mpw, eating enough was not difficult. When I ramped up to it quickly (I basically went 30, 60, 90, 120, then averaged 130-140 for a few months) my legs felt (somewhat) fine, but I couldn't get enough food in. I think my stomach did not grow commensurately with my caloric needs, so I physically could not consume enough food because I was just plain full. After a few weeks at the mileage my stomach caught up, and was no longer the thing holding me back.

I did 100+ for a long time during and after college, but didn't wind up any faster than I was at 60-70 miles weekly.

Then a couple years later I took on bike racing, and busted my rear every bit as much as I did running, and didn't get anywhere with that, either. Then Lance admitted to taking drugs, and the world became clear to me.

It's just a stupid game wrote:

I did 100+ for a long time during and after college, but didn't wind up any faster than I was at 60-70 miles weekly.

Then a couple years later I took on bike racing, and busted my rear every bit as much as I did running, and didn't get anywhere with that, either. Then Lance admitted to taking drugs, and the world became clear to me.

I did 100 a week for a couple years and seemed to improve a lot over what I was doing at 60-70. Might be because to get to 100, I just added a 5 mile run 6 mornings a week.

Typical Sunday afternoon after getting in your 17+ mile run:

* 1x1lb nt wt box of penne pasta - bloop, in the pot

* 1x32oz jar of pasta sauce - bloop, in a different pan

* ground up beef and onions - bloop, in the different pan with the pasta sauce

At 5pm , same day - pasta is gone.

It depends a lot on how fit you are. I’m not very fit (easy pace is around 9:30) so doing 70 mpw for me is basically the same time on feet as 100 for someone who’s a lot faster. Average of almost 2 hours a day. I tried doing it in doubles and singles and they were both tough but singles almost did me in. When I did singles, my breakfast after run would be a whole day’s worth of food compared to running less. The enormous amount of carb digestion made me feel more tired too. It’s fun if you have the space in your life for it.

I should add: no libido problems though.

I did two marathon training blocks where I averaged over 100 miles per week for 16 weeks. Biggest takeaway is that I was constantly hungry. I ate all the time and still dropped 5 lbs. Once you get yourself ramped up and in the routine, you feel good. The body adapts pretty well. I remember feeling invincible on longer workouts but i was also still able to pop off 55 second quarters and 26 second 200s. I’m older now and definitely don’t think I’d be able to sustain that level of mileage. Happy with mid 80s for a few weeks at a time.