Is it physically impossible for many people to successfully run more than 50 mpw?

The Subprime Minister wrote:

Much less than 1/3 healthy men ... wrote:

You have to realize poster, in the real world, outside the (150 to 250) folks who post here, there are healthy men in (175 to 225) pound range. Most healthy men are not (125 to 150) pounds. The vast majority of healthy men whom are about (175 to 225) pounds cannot run 50 plus miles a week.

A 175 lb man is not healthy and someone over 200 lbs certainly is not. Health isn't like pronouns where you can just choose what you like.

I ran a 2:40 marathon at 192lbs. I was not fast by these boards standards but I considered myself to be very healthy. I was working construction and running 10 week blocks of 100+ miles per week.

mere mortal wrote:

The Subprime Minister wrote:

A 175 lb man is not healthy and someone over 200 lbs certainly is not. Health isn't like pronouns where you can just choose what you like.

I ran a 2:40 marathon at 192lbs. I was not fast by these boards standards but I considered myself to be very healthy. I was working construction and running 10 week blocks of 100+ miles per week.

Good grief man, what did your diet look like? Or are you 6'7''?

I'm 50 and a regular 50+mw runner for years. I'm also 6 foot and 180-185 lbs. Staying below 180 is very difficult for me. When I'm on vacation and don't need my brain for work I can skip eating and get down to 175, but I can't stay there once work cranks up. I need to be able to think.

high mileage isn't what it's cracked up to be wrote:

I hear a lot about 100 mile weeks, but based on my experiences, it's physically impossible for many people to get to even half of that amount. I obviously don't have an exact figure, but my rough guess is that no more than 1 in 3 able bodied young men of a healthy weight can handle it.

OP,

I agree with this.

I'm 48, 6'1" 189 pounds. I dropped to 173 training for a half and felt emaciated. I'll probably only drop to 178-182 for full this fall because I expect to endure the training better. American HM record holder Ryan Hall is 5'10" and raced at about 130, but now that he's focusing on weightlifting and muscle building he's 190-195. Sure, he wouldn't have run an American record at 190, but he's not even close to unhealthy at 190.

Ran my fall marathon at 141lb 6'4" with about 6 months prior at 77mpw ave with many 90 mile weeks. Currently 149lb running 100mpw. I'm slow but I would be much worse at 50mpw. I'm coaching a guy who would get injured running over 50-60mpw but is a totally different body type. I'd guess those who can't run 70-80mpw+ can't run a marathon at their equivalent mile-10k ability and probably shouldn't bother trying to. The low mileage premise here is pretty silly though, most everybody is better off with as high mileage as their body can take without getting injured.

mere mortal wrote:

The Subprime Minister wrote:

A 175 lb man is not healthy and someone over 200 lbs certainly is not. Health isn't like pronouns where you can just choose what you like.

I ran a 2:40 marathon at 192lbs. I was not fast by these boards standards but I considered myself to be very healthy. I was working construction and running 10 week blocks of 100+ miles per week.

My points was if OP was 6 ft that's something like 5 to 6k calories per day just to maintain his weight. That's nuts.

I'm going to agree with the OP here. Just like it's too damn hard to run a sub 5 mile, it's also too damn hard to run 50 miles a week. It's just not for everyone