how important is weekly mileage for marathon training?

speed days are not as important for marathons. Tempo runs on the roads prove to be just as if not ore affective. 40-45, and even 50-55 mpw is tough to expect a good marathon result. You should be doing 2 runs per day, with averages around 9 mi per day, and at least one run over 15 miles per week.

Speed runs should not be 1/4 milers. They should be mile repeats or even 2 mile repeats. You are getting ready for a 26 mile hard run, not 3.1

I do at least a 13 mile run 1x a week all year long and plan on getting in 3 20 milers, a few 16-18 milers

Our speed at this point is usually 5-10 min pickups x4 or 5,

tempo runs 2 x 15-20 min long with a little recovery in between.

I was told that these faster workouts would enable us to have more speed in the marathon, without having to do our long runs faster than an easy pace. Hopefully then, our legs wont be fried after the long runs.

10 mile tempos at marathon pace

Just my experience - how important is weekly mileage for marathon training? THE most important thing, even above long runs.

Tempo runs on the roads prove to be just as if not ore affective. 40-45, and even 50-55 mpw is tough to expect a good marathon result. You should be doing 2 runs per day

Agreed with all the above.

A couple runs per day, even short ones = great way to pack in mileage without beating yourself up much. My legs run really tight too, and doubles keep 'em looser and fresher.

Suggest you don't try to do a bunch of 18-20M runs on that kind of base. The base doesn't support it as well as a higher weekly mileage, so you need more recovery, so you run less the first half of the next week, so you have a smaller base -> it's a chicken & egg dilemma. Better to put more of your resources into higher weekly mileage. And I think MP-ish runs of decent (6-13 miles) length should get more emphasis than long, slow runs. As a reasonably serious runner the issue is not, can you jog 26 miles, it's what kind of pace can you sustain for a long time.

Laconia NH runner wrote:

10 mile tempos at marathon pace

Care to explain this one? Is it a tempo run or an MP run?

It seems people call anything marathon pace or faster a "tempo" run these days.

Mileage is the most important factor for running marathons. You need to run as much mileage as you can. You need to forget about how you "feel" on speed days. Just do the mileage and do the workouts. If you ever want to run a halfway decent marathon, you need to get your mileage up over 80 miles per week. Maybe it will hurt you in the short term, but in the long term you will run better, like in a year or two when you have done a bunch of high mileage week and your body is adjusted.

pvs wrote:

speed days are not as important for marathons. Tempo runs on the roads prove to be just as if not ore affective. 40-45, and even 50-55 mpw is tough to expect a good marathon result. You should be doing 2 runs per day, with averages around 9 mi per day, and at least one run over 15 miles per week.

Speed runs should not be 1/4 milers. They should be mile repeats or even 2 mile repeats. You are getting ready for a 26 mile hard run, not 3.1

Completely agree. I have friends who love to hit the track every week to run 400 repeats. Then they wonder why they crush me in 5ks but can't hang with me in marathons. Hello!!!!

Decide on your goal. If it is to run fast 5ks, great, hit the track. If it is to run fast marathons, don't bother with the track. Go do long tempo runs, long repeats, and long, hard long runs.

I am the slow guy in our group (all professionals w/ families and 60hr a week jobs) but our "template" is as follows:

Mon - 5 recovery

Tues - Track. 800's to 2 mile intervals. These are run in the PM

Wed - 10 to 15 easy. These are run in the AM. These runs are designed to teach you how to run on tired legs.

Thurs - 5 recovery

Fri - 10 to 12 tempo. two mile warm up + tempo + one mile cool down

Sat - 5 recovery

Sun - 15 to 20 easy

One guy in our group ran a 2:45 recently off of 55 miles a week.

We range from 2:40 to 3:30 amongst the six of us.

To answer your question I think weekly mileage is the most important because consistency is the most important. I think you need to have at least two long runs of around 15 miles per week. That will pay dividends around mile 23 forward.

out of my element wrote:

It seems people call anything marathon pace or faster a "tempo" run these days.

It seems people love to argue semantics these days.

trailblazer wrote:

Laconia NH runner wrote:

10 mile tempos at marathon pace

Care to explain this one? Is it a tempo run or an MP run?

Stop being an anal running dweeb. It's clear he meant run 10 miles at marathon pace. Call it a tempo, high steady state, lactate pace, or whatever you want. It's still 10 miles at marathon pace. Who cares what random label you apply to it.

King of Taper wrote:

Just my experience - how important is weekly mileage for marathon training? THE most important thing, even above long runs.

Agree totally.

I've known a lot of marathoners who put in a ton of miles without ever doing a 20-miler (with the exception of the marathon).

I had a friend who was a 3:32 marathoner. We increased his mileage and worked up to 10-12 mile runs at what we thought was his tempo pace based on heartrate. He caught a cool day at Grandma's Marathon and held that "tempo ruan" pace the whole way for a 3:15.

For my first marathon, I had a long run of 14 miles, and I only did that once. However, I ran 10-12 miles pretty much everyday, and several of those ended up being at the pace that I ran for the marathon.

Mileage and marathon-paced runs will do the most for you.

radish plant wrote:

Stop being an anal running dweeb. It's clear he meant run 10 miles at marathon pace. Call it a tempo, high steady state, lactate pace, or whatever you want. It's still 10 miles at marathon pace. Who cares what random label you apply to it.

You can go f* yourself, you sanctimonious idiot. A tempo pace is different than MP pace. Different paces and different purposes in a training program.

As for the OP, his/her MP will be about 8:00 min/mile while their tempo pace is about 40 secs faster per mile. That's a big difference. The point is that the OP came looking for some advice and if you dole out incorrect pacing advice it can screw up their training or anyone else, like a newcomer, in a similar situation that may be interested in reading this thread.

As long as you're doing the work, who cares what you call it? Call it a rubber ducky run for all I care. Just get it in.

Way to go. We all now know very clearly that you're not an anal running dweeb.

trailblazer wrote:

You can go f* yourself, you sanctimonious idiot. A tempo pace is different than MP pace. Different paces and different purposes in a training program.

As for the OP, his/her MP will be about 8:00 min/mile while their tempo pace is about 40 secs faster per mile. That's a big difference. The point is that the OP came looking for some advice and if you dole out incorrect pacing advice it can screw up their training or anyone else, like a newcomer, in a similar situation that may be interested in reading this thread.

Way to go. We all now know very clearly that you're not an anal running dweeb.

pee oh dee

trailblazer wrote:

You can go f* yourself, you sanctimonious idiot. A tempo pace is different than MP pace. Different paces and different purposes in a training program.

As for the OP, his/her MP will be about 8:00 min/mile while their tempo pace is about 40 secs faster per mile. That's a big difference. The point is that the OP came looking for some advice and if you dole out incorrect pacing advice it can screw up their training or anyone else, like a newcomer, in a similar situation that may be interested in reading this thread.

The original response in question clearly said "marathon pace." "Tempo run means" different things to different people, but he was clear about what pace it was supposed to be at. So who cares?

*"Tempo run" means