how high could i take my mileage?

What are you training for? 5k or shorter, shoot for 80. 10k or half, go for 100, Marathon, go for 140.

what kind of mileage have you topped out at before? <-- I think that will equate into the answer of your question. You never know how high you can go until you get to where your body shuts down or just cannot take it. I have always heard not to increase your mileage by more than 10% in a week. if it were me, I would keep increasing by 10% weekly and just pay close attention to my body. if I am too worn out or having too many aches and pains then I would adjust to less miles. The key to increasing mileage is to increase enough to not get hurt. Maybe you can do more than %10 a week.. maybe less. It differs runner to runner. Trial and error.

you're probably not doubling? Start doing doubles without reducing your primary runs and you'll get plenty high. I went from 50-60 in season to 85-90 in a year.

hey thanks for the responses. the first race i plan on doing next year is a 25k, but i'm also going to try to get on the track for a couple shorter races next spring.

as for my mileage before, i have had periods of time where i was running 70-80 pretty consistently, but not much higher than that. i have heard of the 10% thing and i was planning on doing that just to be safe.

i really don't double, maybe one day every couple weeks i will. i wouldn't mind doubling, but i have a very busy course load right now so i try to make sure i only run once a day to save time.

i'm also wondering how long i should hold the high mileage for. is there a point when continuing base training is counterproductive? i wouldn't imagine so it would be until i got back into racing a lot (which wont be until next fall).

thanks

If you are not racing again until next fall I think you can build your mileage towards 100. 80-85 for the spring, then up to 100. Will almost surely take some doubling. A 14 miler every day is just too long for me.

So you have a year until you actually will be racing?

If it were me, bar injuries and mental weakness, I would slowly build up throughout the winter to 100 mpw. I would hold that for 3 or 4 weeks then drop down to 70 - 80 mpw in the spring for a couple weeks with some faster stuff. Maybe a couple races (5k, 10, etc.). Just so I wouldn't burn myself out and so I could stay motivated. Then I would start building up to 100 mpw again slowly late spring and through the summer and hold 100 until you feel as though you should down to do some faster work.

This is what I would do. I don't know a whole lot about training theories but I would do this based on my knowledge and experience as an ex collegiate.

Let me know how it goes. I left my email.

Oh and I think doubling will almost be a necessity at 100 mpw for most people.