safely moving from 50 mpw to 100 mpw

I've made jumps of over 60mpw going from rest weeks after a season right into base (something like 20, 80, 110, 90, etc). The first time I bumped my mileage up, I went from averaging 70mpw during base directly up to averaging 105 once the season started. If you just add in 5-6 easy doubles in the morning of 5-8 miles you should be fine.

To me there is virtually no difference between 50mpw and 55mpw, 5 miles is nothing; it's just one missed morning run. If you feel like you are injury prone, just add three mornings runs of 5 miles or so one week, then add 5 morning runs and lengthen some of your afternoon runs. Go from there and see how your body responds.

Make sure to get enough sleep too. I can get by with 6 hours per night easily on 50 per week, but I need to average at least 9 per night (including day naps) for 100+.

Listen to your body. If it tells you to back off, back off. For me, I'm fine bumping up mileage almost immediately from 0. For others I know, they can't go above 40 without getting hurt.

as many old guys have said, running 100 mpw is easy. you could start doing it tomorrow if you ran on the right surfaces in the right shoes with the right mechanics and took care of your body well. However, that doesn't mean running 100 miles per week is the best training for your body right now. I tried to go from ~50-80 over a summer and did it just fine (with some sicknesses), but that doesn't mean I was a better runner for it. It took a long time before running 80 actually felt good and I could recover from workouts.

I'd say run a few weeks at 55, make sure if feels like 50 used to feel, then run a few weeks of 60, make sure it feels like 50 used to feel, etc. It's conservative, yes. But not for the sake of avoiding injury, but to get the most out of your training.

Jay Johnson said something along the lines of "the engine adapts faster than the chassis."

I think the faster the better, personally. It all depends how your body reacts and how 50 mpw feels right now. If you are feeling great off of 50 jump to 70 and then assess how that feels before making another jump. I would say 10 a week is good, probably wouldn't increase any slower than 10.

The safest and most efficient way to make such a huge jump would be to hop right into the 100s.

Your body will adjust. injuries are temporary. just keep running.

anyone else got their two cents to throw in?

shoe guy and coach green spent their two cents on a hit of crack or are otherwise relatively low-achieving trolls.

marke wrote:

anyone else got their two cents to throw in?

I'm really really slow, but I ran a lot in college. I was slow then too, but running a lot made me less slow.

First, I don't think you should jump from 50 to 100 immediately. If your highest week ever was 50, maybe you want to wait a couple years before you hit 100 -- a jump from 50 to 80 will already be huge and have a huge effect on your performance.

Second, it helps to plan your weeks out. How are you going to hit your mileage totals? If you just try to run 14 miles a day, you're going to go crazy and probably get hurt. I think you should keep doing the same kinds of workouts as you normally would, just add more sets and/or reps and don't look at your watch. Because they'll probably be slow as hell, but that's totally fine.

Third, realize that the effects on your running from increasing mileage might take a long time (like, the next training cycle) before the effects really kick in. My times improved the first season I increased my mileage, but they improved even more the next year because my body was better able to handle the volume and I was able to put in more quality. Our top runner gave it his all one season and did several 120-mile weeks, but he didn't run particularly well when he tapered; but he ran fantastic PRs the season after that (just a few months later).

I guess what I'm trying to say is to not be discouraged if you don't see immediate results, and to try to be patient.

If you've hit 80 before, hit it again now. You should average 80 this year, peaking at 90 or 100, depending on how you feel. Hit 65 next week, 80 the week after, then approximately 75, 80, 85, 80, 85, 85, 80, 85, 90, etc.

Too much is made of "jumping" to a higher mileage at the beginning of a base phase, without regard to previous training. If 50 was your highest ever, then yeah you should move slowly. But if you're raising your mileage five miles a week, with a down week every third week, you'll be lucky to ever make it back to your previous season's high. It should take a few weeks at the most to get back to your average, and from there you can worry about how to safely get another ten miles a week.

thanks guys. i am gonna try an aggressive jump

Sounds like your mind was made up before you posted the question. What do you expect 100mpw to do for you? Research has shown that the gains are greatly diminished after 75mpw. For the guys who have a lot of talent and train smart, then I am sure high mileage helps them more. However, for guys who just make the jump with no real thought or training, then, "long slow distance makes long slow runners."

Where can I buy it wrote:

Sounds like your mind was made up before you posted the question. What do you expect 100mpw to do for you? Research has shown that the gains are greatly diminished after 75mpw. For the guys who have a lot of talent and train smart, then I am sure high mileage helps them more. However, for guys who just make the jump with no real thought or training, then, "long slow distance makes long slow runners."

I am trying to challenge myself to do a little more and a little bitter than past years...if not a lot better. Just wanted to hear other's experiences doing the same.

so instead of challenging yourself to run 75 mpw, consistently ... you have to try for 100 and then you say "safely". snort.

I suppose the only thing I would add (as there is some sound advice on the AM runs).

I have tried to go the aggressive route and found that my recovery simply was not there. I would highly advise that IF you want to make the aggressive jump to make the additional miles extremely slow, perhaps E pace - 10-20 seconds per mile.

I wonder if anyone above 15:00 for a 5000 really benefits from 100mpw as opposed to training smarter at 60 mpw

Consistency is more important than running some arbitrary number. If you are going to make the jump to 100, you better be damn sure you can stay there, if you do 3 weeks at 100 then get hurt, or can't keep going at that mileage, you have done nothing but wasted your time.

Training should be based on a natural progression. I read a post on here recently that said you can't try and think about the view from the top of the ladder, you just have to focus on the next rung. If you are running 50 mpw now, your best bet is to work up to 60 for a while, make sure you are rock solid at 60 mpw, then move up to 70 mpw and do the same thing. It is easy to run 100 miles next week. It is hard to run 440 miles next month. It is incredibly difficult to run 5200 miles next year. Be smart.

for a 100% jump, I'd do it gradually, over at least a year, maybe longer. You might be fine jumping to 70 now, you might be able to put in a few 100 mile weeks right now, but eventually the rapid increase in training will catch up to you. If you're overtrained you'll be running less than you did at 50. If you're injured, you won't be running at all.

So I'd say 18 months if you really want to get to 100.

marke wrote:

thanks guys. i am gonna try an aggressive jump

If you're going to make an aggressive jump, build in some aggressive rest weeks too.

This guy is right. Consistency creates improvement. If you're dogging it at 100mpw, always exhausted, adding unscheduled rest days - that's poor training. It's just dumb. If you're cruising 70mi weeks, running like a champ, hitting a couple hard days a week and seeing gains in speed workouts - that's where you want to be to improve come race time. Add weekly mileage until it becomes to be a grind. Stop there or back off some, and hit it again and again for a few weeks until it becomes routine. Then see if you can add some quality and speed a couple times a week. This builds faster runners better than an arbitrary number. If 100 is so important to you, switch to measurements in km.

marke wrote:

Where can I buy it wrote:

Sounds like your mind was made up before you posted the question. What do you expect 100mpw to do for you? Research has shown that the gains are greatly diminished after 75mpw. For the guys who have a lot of talent and train smart, then I am sure high mileage helps them more. However, for guys who just make the jump with no real thought or training, then, "long slow distance makes long slow runners."

I am trying to challenge myself to do a little more and a little bitter than past years...if not a lot better. Just wanted to hear other's experiences doing the same.

And I can tell you with almost certainty you are just going to end up injured and out for the season. Take the advice above and build up gradually. You will be a lot better off for it.

Thanks everyone. If I have gotten up to 85 a week two years ago and up to 65 last year and have been right around 50 comfortably for 6 weeks what would be a safe total per week to climb to? 65 again? 70? I know I should just listen to my body first but can you guys give me a ballpark? Thanks.