Any of you ever logged 120 plus miles of running a week?

Triathlon Forum
1

As triathlon season winds down, marathon training starts up for many of us.

There is nothing like the shock I get reading Runningtimes or Runnersworld or Letsrun.com pieces about someone busting out his or her extraordinarily insane 120 mile running week.

I’m reading these hardcore running logs, and you know I’m just glad I just ran 7 miles yesterday and 4 that next afternoon.

Here’s a piece about Deena Kastor’s milage, and Meb Kaflughingadfasdf’s training (whatever his name is)? And it turns out that on Tuesday, Deena did 16 easy (on 5:52 per mile, hahaha!). That was just at lunch. Then later on in the afternoon, after a nice healthy lunch of salmon and veggies, she blazed down 15 miles of hills, high intensity, probably so high up your ears pop when you drive up them in a car. That’s 31 miles on Monday!

That beats my week right there: 31! And she did it all on a mere Monday! Also, it was probably nothing to her, like us doing 2 push ups right now.

Forget for a minute the primadonnas. How about the average joe logging 120 miles of running a week. In fact, I’ve read people saying they ran 200 miles in one week!

You’d almost have to run 3 times a day, and not work. It would seem to me everything would have to work in your life AROUND running—to run 120 miles a week. For 200 a week, let’s don’t go there.

You wake up. Run. Lunch. Run. Late afternoon: run. You just might be running MORE during the day than you are NOT RUNNING. Think about that for a minute. At any moment during your day, if someone just threw darts on your daily time clock, the odds are it would land on an hour in which you are out running down some forlorn street or road.

I’m just trying to figure out how someone runs 120 miles a week without A: getting divorced, B: getting fired, and C: looking like a skeletor; plus, there’s that injury thing. Also, heavy toll on the washing machine. Heavy toll. Would you have enough time during the 120 mile week to even wash your shit intelligently or do you just let the shorts and socks and shirt just amass into a stinkpile. You’ve got three pairs of shorts going into the washer every day, plus socks and shirts, possibly. I would think “folding clothes” goes right out the door, what with the time crunch. You just wash the stuff and let it “pile” and grab from the pile.

My guess is you get up at 4, go run 12 miles. Come home. Probably late for work. Get to work, probably cramp up until 10:30. Jet out for a long lunch run of 8-15 miles. Back to work at 1:30. Come home. Crash. Then maybe some speed work. Back home for a nice salad with dried apricots.

Every single freaking day that week, plus the long run of 20 on Sunday.

Amazing…

2

one thing you have to realize is that a lot of the people that do run 100+ miles a week aren’t running it at 10 min per mile pace, they are easily in the 6 - 7 min per mile pace. 120 miles at 7 min pace is only 14 hours of running in a week. How many people her train more then 14 hours a week over the three sports? From the sounds of some people, quite a few. Coming from a running background, I have done a 130 mile week once. Ten miles each morning Monday thru Saturday. Ten miles each afternoon Monday thru Friday and a 20 mile on Sunday. I’ve also put in quite a few 100 mile weeks when I was just running.

3

There is nothing like the shock I get reading Runningtimes or Runnersworld or Letsrun.com pieces about someone busting out his or her extraordinarily insane 120 mile running week.
Hopefully it’s not that extraordinarily insane because 120 per week is my goal for the end of November. After years of believing you had to run fast to be fast, I started logging more volume a couple of years ago and was amazed at the results. After a year or so with double the run volume I could run a half-marathon at my previous 10K pace.

Forget for a minute the primadonnas. How about the average joe logging 120 miles of running a week.

When I deployed to Iraq I arrived and found that I had time to run every day so I made goal to try and break my PR in the mile that I set 10 years ago in college on my low-mileage program. To do that I intend to work my way up from my present weekly mileage around 75 to the aforementioned 120 miles per week.

You’d almost have to run 3 times a day, and not work. It would seem to me everything would have to work in your life AROUND running—to run 120 miles a week.

Actually, running 120 a week would probably be easier than the multi-sport training a lot of people on this forum manage. That is only about 15-18 hours of training per week and I’ll bet if you took a poll you would find there were quite a few people who manage that much.

You wake up. Run. Lunch. Run. Late afternoon: run.

Yep that pretty much sums it up.

You just might be running MORE during the day than you are NOT RUNNING.

You only need two to three hours a day—less if you run on Sundays. That hardly compares to the average eight-hour work day.

I’m just trying to figure out how someone runs 120 miles a week without A: getting divorced, B: getting fired, and C: looking like a skeletor; plus, there’s that injury thing.

Life is all about making choices. Here in Iraq I don’t have anything else to do with the three or four hours per day that I am not sleeping or working. At home I get up early and start running/riding by 5:30 to 7:30 and walk in my office door. At “lunch” while people are feeding their faces I either swim/ride/run for an average of about an hour per day. After work I run/ride home and maybe get 30-45 minutes per day. I’m home with my wife and kids by 6pm at the latest. So on good work weeks I manage 15-17 hours of training and then I ride 5-6 hours on Saturday morning to be home no later than noon. The rest of the afternoon is family time. All day Sunday is spent with the family. Granted, I give up a lot of things that I used to do, but if you don’t love this sport, why do it at all?

Chad

4

I’ve build up to a couple of back-to-back 200K+ weeks – think that I was 450K, half at >8000ft, for the 14 days.

Overall the high volume running worked for me. Don’t think that I’d go that far again, I feel that 160K is plenty for a monster week.

g

5

Did a 51 day trip once with 36 days of running and 15 rest. Covered about 930miles which is 127 a week including the rests. Very unusual situation in that we were carrying too and going at a snail’s pace but an awesome experience and one that’s convinced me that its the inetensity you run at before the distance that leads to injury. Not saying you should run slow but I struggle to get above 70 miles a week when I’m training properly before something always goes wrong.

6

everyone who logs that kind of mileage consistently, gets injured. No exceptions…
120mpw is about the max possible.

I’ve done 100mpw steadily while working fulltime. 10-15 miles 5 days a week, takes an hour or two after work. Then a good long run on Sunday, rest or short race Sat, bingo. Not too bad.

In summer, I don’t use shirts. Sweat is just a weak saline solution, hang the shorts in the sun to dry and there’s no need to wash them after every run. Socks are a bit of a bore though.

7

My coach his wife and a friend of theirs has been doing this volume every week for the past year and half for the most part w/ no real injuries. It’s not unusual for them to run 50 miles in one day. But they’re prepping or have been prepping for several ultra distance running stage events.

www.racingtheplanet.com is the link to the race that is actually going on in the Sahara now.

But I would agree most people would be down with something injured fairly quickly at that volume.

8

80% of the results can be obtained with 20% of the work requred for 100% results (something like that). In other words, you can get most of the way there with a hell of a lot less work. At the pointy end, squeezing out that last little bit of performance takes a ton more work.

Mike

9

everyone who logs that kind of mileage consistently, gets injured. No exceptions…
120mpw is about the max possible.
]

That is just wrong. With statements like yours, it is no wonder that Americans suck at running as bad as they do. Go tell the East Africans and the Japanese that. High school kids did those miles in the late 70’s early 80’s, and guess what, that was the last time we were truly competitive in distance running. Try not to make such stupid remarks without any background knowledge at all.

10

I would never be anywhere close to that mileage myself, but here is a good story.

I heard Jack Daniels (run guy, not the boozer) present at the USAT “Art and Science of Triathlon” conference in Colorado Springs back in Feb '04 and he put up a slide of one athlete he coached (I forget his name) and the week looked something like this, and I’m not kidding.

Total miles: 360mi
Longest run: 60mi

Jack Daniels said this particular athlete would wake up in the middle of the night to pee and then decided that since he was already up it would be a good time to go for a run.

I’m just relaying what was said by a world class run coach.

Dre

11

work? I never view running as work! I wish I could log 120mpw, but I think my hips wouldn’t stand for it. :slight_smile: I absolutely love running and I would assume the people who are logging 120mpw feel the same way!

12

That is just wrong. With statements like yours, it is no wonder that Americans suck at running as bad as they do. Go tell the East Africans and the Japanese that.

I’m African, fyi…

Your ignorance is formidable. Bravo. When your injuries prevent you from running, try reading a bit of running/training history.

13

Usually, I don’t have to run that far to empty out :wink:
.

14

I would never be anywhere close to that mileage myself, but here is a good story.

I heard Jack Daniels (run guy, not the boozer) present at the USAT “Art and Science of Triathlon” conference in Colorado Springs back in Feb '04 and he put up a slide of one athlete he coached (I forget his name) and the week looked something like this, and I’m not kidding.

Total miles: 360mi
Longest run: 60mi

Jack Daniels said this particular athlete would wake up in the middle of the night to pee and then decided that since he was already up it would be a good time to go for a run.

I’m just relaying what was said by a world class run coach.

Dre

Sounds like Gerry Lindgren. If you have that type of mindset you probably could give a shit about the actual mileage, you just need to run to escape your demons and as a result you end up running a LOT.

Like Mike Plumb said, doubles every day for about 60-90 minutes a run will net big mileage.

15

I did it once in a race. Tough. Messed up my feet too:

http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/actiontom/topstories/desertracing/pictures/thumbs/feet4.jpgDay 1

http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/actiontom/topstories/desertracing/pictures/thumbs/feet1.jpgDay three.

http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/actiontom/topstories/desertracing/pictures/thumbs/feet2.jpgDay six.

16

Jack Daniels said this particular athlete would wake up in the middle of the night to pee and then decided that since he was already up it would be a good time to go for a run.

great story. I’m just reading a book about the swedish mountain climber Goeran, who set his alarm to a random time at night. If it woke him up at 3am, he would run for 3 hrs, if it was 6am, then 6 hrs.

stefan

17

You’re right. That is a lot of mileage. Obviously 99.999% of runners don’t do that kind of mileage. Nor does the typical triathlete, including IM triathletes.

First off, it goes without saying, but the person needs to build up to that mileage over years. Someone might be able to pull it off one or two weeks but breakdown or injury will occur soon afterwards without the build up. Second, the person needs an incredibly regulated recovery program (running one week high mileage is much different that doing it every week). You would have to take daily ice baths, anti-inflammatory, massages, diet, and get a lot of sleep/rest. Third, the person needs to have the proper bone structure and flexibility, or spend a lot of time working on this area, to avoid injury. Not just leg injury but also hip, spine, knees, etc. etc. Running is a high impact sport. Fourth,the person has to be highly motivated. I would have to characterize someone who runs that kind of mileage as compulsive, at minimum. I love running but after a while it does become boring. It’s only a guess, but I would think that the chemical reaction a person would have from that kind of mileage might even lead to some sort of cycle of depression and euphoria - “feeling bad or down” when not running, therefore I have to run syndrome.

Finally, running that kind of mileage will not necessarily make someone a top marathoner or other, as the person still needs the genetics and a proper training program - when would someone squeeze in track work and the related recovery when doing that kind of mileage?.

18

You still have not given any evidence of 120 miles being the human limit before injuries occur. If there is any scientific base to your comment feel free to let us know. If not, don’t make such ignorant comments without any facts. Numerous runners have run well over 120 miles a week for weeks on end, and have not only stayed injury free, but the have run world class times. There is plenty of evidence and studies that show a correlation between high mileage and higher capillary density, higher glycogen stores along with higher mitochondrial counts in your muscle fibers. eel free to show evidence that disputes this.

19

I have log 120 mile in one week. In 10 years of running I’ve done maybe 8 weeks that high. Most were in college, but some after. 70-90 is where I was for most of my serious training. I am very much an Average-Joe, work 40-50 hours per week, and am not particularly talented in the sense I am not naturally fast (but I am injury resistant). Running that kind of mileage is time consuming, but not compared to triathlon training. At 7:00 pace your talking 14 hours per week, and thats pretty conservative as you wouldn’t be doing all your miles as slow as 7:00 w/ workouts and tempos etc… Generally your looking at 7 in the AM and 10 in the PM with a long run on Sunday. Its not a taxing as people make it out to be, most of the runs are just easy jogs and are quite enjoyable if you live somewhere with good trails. Its not a all year or even all season thing though - just base phase.

20

from my experiences once you get to around 100 mpw and higher you just kind of go on auto pilot. you wake up and you don’t even think about running…you just go. it might take a couple of miles to get loose but once you do you just click into that zone and it’s on from there.