Let’s Talk About Mileage
Hey hey hey!
I hope your weekend is off to a great start. We had a very laid back Friday night which included the first family dinner with everyone home since my parents got back from their Italy trip.
My mom made her Chicken Parmesan with a side of salad, bread and pasta FROM ITALY! It was really tasty and was the perfect pre-long run dinner.
While Henri was playing video games I was just lying on the couch minding my own business when Finn jumped on the couch and nestled his way onto my lap to cuddle. Sometimes he can be a pill and others he is just the sweetest thing ever… this was one of those sweet moments. 🙂
Things are about to get really crazy around here for the next few weeks so Henri and I are savoring our last free weekend for awhile. We have plans for a coffee date tomorrow, some shopping, and maybe seeing a movie but other than that you can find us cuddled up on the couch Netflix.
What I really want to chat about today is running/training mileage. When I posted the 5K training plan on Thursday I got a few comments and e-mails that some of the runs seems pretty long for just a 5K, so I thought that I would explain a little bit more about my running history in terms of mileage and training philosophy.
I believe that what works for me is moderately high mileage training. Now, let me preface that by saying that I started running consistently and competitively when I was in 7th grade – that makes 12 years! So while my mileage is quite high I have built up slowly (verrrrry slowly) over time.
Over the years my mileage progression has looked a little something like this…
Middle School: 15-20 miles per week
High School: 30-40 miles per week
College (Fr-So years): 50-55 miles per week
College (Jr.-Sr. years): 55-65 miles per week
Post-Collegiate (in marathon training): 70-75 miles per week
I recently stumbled upon this article, which is really helpful in explaining what your weekly mileage should look like for each race distance. I thought the table comparing the mileage of elite runners to “normal runners” was really interesting
While I am by NO means an elite runner I do have high goals for myself and my running including very specific time goals that I want to meet (sub 16:30 5K, and as close to OT qualifying in the marathon as possible). Because of this, and because I have had success off of higher mileage in the past I tend to closer to the “elite” numbers in the table above. HOWEVER, I do have friends that have run really fast marathons (faster than me) off of 40 miles/week because they are more susceptible to injuries.
So how do you figure out the right mileage for you???
- Decide what your goal race distance is and figure out if you just want to complete it or want to compete at the distance.
- Look at your training history. Do you get injured a lot? Do you LOVE long runs? Take that into account.
- If you are thinking about increasing your mileage make sure to do it slowly to avoid injury. The rule of thumb is to increase each week by 10%. Don’t forget to mix in some cut-back weeks too so you aren’t constantly increasing!
- Take your other cross training into account. If you go to multiple spin classes during the week or do other group fitness classes that incorporate a lot of cardio your mileage doesn’t have to be as high. (I’m strictly a runner so I run A LOT, haha)
- Quality is always more important than quantity. Don’t run junk miles just to run them! A 4 mile run at tempo pace is better than going out for a 10 mile run at a slow pace if your goal is to run a fast 5K.
So in conclusion… run what works for you, don’t feel the need to put in crazy amounts of miles if your body gets stress fractures easily, if you can run for hours and hours (and like to) go for it!!! It’s not the distance that makes you a runner, it’s your love for this crazy thing that we do for “fun”.
Just something to think about this weekend. 🙂 See you tomorrow for the usual weekly training recap!
Did you do anything fun last night??
How long have you been running?
Do you run low, medium or high mileage??