As mentioned in previous posts, one of the many books I have powered through this summer
included Ryan Hall’s wonderful tome called “Running With Joy.” His insights
into training were excellent, giving us a glimpse of the life of a world-class
endurance athlete. Like any world-class marathon runner, Ryan Hall does a ton
of mileage. How much? Probably close to 140 miles per week. However, curiously
in this book – which basically amounted to his training log for about four months
– he does not tally his weekly mileage.
Here are a few quotes I culled from the book on this
topic:
“The ideal mileage is the mileage that is right for you. More is
not always better.”
“I recommend focusing on the workouts and filling in the easy
days with as much volume as feels right for your body.”
We always talk about weekly mileage. When I talk to
recruits, it is the metric that is always shared. When I talk to current
athletes, it is the first thing that comes up. When I talk to my loyal Alumni
runners, it is always the topic of running conversation. A recent text from one
such loyal Alum, training for the NYC Marathon, stated something to the effect
of: “I’m at 65 miles already for the week, is that too much?” My answer,
cryptic as always, was: “Only if it is.”
Here’s the thing about weekly mileage: “It depends.”
How’s that for hedging? But really … it does depend on a lot of factors. I do
think it is a good gauge of training and gives otherwise scatterbrained
athletes (men, mostly) a compass for
what they are doing. But those same scatterbrained runners can get too locked
in to a weekly mileage total and get in a certain number of runs or a certain
number of miles in order to hit what really is an arbitrary goal. Again, I
would like to inject Ryan Hall’s words here: “I recommend focusing on the workouts and filling in the easy days with
as much volume as feels right for your body.”
Weekly mileage is important to monitor, as a means of
making sure you are not increasing too much too soon. But really, once your key
elements – long run, quality days – are in place, everything else should be
plugged in as you feel. It should not be forced. Or, another way to look at it:
Aim for a RANGE of weekly mileage (plus or minus 5-7 miles), allowing for some
wiggle room to adjust to the vagaries of life – weather, work, sore legs, aches
and pains, general fatigue, vacations, etc. That way, you are not locked in to
hitting some almighty weekly mileage total, thus unnaturally forcing things.
Seconded.
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