100 miles a week is a nice round number, and a nice round number that many runners aim for. But always remember Don Kardong's quip that "My feeling is that people pick 100 because it's a nice, round number, but an even rounder number is 88." Indeed.
Nevertheless 100 miles per week (mpw) is something that many runners aim to get to, for whatever reason. I should note that I'm thinking about the 100 mile week in the base phase, and moreover for people thinking about running marathons who put more of a priority on longer, single runs, and achieving the adaptations those confer. Also, if you're going to hit 100 mpw multiple times in a buildup, getting to that target in different ways is probably more effective than doing the same schedule week after week. Not to mention that actual real life will often require a different schedule than the model. So the 100mpw schedules I present below are starting points for myself and anyone who finds them somewhat useful.
I don't think I'm the only person that has found there to be a world of difference between 85-90 miles in a week, and 100 miles in a week. No doubt, there is a similar breakpoint when you start heading for 120 or 140 miles a week, but I've never been there and might never. 85-90 mpw is pretty achievable on one run a day, and it's quite feasible to schedule a day where you just amble round for 6 miles or 10km. With 100 mpw your 6 mile day is purchased with even higher mileage on another day.
100 mpw in singles is not that hard, and Arthur Lydiard has a classic schedule for getting there.
Monday :10 miles (15km) at 1/2 effort over undulating course
Tuesday:15 miles (25km) at 1/4 effort over reasonably flat
Wednesday:12 miles (20km) at 1/2 effort over hilly course
Thursday:18 miles (30km) at 1/4 effort over reasonably flat
Friday:10 miles (15km) at 3/4 effort over flat course
Saturday:22 miles (35km) at 1/4 effort over reasonably flat
Sunday:15 miles (25km) at 1/4 effort over any type terrain
I've done weeks similar to this, and you certainly get to your 100 miles. One issue I have with this schedule is that the 10 mile days are not really recovery days, since you do them faster or over hillier courses. But as a way of dividing up the miles, this approach is pretty good.
Ron Daws' book, The Self-Made Olympian has a modification of this schedule in which Monday and Friday become basically recovery days, and split into doubles for even more recovery effect if necessary. Another issue I have with the original Lydiard schedule is that the Saturday long run and Sunday moderately-long run are in the wrong order. Running 15 miles followed by 22 is not a lark, but it's not too difficult paced correctly. Running 15 miles the day after 22 is not the most fun. Since 22 miles will deplete your glycogen stores a bit, heading out for another 90-120 minute run the next day is not the most effective form of recovery.
My modified way to get to 100mpw in the base phase starts from the presumption that the most important runs are the long runs and moderately long runs, and being able to run quite strongly on some of those, and making creative but not excessive use of double run days. Thus, there's more variation between the different days than in the classic Lydiard schedule and its variants.
Monday: 8 miles (with strides)
Tuesday: am: 13-17 miles with some tempo running, pm: 3-7 miles (to make 20 miles)
Wednesday: am: 10 miles (with strides)
Thursday: am: 13-17 miles with some tempo running, pm: 3-7 miles (to make 20 miles)
Friday: 8 miles (with strides)
Saturday: 12 miles with some tempo running
Sunday: 22 miles
By making Tuesday and Thursday bigger days in total through running twice, it's easy to schedule two 8 mile recovery runs. The pace on the Wednesday 10 mile run can vary. Some days on this schedule I've felt great on the Wednesday and run my normal steady run pace. Other days it turns into a 10 mile jog, or if I feel really beat up, I'll split it up into two 5 milers or 6 and 4 miles. If it's going to be one 10 miler, it's easiest to do it in the morning, assuming the Tuesday and Thursday runs are also in the morning. This allows the most recovery. In the second half of the longer runs on Tuesday and Thursday I will typically throw in some aerobic surges, or turn it into a progression run. When I say tempo running, I don't mean Daniels' T pace (one hour race pace), but marathon pace + 30 seconds, down to marathon pace. This is a less rigorous definition of tempo running than some would allow, but is a pace range that has a lot of benefits without taking too much out of you. The benefit of the second run on Tuesday and Thursday is that you start the run glycogen depleted and get some of the benefits of a 20 mile run without the tiredness of doing 20 miles in one run. Saturdays run, being a little shorter, often, but not always, turns into a tempo or progressive run. If I'm still a little tired from Thursday I'll run Saturday relatively easily so I can have a good long run on Sunday. Sunday is the more important weekend workout.
My other variation on the 100 mile week is relatively similar, but makes Sunday even longer and Thursday a single 18 miler. This is a somewhat tougher way to the same total, with the 100 miles coming in just 8 runs if done as scheduled. The important workouts are still Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. If some of the recovery days become double days so you're recovered for the big days so be it.
Monday: 8 miles
Tuesday: am: 13-17 miles with some tempo running, pm: 3-7 miles (to make 20 miles)
Wednesday: am: 10 miles
Thursday: 18 miles with some tempo running
Friday: 8 miles
Saturday:12 miles with some tempo running
Sunday: 24 miles
By distributing the miles more unevenly over the days of the week than the Daws or Lydiard schedule, this approach places more stress on three or four days of the week, and gives a slightly different stimulus to the body. In closing I would emphasize that varying the way you reach the same total is probably more effective than repeating the same schedule, and these are two model weeks that I work from in planning my high mileage weeks along with the Daws variation on Lydiard's schedule.
Posted by robe0419 at January 10, 2006 05:55 PM | TrackBackGreat post. Nice job spelling everything out. I'm definitely going to print this out and keep it handy.
I guess Kardong would be very happy with my 88 miles last week.
I'm still trying to get a feel for maintaining this higher mileage. While I like the idea of splitting up the 10 mile recovery days into 2 runs, I'm torn with just doing a single so it doesn't feel like I'm running all the time. It's more of a mental drain than a physical drain.
Posted by: zeke at January 11, 2006 08:27 AMBoth of those schedules look quite good to me. I'm with you with regard to treating the longer runs as the most important. I naturally gravitated towards running my three longest runs a bit faster than my shorter runs, contrary to the Lydiard schedule you link too. I used the newer "Running to the Top" schedule which didn't pin an effort level on any of the runs and just added some time to them and this pattern emerged without me thinking about it. Glenn McCarthy, a coach in Colorado who is part of Nobby's Lydiard Foundation was a fan of the long run folowed by a fairly long run. He mentions that it teaches the body to run slightly depleted, which enourages the metabolism to use its reduced glycogen stores more sparingly. I know from experience this hurts a bit, and your comment about it not being too fun is on the mark.
Posted by: Mike Salkowski at January 11, 2006 02:49 PMI try to make my shortest run each week 12 miles, unless there is an injury or some other circumstance preventing it. This is assuming the goal is 100+ on singles. After a couple of weeks, a 12 feels as natural as an 8 miler. Another tactic I use is to look at it in terms of time. 12 is just another 27-30 minutes over 8.
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