Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance
I’m a great believer in high mileage. While we all are, as they say, an experiment of one, and no two runners react the same to a certain type of training, a few principles do apply to all of us, and we can always learn from other’s experience.
I’ve been a runner for nearly three years. I have run a marathon twice a year, with six months between each. How did my training progress from cycle to cycle?
For my first marathon, I trained once a week, gradually increasing the length of each run until I reached about 16 miles. Result: Cramps after 18 miles and 8 very painful miles to finish in 4:06.
Next time round I ran twice a week, again gradually increasing the mileage until I reached about 17.5 or 18 miles. Result: Cramps after 11 miles (it was a hot day, which I was not prepared for), 4:25.
That’s when I finally caught on to the fact that you have to be properly prepared to run a marathon. I purchased Pete Pfitzinger’s book “Advanced Marathoning” and started on the basic 18 weeks/55 miles plan. I got injured halfway through, reduced the mileage to 30 miles, and finished the marathon in 3:55.
I gave the same Pfitzinger plan another go, managed to complete the training without injury, but got sick the week before the marathon. I ran anyway, to drag myself to the finish in 4:11.
I upped the ante for my next marathon with the intention of lowering my PR under 3:30. I followed the 24weeks/70 miles plan in the same book (the miles value gives you the maximum mileage, you’re not running 70 miles each and every week. The average was around 62 miles). This was my first taste of relatively high mileage and I was worried about getting injured. The result? The best training cycle so far, and a big new PR of 3:28.
Presently I’m training for my first ultra, a 39.3 miles road race in Connemara, on the Irish west coast. I have again increased my mileage to nearly 85 miles a week, and I’m running over 80 miles each and every week (apart from one week when I got injured while playing soccer). The experience so far is nothing but positive. No injuries, no sickness, not even a cold all through winter, and I’ve never felt so good.
I can’t tell you quite yet the result of this training, but after all the mistakes I made in preparation for my early marathons, I can tell you one thing for sure: the better you are prepared, the better your race will be. And in my view higher mileage is the single most important factor in endurance training.
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Mark Sisson would beg to differ with the more-mileage-is-more approach. Thought I’d pass this on…everyone’s favorite doping/ITU pot-stirrer has a damn entertaining blog now: http://www.marksdailyapple.com
The first thing that I do after finishing a marathon (I’ve done 8 so far) is try to figure out what I’ve learned. It’s worked out pretty well for me. Last Autumn I wrote a series on marathon preparation that focused on what to do after the training phase when you were getting ready for the race itself, but the training has certainly impacted each performance.
That being said, I’ve run my best marathons on around 40 miles per week (maxing around 45-50). I am giving myself one more chance to get up in to the 70s or 80s and stay injury free; if it doesn’t work out for me then I’m going to try to stick to the lower mileage. The high miles definately improves my shorter races, and I like to think I’d have a break through in a marathon with some decent miles behind me. It is hard to justify though when you wind up spending a month+ on low mileage recovery.
Good luck in your ultra.
Thomas, thanks for this. You know my history – six marathons all with progressively harder work involved. Did most of them around 45 miles a week with very good doses of speed work in there.
Now, I’m at 70 miles a week and feeling great. ALL my runs are getting easier and more efficient. Only four months into this program and I think I’m a much better runner than I was previously. I think higher mileage works for *me*.
But there will *always* be differing opinions on this. The only way one can test is, as you’ve said, to try the “experiment of one” you’ve mentioned. Each of us has to try low mileage versus high mileage programs.
And *that* said, many runners for various reasons can’t/won’t devote that much time *or* they get injured on their way up to the mileage that is consistently posted among elite and semi-elite athletes. There is nothing wrong with this choice! It’s one we all get to make.
Want my opinion? I think it makes sense that if you want to run fast and far, you have to run fast and far. We only have to look at *fast* ultra-marathoners to figure out that the more a person does something, the less of a big deal the body thinks it is.
And what do I say to someone like Blaine who runs smokin’ times on “low” mileage? Well, a couple things:
1. He has natural, God-given talent.
Can I ask what your injury was?
2. If he could get into high mileage without getting injured, he might be world-class. No kiddin’.
Blaine: Wink-wink, nudge-nudge.
Thanks for the comments.
I am very aware that this is a slightly controversial issue, but my personal experience is that higher mileage does not only make me faster, it also seems to cause less niggles injuries than lower mileage (figure that one out).
I get frustrated whenever someone insists that more than 40 mpw will get you injured. It doesn’t. If you increase your mileage sensibly, the body can take it. But of course the choice is always yours. If you run well on 40 mpw, by all means, stick to it.
When I was in college, I averaged 85 miles per week over the span of the school year, and probably 75 miles per week year round. Preseason mileage was usually around 105-120 miles per week, with early season mileage around 95 miles per week.
I did really well with that sort of mileage for two years, and then I developed tendonitis and a stress fracture. I had periods of high mileage after that, but not year round any more.
Since I graduated, I have maxed around 60 or 65 miles per week or so. Last year I made an effort to increase my mileage (2006 weekly mileage graph); you can see I got in the 50s before my end of May marathon, took a few light weeks, and then built back up to the 50s in mid-July. That was when I started getting some pains that were probably plantar fascitis, so I went down to 20 miles per week for the next 5. This worked out well because I got married during that time and was a bit busy. I built up again but obviously didn’t have time before the NY Marathon to get into the 70s or 80s.
Increasing my mileage definately helped out my 10k times and were pretty good for my 5k times last year, and I am planning on trying to get up to 70 or 80 this summer. I’ll probably max in the 40s or 50s before Boston, take time off, and then build up with break weeks every 3 or 4 weeks. Add that to a regular weight lifting and swimming regimen (and hopefully a regular biking regimen) and I should be in pretty good shape for whichever Autumn marathon I choose.
As for the god-given talent and world class comment, I have to disagree. I have never been anything better than mediocre or slightly good at the levels that I compete at. In high school, I was good enough to be the tail end of varsity and occasionally score. In college, I would have smoked anybody from my high school team but I was in basically the same boat other than that I usually scored. Since then, I get smoked regularly by guys that are anywhere from 10 years younger to 20 or 25 years older than me. One of my teammates is 51 and has lost exactly 1 minute in his 5k time over the past 30 years. So while I am usually in the top 1-3%, I still have a long way to go to be satisfied.
It comes from being ultra-competitive; it does not bother me when an elite runner beats me, but the thought that there are faster amateur runners eats away at me. That, and I really want to beat all of my college PRs. I’ve smoked my marathon PRs; my last one I ran almost a half hour faster than I did in college and I did not get any soreness or suffering during or afterwards. I’m still about 10 seconds away from my 5k PR and 20-25 seconds away from where I want to be, and about 40 seconds away from my 10k PR. I’m right around the half marathon PR and should be able to break that in a few weeks, I think. I have not been on a track to race since college, so I don’t know where I stand in the mile (The New England Mile doesn’t count because it is an aided course w/a 70 foot drop – I am a race director this year for it though!), the 1000 or the 3000. I would like to run a sub-60 400 meter race some day; I ran a 60 point my sophomore year of high school but haven’t done any 400s for the sake of one since then. It’s always been at the tail end of a ladder workout or in a medley at the end of a meet or in the midst of 16-24 repeats of them. I have done 20×400m with the last 4 down in the 61-63 range, though.
I loved this response Blaine. Thanks for sharing your history.
Thomas, I agree with your last comment.
Blaine,
I’m convinced your high mileage in college is the reason why you can run fast times these days on lower mileage. You built up your base back then, and it takes fewer miles to maintain a base than to build it.
A good read – this gives me hope that I’m on the right track. Thanks!
You’re certainly an example of what can be achieved with a bit of perseverance. Many people would have chucked it in after the dramas of your first few marathons. Keep up the good work.