One of the biggest questions a runner must ask themselves is what weekly mileage to target in training. And this is exactly the right question as mileage has a great impact on the success at nearly every distance. Many people look in several places to find faster race times when often times the answer is right in front of them – run more! But what’s the right amount to shoot for? Can you do too much? Here’s ideas to consider as you narrow down your weekly mileage. And also ideas on how to accomplish it.
What’s Your Training History?
It can take years to build up to your peak mileage. New runners shouldn’t expect to match the mileage of someone who has been running for 5, 10, 20 years. Arthur Lydiard says that it takes a runner 3 years worth of consistent training to reach their full potential. For many, that means hitting their mileage peak as well (though not always). I consider 3 years to be the minimum number of years it takes to reach maximum mileage in general.
Also consider your previous training cycles when analyzing your ideal mileage. How many miles did you run during your last PR? How did that feel? Did you suffer any injuries? If you did, have you taken steps (ie: strength training, physical therapy, pre-hab routines) to prevent the same issues? All good questions to ask before considering your mileage goals.
What’s Your Age?
We just looked at your training age (ie: your training history). Now consider your biological age. Simply put, older runners need more recovery. All else equal, a masters runner should be prioritizing mileage less than a younger runner. Why? The body has different needs. An older runner takes longer to recover. So more attention should be paid to quality rather than quantity. And certainly strength training is more necessary as well to maintain muscle mass.
What’s Your Goal?
Obviously the actual distance of the goal race plays a major factor here. Marathons, with their highly aerobic nature, require more slow twitch fibers. This naturally demands more mileage in training relative to a 5k or 10k where faster running is more of a priority.
Your actual race goal plays a role as well. If your goal is just to finish the race, then extra caution should be taken to reduce injury risk. If you want to be more ambitious and accept a little more injury risk, then you may be willing to test your upper limits.
How Do You Feel/How’s Training Going?
Are you hitting your goal paces in your workouts? Are you sleeping and recovering well? Do you have extra time and capacity in your schedule to run? Will this add value to your life outside of running? If the answer to all of these is a resounding yes, then you should consider adding more miles in a way that makes sense.
These are also the questions to ask yourself when you’re starting to hit your limit. In some cases, your body is just telling you “not yet” and it needs more time to adjust.
Adding More Miles
Like anything in training, adding more miles should be a gradual process. The universal recommendation seems to be no more than a 10% increase each week, but truthfully this doesn’t make sense at all times. Low mileage runners would take forever to up their mileage at this rate! If you’re under 30 miles per week currently, I’d consider adding 1 mile for every day that you are running. Example: if you’re running 5 days per week currently add 5 miles to your week.
The key though is to not do this EVERY week. Give the body time to adapt. Make a change and then stay at that level for 3-4 weeks. After this, take a week at about 75-80% of that mileage before building again in the same way.
Over the course of a training cycle (16-20 weeks), I generally wouldn’t build more than 30%, depending on the circumstances and starting point. If you have a healthy injury-free training cycle and you check off all the boxes noted above, then consider repeating the process for the next cycle until you can sense that you’re at your limit for one reason or another.
The Benefits of High Mileage
In case you needed motivation to run more, here’s some of the benefits of getting in that extra mileage:
- Better Fat-Burning Capability: Runners bonk in marathons because they run out of glycogen stores. This is caused by running fast. We have to burn glycogen because fat is a lousy energy source. But elite marathoners (who run TONS of miles!) are able to burn a significant amount of fat as fuel so that their glycogen lasts the whole race. This is why they rarely hit the wall.
- Reframe Fatigue: “When you do 100+ miles a week, your legs are chronically fatigued. Then when you finally do taper before an important race, it makes you feel all the stronger. The same would hold for a 30-mile-a-week runner who through a gradual buildup achieved an ability to train comfortably at 60.” – Physiologist Jack Wilmore.
- Improved Endurance: Improved capillary and mitochondrial density. Improved red blood cells. All adaptations that help oxygen go from your lungs to your muscles and produce energy more efficiently. And all things that are greatly improved with added mileage.
- Muscle Fiber Changes. The way we train our muscles can give them either speed/power qualities or endurance qualities. When Dr. William Fink studied this, he determined that the VO2 max of runners was similar regardless of their mileage, BUT there was SIGNIFICANT endurance benefits seen in the muscle fibers of the high mileage group in his study.
- Better Running Economy. Running economy is the oxygen/energy required to run at a certain pace. It usually correlates well to running efficiency. It is somewhat intuitive to say that the more we run, the more the body adapts to the stress of running and handles it better and better by using less energy to do it!
The benefits are obviously there for the taking when you add more mileage to your running. If you’re able to do it and it makes sense in your training, then consider doing it safely to see what improvements it can bring!
