[Closed] Runners, how long to build up to 100km a week?

its no help but a 9k run to work would have me ruined for the day.....would have to get a taxi home 😀

100km a week is a lot, especially if you're body isn't used to it. Building up too quickly to that distance will cause all sorts of joint problems, unless you're just a natural runner.

Personally I can manage 10km every other day, but my body never liked running every day, it needed the rest.

Years. I'm not kidding.

Why 100k - what is your objective?

Seems a hell of a lot just to keep fit.

[i]Years. I'm not kidding. [/i]

this.

60 miles a week is a lot of pounding and it'll take its toll in the medium to long term unless you're very careful about how you run and the surfaces that you run on.

Ditto, sounds an ambitious target in terms of free time and your body!!!

That's a new set of shoes every 10 weeks or so. Expensive.

The advice I was given was 10% increase per week. It will take a while to get there.

I'm doing a marathon plan, and the highest it gets to is 87km... right now I'm on 63km, and by the time you've added in a bit of biking and swimming I'm shattered by the time I hit a rest day. That said, it's not quite the same - there's a long (29km) run in there, and intervals. Quite different from running along the towpath by the river.

Given that, my opinion is that a) you're currently overdoing it, and should cut back; and b) you'll need at least a year to get there. I'd be doing Tue/Thur for a couple of months, then add in Wed for another few months, and see how you get on. You will need at least 2-3 days per week to recover.

By that time you should be able to get back to 3hr rides - there's a huge difference between new baby and 5-6month old baby, and heading out early at the weekend for a ride should be perfectly feasible / negotiable.

I've seen a number of people in physio clinic who have gone from non-runners to in excess of 100km/wk within the space of a year. That should probably tell you something. So - probably a couple of years to be on the safe side.

No more than 10% increase a week is what's generally held as a rule of thumb.

But the length of your run is not actually increasing so I'm of the opinion you can push this out a bit.

many years

No goals or aims. Just want to be in better shape than I am and to build on what fitness I do have. Okay so it seems I might be pushing it harder than I perhaps should be. So instead of just building up every week should I add distance and then stay at the same distance for a few week or so and then add more? What I was thinking was to ride in one day, run home and the reverse the next day etc. At least for a few weeks so the actual distance is less each day <10km. And then try one day with there and back runs and the rest single runs and build up like that over a few months.

Unfortunately not a natural runner, just trying to teach myself at the moment not to run heal first. Unfortunately the run is all on pavement or tarmac so no real give in the surface. Bit of mud when I run the other way. I have got some decent shoes I think, New balance 749s which are much better than my old cheap ones.

So I am going to have a bit more of a think about this, and try and set some smaller targets maybe 50km then 75km etc.

I'd be thinking more along the lines of adding 9km per month rather than per week.

I know from bitter experience that ramping up running miles too quickly causes injury (2 years in my case).

I'm pretty fit, and can ramp up bike miles easily, but running needs slow progression.

How much are your muscles and joints hurting the day after running in or running in and home at the moment?

Oof, and if you're progressing from heel strike to fore-foot running... then take it even slower still.

So instead of just building up every week should I add distance and then stay at the same distance for a few week or so and then add more?

Yes.

100k a week? That sound a lot like overkill and I'm not even sure that world class ultra-runners do that outside of work-up training for a race. Credit to you though, if you can do it, go on!

In terms of time, would cycling not be a better way to get to work? It would be a lot quicker and a lot more comfortable.

From a position of running in twice a week I'd do something like this...

Week 1: 2x
Week 2: 2x
Week 3: 2x
Week 4: 3x
Week 5: 2x
Week 6: 3x
Week 7: 3x
Week 8: 2x
Week 9: 2x
Week 10: Start again with Week 1 being +1 time

assuming you're doing no other running during the week.

I think distance may be the wrong goal. How about combining shorter faster stuff (at high intensity) and longer slower stuff (at low intensity). Avoid the trap of plodding our garbage miles. Short and fast or long and slow but not in between. read John L Parker.

Try to see if your time is getting better. Or can you run the same distance/time but with much less effort (easy to monitor with basic heart rate monitor).

I don't mean to be rude but your current plans and your self description as not a natural runner, have me reaching for the physics telephone number already!

The problem with running the same route day in day out is that after a few months you won't get any fitter.

You need to train the body to react to different paces and distances, the body does a brilliant job at adapting to regular exercise and then the benefits just vanish.

Agree it takes a while, (years), to build up to big weekly distances without doing long term damage. However you don't need big miles to run long distnaces fast.

I thought the point was the OP wanted to run to work, not specifically to do long or fast runs?

If you want to continually improve, you shouldn't just do more. As the chef said, your body is brilliant at adapting to stress. The result is that given a set type of stress, the body plateaus. You then need a new stress.

Continual increases don't give the body the chance to adapt. You need a gradual increase to benefit from the adaptation. Then assess and add a new stress when you're ready.

Daniels summed it up much better: http://www.coacheseducation.com/endur/jack-daniels-june-00.htm

The new stresses can be more distance, more frequency, more speed (intervals), more tempo, more hills, etc etc, depending on which of the body's systems you're trying to train.

Sacrifice some of those runs for short sharp sessions. Will make the long ones easier as mentioned above.

just trying to teach myself at the moment not to run heal first

Get some flat shoes. Don't worry too much about minimalist waffle, but if you want to avoid heel striking then a massive wodge of padding under your heel doesn't help at all since you'll need to be on tiptoes to do that.

There are flat (ie with little or no heel rise) shoes but that still have padding. Innov8 are good for this - many of their shoes come in different heel heights, you can tell by the number of chevrons printed on the heel on the outside.

100k a week? That sound a lot like overkill and I'm not even sure that world class ultra-runners do that outside of work-up training for a race. Credit to you though, if you can do it, go on!

Read an article a couple of months back with the training routine of a Spanish Olympic distance runner, he was doing closer to 200K/week while preparing for last year's games.

I am not interested in being particularly fast, I normally run 4.45-4.50 min/km for up to 20km but for doing this longer term running i have dropped back to 5 min/km to avoid getting hurt.

That's actually a pretty decent pace for that sort of distance. If you're doing 5min/km without really trying then you may be a bit more of a natural runner than you think.

Though I have to agree with everybody else - building up to 90km a week starting from scratch is a [b]really[/b] long term thing. Years rather than months. Unless you want to permanently damage yourself.

Okay. Seems like my idea was pretty rubbish. Will aim for 50km by the end of March (on 36km this week) and see how I am doing then. Maybe I should just stop there when I am able to ride in/run home etc every day. That would be fitter than I am now and probably more sustainable. Once I get there I can start playing around with the high intensity stuff and mixing it up a bit as suggested by THM and TSC. I guess I can still do that on the journey to work, run short distance faster to tube station. That sort of stuff

CP no joint pain other than the joint at the top of my big right toe. I am guessing this is due to trying to stop heal striking. I got some knee pain when I tried running longer than 20km in one stretch. But that does not seem to be a problem with the shorter more regular runs. Not much difference in muscle pain on days when I do one run or 2, both are gone in 2-3 days.

Thanks for all advice

Unless you are training to run long distances like 1/2 marathon upwards I don't think you need to run 100km. If you have secure bike storage at work I think you would benefit more from cycling to work then running home. The next day run to work cycle home. That way you are doing cycling and running muscles each day. 9K is obviously a very short cycle so the bike route could be varied if more miles were needed.

To increase the training effect of the runs rather mix in a few faster sections for example sprint 60 seconds, jog 3 minutes to recover, repeat a few times. Sprint times and recovery times varied according to your fitness. Unless you are specifically training to run I think 4 runs a week is enough. On other days do something else. A swim, gym session or a rest day.

That way you are doing cycling and running muscles each day

I dont think it would take you too long at all.

As per the above, if you were looking to get quicker, or build up to doing massive distance in one run then yes I can see that it would take years. I am fairly sure the 10% a week rule quoted above relates to the distance of your long run when training for marathons etc, as if you increase that too quickly you end up running on exhausted legs and do yourself damage. However if you just have the goal of "run to work and back at a steady pace everday in a week", and you have time to recover after every 9k it should be do-able.

I say this as I have a 5 mile circuit I run on my lunch breaks at work and very quickly 5 miles becomes very easy if your are not pushing the pace. Once the distance was comfortable I could quite easily run this 5 times a week with no ill effects as long as I kept the pace nice and steady. I fi was trying to do what you are trying I would start by building up to running either to or from work everyday first, then start adding in the return leg one day at a time on top of this.

All of the above depends on there not being anything fundamentally wrong with your running technique that will lead you to injure yourself, but I am sure running 10 lots of 9k well within yourself will be much asier on your body than training up to running 42k in one go.

I would say add 9k per fortnight, first to running 5 days, then adding in the double days.

Let us know how you get on, I'm curious

Glupton- that's a very unusual and overly brief answer from a physio. Personal experience has let me know that the muscles are used in differing ways for the separate activities. I don't ache from a 50 mile cycle ride the same way they do for a 5 mile run.
The stretching routine I use is also different for the activities, less for cycling more for running.

Oh yeah, look at eating for recovery. I found Torq recovery drink to be fantastic for recovering really quickly, but any sort of fast absorbed carbs really helps if you have it immediately after finishing exercise.

Unfortunately not a natural runner, just trying to teach myself at the moment not to run heal first.

Glupton- that's a very unusual and overly brief answer from a physio.

100km a week is not a huge amount and despite what someone above said it is a low mileage (I think in running miles) and I know a number of good runners who would run higher average miles than thant per week, particularly in winter.
The trick is building up gradually as others have said and then being able to sustain it. I hit over 80 MPW on a couple of occasions but working during the day made it difficult to do repeatedly.
My mileage (and most competitive runners) is not just steady running. Most runners do intervals and hill sessions as well as faster paced runs within that total.
If you are simply running at a relatively slow pace and you dont intend to increase it reaching that mileage would take months if you have the physiological make up and dont succumb to injuries.

Week Date Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun
1 W/E Feb 10 Cross Train 3m run 6m run 3m run Rest 6m pace 9m run
2 W/E Feb 17 Cross Train 3m run 6m run 3m run Rest 6m pace 13m run
3 W/E Feb 24 Cross Train 3m run 7m run 3m run Rest 7m run 14m run
4 W/E Mar 3 Cross Train 3m run 7m run 3m run Rest 7m pace 10m run
5 W/E Mar 10 Cross Train 3m run 8m run 3m run Rest 8m pace 16m run
6 W/E Mar 17 Cross Train 4m run 8m run 4m run Rest 8m run 17m run
7 W/E Mar 24 Cross Train 4m run 9m run 4m run Rest Rest Half Marathon
8 W/E Mar 31 Cross Train 4m run 9m run 4m run Rest 9m pace 19m run
9 W/E Apr 7 Cross Train 4m run 10m run 4m run Rest 10m run 20m run
10 W/E Apr 14 Cross Train 5m run 6m run 5m run Rest 6m pace 12m run
11 W/E Apr 21 Cross Train 5m run 10m run 5m run Rest 10m pace 20m run
12 W/E Apr 28 Cross Train 5m run 6m run 5m run Rest 6m run 12m run
13 W/E May 5 Cross Train 5m run 10m run 5m run Rest 10m pace 20m run
14 W/E May 12 Cross Train 5m run 8m run 5m run Rest 4m pace 12m run
15 W/E May 19 Cross Train 4m run 6m run 4m run Rest 4m run 8m run
16 W/E May 26 Cross Train 3m run 4m run Rest Rest 2m run EMF Marathon

That's roughly my training for my pop at the Edinburgh Marathon. Monday's cross training is an hour of tae kwon do, I do other tae kwon do training on wednesday and friday evenings. One evening/week I'll do a 30 mile cross ride and probably a 70+mile road ride on the Sunday too. I'm in an enviable position of being surrounded by very high level physios and having a decent amount of physio knowledge myself.

I wonder if I could do 60 miles in a week? Hmm..

I could, but I would need several months to recover!

I built up to 60 miles from march to August last year

I got injured in August!

I'm planning on getting up to about 50+ miles per week by May, but I'm up to about 20 already (and have previously done 30), so should be doable. The tricky thing is doing it AND including cross training and intervals.

Oh, and not getting my wife angry at me for spending the whole evening out of the house.

What kind of injuries are people getting when they're upping their milage?

What are the chances of you running both ways, each day, every days for weeks on end ??

One morning it'll be peeing down and your catch the tube or you'll work late and think s0d it wanna get home quick so tube it... or beers after work or a sunny day when it's so nice running into the evening sun you’ll slow right down to make it last.

The point being you’ll not get injured over night, just take each run easy…. Go with how you feel and if you don’t quite feel like it, listen to your body and give it a miss.... Try again the next day, if its hard work back off for a few days.

I’d love to have that type of distance into the office… let alone be able to do it along the thames …not sure I’d do it both ways everyday... some easy bikes when the wind is on your back would be too tempting.

I say give it a try…. But be mindful of how your body feels.

I'm a regular runner (with a genetic joint condition). I can do the odd 40+ mile week, but if I was doing 30-40 week in week out, I get creaky. So I generally do a bit less. I can still get myself up to ultra distances off that modest base.

Plus you'd be in danger of sucking the life out of it if you HAD to run in and back from work every day?

Plus you'd be in danger of sucking the life out of it if you HAD to run in and back from work every day?

I wonder if I could do 60 miles in a week? Hmm..

[url] http://app.strava.com/athletes/1475999 [/url]
This blokes been doing 120 miles as week, but appears to be having a rest now and dropped down to 40.

Theres a correlation between performance and mileage in my experience and benefits for middle and long distance runners tends to be roughly around 60mpw. There are always great runners who run 30mpw and rubbish ones that run 100 so Its not scientific but what I have observed both myself and clubmates/friends etc.
The benefits tend to reduce proportionally as mileage gets higher but there are benefits. I have a friend who ran 90mpw week in week out and would have done more but for niggling injuries that occured when he did higher mileages. He ran 28:16 for 10km on the track and 62 mins for 1/2M but was disapointed to only manage 2:17 for the Marathon which was possibly down to not being able to increase his mileage a little more.

Woohoo, an arbitrary ill advised running goal

Can we be friends? Please?

Love the idea, I'm not going to tell you it's a good idea though as it probably isn't.

Sounds brilliant though, and has put the idea of knocking out some 100 mile weeks into my empty head. Might even have a crack at that in a couple of weeks time. Already knocking out marathon distance training runs without much fuss.

Hmmmm, I do like I'll advised arbitrary goals.

PS, find yourself a physio and take preemptive action by getting seen to before getting injured.

Also, I agree with Surfers last post.

I have a friend who ran 90mpw week in week out and would have done more but for niggling injuries that occured when he did higher mileages. He ran 28:16 for 10km on the track and 62 mins for 1/2M but was disapointed to only manage 2:17 for the Marathon

I suspect if I was running 90 miles a week I'd still not be able to run 10km in under 30 minutes. I bet he wouldn't either if all he was doing was running 90 steady paced miles.

Worth remembering the OP isn't worried about being quick.

Woohoo, an arbitrary ill advised running goal

It's not arbitrary, if you read the op.

I bet he wouldn't either if all he was doing was running 90 steady paced miles.

Absolutely and that is a point I made earlier. I trained with him occasionally but other than our long Sunday runs which where around 6 minute miling, a significant part of his training was at a faster pace but much of it was around 5:30 - 6 minute miling which was achievable ny me and a number of club mates but his interval sessions where impressive and thats the key.

It's not arbitrary, if you read the op.

Meh

Reminds me, should email a picture of the looming monstrosity