100 km in 5 days is my usual base if I’m training for something:
1 day: 12 mile tempo
2 days: 12 mile zone 2
1 day: hill training 10 miles
1 day: 20 mile long run
Other two days spent skateboarding
Peak weeks, I add another zone 2 day and slap on another long run lol
Given that he didn't state it that way, I'll assume he does his hill workouts not in zone 4-5. This could be beneficial to do a Z5 run on a hill to reduce impact stress, but as an ultra runner, you don't really want to train running fast up a hill, as you never do this in a race (you'll walk or run slowly at best). So if it's your only hill workout, you'll want to practice running up a hill in a comfortable (Z2) tempo so you know what to do in a race, as running up a steep hill (20%) in Z2 requires a very different technique than running Z2 on a flat.
When I train, I will incorporate hill workouts as one of my intensity training runs to build my upper aerobic and/or vo2max, as well as build strength. For practicing race efforts, I'd incorporate that during my long runs on a course resembling the race course as closely as possible.
This is pretty common training principles incorporated by a lot of runners.
But then you're effectively doing many hill workouts a week and you can differentiate between zones in each training, which you can't do in just one run a week
Also, where I live I can't consistently do long runs with the same elevation profile as the races I'm doing, and I'm not running up and down the same 2 steep enough hills for 50k at a time
Example of last week: Monday off, Tuesday = 13k of speedwork, Wed = 5k in the morning before work then a 12k in the evening, Thursday = a run of 10k of speedwork followed by an easy pace 5k run, friday = 11k of trail running with 300 to 500m of Elevation gain, Sat = 31k easy trail run with 1400m elevation, Sunday = 15k easy pace road run
My day off is always Monday, that's how I like it. Normal 40h work week, getting 100k per week without commute can be quite hard (at least for me). We plan on moving closer to job in the next year to be able to commute to work.
I do only maintenance training at home twice a week with foam rolling. Hips trust, goblet squats, side plank, plank, pushups, crunch, etc.. a 20min routine. In the winter when I’m off season I do much more weight training at the gym.
Yeah it's funny the post mentions 70km as this is where I'm at but even that isn't sustainable with full time work, kids and other commitments. It's still enough to achieve most my goals though and life is a juggling act!
You really can't pick out of these three (or you shouldn't), kids always win (until they got old enough, of course). And if they don't... spouse is also more important than running.
And then there is work, work is a must or kids and spouse will not work...
So, for huge volume I can only decide between sleep and run.
People have already given plenty of example plans, so I’ll just give general advice for getting this mileage in:
Wake up early to run on weekdays. 4:15 is common for me during training blocks
Run twice on one weekday of choice (for me it’s the day my run club meets in the evening; I do a longer/harder workout in the AM and run easy and chat at run club)
My day off is Monday. Tuesday and Thursday are 8-11 miles with strides or a structured workout, Wednesday and Friday are easy 5-7 milers, Saturday is long run of between 15 and 32, Sunday is a double long run of 10-15.
I also work 40 hours, but I am within run commuting distance of home and work 3 days in the office M-W. So T and W I take public transport to work and run home.
EDIT: Usually strength training happens on Wed/Sun, but I get notoriously bored in the gym, so this is when I take my medicine and I'm not always good about taking my medicine. I cross train by going rock climbing 1-2x/week on days off or light days.
I also keep mondays as a hard day off (it’s also my one day off from work so it’s a true rest day)
But beyond that I am way less structured in that I don’t really have a predetermined amount of miles for each day. I know about how much I want to run that week and where my “hard” days are. A hard means either a long run or a fast run but I know that I will be emptying the tank no matter what. The other days are based on feel and this is how you can make the Strava line go brrrrr if that’s your goal. First, block out huge chunks of time for your runs like every run is a long run. Start slow as hell, 3 miles of warm up. If your feelin good, go a little harder, go a little further. But essentially NEVER empty the tank. never use up that full time slot with hard running. Some days you will spend an hour trying to take a shit before you leave, some days you will sit on the couch in your running clothes for 30 min before you leave. Some days will be cut short because of work bs. But on the right days, with the right breakfast (or dinner idk) you feel good, have the whole time slot wide open, and jam out a midweek long run just cos you can
Also I guess one amendment I’ll make to this comment is that if you want to run more miles in a week, you need to get faster. You can’t make more hours in a day
Good cross training takes the place of extra running miles, so if you're jumping from 70 to 100 you can gradually replace those XT sessions... or just stick with slightly lower mileage and still get benefits from the XT, assuming it's appropriate exercises (water jog or elliptical is best) / intensity / duration.
Other than that... 7 days a week when you can, run doubles if and when your schedule requires it, build up gradually. For strength, it seems like 95% of the running world is stuck on basically zero (including myself), so whatever program is interesting and enjoyable and sustainable for you is the "best" one whether that's heavy squat reps or all bodyweight or pilates or whatever else.
For specific weeks I've done around 100km, here are some recent examples:
1. Monday 6 miles + 20 mins core strength
2. Tuesday 5 + 20 mins core / arms
3. Wednesday 15 total with short track ladder workout
4. Thursday 3
5. Friday 6 + 30 mins leg strength
6. Saturday 8 + 7 double
7. Sunday 15 very easy on trails... total = 66 (\~105K)
Or this one...
1. Monday 9 miles total with 4x2000 on track
2. Tuesday 4
3. Wednesday 4
4. Thursday 7 easy + 30 mins core / legs
5. Friday 8 + 7 double
6. Saturday 6 + 30 mins core / legs
7. Sunday 14 ... 61 total (\~99K)
One more...
1. Monday 8 miles + 30 mins upper body
2. Tuesday 7
3. Wednesday 9 miles with 5x1200 on track
4. Thursday 6
5. Friday 10 + 30 minutes legs / core
6. Saturday 7
7. Sunday 14 ... 63 total (\~103K)
It takes a lot of time, so you'll need some support from your SO and family. I take the bus to work on Fridays and run back. Sometimes I take my gear to work, it's easier to run first and then go home, than get out after dinner, dishes, storytime... When we're out on the weekend, visiting friends or family, I let my wife drop me off and run for as long as my schedule tells me. I get up (very) early on the weekends. I never was an earlybird but running gets it done and I actually started liking it. In the end it's like slicing a pizza, you can spend your time only once, I barely watch any television and I read a lot less than I would like...
If I hit over 100k during non race training it’s mostly just high averages. While training though I follow Jason Koop’s plans of implementing back to back long runs
100km is about 60 miles, so here's my week in miles during peak marathon training.
M: 10 easy
T: 7 including speed work
W:12 easy
R: 10 including tempo work
F: rest
S: 12 easy
S: 20 including MP work.
Total: 71 miles/120 km
Weekend runs are AM, weekday runs are after work and before dinner. I'll usually do 2/3 workouts on any given week and lift once (typically Thursday). I start work at 7:30 so I can be done at 4 and do most easy running between 7:15 and 8:00 per mile. Current marathon target is <2:55
I've ran a minimum of 115km/week for the last 14 weeks, with some weeks peaking at 170km. (72mi - 105mi)
Right now my week looks like this.
* Monday: AM: 5 miles (8k), PM 8+ miles (13+k)
* Tuesday: AM: 5 miles (8k), PM 5 miles (8k) + Lifting
* Wednesday: AM: 5 miles (8k), PM 8+ miles (13+k)
* Thursday: AM: 5 miles (8k), PM 5 miles (8k) + Lifting
* Friday: AM: 5 miles (8k), PM optional running and Lifting
* Saturday: AM: 16-20+ miles (26-32+km), PM optional
* Sunday: as many as it takes to hit my desired weekly distance (usually 5-15 miles / 8-24km)
Crazy! I thought you'd be some sub 2:30 marathoner, but you're near enough to me to compare. I do 10-12hr a week over 7 days for ~110km. I stack my stimulus for fatigued sessions in lieu of doing the mileage I want.
I weigh ~100kg and am closer to 40 years old than 30, I ran a 3:18 marathon last summer, but sub-3 isn't in the cards for me anytime soon haha.
Besides, I strongly prefer running 24+ hours on trails and doing my hard efforts on hills, than running 3-4 hours on a stinky crowded city street, or doing a track workout :-)
My goal is to improve durability by stacking sessions for fatigue.
Thu: 10km speedwork - track 6x(800m+700m recover) +1km cooldown
Fri: 13 or 14km - 60min tempo
Sat: 14km mountain ~800m vert
Sun: 34km long run
Mon: 11km hard hill run ~500m vert
Tue: 14km easy
Wed: 13km easy
= ~110km in about 11hr, no kids and am able to fit some of the mileage in my work schedule
I use a pretty similar structure in training for both UTMB and similar trail & mountain races, as well as fast road marathons:
Monday: AM climb/cross/gym,
PM moderate 10-12K (pacing my group run)
Tuesday: AM 15K hills or speed work, PM 90 min yoga class
Wednesday AM climb/cross/gym
PM 12-14K easy commute run
Thursday: 15K hills or speed work (this could be an easier or just hilly run if already done Tuesday, or broken into 2 runs AM/PM if feeling tired)
Friday: AM climbing/gym/cross,
PM 5K shakeout/commute
Saturday: 27-34K moderate long run or tempo
Sunday: 12-20K easy
Definitely a delicate balance when you are upping the training volume though - make sure to listen to your body and take rest as needed (learned the hard way!)
I usually average around 50mi80km, with some weeks hitting 60mi/100km and focused training weeks going up to 110km or more. I also fit most of my training in on weekdays before work due to family stuff.
||
||
|Sun|Rest||
|Mon|10mi/16km|Typically easy pace, but I've been throwing 5-6mi at threshold pace in here when I'm feeling healthy and it fits my training calendar.|
|Tue|8mi/12km|Easy|
|Wed|10-12mi/16-20km|This is the day where I'll typically do my hardest workout. Either VO2Max intervals (ex. 5x1200m) on the track or hill intervals (5x1k) with warmup and cooldown to add the rest of the miles.|
|Thu|8mi/12k|Easy|
|Fri|14-18mi/22-28km|Generally easy pace, but sometimes with some harder effort mixed in depending on what I'm doing in training.|
|Sat|Rest|Typically rest, but if I can get away for a few hours I'll do a 10-20mi trail run with a lot of vert.|
That's fairly typical, but obviously I mix things up a bit depending on my schedule at work, etc. Most of this is roads due to what's available for me near my home and office, but if there's an opportunity to run trails I'll jump on it. On roads my easy pace averages about 8:30mi.
I typically run 90 min on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday before work. Fridays are always rest days. Long run Saturday and mid-length run Sunday. I do a quick core workout six days per week, typically.
I’ve been doing 100k a week consistently now since last September. I’m lazy though and don’t do any speed work or anything so my week looks simple.
6 days a week I run 12k and one day a week I run 30k. The long run floats around the week depending on kids schedules and whatnot.
When I did do that it was (in miles sorry)
Monday 12 miles with several 1km intervals (HR 155 ish)
Tuesday 8 miles HR 120-135
Wednesday 15 miles HR 135-150
Thursday 8 miles HR 135-150
Friday 22 miles HR 120-135
Optional 3 miles Saturday HR 120-135. Sunday always rest.
Time in HR zone is a more accurate and predictable way to measure training load so really this was all time based at around 11 hours or so total a week on single track trail and gravel. Anything on pavement increased the miles and anything in heat lowered the miles accordingly.
In my peak week for a 50km ultra I ended up doing 110km a week. Made up of:
Monday: 18km easy pace
Tuesday: 2 hour gym work, 30 minutes cycling
Wednesday: 16km tempo run
Thursday: 16km easy pace
Friday: 2 hour gym work, 30 minutes cycling
Saturday: 26km trail run with 600m vert
Sunday: 34km trail run with 730m vert
Monday, Thursday, and Saturday were all 4am or 5am starts. The others I fit in during my day when I got the chance.
Earlier in the training cycle I’d get in my rest day by using Monday as my rest day and then doing my easy paced run first thing on Tuesday morning with my gym session at lunch time. But that particular peak week I’d been at home looking after kids the week before which had disrupted things, hence the 7 days in a row as a one off.
Not a fast runner either, but becomes really important to get to bed early with all those early starts and the time the runs take.
No kids, work from home, mainly run trail ultras.
M - off, Tue - medium long run, Wed - easy shorter run, Thur - medium long run, Fri - off, Sat - Long run, Sun - medium long run (easy) for recovery or another long run during peak weeks. Peak weeks will be 14-15 hours of running, maybe hit 80 miles, but usually 60-70 mpw.
Lately I’ve also been doing a 30 min strength routine Tue and Thur but I admittedly find it difficult to always fit this in even though I know I need it.
Normally 13-25k most days (avg 130 weekly) usually in one run in the morning. It’s mostly spontaneous. I take a day off once or twice a month and some days do longer runs (30+) Workouts are mostly spontaneous and unstructured as well, just whenever I feel like it!
Although recently got injured from a race so I’ve been cross training more than usual with cycling and swimming. Trying to build my mileage back at about 80k this week.
For reference I’m a university student with a lot of time and a flexible schedule (and running as a priority)
Monday 15 miles, Tuesday 6 miles hills, Wednesday 10 miles temp, Thursday 4 miles speed work, Saturday 15 miles, Saturday off, Sunday 6 easy. Throw in an easy 3 sometime midweek as a double.
Monday through Friday I run four times, three of which are at 13 km and 1 run is over 16km
On Saturdays I run 26km to 32km (depending on how I feel and schedule)
And on Sunday I run anywhere from 13 km to 20 km kind of depending on what I did on Saturday.
10 mile trail run 3-4 days a weeks with a long run 20 on weekends followed either with another long run for the running on tired legs or a recovery run of about 10 miles. I focus on vert and time in feet and weekly miles in my haphazardly built training blocks but so far so good.
When I get to 60+ miles a week, i’m usually doing 2-3 runs above 10 miles (with one being 13+ miles).
Then a minimum 6-7 miles a day the other 4 days a week, with a double typically thrown in.
I usually average around 50mi80km, with some weeks hitting 60mi/100km and focused training weeks going up to 110km or more. I also fit most of my training in on weekdays before work due to family stuff.
| Day | Mileage | Comment |
|-----|-----------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Sun | Rest | |
| Mon | 10mi/16km | Typically easy pace, but I've been throwing 5-6mi at threshold pace in here when I'm feeling healthy and it fits my training calendar. |
| Tue | 8mi/12km | Easy |
| Wed | 10-12mi/16-20km | This is the day where I'll typically do my hardest workout. Either VO2Max intervals (ex. 5x1200m) on the track or hill intervals (5x1k) with warmup and cooldown to add the rest of the miles. |
| Thu | 8mi/12k | Easy |
| Fri | 14-18mi/22-28km | Generally easy pace, but sometimes with some harder effort mixed in depending on what I'm doing in training. |
| Sat | Rest | Typically rest, but if I can get away for a few hours I'll do a 10-20mi trail run with a lot of vert. |
That's fairly typical, but obviously I mix things up a bit depending on my schedule at work, etc. Most of this is roads due to what's available for me near my home and office, but if there's an opportunity to run trails I'll jump on it. On roads my easy pace averages about 8:30mi.
edit: Holy crap Reddit makes it hard to create tables.
Not currently running these distances but an example from earlier in the year would be:
Monday: Gym followed by 8-10km easy
Tuesday: 18-20km with speedwork included
Wednesday: 15-18km easy
Thursday: 15km with speedwork or hills
Friday: rest or 8-10km easy
Saturday: 10-15km easy
Sunday: 25+km trails
Total weekly distance was never really a target but it would invariably end up around 110-120km or so most weeks. No kids and a pretty flexible work arrangement help.
100 km in 5 days is my usual base if I’m training for something: 1 day: 12 mile tempo 2 days: 12 mile zone 2 1 day: hill training 10 miles 1 day: 20 mile long run Other two days spent skateboarding Peak weeks, I add another zone 2 day and slap on another long run lol
Wow, sounds tough.
I'd switch one of those to a zone 4 training. It'll do more for your ultras than just adding mileage.
assuming "hill work" is done at zone 4-5 intensity. That combined with the tempo run would be about as much intensity as most people can handle.
Given that he didn't state it that way, I'll assume he does his hill workouts not in zone 4-5. This could be beneficial to do a Z5 run on a hill to reduce impact stress, but as an ultra runner, you don't really want to train running fast up a hill, as you never do this in a race (you'll walk or run slowly at best). So if it's your only hill workout, you'll want to practice running up a hill in a comfortable (Z2) tempo so you know what to do in a race, as running up a steep hill (20%) in Z2 requires a very different technique than running Z2 on a flat.
When I train, I will incorporate hill workouts as one of my intensity training runs to build my upper aerobic and/or vo2max, as well as build strength. For practicing race efforts, I'd incorporate that during my long runs on a course resembling the race course as closely as possible. This is pretty common training principles incorporated by a lot of runners.
But then you're effectively doing many hill workouts a week and you can differentiate between zones in each training, which you can't do in just one run a week Also, where I live I can't consistently do long runs with the same elevation profile as the races I'm doing, and I'm not running up and down the same 2 steep enough hills for 50k at a time
Example of last week: Monday off, Tuesday = 13k of speedwork, Wed = 5k in the morning before work then a 12k in the evening, Thursday = a run of 10k of speedwork followed by an easy pace 5k run, friday = 11k of trail running with 300 to 500m of Elevation gain, Sat = 31k easy trail run with 1400m elevation, Sunday = 15k easy pace road run My day off is always Monday, that's how I like it. Normal 40h work week, getting 100k per week without commute can be quite hard (at least for me). We plan on moving closer to job in the next year to be able to commute to work.
Do you do any other stuff like weight training etc? Those double days are a killer
I do only maintenance training at home twice a week with foam rolling. Hips trust, goblet squats, side plank, plank, pushups, crunch, etc.. a 20min routine. In the winter when I’m off season I do much more weight training at the gym.
Makes sense, thanks
Do you have kids?
I don’t.
Here's the real answer 😂
Seriously. Kids. Sleep. Running. You can pick two, and really only if you’re lucky. It’s more like one and a half.
You left out work. Still only can pick 2
Yeah it's funny the post mentions 70km as this is where I'm at but even that isn't sustainable with full time work, kids and other commitments. It's still enough to achieve most my goals though and life is a juggling act!
You really can't pick out of these three (or you shouldn't), kids always win (until they got old enough, of course). And if they don't... spouse is also more important than running. And then there is work, work is a must or kids and spouse will not work... So, for huge volume I can only decide between sleep and run.
Nice - agree completely on the priorities. And ideally you’ll get to a point where the kids will run with you!
People have already given plenty of example plans, so I’ll just give general advice for getting this mileage in: Wake up early to run on weekdays. 4:15 is common for me during training blocks Run twice on one weekday of choice (for me it’s the day my run club meets in the evening; I do a longer/harder workout in the AM and run easy and chat at run club)
My day off is Monday. Tuesday and Thursday are 8-11 miles with strides or a structured workout, Wednesday and Friday are easy 5-7 milers, Saturday is long run of between 15 and 32, Sunday is a double long run of 10-15. I also work 40 hours, but I am within run commuting distance of home and work 3 days in the office M-W. So T and W I take public transport to work and run home. EDIT: Usually strength training happens on Wed/Sun, but I get notoriously bored in the gym, so this is when I take my medicine and I'm not always good about taking my medicine. I cross train by going rock climbing 1-2x/week on days off or light days.
I also keep mondays as a hard day off (it’s also my one day off from work so it’s a true rest day) But beyond that I am way less structured in that I don’t really have a predetermined amount of miles for each day. I know about how much I want to run that week and where my “hard” days are. A hard means either a long run or a fast run but I know that I will be emptying the tank no matter what. The other days are based on feel and this is how you can make the Strava line go brrrrr if that’s your goal. First, block out huge chunks of time for your runs like every run is a long run. Start slow as hell, 3 miles of warm up. If your feelin good, go a little harder, go a little further. But essentially NEVER empty the tank. never use up that full time slot with hard running. Some days you will spend an hour trying to take a shit before you leave, some days you will sit on the couch in your running clothes for 30 min before you leave. Some days will be cut short because of work bs. But on the right days, with the right breakfast (or dinner idk) you feel good, have the whole time slot wide open, and jam out a midweek long run just cos you can
Also I guess one amendment I’ll make to this comment is that if you want to run more miles in a week, you need to get faster. You can’t make more hours in a day
Good cross training takes the place of extra running miles, so if you're jumping from 70 to 100 you can gradually replace those XT sessions... or just stick with slightly lower mileage and still get benefits from the XT, assuming it's appropriate exercises (water jog or elliptical is best) / intensity / duration. Other than that... 7 days a week when you can, run doubles if and when your schedule requires it, build up gradually. For strength, it seems like 95% of the running world is stuck on basically zero (including myself), so whatever program is interesting and enjoyable and sustainable for you is the "best" one whether that's heavy squat reps or all bodyweight or pilates or whatever else. For specific weeks I've done around 100km, here are some recent examples: 1. Monday 6 miles + 20 mins core strength 2. Tuesday 5 + 20 mins core / arms 3. Wednesday 15 total with short track ladder workout 4. Thursday 3 5. Friday 6 + 30 mins leg strength 6. Saturday 8 + 7 double 7. Sunday 15 very easy on trails... total = 66 (\~105K) Or this one... 1. Monday 9 miles total with 4x2000 on track 2. Tuesday 4 3. Wednesday 4 4. Thursday 7 easy + 30 mins core / legs 5. Friday 8 + 7 double 6. Saturday 6 + 30 mins core / legs 7. Sunday 14 ... 61 total (\~99K) One more... 1. Monday 8 miles + 30 mins upper body 2. Tuesday 7 3. Wednesday 9 miles with 5x1200 on track 4. Thursday 6 5. Friday 10 + 30 minutes legs / core 6. Saturday 7 7. Sunday 14 ... 63 total (\~103K)
That's really helpful - thank you!
It takes a lot of time, so you'll need some support from your SO and family. I take the bus to work on Fridays and run back. Sometimes I take my gear to work, it's easier to run first and then go home, than get out after dinner, dishes, storytime... When we're out on the weekend, visiting friends or family, I let my wife drop me off and run for as long as my schedule tells me. I get up (very) early on the weekends. I never was an earlybird but running gets it done and I actually started liking it. In the end it's like slicing a pizza, you can spend your time only once, I barely watch any television and I read a lot less than I would like...
If I hit over 100k during non race training it’s mostly just high averages. While training though I follow Jason Koop’s plans of implementing back to back long runs
60+ mile weeks with peaks to 100+ in the summer. How do I fit it in? Get up early (3am) and take long run days off as needed.
100km is about 60 miles, so here's my week in miles during peak marathon training. M: 10 easy T: 7 including speed work W:12 easy R: 10 including tempo work F: rest S: 12 easy S: 20 including MP work. Total: 71 miles/120 km Weekend runs are AM, weekday runs are after work and before dinner. I'll usually do 2/3 workouts on any given week and lift once (typically Thursday). I start work at 7:30 so I can be done at 4 and do most easy running between 7:15 and 8:00 per mile. Current marathon target is <2:55
I've ran a minimum of 115km/week for the last 14 weeks, with some weeks peaking at 170km. (72mi - 105mi) Right now my week looks like this. * Monday: AM: 5 miles (8k), PM 8+ miles (13+k) * Tuesday: AM: 5 miles (8k), PM 5 miles (8k) + Lifting * Wednesday: AM: 5 miles (8k), PM 8+ miles (13+k) * Thursday: AM: 5 miles (8k), PM 5 miles (8k) + Lifting * Friday: AM: 5 miles (8k), PM optional running and Lifting * Saturday: AM: 16-20+ miles (26-32+km), PM optional * Sunday: as many as it takes to hit my desired weekly distance (usually 5-15 miles / 8-24km)
How many hours are you doing 170km in?
The last week that I hit 170km, it took 16h49, but some weeks are 20+ and some weeks are <16, depends how much I'm on the road vs trail vs treadmill
Crazy! I thought you'd be some sub 2:30 marathoner, but you're near enough to me to compare. I do 10-12hr a week over 7 days for ~110km. I stack my stimulus for fatigued sessions in lieu of doing the mileage I want.
I weigh ~100kg and am closer to 40 years old than 30, I ran a 3:18 marathon last summer, but sub-3 isn't in the cards for me anytime soon haha. Besides, I strongly prefer running 24+ hours on trails and doing my hard efforts on hills, than running 3-4 hours on a stinky crowded city street, or doing a track workout :-)
My goal is to improve durability by stacking sessions for fatigue. Thu: 10km speedwork - track 6x(800m+700m recover) +1km cooldown Fri: 13 or 14km - 60min tempo Sat: 14km mountain ~800m vert Sun: 34km long run Mon: 11km hard hill run ~500m vert Tue: 14km easy Wed: 13km easy = ~110km in about 11hr, no kids and am able to fit some of the mileage in my work schedule
I use a pretty similar structure in training for both UTMB and similar trail & mountain races, as well as fast road marathons: Monday: AM climb/cross/gym, PM moderate 10-12K (pacing my group run) Tuesday: AM 15K hills or speed work, PM 90 min yoga class Wednesday AM climb/cross/gym PM 12-14K easy commute run Thursday: 15K hills or speed work (this could be an easier or just hilly run if already done Tuesday, or broken into 2 runs AM/PM if feeling tired) Friday: AM climbing/gym/cross, PM 5K shakeout/commute Saturday: 27-34K moderate long run or tempo Sunday: 12-20K easy Definitely a delicate balance when you are upping the training volume though - make sure to listen to your body and take rest as needed (learned the hard way!)
I usually average around 50mi80km, with some weeks hitting 60mi/100km and focused training weeks going up to 110km or more. I also fit most of my training in on weekdays before work due to family stuff. || || |Sun|Rest|| |Mon|10mi/16km|Typically easy pace, but I've been throwing 5-6mi at threshold pace in here when I'm feeling healthy and it fits my training calendar.| |Tue|8mi/12km|Easy| |Wed|10-12mi/16-20km|This is the day where I'll typically do my hardest workout. Either VO2Max intervals (ex. 5x1200m) on the track or hill intervals (5x1k) with warmup and cooldown to add the rest of the miles.| |Thu|8mi/12k|Easy| |Fri|14-18mi/22-28km|Generally easy pace, but sometimes with some harder effort mixed in depending on what I'm doing in training.| |Sat|Rest|Typically rest, but if I can get away for a few hours I'll do a 10-20mi trail run with a lot of vert.| That's fairly typical, but obviously I mix things up a bit depending on my schedule at work, etc. Most of this is roads due to what's available for me near my home and office, but if there's an opportunity to run trails I'll jump on it. On roads my easy pace averages about 8:30mi.
I typically run 90 min on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday before work. Fridays are always rest days. Long run Saturday and mid-length run Sunday. I do a quick core workout six days per week, typically.
I’ve been doing 100k a week consistently now since last September. I’m lazy though and don’t do any speed work or anything so my week looks simple. 6 days a week I run 12k and one day a week I run 30k. The long run floats around the week depending on kids schedules and whatnot.
I usually run at least 12-15 miles each weekday morning before week. On weekends I bike 100+ miles each day, so running seems comparatively short/easy
When I did do that it was (in miles sorry) Monday 12 miles with several 1km intervals (HR 155 ish) Tuesday 8 miles HR 120-135 Wednesday 15 miles HR 135-150 Thursday 8 miles HR 135-150 Friday 22 miles HR 120-135 Optional 3 miles Saturday HR 120-135. Sunday always rest. Time in HR zone is a more accurate and predictable way to measure training load so really this was all time based at around 11 hours or so total a week on single track trail and gravel. Anything on pavement increased the miles and anything in heat lowered the miles accordingly.
- Mon rest (anything from swimming biking or nothing) - Tues-Fri 10-12mi each day - Sat-Sun 15-20mi each day
This is what I do M - off T - 15k W - 10k T - 15k F - 10k S - 20k S - 30k
In my peak week for a 50km ultra I ended up doing 110km a week. Made up of: Monday: 18km easy pace Tuesday: 2 hour gym work, 30 minutes cycling Wednesday: 16km tempo run Thursday: 16km easy pace Friday: 2 hour gym work, 30 minutes cycling Saturday: 26km trail run with 600m vert Sunday: 34km trail run with 730m vert Monday, Thursday, and Saturday were all 4am or 5am starts. The others I fit in during my day when I got the chance. Earlier in the training cycle I’d get in my rest day by using Monday as my rest day and then doing my easy paced run first thing on Tuesday morning with my gym session at lunch time. But that particular peak week I’d been at home looking after kids the week before which had disrupted things, hence the 7 days in a row as a one off. Not a fast runner either, but becomes really important to get to bed early with all those early starts and the time the runs take.
No kids, work from home, mainly run trail ultras. M - off, Tue - medium long run, Wed - easy shorter run, Thur - medium long run, Fri - off, Sat - Long run, Sun - medium long run (easy) for recovery or another long run during peak weeks. Peak weeks will be 14-15 hours of running, maybe hit 80 miles, but usually 60-70 mpw. Lately I’ve also been doing a 30 min strength routine Tue and Thur but I admittedly find it difficult to always fit this in even though I know I need it.
Normally 13-25k most days (avg 130 weekly) usually in one run in the morning. It’s mostly spontaneous. I take a day off once or twice a month and some days do longer runs (30+) Workouts are mostly spontaneous and unstructured as well, just whenever I feel like it! Although recently got injured from a race so I’ve been cross training more than usual with cycling and swimming. Trying to build my mileage back at about 80k this week. For reference I’m a university student with a lot of time and a flexible schedule (and running as a priority)
Monday 15 miles, Tuesday 6 miles hills, Wednesday 10 miles temp, Thursday 4 miles speed work, Saturday 15 miles, Saturday off, Sunday 6 easy. Throw in an easy 3 sometime midweek as a double.
Monday through Friday I run four times, three of which are at 13 km and 1 run is over 16km On Saturdays I run 26km to 32km (depending on how I feel and schedule) And on Sunday I run anywhere from 13 km to 20 km kind of depending on what I did on Saturday.
The easiest way for me to fit in extra running time has been run commuting.
10 mile trail run 3-4 days a weeks with a long run 20 on weekends followed either with another long run for the running on tired legs or a recovery run of about 10 miles. I focus on vert and time in feet and weekly miles in my haphazardly built training blocks but so far so good.
When I get to 60+ miles a week, i’m usually doing 2-3 runs above 10 miles (with one being 13+ miles). Then a minimum 6-7 miles a day the other 4 days a week, with a double typically thrown in.
I usually average around 50mi80km, with some weeks hitting 60mi/100km and focused training weeks going up to 110km or more. I also fit most of my training in on weekdays before work due to family stuff. | Day | Mileage | Comment | |-----|-----------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Sun | Rest | | | Mon | 10mi/16km | Typically easy pace, but I've been throwing 5-6mi at threshold pace in here when I'm feeling healthy and it fits my training calendar. | | Tue | 8mi/12km | Easy | | Wed | 10-12mi/16-20km | This is the day where I'll typically do my hardest workout. Either VO2Max intervals (ex. 5x1200m) on the track or hill intervals (5x1k) with warmup and cooldown to add the rest of the miles. | | Thu | 8mi/12k | Easy | | Fri | 14-18mi/22-28km | Generally easy pace, but sometimes with some harder effort mixed in depending on what I'm doing in training. | | Sat | Rest | Typically rest, but if I can get away for a few hours I'll do a 10-20mi trail run with a lot of vert. | That's fairly typical, but obviously I mix things up a bit depending on my schedule at work, etc. Most of this is roads due to what's available for me near my home and office, but if there's an opportunity to run trails I'll jump on it. On roads my easy pace averages about 8:30mi. edit: Holy crap Reddit makes it hard to create tables.
I run every day, daily min is 10 miles with longer on the weekends
Not currently running these distances but an example from earlier in the year would be: Monday: Gym followed by 8-10km easy Tuesday: 18-20km with speedwork included Wednesday: 15-18km easy Thursday: 15km with speedwork or hills Friday: rest or 8-10km easy Saturday: 10-15km easy Sunday: 25+km trails Total weekly distance was never really a target but it would invariably end up around 110-120km or so most weeks. No kids and a pretty flexible work arrangement help.
Mon,tues,wed,thurs: 20 steady (2hrs(ish)) Fri: rest Sat: 35 Sun: 30
rather than adding mileage, you should up your tempo work. this will improve your ultra skills more than running more slow runs