The Inevitable In-Season Mileage Drop

So I'm trying to think of how I can avoid the in-season mileage drop and keep my mileage at around 45 for the next two weeks before our first meet and the beginning of real workouts. Our coach will probably only have us run an average of 5 miles/day in practice so here are some options I came up with.

1. Start doubling. 2 miles every morning as a shakeout, getting me ~7 miles/day, 10 mile long run on Saturday = 45 mpw

2. Try to convince my coach to let me run 7 miles every day in practice. There's about a 60-40 chance that that'll work. We won't be doing workouts yet so it's not like I'll be ditching a quality session for a little extra mileage. +10 on Saturday = 45 mpw

3. Run just my coach's mileage 5 miles/day with a 10 mile long run on Saturday for 35 mpw. I'd really rather not have a long run that's twice as long as every other run, so realistically it'd be an 8 mile long(ish) run for 33 mpw. This is more along the lines of what I'd want to do towards the end of the season without the long run.

What do you guys think? If you have any other ideas feel free to chime in.

hmmmm...i think you should ask your coach first, and do that if you are allowed. If that doesnt work then id say the 1st plan
good luck working it all out

same as eternal.

It depends, when you say 5 miles a day, is most of that easy or are you doing workouts? If you're starting workouts I wouldn't be too concerned about the mileage drop, summer is for base, fall is for speed. If you keep training like you've been all summer you won't improve this season. It's definitely time to start including some workouts you haven't done yet this summer like rep.

My coach makes us run about 7-8 miles a day so it will be a increase for me but I plan on keeping my 6 mile tempo pace for these runs. I want a state medal but you should definatly ask your coach first just don't do it with out him knowing.

after my team does interval workouts, I usually do a 40 minute easy run. and if he tells my team to do an easy 5 miler, I just ask him "is it alright if I take 7?" and he knows I'm used to even higher so he doesn't worry about letting me do more. i should be at 45-50 during the season

funrunner wrote:So I'm trying to think of how I can avoid the in-season mileage drop and keep my mileage at around 45 for the next two weeks before our first meet and the beginning of real workouts. Our coach will probably only have us run an average of 5 miles/day in practice so here are some options I came up with.

1. Start doubling. 2 miles every morning as a shakeout, getting me ~7 miles/day, 10 mile long run on Saturday = 45 mpw

2. Try to convince my coach to let me run 7 miles every day in practice. There's about a 60-40 chance that that'll work. We won't be doing workouts yet so it's not like I'll be ditching a quality session for a little extra mileage. +10 on Saturday = 45 mpw

3. Run just my coach's mileage 5 miles/day with a 10 mile long run on Saturday for 35 mpw. I'd really rather not have a long run that's twice as long as every other run, so realistically it'd be an 8 mile long(ish) run for 33 mpw. This is more along the lines of what I'd want to do towards the end of the season without the long run.

What do you guys think? If you have any other ideas feel free to chime in.

Do you only run 6 days a week?

If you run 7 you might want to check your math......

FinishingKick wrote:It depends, when you say 5 miles a day, is most of that easy or are you doing workouts? If you're starting workouts I wouldn't be too concerned about the mileage drop, summer is for base, fall is for speed. If you keep training like you've been all summer you won't improve this season. It's definitely time to start including some workouts you haven't done yet this summer like rep.

Like I said, we won't start workouts for two more weeks, and I want to keep my mileage up for that time. I'll drop down to around 35 when we start on workouts.

HXC_Runner2012 wrote:

funrunner wrote:So I'm trying to think of how I can avoid the in-season mileage drop and keep my mileage at around 45 for the next two weeks before our first meet and the beginning of real workouts. Our coach will probably only have us run an average of 5 miles/day in practice so here are some options I came up with.

1. Start doubling. 2 miles every morning as a shakeout, getting me ~7 miles/day, 10 mile long run on Saturday = 45 mpw

2. Try to convince my coach to let me run 7 miles every day in practice. There's about a 60-40 chance that that'll work. We won't be doing workouts yet so it's not like I'll be ditching a quality session for a little extra mileage. +10 on Saturday = 45 mpw

3. Run just my coach's mileage 5 miles/day with a 10 mile long run on Saturday for 35 mpw. I'd really rather not have a long run that's twice as long as every other run, so realistically it'd be an 8 mile long(ish) run for 33 mpw. This is more along the lines of what I'd want to do towards the end of the season without the long run.

What do you guys think? If you have any other ideas feel free to chime in.

Do you only run 6 days a week?

If you run 7 you might want to check your math......

6 days a week. I just feel crappy when I run 7. I'll probably start this winter though.

I say option 1. A shake out run wouldn't hurt at all, it would actually help you, and you aren't going against your coach in any way. Do 2 miles in the morning and then focus on running your 5 mile runs at practice faster.

Another option could be to just do longer warmups and cooldowns on race days, so you could get maybe a 7 or 8 mile day out of a normally 4 or 5 mile day.
Usually a coach wants you to do what works best for you in terms of warming up and cooling down on race day, so it shouldn't bother your coach.

I would try to ask your coach if you can 7 miles instead of the normal 5 miles. I think that might be more beneficial than a 5 mile run and a 2 mile run in the morning, not sure if it's worth doing just 2. But if he for some reason doesnt let you do the 7, then do the 5 mi 2 mi double.

tell your coach he's a nub

what self-respecting coach thinks he's going to have a good team with 5 miles/day. and if you do a 10 miler every saturday with only 5 every other day its not going to be beneficial and ultimately lead to injury