How many miles did you run today?

I have been told that if you are planning to run longer distances you need to have a relatively high mileage base established so you can handle the speed you have developed during speed work.

what kinda speed work are you talking about, thomas? If you are really only concentrating on the marathon i think mileage trumps speedwork. And when you do speedwork, try an do things like tempo runs, fast finish long runs, and long repeat intervals, such as 3 x 2mi at 1/2-marathon pace.
I used to get on myself about not doing more speedwork, because id get pretty lax about that for months at a time, but i actually ran my fastest times at pretty much all distances when i was just going out and running alot of miles and not really doing much dedicated speedwork.

Starting to get my wind back after a 2 and a half months gimping around with an achillies issue..still stiff, but MUCH better...just making sure I stretch during and after my run.

Last week was my first 20+ milage week in AGES, and yesterday I did a blistering 5.5 miles (in just over 30 minutes)...I kept waiting to get tired, but it never happened, FELT GREAT!

This morning, 4.5 miles. Temperature, 29. It wasn't the cold that was a bother; it was the damp air. Oh, winter is coming. A nice run through our historic cemetery. (Well, today is All Souls Day!)

Glad to to see NY Ranger back on the trail!

6 chilly miles today. Took it easy since all my homies are training for NY marathon, and I am training to hand out water to them sat an aid station.

Originally Posted by samblackbones

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I have been told that if you are planning to run longer distances you need to have a relatively high mileage base established so you can handle the speed you have developed during speed work.

Originally Posted by jwied82

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what kinda speed work are you talking about, thomas? If you are really only concentrating on the marathon i think mileage trumps speedwork. And when you do speedwork, try an do things like tempo runs, fast finish long runs, and long repeat intervals, such as 3 x 2mi at 1/2-marathon pace.
I used to get on myself about not doing more speedwork, because id get pretty lax about that for months at a time, but i actually ran my fastest times at pretty much all distances when i was just going out and running alot of miles and not really doing much dedicated speedwork.

First, I'm training for a January half-marathon, the marathon will be Next January (2012), once I'm 40 and subject to a more generous Boston Qualifying time.

Right now I'm running tempo-type runs at faster paces. I've not yet hit the track for intervals (and may never do that), but instead have been running less mileage faster, and it feels good, actually. Part of this, though, comes from having a newborn in the house and working around her schedule: I try to feed and change her before heading out, but I've not yet adjusted my schedule to make enough room for her AND mileage. ah well.

The guideline for mileage that I'd always been going by was: 30 miles a week before starting speedwork. As it is, I'd been holding 30+ for a couple of weeks prior (with 9-10 miles long runs)and felt like I could ease in without much trouble, and thus far it's been holding up.

Today, for instance - I wound up running 5.3 miles in 37:52 which is a bit faster than my normal pace (normally I'd finish around 41-42), and I finished faster than I started which was nice. Last week it was 4 and 2.7 miles at sub-7 pace which really opened my eyes as to how much more speed is out there. Once I mentally adjusted, I was able to hold the pace fairly steady.

I don't yet have it nailed down, but I think the progression I'll follow will be a sort of laddering-up, where I pick up the pace for a shorter run, then try to hold the pace over a longer run on my next workout, then another even-longer run, and then crank up the pace again with a short run and repeat.

One thing that was interesting was that I ran my tempos last week at a faster pace than my best 5k from a few years back. I have run some good times on mileage alone, but I've been running the steady-steady for years now, getting faster in small doses. This phase represents a new turn, something exciting and energizing.

Originally Posted by NewYorkRanger

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Starting to get my wind back after a 2 and a half months gimping around with an achillies issue..still stiff, but MUCH better...just making sure I stretch during and after my run.

Last week was my first 20+ milage week in AGES, and yesterday I did a blistering 5.5 miles (in just over 30 minutes)...I kept waiting to get tired, but it never happened, FELT GREAT!

5.48 miles in 47:55 (avg. 8:44 min/mi)

Today's shuffle playlist:

Elliott Smith - "Miss Misery"
The Who - "Summertime Blues [Live]"
The Beatles - "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"
Jethro Tull - "My God"
The Beatles - "Yesterday"
Tool - "The Patient"
Kiss - "Black Diamond"
R.E.M. - "Turn You Inside-Out"
Faith No More - "Midlife Crisis"
Porcupine Tree - "Sleep Together"

evening 7.5. strange fall heat wave here in SoCal so at 8pm it was still prolly 75-80 degrees. good run.

-Jeff

Healthy and back - 8.5 at roughly 7:10 miles.
Missing four days sort of ***** with my psyche, but I felt fast tonight. At least when I'm sick I don't eat a lot so I didn't feel all heavy.
Great night to run in so-cal - the bacteria bloom in the sea was making it glow so that was cool.

i m ruining every day 2 miles its very good experience

Today, I wanted to run faster, sub-7, but something wasn't quite there for me. Maybe not enough sleep, maybe lingering fatigue from yesterday's run, maybe mental fatigue, who knows. Anyway, today was 4 miles in 28:19

For those of you who have been running for a while, how long did it take before you were running sub-8s? How long before you were running sub-7s? I know I have a ways to go, since I just started running about six months ago. My average pace hovers around 8:45/mi.

- Keith

4.50 miles in 38:55 (avg. 8:39 min/mi)

Today's shuffle playlist:

The Who - "Heaven and Hell [Live]"
Michael Hedges - "The Naked Stalk"
Faith No More - "Surprise! You're Dead!"
Metallica - "Creeping Death"
The Beatles - "All My Loving"
Led Zeppelin - "Immigrant Song [Live]"
Radiohead - "Subterranean Homesick Alien"
Aerosmith - "Make It [Alternate Intro]"
Led Zeppelin - "Friends"
The Church - "Reptile"
The Beatles - "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey"

Ran 8.5 in 59:30 last night
I started off running right around eight minute miles when I started running (i started focusing on running 2 years ago after playing hockey/soccer growing up) I can run probably 9 or 10 sub 7 miles, but I focus a lot more on mileage/enjoyment and my physical boundaries than I do on a specific pace.
There are a bunch of schools of thought regarding pacing/speedwork and what you are training for.