58.72Miles (93.95Kms) this week
This morning I ran my second 20miler of the month. Instead of running it on Sunday, I ran it today, Friday, because we planned some Family activities for Sunday. So this morning my 20miler felt so slow, 10:13min/mi, and I told myself it was probably because I raced the 15K RunNew (plus 6Km warm-up) 5 days ago. My injuries, knees, ITB’s and hamstrings were gone, but I was tired. I ate 3 GU gels, 4×500mL of Gatorades, and one banana, but still felt tired. I told myself this is what I’m going to suffer when Marathon comes. So the pain actually comforted me, I told myself I’ll be ready for the marathon. It was a mental challenge as well.
Then tonight, my father told me, “did you realize you’ve ran 58miles this week?” I said, no way, I’m sure it’s just 35miles. I looked at my training log at runnersworld.com and it says 35miles this week, with my week starting on Monday and ending on Sunday:
He said (in Tagalog), “No! You should also monitor your moving weekly mileage. Your body doesn’t know it’s Tuesday or Sunday, it only feels the stress you put into it. At any given day, it would only feel the 7days of running you have before as your weekly mileage.” I have to agree he has a good point, so, I’ve recomputed starting last Saturday until today’s Friday run to make it one week:
Let’s compute:
Saturday (2/22/2009): 10miles
Sunday (2/23/2009): 4.36mi + 9.36mi (15K race) = 13.72mi
Wednesday (2/25/2009): 5miles
Thursday (2/26/2009): 10miles
Friday (2/27/2009): 20miles
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Total = 58.72miles or 93.95Kilometers
I guess my father is right, and I’m lucky he pointed this to me. I’m now in danger of over-training. I’m just a little tired, sore muscles, but no injuries (yet). He’s concerned I could catch a cold tomorrow or soon, due to possible temporary weakened immune system normally caused by long runs.
Looks like we sometimes need someone to monitor us like a coach. I’m lucky I have a father who’s secretly monitoring my progress. I’m really surprised he knows more about my running than I do 
At least I have accomplished one of my goals this year to reach 50MPW. I’ll celebrate it by having a good night sleep tonight and no running tomorrow.
Good night everybody.
Comments (6)
Nathaniel, am I reading this post right? You are a road warrior in every sense of the word(s). I can’t remember the last time I had a week like this.
Please get some well deserved rest and enjoy the weekend!
>Thanks a lot Wayne! What was your highest weekly mileage ever reached before? Did it really have its benefits? Maybe yours were run at a higher intensities.
By the way, this 58MPW was just an accident, it wasn’t planned at all. It’s mostly very slow running at below 80% MHR. I’ve rested for 2 days now, good thing I wasn’t injured, and I actually feel good today. I may be getting stronger (though not faster). Now I’m thinking of running 60miles next week. Would I benefit for this higher mileage or the risk is just too high? I read somewhere that the ideal highest mileage for most people is 40MPW, any higher is just risking injuries.
Next week would be my final week for my Phase1 mileage build-up LSD’s, that’s why I’m thinking of 60MPW. The next 2 weeks would be to taper for the half-marathon. Then for the coming 3 months, move on to faster tempo, hills, and speedwork for Milo marathon this July 5th. What do you think?
By the way, we went to the beach yesterday (1day after the 20miler), it was really hot and I did some gentle swimming. I think it really helped me relax my tight muscles. Afterwards, I had no more sore muscles.
Nice program bro and I think you will have a good PR when the marathon comes…
>Thank you sir. I hope to finish strong, and we still have 4months to prepare.
Nathaniel, I had to dig back in my running logs to find the answer to this one.
In the second week of February 1984, I ran 58 miles in one week. Interestingly, on March 11th of the same year, I ran my best marathon in 3:14:46. I’m sure the mileage helped a great deal. The first two months that year. I had 410 miles!
I was fortunate not to have any injuries at the time but my logs mentioned after a Saturday in early February when I ran a 22 mile workout, I was very sore the next day and took a day off from running. I went to Angel Island and hiked about 4.5 miles.
Wayne, thanks for sharing this. I was 5 yrs old in 1984 but I could still remember some events of my childhood that year. I even remember the movie “Ghostbusters” which I really loved. The 80’s was a wonderful decade.
Although we both ran 58miles in a week, I doubt it if I could run a 3:14 marathon. I believe a 4:14 is closer for me for now. I do hope to run a 3:59 or better this July. If you ran 410miles in 2months, that is a consistent 50+ MPW, which could probably helped you a lot and maybe your body had already strengthened itself and prevented you from having more injuries.
By the way, I was having knee pains about 3 weeks ago, due to my hilly and banked road route where I do my 40+mpw runs. I then read an article in runnersworld magazine about glucosamine and chrondroitin food supplement pills that can help runners. Here in the Philippines, we call them “Arthro” and “Arthricin”, normally used by people with arthritis. I’ve tried them and I find that they do reduce the pain significantly and speed-up the recovery. This really helped me continue building-up my mileage. Have you tried these pills already?
why didn’t I see it that way..haha dad’s are smart.