Saw Decran for a massage in the afternoon. Then ran the Labor Day course. Glad I did. They've mowed and widened the little goat path up from the 14th Street extension, but with the mud and side slope there's still only one narrow technical line up through it.

An Easy 6 on the grass fields up at ASU.

Workout tommorrow.

in the afternoon, plus a lot of lifting.

How many miles per week are you up to?

If all goes well, I will do close to 85, which Judson informed me is what he is doing in his "down" week. This will be my third 80s week, the most I have done in any of my training programs. So far, so good, although I do eat quite a bit and take a lot of naps.

For Chris G. and all the rest of you who regularly log more than 60 mpw,I have a lot of questions about how you safely and happily go from 40 mpw to 50, 60, and beyond.
Napping makes sense to me and eating more too. Do you have specific suggestions or stories about those?
Do you have a week a month where you cut your mileage back?
Is there a fair amount of achiness and learning to run with tired legs that is inevitable?
Do you recommend maintaining a certain mileage base for a period of time between incremental steps?
Do you still take a day off a week?
Do you think cross training could be substituted 2 days a week with the same results but less injuries?
Any insights would be helpful. I just can't seem to get past 50 miles and I'm wondering if it's age, wimpiness, nutrition, etc.

Naps, everyday. Oh, I've got some stories but I'm not good at telling them. Eat whatever you want. Burger King once a week.

I'm a huge believer of having down weeks once every 3 weeks. The only way to improve is to allow the training you've done to set in and that takes some rest.

The higher you go I think the more chance your legs may be tired, but if you run your easy runs easy and your hard runs hard like everyone should, then you should never feel too aweful. Soaking seems to help me. I find the first couple miles of an easy run the day after a workout usually feel a little bad, but then things get better.

Building a base is a lifetime task. Sure you may take breaks, but everything builds on itself. Taking breaks is just as important as loggng the miles. The more years you run the higher in mileage you probably will have to go to see greater results. How you build in steps is more up to you then what most books tell you to do. It's all about what you can handle and what fits into your lifestyle.

Days off, That's an individual question. Some people need them. I take about one day off a month just because that's all I need. Don't get me wrong, some days that I run it's 4-miles with my grandmother but actual days off you'll have to learn what you need. Jobs, kids and the rest of life sometimes need you to take days off. Take them, because family is more important.

Cross training. Running trains you the best to run, simple. The more you can handle the better. But depending on how much you can handle limits some people. One athlete here can only run 45 miles a week while the rest of us do 100+. He simply cross trains to make that difference up and he races great. This of course took about 4-5 years to figure out and that result was he was always injuried. Now he never gets injuried.

50-miles a week is really good. That's solid. One easy way to get more mileage is simply to double one or two days a week. Two 5 mile runs before dinner the days you workouts. It would get you 10 extra miles and help your legs recover from the workout.

Hope any of that helps. I'm not an expert.

A couple of years ago, my max mileage weeks were in the 50s, and at the time, that seemed like my limit, and there was no way I could imagine running 20-30 miles more per week. The key for me has been small, incremental increases in my base miles, maybe five miles at a time, holding at a plateau for a few weeks before increasing again. I can honestly say I don't feel any more tired or sore now at 80 per week, than I did then. This despite the fact that I am a couple years older!

It is hard to fit in the miles, though. I used to think I needed a day off per week, but am realizing that I can manage without it. Lowell gave me the choice: give up my day off or do an extra double, and I thought I would experiment with not having a day off, just because I am not all that crazy about doubles. Honestly, when you are doing lots of miles, an easy recovery run (with Judson's grandmother) often feels like a day off. I still do get a day off at least every other week.

Like Judson, I also don't sustain the max mileage for more than a couple weeks in a row. On race weeks, for example, my mileage has dropped to 50 or 60.

Cross-training might be a great option if increasing your mileage causes injury. Susannah told me that when she was training for the Olympic trials, she did a ton of her "mileage" on a Nordic skier, and was as injury-free as she had ever been, and ran her best race ever.

Another thing that helps me is structure, i.e. having a plan, and having someone to answer to. It might help you to have a coach, someone who can tailor a program to fit your life and your abilities.

Burger King once a week? Well, let's just say that everyone is different.

I'll echo Chris and say that I feel better (and have fewer aches and pains) now at 70-80-90 mpw than I used to four or five years ago peaking at 50.

I do notice a general deadening of my legs immediately following a jump in mileage, but it doesn't usually last. And getting in some lively paced runs generally revives them. Ice and cold soaks definitely helps. Beyond that, it just takes time.

Also, like Chris, I used to have a firm rule about running no more than 6 days a week. The past month is the first time I've had several weeks of running every day and I must say that so far everything seems fine -- I didn't collapse in a splintery mess the way I might have worried. But a four or six mile easy day does begin to feel a lot like a rest day. After three or four days of doubles last week, I had a day with only a single run and I realized that I actually felt a twinge of taper-madness as a result.

I've been increasing my mileage steadily in the last three years, from 35 or 40 up to 100 or more per week. For the first two years, I took a day off every week. Now I go several months without a day off, albeit I will have tapering time for end of season races. Basically I built up slowly over a few years, paid attention to aches and pains to avoid injury, and this increased my capacity for work even more, letting me run more miles and run safer, etc. I don't cross train myself, and at least here at school high mileage runners just don't cross train unless they are injured.

Now, as for napping and eating, I take frequent naps and certainly eat more. I seem to have trouble eating for a few hours after my long run though. Basically I eat whatever my body feels like it wants, which brings me to the weird part. I've become nearly vegetarian eating in this manner. I just never seem to want any kind of meat. I think that's a bit different than most people's experiences though.

So basically, the key is a slow buildup and don't be afraid to rest if you really need to. Avoiding injury and fatigue shouldn't be TOO difficult if you listen to your body.

Rae,age is a huge factor.What JC does at 28 should not be followed by someone well into 40's and beyond.50 miles is definitely not "wimping out".You can do a lot with that mileage if it's broken down well ie speed,long runs or hills,etc.I know you are a marathoner though so I agree you need some bigger mile weeks in there.Maybe once a month getting up around 70?Rotating long and easy weeks is important as you know.

Thanks everyone. At 30, I never would have predicted that 2 decades later I'd be trying to run more miles per week than my age. BUT, watching so many of you add miles and continue to improve without injury makes me wonder if I've grown complacent, accepted my level of training and the resultant pace. Ironically, turning 50 (new age group!), in 6 months is motivating me to tweak my running/training. I've been getting better at doing speed work at least once a week and I can see the pay off but I think I'm short on miles. For a year, our training has maxed out in the high 40's and 50 has become the psychological barrier that 30 was years ago. I needed your collective wisdom get over that hurdle.

Great to hear that you are enjoying being back in student mode, and finding time to run. I hope you are able to take some pictures so we can enjoy your experiences vicariously.