A Comprehensive Guide to Base Mileage: The Pros and Cons of Low, Mid, High, and Really High Mileage

Guide

This seems to be one of the most asked about topics on r/HSTrack, so I’d like to give you guys some insight into base mileage, the benefits and drawbacks of certain weekly mileage levels, and help you understand which works best for you.

It’s tough to know exactly how high to set your weekly mileage because there are so many factors that play into it: body type, what events you’re doing, what kind of training you already have, diet, health, schedule, injury proneness (if that wasn’t a word it is now), and self-discipline, just to name a few. Due to all those factors, it’s pretty tricky to write a guide about how far you should be running. I’ll do my best, but please know that you have to take all of this with a grain of salt.

Low Mileage (15 - 30 MPW) - This is the low end of what you can call “base mileage training.” It works out to around two to four miles per day, assuming you’re running seven days per week (although I recommend taking at least one rest day per week, which has been my approach due to religious obligations on Sundays. I’ve seen benefits from having one day off every week, though). With such low daily mileage, you can usually find a way to squeeze it in during lunch or right after school if you have a restrictive schedule. I’d suggest low mileage for anyone getting started with track, or anyone recovering from injury or illness that took you out of commission for more than two or so weeks.

If you’re on the more elite side of things, don’t disregard low mileage as an approach to training; it still has its benefits. I tend to be right around 25-30 MPW at the end of track seasons because it allows me to do short miles at a quick pace (usually five miles per day at around 6:20-6:30/mi, six days a week). That allows me to keep my aerobic fitness while also allowing me to get in some speed work twice a week without putting my mileage over the top.

Pros

Not very time consuming
Relatively low risk of injury/reinjury (assuming safe running habits)
Easy to train with a fast pace
Good way to maintain fitness at the end of the season
Great way to introduce base mileage to your workouts for beginners

Cons

Doesn’t build too much of an endurance base
Can take a while to see real results compared to the higher levels

Mid-Mileage (30 - 50 MPW) - This is where I think a majority of high school runners are going to be. Works out to between four and seven miles per day, which is about right for most people either on varsity or right on the edge between JV and varsity. Runs take a little more time; a seven miler takes me around 40-45 minutes most days, and that’s not counting warm up or stretching, and stretching starts to become pretty important at this level. 50 miles per week is going to put quite a bit of stress on your body, most of which (obviously) in your legs. Stretching twice per day is ideal -- once after your run, and again before bed -- and it’ll help keep your legs healthy.

This is where I’m at during most of my season, usually at 45 - 50 MPW in the offseason in December and January. Once February hits, it drops to 40 or so as I introduce speed work, then 30-35 MPW once outdoors hits and I focus on speed rather than distance. I find it to be a great balance for a middle distance guy, as it helps build your aerobic base/endurance without turning you into a long distance runner.

Pros

Not too time consuming
Good balance for short/mid-distance runners
Allows you to work speed as well as endurance
High enough mileage to allow you to maintain your base through the season

Cons

Not far enough for elite distance runners
Must be careful to avoid overuse as you approach 50 weekly miles for the first few times

High Mileage (50 - 75 MPW) - This is what a lot of the elite distance high schoolers are doing. It’s seven to ten miles per day, which stacks up pretty fast. It’s generally the highest you’ll see most people in high school go because workouts start to take up a lot of time once you reach this level (average of seven to eleven miles per day), and it’s about as far as most are willing to push their bodies. At this level it is vital that you are taking in the right nutrients (lots of protein, lots of carbs before runs, limited processed/fried/sugary food), getting enough sleep (7 hours per night, minimum), and paying full attention to any aches you have during/after runs and icing anything that hurts even a little. Failure to do any of those can result in some pretty serious injury (note that this applies to every other level with increasing importance). Note: As u/jetshack pointed out, there has been research done to suggest that icing may not be the best idea for some injuries. You may want to get in contact with a physical therapist or someone better trained in medicine than a coach or a random Redittor before taking steps to self-treat injury. That's not to say icing is a no-no for everything, just be sure to ask if you have persistent aches/pains.

I gave this a shot summer before my junior year; I was up to 65 MPW when the XC season started and speed work started, which brought me down to 40-50 most weeks. Only problem was some minor IT band issues in mid-July, which I alleviated by dropping my mileage down to about 40 for a week. Got tendonitis at the very end of the season (likely due to my transition from a heel strike to a forefoot strike) and when I was finally able to start running again I stuck with mid-mileage. I’ve been relatively injury-free since then, so I’ve stuck with it. Would definitely recommend high mileage for anyone ready for it, though.

Pros

“Sweet spot” in weekly mileage for many top notch high school distance runners
Pretty much the farthest most high schoolers will be able to run with a busy schedule
Big base = high volume speed workouts once the season starts

Cons

Injury starts to become a more serious risk at and above 50 MPW
Have to monitor nutrition and aching with a cautious eye
Generally too far for mid-distance runners/sprinters

Really High Mileage (75+ MPW) - I only know a handful of high schoolers who are going this far on a regular basis. It’s not unheard of for college athletes to be doing over 100 miles every week, but in high school it’s difficult to make the schedule accommodations for 70+ minutes of running every day. When you take into account time for warm up and stretching, a 12 mile run can easily turn into a two hour commitment. This, in my humble opinion, is farther than any high schooler has any business running on a regular basis. There’s too high of a risk of injury, if you aren’t extremely careful when bumping up mileage and if you aren’t 100% in tune with your body and its various aches and pains you can easily get yourself into something like IT band problems, stress fractures, and tendonitis, all of which will set your training back weeks, if not months.

That being said, it is still a legitimate way to train. If you are careful about increasing mileage at a slow, steady pace, there are some great benefits to getting upwards of 100 miles per week. A 15 mile run burns around 1500 - 1750 calories, so you can lose half a pound (a 3500 calorie difference between burned and consumed is one pound lost/gained) per run. Longer distances also helps your body get better at burning fat, which is a definite plus. Note that those are both benefits that come with all the lower mileage options, they’re just most significant with high mileage.

Pros

Huge base mileage
Tons of burned calories
Best at training your body to burn fat

Cons

Relatively high risk of injury
Very time consuming
Only for elite runners who know their bodies very well
Must eat lots of the right kinds of calories (protein after, carbs before) to accommodate the burnt calories

Final Notes - As mentioned previously, this is all based solely on my experience. What works for me might not work for you, and vice versa. This guide is meant for beginners who have no clue where to start, and those of you who are looking for ideas for your own training; it by no means is an be-all and end-all for guides on base mileage. Also, although I did take my sweet time writing this (sorry), it was done in short bursts between English essays and studying for Calc tests, so apologies if I glossed over anything or was unclear.

Comment or PM me if you need clarification on anything, and if you feel like there’s something significant missing or you have personal experience in a certain “level”, let me know and I’ll add your comment/username to the guide.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: Added advice from u/jetshack about treating injuries with ice

Posted Feb 3, 2015, 11:29 PM UTC · edited

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