MYTH… You NEED to do 50+ miles a week to run an ultramarathon !

No, no you don’t need to run stupid mileage weeks to run an ultramarathon

Ffs… there are times when I wish I could use one of those fucking Men In Black memory wiping thingys and change people’s mindsets around what is myth versus reality

Whilst “more” is “better”, that is only to a certain point

Firstly, for us mere mortals with jobs and kids and such, we can’t be going out and doing 30km runs on a Tuesday morning like an elite who can get back and have a 2-hour nap and a massage by their personal therapist… we’ve got shit to do meaning our recovery is not ideal for this level and volume of running. Without proper recovery, the chances are this volume will actually produce detrimental returns as opposed to advantageous adaptations

Secondly, even at an elite level, the returns after circa 8-9 hours per week become marginal. For example, 15% more miles don’t equate to 15% improvements. It might just be 1.5% 🧐

Thirdly, volume is not the same from one runner to the next. In my coaching philosophy, I take into so many considerations before applying volume… job, kids, lifestyle, how much sleep the person gets, age, sex, injuries, do they strength train or not, and much more

And to my final point… more on this in the week, but I have JUST this weekend coached one of my athletes to a 100mile 24 race on just 3 runs per week

So stop thinking you NEED to be doing massive mileage weeks… you don’t and if you do you might find diminishing returns depending on your lifestyle and life factors

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