How many miles a week does a champion ultramarathoner do?

Rewiring my brain to lose the obsession with miles has had two mega-boosts this week, first with news of how Spartathlon winner Scott Jurek trains, and second with an inside take on what the 2:10 Kenyans like Ben Maiyo and "Baba" Kiogora are doing.

The "quality versus quantity" debate is drawing some passionate and well-informed comments here and elsewhere on this site. As a result of my research, I've already stopped doing "easy" morning runs, "recovery runs" and anything else that smacks of long, slow distance work.

When Duncan Larkin interviewed Scott Jurek, as I mentioned in a previous blog, I was desperate to see how Scott trained. One of the best ultra-distance runners in the world, I know he is famous for his Badwater and Western States feats, but the win that grabbed me was his first victory in the 152-mile Spartathlon, the Greek race that is run as closely as possible to Pheidippides' run from Athens to Sparta, in Greece. Jurek averaged 8:58 per mile over the 22 hours and 52 minutes he was running.

So this guy must run long and comparatively "slowly" in training, right? Wrong! Scott told Duncan he runs 110-120 miles week, mostly on trails. OK, 100-miles plus is a lot, in my book, but this is what the experts are telling us 5k and 10k racers should be doing. Scott says that if he HAS a specialty it is in 100-mile plus races. This is a guy who may target the world 24-hour record... so why should I, with races set to last between 4:45 and 18:00, with an occasional 37:00 thrown in -- and that's MINUTES, by the way -- also have to do 100-miles plus?

There's more: Scott's mileage includes tempo runs at 5:50-5:45 per mile pace. He does four-mile hill repeats. He does 800s and 1200 repeats on the track -- sometimes 200s and 400s. And strength, core stability and flexibility training.

And while he says he does "a lot of easy training runs as well" to aid recovery -- these are at 8:00 to 7:00 minute per mile. This is not hanging around.

Do read the full interview -- it's a cracker! Scott, by the way, is a vegan, which he says helps him with recovery.

Second example -- the flying Kenyans of CashingKimbia.com. After posting the film of their first track session, Matt Taylor responded to questions about their training and its similarities to what Seb Coe (that man again) used to do.

Matt replied: "The training was covered quite a bit in Season One, but the program revolves around two week training cycles. Two weeks hard, one week easy. During that two week block the training touches on many different paces. I wouldn’t say it’s traditional 5-pace training like Coe and Horwill advocated, but the athletes do touch on several different paces. Dieter’s program is definitely not a high volume one with lots of long easy running. Instead, I like to say that it touches on all points of the spectrum. At one end is high-intensity, high-quality running and on the other end is super-slow recovery running. During a training cycle they hit both ends of the spectrum and everywhere in between. As the season unfolds and we get more into the daily rhythm of training, I think you’ll get a better idea of the training. It’s not rocket science, but it is demanding."

Like it! Definitely not high-volume with lots of easy running. "Dieter" is German coach Dieter Hogen, who has marshalled the men to high places in all the major marathons.

* Links: Matt Taylor's comment.
Duncan Larkin's Scott Jurek interview.