The perennial query in training plans, especially amidst setbacks like injury or plateaus, often revolves around one central question: How much mileage are you logging? While undeniably relevant and integral to training, it may not always be the most pertinent inquiry at hand. Throughout my tenure as a college coach, my training programs typically featured moderate to low mileage as compared to peers. Yet, it's crucial to recognize that the volume of easy runs lays the foundation for enduring the rigors of intense workouts and races.

Understanding the meters required for demanding workouts and races provides a benchmark for determining the necessary mileage to support such endeavors. When confronted with a performance plateau, injury, or illness, many runners reflexively scrutinize their weekly mileage. However, I contend that the initial query should pivot to a different focus: Are you prioritizing adequate sleep to bolster your training regimen?

Most runners grasp the importance of sleep for recovery and repairing the micro-trauma induced by training. Yet, even eight hours of sleep might prove insufficient under intense training regimens. The subsequent question should delve into nutritional habits: Are you fueling your body adequately and meeting its nutrient requirements? Intense training demands meticulous attention to dietary intake in terms of what, when, and how frequently you nourish yourself. Finally, it's essential to evaluate the intensity, duration, and frequency of your hard workouts. These should constitute a modest proportion of your total weekly running volume. Once these three foundational questions—Sleep? Nutrition? Intensity?—have been addressed, only then should you pose 'the mileage question'.