Mileage or minutes?

Question

My high school has us run for mileage, but the school I've been training with over the summer always runs for a certain amount of minutes instead of miles. Which is a better technique?

Answer 1

how bout milage with min you set a goal for how long you want to run a certain mount of miles with how fast and what time you want i hope this helps good luck

Answer 2

They are pretty much the same.

what you should do when you run is time yourself and see how many miles you go. so then you will see both. do that and it will help

Answer 3

both are really good for you. wat my coach does is that during the summer he has us work on mileage about 30-40 miles a week in july.  once actual practice starts we us both mileage and time.  normally after a really hard work out (time) the next day we do a distance run for mileage.  all together, they are both equal.

Answer 4

Either works. Running by time is good when there is a group of runners at varying levels.  The downside is that when running outside, it is often more convenient to do miles.  Usually, you run a loop and the loop is some distance that isn't easily changed .  When training indoors on a treadmill, it is easy to train by minutes.  

Training by miles reflects better how much work you do but training by minutes better reflects wear and tear on your body. For example, 30 minutes at an easy pace works for runners at all levels for an easy day of running. However,  for elite runners this may be a 5 mile run but for recreational runners this may be a 2.5 or 3 mile run.

Answer 5

I have been training using the "minutes" way for 3 years. I think the benefit of using this way is that everyone has a chance of improvement, ends at the same time, and no one is left behind. For example, if my coach were to tell us to go run 5 miles, a lot of people wouldn't be able to finish as fast as the top runners. It would lengthen the time of practice a LOT, and it's not fair to the not-so-fast runners. In long runs, which range from 60 to 90 minutes, people vary how fast they run. Varsity runners are able to get in more miles than slower runners, which makes them better runners down the road. Besides, if you just had a set run that you knew was 5 miles, 10 miles, etc, how on earth would you know what pace you were going at? How would you improve at all if you just knew you were done once you got to a certain point? I don't think the "mileage" way of training is the way to go, obviously. :)

Answer 6

make it a variety of the two.