Does increasing mileage make for a faster marathon?
Runners training for a marathon are typically advised to increase their weekly mileage in order to perform optimally. For example, one popular book on competitive running recommends a range of mileage from 30-40 miles per week for a novice marathoner increasing to as many as 80 miles per week for a local champion (1). The implication of this recommendation is that in order to improve performance, you should increase weekly mileage. Another popular book on competitive marathoning states racing performance improves with increased mileage and provides training programs starting with 55 miles per week and advances to more than 70 miles per week (2). Additionally, there is a school of thought that basically states you cant really race a marathon until you are averaging at least 60 miles per week. The meaning being that you may be able to complete a marathon on less than 60 miles per week, but to perform optimally (i.e. race it) requires a minimum weekly mileage of 60 miles. While there may
