Stack 50-Mile Weeks Without Fatigue or Flare-Ups: A MEGA-Strength Circuit for Marathon Base Building
- Marie Whitt
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
Let’s get nitty gritty about the mileage jump no one really explains:
Going from 35–40 miles per week…to consistently handling 50+.
On paper, it’s “just 10 more miles.”
It's even hyper normalized on the internet to the point of "wait, you don't run this much?"
In reality?
It’s the difference between finishing your Saturday long run feeling steady and dragging through Sunday wondering why your hamstring feels tight, your legs feel like jello, and you swear your knees are playing "musical popping".
Because here’s what doesn’t show up on your Garmin watch or your Strava:
The Thursday run where your form started getting sloppy
The subtle hamstring tug after mile 8
The way your calves stayed heavy all week
And that creeping thought that hung around for 2.2 seconds: Am I about to flare something up?
Fifty-mile weeks are flashy.
But they're not easy.
They're a durability that isn’t built by accident.
We start building that durable base before marathon training officially starts, focusing on first tackling that 30–45 mile range, then building base miles, all while thinking about what’s coming next.
Because what doesn't get talked about with 50 mile weeks is:
the realness of cumulative muscular fatigue
the cranky hamstrings that occasionally throw a tightness-tantrum
And the gradual accumulation of form breaking down becuase of thousands of extra strides
But all this?
Not necessarily a mileage problem.
It’s a muscular strength capacity problem.
So if you’re building your base, or staring down the start of marathon training, this is the phase where you build legs strong enough to handle 50-mile weeks.
Not survive them.
Stack them.
Let’s jump in.
From 40 to 50 Miles Per Week: How to Strengthen Your Legs for the Jump:
Plyo Circuit: 3 sets each //no weights
Lunge Switch Jumps
x10 steps total (5 ea leg)
Two-leg Pogo Jumps
x20 hops = 1 round
Strength Circuit:
3 sets each // medium-heavy weights
Super Set 1:
RDL with foot on wall
8 reps ea leg @ RPE 8
Split Stance Squat
8 reps ea leg @ RPE 8
Super Set 2:
Single Leg Box Squats
Reps X weight
Weighted Wall Sits
30 secs X weight
Stacking Mileage Without Breaking Down: Strength for 50-Mile Week
PLYO CIRCUIT
I know you've seen these exercises before, so let's skip the small talk.
THE POINT: high mileage weeks result in a lot of extra strides, which translates into extra "foot contacts". "Foot contacts" are actually a unit of measurement we use when counting the reps for a plyometric exercise. And you'll notice, there's a lot of pogo jumps. That's on purpose.
Common knowledge but bares repeating: 2 legged jumps are easier than single leg jumps. That's why the reps are LOWER on the lunge switch jumps, which are great for keeping your knees strong, but imagine trying to do 3 rounds of 20 jumps per leg. I'm sure someone out there can do it, but for the average runner, it's not going to end well.
That's why it's easier on both you and your body to introduce higher volume loads with easier exercises, this way we can still build the tendon-tissue adaptation (increasing stiffness) without also introducing overload and pain.
Super Set 1: RDL + Split Squat
These are oldies, but goodies.
PRO TIP: I think RDLs can be...over-prescribed for runners by the internet. Not that we don't need them, because we 1000% need strong hamstrings, but I like the foot on the wall variation especially for runners who struggle with the balance aspect of it, but also, pushing the heel into the wall simultaneously activated the not-standing-glute, therefore resembling your running stride more and teaching your body how to travel through this hip hinge like a runner.
Then when we couple it with the split-squat, we immediately move into targeting the hamstring's antagonist, or opposite teammate, the quad. A lot of runners will argue this is just a lunge; I disagree since a lunge has a wider base of support (think about taking a larger step forward) versus this is a fairly small "blueprint" (base of support). I want you to think about getting down on one knee to propose and stay here. This is where the exercise lives. But the other mistake a lot of runners make, is they allow their weight to shift onto the back leg. I want you to keep a body weight distribution of roughly 60% bodyweight on the front leg and 40% on the back.
Super Set 2: Single Leg Box Squat + Weighted Wall Sit
I secretly love this combo. It's SPICY.
THE REASON: I've been sleeping on this single leg squats for longer than I'd like to admit as a physical therapist. I think because "they don't look cool enough". Until I got humbled and had to start these with body weight weeks back when I first introduced them to my strength training. You can see I'm proudly using a 10lb weight here lol.
But what I need you to focus on is the SLOW CONTROL you need to sit down on the box. If you need to fully sit on your bench, please do! I've been recently playing around with tapping my bum on the box rather than fully sitting and taking a mini break; this is a great way to gently progress it.
But you're going to want to do BOTH of these quad burners if you struggle with knees that complain near the end of long runs or by the end of a high mileage week. I love these two exercises coupled together because the first forces you to work on eccentric quad strength and lengthening your quad and patellar tendon under load and with control -- something we don't think about doing a lot, but an action that occurs with every stride we take. And then coupled with the weighted wall sit, we increase the time under tension that the tendon and muscle experience, further strengthening both tissues and increasing capacity at the same time.
WRAPPING UP
What I want you to take away from this...
Even if you aren't deliberately looking to run 50 miles per week....
(because truth bomb: that's not my personal running journey at the moment)
I can promise you that any increase in:
mileage
number of hard running workouts per week
speed sessions
hills
...will feel easier if you use this strength circuit or any of my other lower body, running-specific strength exercises.
Because the real win here:
Yes, we get better at running the more we run.
And we build a bigger, better aerobic capacity (ie: your 'running fitness' engine) with our running workouts that pave the way to high mileage weeks.
But we can't forget about the legs that carry us there.
I don't want you to forget that you have a "muscular engine", too, which equally needs to be trained and strengthened so that it can handle any kind of mileage you throw at it.
Because running injuries, "dead legs", that feeling of cumilative fatigue, or hamstring or knee niggles, all tend to be more prevalant in runners who don't strength train consistently or heavy enough.
But that's not you ;)
To handle big mileage, you need big muscles.
Until next time running fit fam...
Dare to Train Differently,
Marie Whitt, PT, DPT //@dr.whitt.fit
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