curious C wrote:
Great Thread! Question for Pete and 800 Dude. I can see how all these benefits may occur over a long run, however, isn't it possible to get the same benefits by running consistent high mileage? So rather than a long run ( defined as 20-25% weekly mileage), why not lots of double, long workout days, etc?
Possible, and I don’t mean to suggest there’s one road to Rome. I think the issue is that to get the same adaptations, particularly in terms of training the benchwarmer fibers, is that you would need to be accumulating significant fatigue from run to run. This requires enough volume over multiple days that you’ll find it difficult to also hit some faster workouts and recover from micro-cycle to micro-cycle. And I say that as a big proponent of high mileage. Rather than wearing yourself out, recovering a bit overnight, and then running again on tired legs, it’s probably more efficient (when the objective is to run tired) to wear yourself out in the first half of a long run. That makes it easier to have higher mileage modulation from day to day, which is generally preferable, even in the context of overall high mileage weeks.
The other issue with depending on overall high mileage is that there’s something of an art to getting it just right. You have to learn what level of fatigue is good and what indicates overreaching. It’s not always easy. Long runs, on the other hand, are easier to figure out. My general rule of thumb is that for track distances, including 10k, you only need to go long every other week. Alternatively, you can alternate a really easy long run (maybe the Sunday following a Saturday race) with a long progression run of 14 or so miles.
I also think it’s important to keep in mind the specificity principle. Just because long runs have a place in the training of middle distance runners doesn’t mean it’s an important place late in the season. As you sharpen your focus on race pace training, other stimuli take a back seat. That includes long runs.