Now we're all just "base training", how long is your weekly long run or how long is it likely to get? I've done a couple of 16 milers the past few weeks. Is anyone going above that during base training?
Now we're all just "base training", how long is your weekly long run or how long is it likely to get? I've done a couple of 16 milers the past few weeks. Is anyone going above that during base training?
The length of your long run is largely dependent on the amount of mileage that you run per week. The legendary coach Arthur Lydiard used to actually advocate for multiple long runs per week. The general rule of thumb that I've heard is that the long run should consist of no more than 25% of your weekly mileage, so if you're running 80 miles, no more than 20 miles. However, even if you're running high mileage that's a huge number. What people tend to do is incorporate a "medium" long run and a long long run into their schedule. As training principles have developed some people find it more beneficial to split most of their mileage into doubles and not have as long a long run. Ultimately, it depends on the race you're training for and without further details(like if you were training for a marathon or a 10k) it would be difficult to ascertain whether or not 16 miles is a suitable length.
I've seen 15% for medium LR and 20-25% for weekend LR. 20% is where most people should be and pressing up to 25% comes with drawbacks in terms of recovery and therefore injury risk. Not inherently bad but you shouldn't try to mess with that kind of LR volume too much.
I've read about the 20-25% theory before, but I just can't imagine everyone that runs a 20 mile long run during marathon training is putting in 80-100 miles a week. I've gone through a few marathon training cycles where my long run of 20 miles has been nearly 50% of my weekly mileage without issue, (so far).