Why do you think people should do long runs every week?

Because 75 percent are overweight and live sedentary lifestyles

Have you ever raced a triathlete? They’re basically doing what you describe. Spoiler alert: you will crush them in a run.

whatever science says the long run is the best way to develop aerobic capacity. Bike is fine but nos as good as running.

That is why 5k-marathonner do it every week all year long (sometimes even 2/3 times a week). and 800-3k guys at least half of the year.

But if you feel like it is too much stress on your body, it is perfectly fine to do it only twice a month or keep the length in the 75-90' range until you feel more comfortable.

Honestly, any track workout is more risky for injury than a true easy long run.

Unless you're running marathons, just run 1:15 or so once weekly, and 1:35-45 every few weeks. If you really want to do it right, run 1:15 a non-long run day, the very week you are going 1:35-45.

Long run trains muscle fibers that are normally not used at those paces, intermediate and faster twitch. Like running hills, it's a speed work in some way. Add other physiological and mental benefits and you can see how it can be very important.

This is Jim Kiler wrote:

Unless you're running marathons, just run 1:15 or so once weekly, and 1:35-45 every few weeks. If you really want to do it right, run 1:15 a non-long run day, the very week you are going 1:35-45.

I don't think that's enough length for an experienced 5k-HalfMarathonner.

The long run is very important and 1h15 is just a long normal run not really a true long run.

Ah! I the part about activating fast twitch after some time. Wow! Now I feel stupid. That's true

Every run for me is well over an hour, more like 2 hours, but I don't consider them long runs.

FinnJ wrote:

Science says running economy doesn't improve after an hour of running.

source please. I've never heard this

Impala31 wrote:

whatever science says the long run is the best way to develop aerobic capacity. Bike is fine but nos as good as running.

That is why 5k-marathonner do it every week all year long (sometimes even 2/3 times a week). and 800-3k guys at least half of the year.

But if you feel like it is too much stress on your body, it is perfectly fine to do it only twice a month or keep the length in the 75-90' range until you feel more comfortable.

Honestly, any track workout is more risky for injury than a true easy long run.

Long runs are unimportant unless you're running a marathon. Injury risk is irrelevant; a track workout is more beneficial for 5K than a long run.

not even relevant wrote:

Long runs are unimportant unless you're running a marathon. Injury risk is irrelevant; a track workout is more beneficial for 5K than a long run.

All wrong. Workouts will make you faster at the beginning but plateau fast. Long runs and developing aerobic capacity is the key for long term improvement and is an absolute necessity for 1500 to marathon. Even 800m

Obviously, workouts are important too but you need an aerobic base first.

Running economy as in oxygen uptake and metabolic efficiency increases as your run increases. It doesn’t stop for one hour, that’s why marathon runners do two hour long runs. After a certain point, which is completely dependent on the individual’s training history, current training, genes, diet, etc., the gains that you get from running longer and longer become less like the law of diminish returns states.

Biking is non running specific, so assuming you ran for 60 minutes, you might have to bike another 60 minutes to get the net effect as running say 80 minutes. Running is more specific to running than biking is obviously so the utilization of fuel and the effects that long efforts have on the muscles wouldn’t be as efficient on the bike I think.

I also would say that you don’t need to do a long run every week. Most everyone does their long run every Sunday, but you could just as well do a long run every 10 days. Long runs are seen as a workout in marathon training usually, but think of them as workouts even if you’re running 5k regardless of the pace you ran. There’s not going to be much benefit hammering a workout and trying to hammer a long run the next day, you just got to balance your easy days and hard days

Impala31 wrote:

not even relevant wrote:

Long runs are unimportant unless you're running a marathon. Injury risk is irrelevant; a track workout is more beneficial for 5K than a long run.

All wrong. Workouts will make you faster at the beginning but plateau fast. Long runs and developing aerobic capacity is the key for long term improvement and is an absolute necessity for 1500 to marathon. Even 800m

Obviously, workouts are important too but you need an aerobic base first.

What about the ingebrigtsen training? They only do 20k/12 mi long runs. They get their aerobic development from the workouts.

FinnJ wrote:

Ah! I the part about activating fast twitch after some time. Wow! Now I feel stupid. That's true

Yep! And also, running a lot will make you a better runner. I would tell everyone that if running is their goal, that they should do a lot of running. In fact, sometimes running far. To quote a successful runner that I talked to one time: "Running has been the key to my success in this sport."

FinnJ wrote:

Ah! I the part about activating fast twitch after some time. Wow! Now I feel stupid. That's true

That’s right I forgot this claim. Is it even true? I know Lydiard had Snell doing 2+ hour long runs but to activate his fast twitch fibers? By this logic 2 hour runs would benefit sprinters and no one has ever seriously attempted this with a world class sprinter.

Maybe it just helped Snell build endurance and that’s why it helped him rather than it having anything to do with activating fast twitch fibers.

Can anyone more knowledgeable comment?

lolololololol wrote:

Impala31 wrote:

All wrong. Workouts will make you faster at the beginning but plateau fast. Long runs and developing aerobic capacity is the key for long term improvement and is an absolute necessity for 1500 to marathon. Even 800m

Obviously, workouts are important too but you need an aerobic base first.

What about the ingebrigtsen training? They only do 20k/12 mi long runs. They get their aerobic development from the workouts.

they do 180km/week for years training for the 1500 with a lot of easy runs like every pro.

Their aerobic capacity is at its max since they developed it for years of high mileage.

Some relevant points.

1) The activation of the fast twitch fibres is for aerobic use. This aspect is irrelevant for (and indeed probably detrimental to) sprinting.

2) The neuro-muscular processes for activation of fast twitch fibres when sprinting and when doing distance running are very different: i.e. when sprinting one is training to activate all fibres for power in response to a need for explosion, whilst in distance training one is training to activate more fibres, or activate them more optimally, in response to fatigue.

Long runs have nothing to do with "aerobic capacity" because you're not operating anywhere near that capacity. You'll adapt to exactly what you're doing: jogging along at a low, sustainable energy output.

The real benefit is musculoskeletal: that amount of time opposing a vertical force somewhat above gravity can make you adapt to it in structure and form, which can affect shorter distances. Once you catch your breath after a 5k, you won't feel fatigued at all.

While this is also true to some extent for the fast twitch fibers, they are not the key here. The key are intermediate, and while they are trained by long run, they are made to adapt and become more aerobic, so their endurance is improved at the cost of the power. Kinda the opposite of what a sprinter needs, amirite? :)