I do a 13-16 mile long run every week, usually at 8 minute miles. Is it too much? Is it wasted miles? 5/10k are 18:30/38:10.
I do a 13-16 mile long run every week, usually at 8 minute miles. Is it too much? Is it wasted miles? 5/10k are 18:30/38:10.
Yes I feel like it is too long if your goal races are 5/10 km 🤔 if you were training for a half I would like it more
It's not too long for 5K but it's too long for mileage. If you're training for 5K you do high mileage like 90+ a week and a 2 hour long so 5K feels really short. If you're doing 45mpw you might as well do 1:30 long run
9910 wrote:
I do a 13-16 mile long run every week, usually at 8 minute miles. Is it too much? Is it wasted miles? 5/10k are 18:30/38:10.
Test to limit your long run to 10 miles. And you don`t have to do it every week . Try to run it a little bit slower and around 8:20- 8 :25 mile pace. This pace you should use at all your easy runs , except if you feel very tired some day after race or tougher workout. Good luck!
9910 wrote:
I do a 13-16 mile long run every week, usually at 8 minute miles. Is it too much? Is it wasted miles? 5/10k are 18:30/38:10.
Do you enjoy your 15-mile long run?
Are you recovered enough to run an easy run the next day, or the day after if your long run is before an off day?
Do you feel healthy and at little risk of injury?
Are you able to run other workouts to help you make progress toward your goals?
If so, then keep doing what you enjoy. If not, then modify your program.
Yeah, I say that a third of your weekly mileage, in one run, is too much. I'd keep it to 20-25%. Cut it back and redistribute that mileage throughout the week. Good Luck!
Yes, based on what a physiology professor in Norway said, based on his scientific, own running and coaching experience it is not efficient use of your training time and milage. He said 75min is enough. 38min race time is still long enough and you could feel running a little longer than 75min gives you something in the end of a 10k, but no more than 85-90min. I also think 8 pace is fast enough for such a long run and it could be a tad slower based on your race paces. A slower pace will increase recovery more than potentially loss of training benefits. The most important is to get recovery and quality for the workouts and if the long run competes with that then shortening might give something.
I would rather seek to increase the volume on the workouts than having a very long run.
90 min, relaxed 8:30-9:00 pace, if you are doing your long run as LSD.
2 hrs from a "time-on-feet" perspective feels excessive, regardless of pace, at 45mpw.
Maybe once in a while running that long is beneficial but not as a regular long run. Like others mentioned aim for 90 mins. Pace is up to you but should be your easy pace.
No, it's not. I did exactly that long run for most of a decade, between 45 and 55, and did really well. I ran 3-4 very slow on M/T/Th/Sat. I ran 7-10 on Wed/Friday.
The Sunday long run put it all together. It never felt too long to me. And remember: I followed it with two days of 3-4, slow.
"between 45 and 55" means "between the ages of 45 and 55."
I read Lydiard, Van Aaken, and everybody else. The key thing is to start off very easy and warm into the run. Two hours, if you do that, isn't excessive on the MPW you describe. For me, it began as a 15 mile LR and then, over the years, became 14 miles, which I did for a long time. Then two hours became 13 miles.
But I'd always start very easy and go by feel. If I felt reasonably good, I'd push harder on the return leg--I did out and back, 7 miles each way--and if I was heading towards a race, 5K to HM, I'd push pretty hard on those final miles.
Long runs like that are where you really put things together and build strength. You learn what your body can take.
Sometimes I'd run two hours the day after a 5K race. Then I'd run true LSD. After the age of 50, I realized that I just couldn't do that on the day after a race. But until that point, the long run on the day after a race was a thing I did, and it worked.
I did a 2 hour long run for a long time while on 40 to 50 miles per week. I wasn't training for anything though, so really not a lot of quality stuff. The runs felt pretty easy, so it wasn't too much for my body, but is it the most efficient way to train for results? probably not.
I guess the answer to the question depends on why you are doing it
Also, I don't think 8:00 pace is necessarily too fast. 8:00 to 8:30 sounds good from my experience. 2 minutes slower than 5k pace for easy run is in the acceptable range , as far as I'm concerned, but this is something that varies from person to person. If you are around that 75% of max heart rate at that speed, i think you are okay.