Saturday is better than Sunday for long runs... here's why

In high school and college you race on Saturday.

But for hobby joggers, yes, Saturday is better.

I always felt best bang for my buck when in marathon training owas a short race (like 5k or 3 mile XC race) on Saturday and then a nice mellow long run on Sunday morning in California weather. Heaven.

Depends how you schedule the rest of your week. Tuesday and Friday are somewhat common WO days, so if Friday is a WO day for you, then you're not going to be doing a long run on Saturday. Long runs are overrated anyway though.

Weekends for drinking bout to have me some fun.

Long run on Monday

elvid33 wrote:

Depends how you schedule the rest of your week. Tuesday and Friday are somewhat common WO days, so if Friday is a WO day for you, then you're not going to be doing a long run on Saturday. Long runs are overrated anyway though.

Why not? NAU does this. Tuesday/Friday workouts. Saturday long run. Sometimes around 12 hours between Friday evening workout and Saturday long run. Seems to work just fine for them.

I agree. Honestly Sunday is one of the worst days for for a long run for me. In serious marathon training I would do my 20 milers during the week in the evenings because other social events and responsibilities come up on The Weekends

Agreed, it's like a college thing that held over for a lot of people who don't really put some thought and intention into it. If it's a big long run workout then you won't want to do much of anything on Saturday to conserve energy. Knock it out early on a Saturday and you have the rest of the day to recover, as normal, and then can go to church with family and friends, do yardwork or hang out by the pool, lake, or beach and throw down the cold ones with aplomb all day Sunday with that long run long done. Or you can take Sunday as a true recovery day without the demands of the workday less than 24 hours later.

elvid33 wrote:

Depends how you schedule the rest of your week. Tuesday and Friday are somewhat common WO days, so if Friday is a WO day for you, then you're not going to be doing a long run on Saturday. Long runs are overrated anyway though.

So do workouts on Mon & Thurs or Tues & Thurs.

Agree, Saturday is better. Sunday is a day of rest, usually an easy run.

Lately I've been doing my long runs on whatever is the warmest day of the week, if that happens to be Sunday then that's fine. Midwest winters suck and I can't be bothered to do my long run in 10 degree weather and -5 wind chill and my hydration is frozen easily.

As a post-collegiate on my own schedule it's easy to just have my workouts on Tuesday/Thursday. Plus easy runs on Friday are key because I'm usually drained from work anyway.

When I was working I often did my long runs on Friday night. Races were usually on Sundays so I couldn't do it on those days and doing it on Saturday meant no short day before the race. And even on weekends when I didn't race I kept to the Friday long run because it was done although usually on those weekends I'd do a long run on Sunday as well and have two of them for the week.

runners world hobby jogger wrote:

Friday after work you're ready to chill, maybe grab some dinner or something and unwind. You wake up Saturday full of energy and ready to start the weekend. That's the best time to get in the long run. Once that's knocked out you can enjoy your weekend.

Sunday long runs are a ritual that don't make sense to me.

Agree. During base season, long run on Saturday, Sunday completely off or cross train. One option during the season, assuming Saturday race, is to do the long run on Monday, working a tempo progression in toward the end of the run. Then the really hard workout session on Wednesday.

runners world hobby jogger wrote:

Friday after work you're ready to chill, maybe grab some dinner or something and unwind. You wake up Saturday full of energy and ready to start the weekend. That's the best time to get in the long run. Once that's knocked out you can enjoy your weekend.

Sunday long runs are a ritual that don't make sense to me.

Agreed, but for a different reason - so you can get drunk without shame on Saturday night.

Alexi Santana wrote:

runners world hobby jogger wrote:

Friday after work you're ready to chill, maybe grab some dinner or something and unwind. You wake up Saturday full of energy and ready to start the weekend. That's the best time to get in the long run. Once that's knocked out you can enjoy your weekend.

Sunday long runs are a ritual that don't make sense to me.

Agreed, but for a different reason - so you can get drunk without shame on Saturday night.

Kipchoge would not approve of your antics.

Enemy of the Podcast wrote:

elvid33 wrote:

Depends how you schedule the rest of your week. Tuesday and Friday are somewhat common WO days, so if Friday is a WO day for you, then you're not going to be doing a long run on Saturday. Long runs are overrated anyway though.

So do workouts on Mon & Thurs or Tues & Thurs.

Depends how you schedule the rest of your week. You’re free to do that however you want. Heck, if you want to run 0 mpw, then go for it. Nobody will care either way.

HRE wrote:

When I was working I often did my long runs on Friday night. Races were usually on Sundays so I couldn't do it on those days and doing it on Saturday meant no short day before the race. And even on weekends when I didn't race I kept to the Friday long run because it was done although usually on those weekends I'd do a long run on Sunday as well and have two of them for the week.

That's exactly what all my club mates and I did in the 1970's. By chance are you British and in your mid-60's or older from Blackpool?

I like the Sunday morning long run if your goal race is on Sunday morning. If your goal race is on Saturday morning then I would do a Saturday long. The body is the best time piece . This obviously if your doing halves and fulls… if you doing anything less, do whatever the hell floats the boat. Sometimes you’ll be racing at 9am and other times at 9pm, and on many different days of the week…. So it’s more of finding what best fits your schedule. Makes no difference .

ERH wrote:

HRE wrote:

When I was working I often did my long runs on Friday night. Races were usually on Sundays so I couldn't do it on those days and doing it on Saturday meant no short day before the race. And even on weekends when I didn't race I kept to the Friday long run because it was done although usually on those weekends I'd do a long run on Sunday as well and have two of them for the week.

That's exactly what all my club mates and I did in the 1970's. By chance are you British and in your mid-60's or older from Blackpool?

No. But I sort of wish I was. I was doing that in the 70's and early 80's. I'm 69 now.