Today (Sunday) I did a 14-mile long run to finish off the week. Tomorrow (Monday) is my rest day.
Next Sunday I have a 16-mile long run planned. The problem is that starting this Wednesday, it's gonna be mid 90s and blistering sunny when I'm able to run. However, Tuesday it will be 82f and partly cloudy which is way more manageable.
What are the issues with doing two long runs separated by a rest day? AKA doing my long run 5 days early? There would also be like 11 days until my next long run. I really can't avoid running during the worst part of the day, and I'd hate to have to use the treadmill.
I don’t think changing things up really matters, especially to creat a much better session… unless you are a week or two from a big race or something it probably doesn’t really matter.
If I were moving a Sunday long run up to Tuesday, two days after another long run I wouldn't get as much out of the program as I would if I found some dmn way to get it done on Sunday. Might work different for other people but that has been my experience.
If I were moving a Sunday long run up to Tuesday, two days after another long run I wouldn't get as much out of the program as I would if I found some dmn way to get it done on Sunday. Might work different for other people but that has been my experience.
Could you explain how you came to that conclusion?
The only way it could be an issue is if you're doing some sort of long tempo (e.g. MP run or long intervals). I generally find I don't recover that quickly so need a couple of easier days afterwards. If it's just a standard long run, it'll be fine.
It will make no appreciable difference to your fitness.
If I were moving a Sunday long run up to Tuesday, two days after another long run I wouldn't get as much out of the program as I would if I found some dmn way to get it done on Sunday. Might work different for other people but that has been my experience.
Could you explain how you came to that conclusion?
It was just what my experience was. You were a pro, I was not, so the training I did was not comparable to yours in any way at all.
My usual schedule was something like this: hardest workout on Thursday (typically long intervals) and long run on Sunday. On Tuesday it would be a shorter speed workout of some kind but not as good as Thursday. On the days in between I ran for an hour. The key workouts weren't always on the exact same days every week, but the cycle was pretty much like this.
The times I've done were holiday weekends or when I just had extra time off, and it would be longer runs on both Saturday and Monday, say. I had the best results when my Thursday and long runs were really consistent, and of the two it seemed like the Thursday was more important. On holiday weekends if I did Saturday and Monday longer runs, my Thursday workout always suffered. Also, when I did those I didn't feel like I got anything extra out of doubling up the long runs (it seemed redundant).
This is what I observed in training when I was in my 50s and it was the same thing that seemed to happen when I was in my teens and 20s. For another runner it might work out differently.
That's doable and I wouldn't be one to question Lydiard's reasons, of course, but whether that works for OP is another matter. If you run > 80 mpw and have some runs around 3 hrs recently, then OK. But if you max out around 14-18 for a long run and weekly mileage is relatively low, then I don't see risk/reward working for OP. Maybe it's an injury risk, and maybe it diminishes any quality work for a week or two (already diminished by high temps Wednesday on, though, I guess).
What about keeping up decent volume through the coming week, pushing the long run to the following Monday or Tuesday (or skipping it one week), and then getting back on the long run schedule the following week?
It depends on your mileage. If you have been recently running 20+ miles long runs and your mileage is 50+, I do not see a big problem in running the two long runs of 14 and 16 miles two days apart, as long as you did not hammer the first one.
If you weekly mileage so far less than 40 miles and 14 miles has been your longest run, then it may be hard for you to recover enough in two days: you risk injury and your 16 miles long run will probably be a miserable experience. Finally, it may also depend on your age, you can get away with doing stupid stuff if you are young; after 35, I would be more careful.
Long run doesn’t describe a distance IMO, it’s another session in a plan, the same way intervals or tempo is. If you’re training for a marathon then your ‘long run’ is going to look very different to a 1500m runner.
Today (Sunday) I did a 14-mile long run to finish off the week. Tomorrow (Monday) is my rest day.
Next Sunday I have a 16-mile long run planned. The problem is that starting this Wednesday, it's gonna be mid 90s and blistering sunny when I'm able to run. However, Tuesday it will be 82f and partly cloudy which is way more manageable.
What are the issues with doing two long runs separated by a rest day? AKA doing my long run 5 days early? There would also be like 11 days until my next long run. I really can't avoid running during the worst part of the day, and I'd hate to have to use the treadmill.
I've done this kind of thing before. It does front load your week with mileage but gives you some rest later in the week. If you have a rest day in between and keep the paces manageable, I don't see why it's a big deal. It's not ideal, but neither is running a long run with a heat index of 100 degrees or hotter. You'll be fine.
Really need to know your running history, recent and further back. If you're used to 100 mpw, you're golden. If you're used to 50 mpw max and have only been running a year, you're begging for an injury.
I saw a post on here years ago from Jim Spivey who said he classed anything over 45 minutes as a long run.
To claim 14 or 16 miles is not a long run is laughable. Unless you are world class you are in no position to claim that.
So 1 guy who was barely moderate by today's standards is your end all authority?
If 14 or 16 is truly a long run for OP then they can consider it long. For essentially every marathoner is a mid recovery length run.
I was rereading Running with the Buffalos not long ago. Some of those guys were doing more than 14 or 16 miles on Sunday but others on the team were not, include one who was All-American that year. I would bet there are still good D1 guys who don't do longer runs than that.
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