Malmo -- Long run Overrated -- Question

I am not malmo, so first of all I'll defer to whatever he says.

However, I think the point is that the long run is overrated if you are getting in a lot of miles already. If you get up and get after the doubles as much as possible as Malmo suggests, then your volume will result in the adaptations associated with the long run.

The beginner marathon programs are utilized by a crowd that typically doesn't care about time and mostly wants to just finish. Most of these people would also rather suck it up and go long one day and then jog a bit during the week. They're not typically too interested in getting after it every day.

I think that malmo's point is that consitent mileage is what we need rather than any necessity for a weekly long run.

My own view is that long runs are most effective when you run them hard. You can build up to quite long distances at or close to marathon pace and recovery very quickly when you are very fit and focused.

I would also like to add that I have had success from long hard runs even a few days before running my best time for 1500m so this type of training is not exclusive to long distance events.

I'm not malmo either, but I'm going to offer my own opinion:

Long runs are important to your training, but you should not sacrifice 6 days of training just to get 1 very long day in. Some guys do 70mpw but break it down like this:

7,9,10,8,10,8,18

In this situation, you'd probably get into better aerobic shape by de-emphasising your long run and doing more doubles.

I really like John Kellogg/Arthur Lydiard's recommendation of 2 hour long runs plus or minus a bit once you're up to a good amount of mileage.

Long, continuous running is very important for base training, but keep it in context. I do not think there is a reason to regularly go significantly over 2 hours. I think the only exception to this would be training for a marathon. In marathon training, the long run takes on two roles: 1) the normal function of boosting your aerobic system and 2) preparation for running the marathon distance.

#2 is what makes 20-22mile runs necessary even for 40mpw training plans. You simply will not be able to run well in a marathon if your legs have not been conditioned to run for over three hours (for the 40mpw folks). It's muscle conditioning too, not just heart conditioning.

Doing a long run has a lot of physiological basis. A large aerobic stimulus will deepen your capillary beds, increase your heart's power, increase your ability to take in oxygen from the air, and increase the amount of red blood cells you have to carry that oxygen. It also increases your mitochondrial density and some other things that I'm forgetting!

I'm pretty sure this guy is trolling. If not, the answers are in this thread.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?board=1&id=2485304&thread=2485128

Your troll radar is way off. Instead, for even thinking that, I give you the famous

1/10

Thanks for the link.