How long should my long runs be to maintain?

Training Advice/Discussion Marathon

10 years ago 03/15/2014 6:55pm EDT

I'm running my first marathon at the end of April. I'm not planning on running a marathon again until spring of 2015, but I do plan on doing some 10 mile races, maybe a couple half marathons, etc., in between. My question, however, is how long should my long runs be to maintain my fitness? I want to see how I do in my first marathon, and though I don't do speed work now, I plan to start after my marathon. I'm only 19 years old, so I want to continue improving on my times. Should my long runs continue to be 15-18 miles? Should I focus on upping my daily mileage instead? Right now I do 6-7 miles every day except my long run day. But I'm not sure what I should be doing when I'm not necessarily in the training phase for a marathon.

10 years ago 03/15/2014 7:38pm EDT

re: qqqqqqqqqq

Get, two different weekends a slow 22 miler, emphasis on slow. It will get your body used to the length of time out on the road. Take the week following easy.

10 years ago 03/17/2014 3:56am EDT

re: qqqqqqqqqq

I would work on building up your daily mileage. Starting to throw in some doubles here and there. You're not going to lose that fitness by not doing your marathon specific long run. Make your long run to be 20-25% of your total weekly mileage and just keep upping the long run based on that. Good luck! That fitness from marathon training is great to have coming down in distance

10 years ago 03/17/2014 4:55am EDT

re: qqqqqqqqqq

I'd say a long run of 12-15 miles, and a secondary long run of 9-10 miles would do well for you. Running 6-7 miles every day is not the way to go - mix it up!

10 years ago 03/17/2014 6:41am EDT

re: qqqqqqqqqq

When you average 6 - 7 miles on your normal days I wouldn't advise you to run 15 - 18 miles regularly.

Try to get up to 9 - 10 miles on your normal distance runs and cut the long run down to 12 - 13 miles. If you want to go farther do it - but not every week.

6 x 9-10 + 1 x 12-13 leaves you with close to 70 miles. If you want to, throw some doubles in the mix (I'd do 2 - 5, depending if you are more of a long run freak or you simply find the doubles to be easier).

Oh... And add speed work. IMO it's clearly better to run 65 miles and to do 2 workouts (1 might be shorter reps (e.g. 8 - 12 x 400-800 @ 5 - 10 k pace), 1 might be a tempoish one(longer reps or a 4 - 10 mile tempo run)) than 75 miles of pure distance.

Pikachu

10 years ago 03/17/2014 6:55am EDT

re: Pikachu

During off marathon training, you should still squeeze in a 12-16 miler weekly unless you're racing. As mentioned previously, don't turn into a high mileage guy, do those tempo runs to increase your leg speed. If you do 3-5 20 milers in the build-up before a marathon, including at least one that is 22-24 miles, you should be able to run a decent marathon. Maybe do 50-60 MPW in summer, 60-70 in fall, and see if you can average 70 MPW all winter with a fartlek and a tempo run once a week. You will have to be highly motivated.

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