how to extend your long run?

Are you running at least 60 miles per week?

The higher your mileage the less of a problem this will be.

Everyone has this same problem when they start going for longer distances. The more you run, the easier it becomes to extend the distance you can cover before you hit the wall.

Run further.

You are welcome.

Ran like 55 miles last wk..

MarathonMind wrote:

Are you running at least 60 miles per week?

The higher your mileage the less of a problem this will be.

Everyone has this same problem when they start going for longer distances. The more you run, the easier it becomes to extend the distance you can cover before you hit the wall.

you have to slow down.

I am going to assume you are trying to hold a certain pace on these long runs. Don't. Just go easy...after you have built up your endurance (long runs) you can start thinking about the pace, but the whole goal of the long run is too run long = the more time you are out there, the better endurance you have...so go slow.

you are running out of fuel around 20 because you are not burning fat..when you go slow you burn fat and can go for a long, long time. After learning how to go slow (7:20+ pace) I took my long run from about 10 miles to 30 miles.

I also like to get some Gatorade in me in the latter stages of my long runs when I do hit that tired phase.

you probably will find that your are tired and even sore the day after your long runs - by going slower and burning fat this will not be such an issue. I can run 20+ one day and come back the next day and be fine because I am going fat burningly slow. I have even gotten to the point this summer where I come back from an afternoon 20+ miler and do a workout in the evening. the only way I could do that is if I wasn't burning through my glycogen stores. this really does work, but if you have not been running fat burningly slow - it will actually be harder for you at first (to go slow). Run as slow as you can stand to go.

I took a wrong turn once and turned a 22 into a 28 mile run..:)

Seriously though, when I was in high school I would just crash around 12 miles. Just slow down, go farther, you'll be ok. Drink water.

Alan

you have to slow down.

Runningart2004 wrote:

Just slow down, go farther, you'll be ok. Drink water.

Alan

Second the "drink water." I used to never drink water on runs. I still don't on shorter days, but on runs over an hour I now try to plan them past some drink fountains. I found it too easy to forget to drink water on longer runs and I wouldn't notice how thirsty I was, I would just start feeling tired and then be surprised when my urine was quite dark. Keeping up with the water loss before you get dehydrated makes a huge difference and is something you probably haven't had to think about on your shorter runs, so you haven't thought about it on your longer runs.

Drink water and consider taking in calories.

That should not happen. I can see getting tired at 2 hours but not enough to stop. Most runners at an easy pace can go much longer, if they wanted to, than their usual long run. Got to be water or something else lacking.

A lot of the neat physiological adaptations peak around that 2 hour or 2 hour 30 mark anyway. I found that having some kind of calorie intake on my runs helped me stave off the early feelings of fatigue, but didn't necessarily make me feel like I could run further. Two hours for runners who aren't marathoners is a pretty good benchmark, and I wouldn't go crazy on pushing much past it.

The advice given so far is all good, sound, and safe, but if none of it floats your boat, maybe try the opposite. Get in the first hour of your run nice and easy, and then try turning the second half into a threshold or tempo run. I wouldn't do this if I was already running two hard workouts (which I personally prefer to do, leaving Sunday as long and easy), but one mid week workout and a hard long run has some great benefits. You'll get in some extra miles from the increased pace in the same amount of time.... Or maybe the same mileage in less time, depending on the cause of your fatigue.

Also, maybe increase your weekly mileage a bit? If I'm running 15 miles for a long run, I'm more realistically at 70 or 75 miles per week (as a 1500m guy).

This post being strictly my opinion as someone who isn't really a "long run" guy, and has only put in maybe a few dozen runs between the 17-20 mile range anyway.

thanks for the feedback everyone. when i go out for a run like this, i DO try to go as slow as possible. im training for a marathon, so i do ultimately need to get the mileage in. here is a near dialogue of each of my last 2 runs that were basically 2 hrs long:

0-60mins: focused on going slow, but not so slow i cramp up. mentally im dreading this long of a run

60-100mins: euphoria is coming over me because i know im nearly done. at this point i feel like i could even turn the 2nd half into a tempo.

100-110mins: dread sets in again as I get really tired

110-120mins: feeling like death. i can feel the pains that old people talk about. knees aching.

120mins-125mins: feels like im already dead but may be continuing my run into the afterlife. any further is uncharted territory. seriously questioning my ability to run further than this/finish a marathon.

increase the weekly mileage, it'll do wonders for your long run. Speaking from personal experience, I used to collapse exhausted on the floor after a 90 minute long run in HS. Now I've done my fair share of 2 hour long runs and even a couple 2.5 hour long runs, and they feel easier than the 90 minute long runs in HS simply because my weekly mileage is higher.

If you're running 55 mi total, it's a little stupid to complain a 20+ miler makes you exhausted.

If you want more training, do more training. If not, stop trying to increase your long run.

It doesn't sound like you've had any real problems yet. This is normal for people training for a marathon for the first time. You said you've done this twice and encountered this death-like feeling at the end. That's normal.

Now that your body has done it a couple times, tack on 2 more miles to your next long run. Know from the start that you will do this extra distance. Our bodies are amazingly anticipatory. This whole internal conversation will shift - instead of feeling euphoric from 60-100 minutes, you will feel that way from 80-120 minutes. And then from 120-150 minutes, you will suffer, but you have to pay the piper at some point if you are serious about running your marathon.

I would also consider taking water and fuel as needed - and stay ahead of the game rather than wait to feel depleted. I wouldn't do no-fuel long runs until you've mastered the long runs with fuel given what you've laid out.

Dude try this. Run for just shy of, or exactly 2 hours, then cross train for 15-20 minutes

Before the build-up for my first marathon, the longest I had ever run was 24km. So I did a 26km run, a 28km (two weeks later), a 30km (two weeks later) and a 32km run. Every time I increased my distance, the last 2km felt like a death march. But guess what? That means the onset of death march was delayed by 2km every two weeks. I did my second 32km two weeks later, and even though the last 2km was hard, it was nothing like the first time.

Three weeks later, I ran my first marathon at an even pace.

Pro science wrote:

If you're running 55 mi total, it's a little stupid to complain a 20+ miler makes you exhausted.

If you want more training, do more training. If not, stop trying to increase your long run.

im not running 20+ miles, im running like 16ish. i dont feel it unacceptable to rip off 16 miles on a 55mpw plan.

It's not unacceptable but it's near the limit you can expect to comfortably do on 55 mpw. Increase the weekly mileage and follow the other advice given here.

bro science wrote:

Pro science wrote:

If you're running 55 mi total, it's a little stupid to complain a 20+ miler makes you exhausted.

If you want more training, do more training. If not, stop trying to increase your long run.

im not running 20+ miles, im running like 16ish. i dont feel it unacceptable to rip off 16 miles on a 55mpw plan.

Then what's the problem? Don't do it.

Your longs runs are long enough for the mileage you are running.