Is it even worth doing long runs in the summer time?

Is it even worth doing long runs in the summer time wrote:

I was thinking about this this morning. Has grinding out long runs during the summer negatively effecting me? With all the fluid loss and physiological effects. I think during the summer from now on I'll do a hard tempo instead. If it is over 80 degrees I'm going to limit my runs to no more than 75 minutes. Thoughts?

Discus.

a long run (something in the 1:30 to 2:30 duration at a hr in the 75-80% range? is that really needed more than 1 or 2 a month? Better to alternate with a longer tempo run of 40-60 minutes or a race or time trial.

I would have to agree with you. When I was in college I tried to use the summer months to accumulate miles

and do long runs becausue I believed in the Lydiard system. However, I would go back to college drained from the

heat. I loved running long but the heat broke me down.

If I had to do it over again, I would only run long once per week and I would make sure I started at 7 a.m. I would also include 2 days of lite intervals as I also found that pure mileage periodization didn't work either. In college you have to race early in the season so coming off a pure distance phase was tough.

Lydiard would not have disagreed with a runner like me as long as I used his key word: BALANCE. If you balanced your

schedule by being endurance oriented without over doing the anaerobics you would be fine. That's where good coaching comes in. A Lydiard follower would adapt his training rather than blindly following his schedules. Even he, would have said that is the essence of good coaching.

What about doing the long runs as planned, but backing off the pace keeping the HR comparable to what the HR would be on a cooler day?

overrated wrote:

Long runs are overrated. If you’re already doing decent mileage, you’re getting plenty of aerobic stimulus just from your regular runs. If I’m doing 30 minutes in the am and 60-90 minutes in the pm every day, the idea that I’m going to be aerobically underdeveloped because I never do a 2 hour run is moronic.

I highly doubt the majority of runners are doing 30 minutes in the am and then another 60-90 minutes in the pm. Realistically speaking, most people run 30-45 minutes once a day, and in their case a long run is needed.

Don't Fear the Heat wrote:

Is it even worth doing long runs in the summer time wrote:

I was thinking about this this morning. Has grinding out long runs during the summer negatively effecting me? With all the fluid loss and physiological effects. I think during the summer from now on I'll do a hard tempo instead. If it is over 80 degrees I'm going to limit my runs to no more than 75 minutes. Thoughts?

Discus.

Big marathons like the Olympic marathon are usually held in the summer during warmer conditions. If you're not trained for the heat you won't do well in the marathons that count. This type of thinking is why US marathoners don't perform well in the Olympics.

US marathoners don't perform well in the Olympics, because as a whole, they don't perform particularly well at ANY marathon, heat or no heat.

That being said, our best marathoner is actually very well-known to perform well in the heat (and terribly in the cold).

quit running and thinking wrote:

weak mind.

Yep.

I like to run at night, feels like I can go harder and for longer because my body stays cooler and more hydrated easily. Got to be careful though, on my run last night I saw a car coming and I never assume the driver sees me or will stop, so I stopped and walked back because when they stopped at the stop sign I was just going to run behind them to cross the street instead of going in front of them and the retards went driving right through the stop sign like it wasn't even there, didn't even slow down or brake.

Is it even worth doing long runs in the summer time wrote:

I was thinking about this this morning. Has grinding out long runs during the summer negatively effecting me? With all the fluid loss and physiological effects. I think during the summer from now on I'll do a hard tempo instead. If it is over 80 degrees I'm going to limit my runs to no more than 75 minutes. Thoughts?

Discus.

How old are you?

I would agree maybe once you reach 55 - 60 its good to back off hot long runs. but if you are younger they will pay dividends once the temps cool.

If you can't tolerate the heat, do some outside and some on the tmill, or all on the tmill. Failure is not an option.

Guess you've never been to East Africa? Or altitude?

Absolutely nothing remotely similar to heat and humidity you'd find in Mombasa or the gulf or the Southern US.

Wake up and run earlier?

Or wait until almost sundown?

Most of my long runs (2hrs +) were run starting at 7/8am and done before the hottest part of the day. Usually on a course in which water was available (park, gas station, etc).

I don’t think it’s the summer heat that is causing your misery.

Alan

Doesn't anyone believe in self-selection?

There are different types of runners. If a runner thrives on long runs (some do and some do not), that runner will likely "enjoy" the long run. That runner will also likely naturally gravitate towards the longer events, not only because a vast majority of his muscle fibers are Type I fibers, but also because a longer race will provide the best results given his endurance-oriented training.

If someone doesn't "enjoy" the long run (and keep in mind that the duration of "long" is relative), it is likely that he doesn't gain as much benefit from that type of run, meaning he likely isn't as endurance-oriented, which translates into likely enjoying/thriving on the shorter/mid-distance events. In this case, why run 2 hours? All cardiovascular activity falls on an aerobic continuum of duration vs. effort anyhow.

75 minutes for a long run is more than enough duration to be very competitive in races that last 60-75 minutes. What length race does that imply? Depends on how fast you are and how many miles you can cover in that time frame, and most importantly, if you even want to test the bounds of the upper end of the range of race distances in the first place.

i'd like to be a milerand my favorite workout is 10x400 but I am better at the two-mile and up. Don't see your point.

be realistic wrote:

[quote]overrated wrote:

Long runs are overrated. If you’re already doing decent mileage, you’re getting plenty of aerobic stimulus just from your regular runs. If I’m doing 30 minutes in the am and 60-90 minutes in the pm every day, the idea that I’m going to be aerobically underdeveloped because I never do a 2 hour run is moronic.

I highly doubt the majority of runners are doing 30 minutes in the am and then another 60-90 minutes in the pm.

This is what most of us that train serious call an easy day.

Please refer to ; Why were amateur marathoners so fast 30-35 years ago

Or get a treadmill . If you look at the ad that shows up here now and then they have a sale going on now.

Yes.

world traverl wrote:

make more sense wrote:

Your first point paragraph made sense. Your second paragraph didn't.

Do you think East African runners train as hard as Southern Americans do in the summer?

Or is their environment somewhat cooler and less humid to the point that even the altitude doesn't slow them down and deplete them anywhere near as much as summer running in the southern states?

Guess you've never been to East Africa? Or altitude?

Absolutely nothing remotely similar to heat and humidity you'd find in Mombasa or the gulf or the Southern US.

Or in Thailand where I used to live, work, and of course run. Spent about 12 years there and it is very hot and humid. A lot hotter than when I used to run in the Georgia or southern Illinois summers.

On a side note, one day during the "winter" in Bangkok I didn't get up to go run. There was a very unseasonable cold front that had moved in and the temperatures had plummeted by Bangkok standards. It was 5:30am, my usual time to go run, and it was a "frigid" 56 degrees outside. I packed it in and went back inside.

I believe that long runs are quite helpful to the whole training process. If you wanna do one in the summer, just get up early before it's a million degrees outside and make sure to stay hydrated and replenish what you lose

trevdog wrote:

I believe that long runs are quite helpful to the whole training process. If you wanna do one in the summer, just get up early before it's a million degrees outside and make sure to stay hydrated and replenish what you lose

Wrong. Do the long run in the evening if you insist.

Wake up wrote:

Just wake up earlier and do your long run when it's still relatively cool out. I live in Mexico in Southern Baja and during the very long and hot summers, you'll find many (most) runners out and about at 5:00AM. But hey, if you don't want to do your long runs then don't do them. It sounds like you've already made up your mind anyway and that this thread is just an exercise in confirmation bias.

Hey! An intelligent person.