The Long Training Run
The long run is considered the corner stone of marathon training. The distance that you are running for your long run often being considered a good guide to how far along in your training you are. Its certainly a talking point for marathon runners.
But how far should you be running ?
The good news is you don’t need to run the full 26,2 miles in training, in fact you seldom need to go over 20 miles. Some runners feel the need to run further than this, but this has often got more to do with confidence building, rather than giving them any training advantage. Even so 20 miles can seem like an impossible distance if you are totally new to running. Luckily this maximum distance isn’t set in stone, and its more than possible to run a successful marathon off long runs of only 16 – 18 miles
So what mileage should you start your long runs at ?
The distance you start at will vary from runner to runner, but should be based on your current fitness level when you start the training. If you are a regular runner and think nothing of running half marathons, then your start mileage should be somewhere around 13 miles. If you are totally new to running and 5 miles seems a long way, then start at 5 miles, you’re still get there. Its even possible to start by jog / walking and slowly move onto continuous running as your training progresses.
How should you build your mileage over the course of the training ?
The key to a successful training plan is to build the mileage slowly over a period of time. The 10% rule is very useful here :
“Never increase your long runs by more than 10% a week”
This is very important, as it allows your body to adapt gradually to the increasing loads you are placing upon it. Increasing the distance by more than this will risk injury, and lost valuable training time.
Most marathon plans run for 15 weeks, with a gradual build up in work load for the first 13 weeks, followed by a 2 week taper down to the big event to allow your legs to recover. This gives you plenty of time to build the mileage, so there’s no need to panic.
How should you build up your work load over the training plan ?
There are 3 common methods for building your marathon stamina, the one that suits you best will depend on your starting level of fitness.
If you are totally new to running, and your long runs are currently less than 8 miles, then probably the best method would be to build gradually over the full 13 weeks. These steps would be small to start with, but this is important as you need to get used to running the distances. However, don’t be discouraged, as you’re soon be onto the bigger distances.
For Example : 6 – 6,5 – 7 – 7,5 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14.,5 – 16 – 18 – Taper
If you are happy running 10 miles at the start of your training, then you can start at a higher level. Starting at this higher level means that if you gradually increased from this start position you would very quickly get onto mileages that are to high. To counter this it’s a good idea to add in some easier weeks, where the mileage stays the same, or maybe you enter a race for a short sharp workout. This will give your body some well earned rest, before pushing on again.
For Example : 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 13 – 14 – 15 – 1/2M Race – 16 – 17 – 18 – 20 – 20 – Taper
If you are a regular marathon runner, and are capable of running sub 4 hour marathons, then you should be able to start your long runs even longer at between 13 – 15 miles. Starting this high means you can’t just increase your mileage to get the necessary marathon stamina, but need to think about combining runs to build the load on your body. A good way to do this is to have 3 weeks where you steadily build the weekly load, followed by the 4th week where you drop back to a lower level. You then start to build for the next 4 week cycle, but this time from a higher level of intensity. A good way of increasing the intensity without doing mega mileages is to double up on your runs. For example doing a quality session on the Saturday, followed by a long run on the Sunday, or you could do 2 long runs in the weekend ( 12 miles sat – 16 sun ). The important thing is to build gradually over the 3 weeks, then make sure you drop back on the 4th.
For Example : L1 – L2 – L3 – L1 / L2 – L3 – L4 – L3 / L3 – L4 – L5 – L4 / L5 – Taper
Finally How fast should you run ?
Long runs aren’t races. You should be running at a steady sustainable pace. Being able to chat easily whilst on the go is a good test, if you’re gasping for breath, or give one word answers then you’re running to fast. When you finish you should cruse in filling you could have kept going at least for another half mile or so. If you collapse in a heap, then you’ve worked to hard.
Remember each run should build on the last and prepare you for the next…
Download PDF Version of this Post
