Hello,
All this talk about 50 to 70 mile weeks has me thinking about trying to increase my current 30 mile weeks to 50 mile weeks.
So my first question is: When doing 50 mile weeks whats your longest weekly run in miles?
Thanks!
Gall
Hello,
All this talk about 50 to 70 mile weeks has me thinking about trying to increase my current 30 mile weeks to 50 mile weeks.
So my first question is: When doing 50 mile weeks whats your longest weekly run in miles?
Thanks!
Gall
Daniels says, 25% of weekly mileage or 2.5 hrs which ever is less.
i’m currently at 1:30/12-13mi or so.
I’d say generally the 25% target is good. But I also think it depends on how long someone has been doing higher mileage weeks (e.g., >50 mpw). For example, if someone has been hitting 70mpw for a year, then I’d say a 20-22mi long run is okay. But hitting a 22mi long run in the first week at 70miles is probably a little ambitious.
So, to the OP, at 50mpw, I’d shoot for a long run in the range of 12-15 miles. Probably good to start at the lower end of that range and then work up. If you stay at 50mpw for several months, then a long run up to about 17 miles would probably not be a problem. But whether or not that’s a smart distance depends on your goals.
Thanks for the replies…
Lets say I slowly worked my way up to 50 miles per week.
Would doing one week with a long run of 20 miles and then the next week 15 miles and then 20 again and so on alternating between the 15 and 20 mile long runs?
The reason why I ask this is because this year I am doing several 15 to 26.2 mile trail races and I need to keep the mileage up for my long runs.
Thanks
Just my opinion, but 20 mi long run on only 50 mpw is kind of pushing it. Doing 40% of your weekly mileage in a single run will raise your injury risk. Depending on your goals for the 26.2 races and other aerobic (i.e., cycling/swimming) you may be doing, a long run of 17 miles might be enough even for the long races. You could alternate weekly long runs of 12, 15, and 17 miles over 3-week cycles. Maybe you could throw in 1-2 longer 20 miles runs later in your training.
“Would doing one week with a long run of 20 miles and then the next week 15 miles and then 20 again and so on alternating between the 15 and 20 mile long runs?
The reason why I ask this is because this year I am doing several 15 to 26.2 mile trail races and I need to keep the mileage up for my long runs.”
I would say alternating between 12 milers on week and 15-18 milers the next is more realistic. Better yet shoot for 3 long runs a month of 2 to 3 hours and 3 “medium-long” runs (with some tempo mixed in) per month of 90-100 minutes. All other runs can be well shy of 60 minutes.
Same question here. I’m currently running 4 x per week at 6, 4, 9, and 15 (2 hrs) for a total of 34 miles with a recovery week of around 20 every fourth week. This seems to be working. My A race is WI. Im also doing the TTT and Spirit of Racine. My goal is to improve my IM marathon from an IM PR of 3:48 to 3:20ish by building a better running base. A long run of 15 on 34 clearly violates the 25% rule. Would I be better of adding in another 6-7 mile run and cutting my long run down to around 12? It’s hard to get in 5 runs per week with the unpredictable MI weather. Any advice from the running experts would be appreciated!
I found the 25% rule a good target, but some weeks was hard to hit. I use more of a 1/3 rule; the long run should be no more than 1/3 of your total weekly mileage. Also, I found consistency over time is the most important aspect of running. If you try to build to a certain mileage only for a short period to time, your body really doesn’t fully adapt to it. It the weeks and months of consistent mileage where you develop the base needed to effectively absorb the long mileage runs and speed work. Without enough consistent running in your base, it’s easy to get injured becasue the faster you go, the more wear on your body…and if you body isn’t ready for that kind of abuse, it will break down. From my experience anyway…
Hello,
All this talk about 50 to 70 mile weeks has me thinking about trying to increase my current 30 mile weeks to 50 mile weeks.
So my first question is: When doing 50 mile weeks whats your longest weekly run in miles?
Thanks!
Gall
It depends.
- What are you training for (just trail races)? I would likely have additional questions depending on what you’re training for.
- Are you talking about a general prep, race-specific prep period or possibly both with an example of what the progression might look like?
There’s no good general rule here. For example, Daniels’ formula is intended for pure runners, not triathletes. Also, what you do during general prep would/should be different than what you do during race-specific prep.
Make sense?
Thanks, Chris
It depends on 2 big factors: (1)the number of runs you are doing/week and (2)your goals.
Regarding (1), the more runs you do/week, the lesser the % of week’s total you would want your long run to be. There are many ways to do a 50 mile week. I knew a guy who ran close to 60 mpw off of 3 runs. In that case, it is mathematically impossible for your long run to be less than 33.3% of total. On the other hand, many middle distance (800m type) track guys will run 50 mpw with double workouts, so maybe 10 runs/week. Their long run may be 15-20% of total.
More importantly is (2). The longer your goal race, the larger the % of week’s total your long run should be (all other things equal). For example, imagine 2 triathletes, both running 50 mpw off of 5 runs. One is training for sprints, the other for IM. The sprint athlete will probably have his runs parceled out pretty equally, with the long run not much more than 25% of total (maybe 12-13 miles). The IM triathlete might have 40% (20 miles) of his week’s volume in 1 run.
2x but a minute or two slower for me. Every once in a while I go 16. Will do my first 1/2 mary this year. Probably the Long Branch half then the Devilman half-lite the weekend after