Well just like 99% of the people on the forum here, I work M-F and have more time on the weekends to train so I do my long bike on Saturday and my long run on Sunday, I then rest on Monday as I am usually pretty tired. Now my question is the following: is it better for me to do the long run on another day so that it doesn’t follow my big bike day? I have been reading on Gordo’s training and Mark Allens training and it seems they separate the Long ride and long run by at least 1 to 2 days. and if they take a day off it is before their big workouts and not after them. they seem to just tone down the workout after the big days. I can force myself to do a long run before work during the week but I will not be able to do a long ride during the week that is for sure. do most of you do the same thing ride long on Sat and run long on Sun?
Once we hit daylight savings time we go to Wednesday long runs and then Saturday/Sunday long rides. This gives us the option to switch up long ride days based on how we are feeling or the weather. However, the main reason we did it was to increase the quality of the long run. It is difficult to maintain a good tempo and cadence and limit injury risk when you are doing them back to back.
yeah, I do feel tired on my long runs and this last one was just plain tough. As I have now started increasing my volume.
search the threads as there are about 50 on this topic. If you have to do them back to back, run first ride the next day as there is no such thing as teaching yourself to run on tired legs, unless of course you don’t know how to run.
Ideally the run could/should be done mid week allowing for two larger volume cycling days and also allowing you to train on Monday instead of couch surfing for the day.
thanks a lot. I will now start doing my long runs mid week!
I have always traines long ride on Sat., long run on Sunday, Monday off and somehow managed a 9:43 IM on my first try, so would suggest it really depends on you and how well you respond to the work load.
Ah, but you could have gone 9:20 on your first IM if you had just separated your long run and rides! 
I find that it helps to do the long run with tired legs, it simulates how you may feel during an IM. However, I have tried a few things, like on rest weeks doing a longer ride saturday, then another long ride sunday and then a shorter like 75 min run on sunday, that felt good too. If you look at some elite marathoners training schedules, you will see that lots of them use a nine day cycle rather than a 7 day cycle, just to space out the longer stuff. different strokes for different folks.
Everyone has a different idea about this. I do long runs on Weds and long rides on Sat., and Sunday is my rest day. Works well for me.
Well that is what i thought that I should run on Sunday since my legs are tired from the Saturday long bike. but i just feel tired on monday. I think that I am going to do a shorter run on Sunday and do the longer run during the week. hopefully this will allow me to become a better runner as that is my weakest discipline.
I think there can definitely be a fine line between quality training and breakdown. My coach has me working pretty hard all week specifically so im tired on my long weekend key workouts. That being said, I have had to veer from my schedule from time to time because sometimes it just dosent work. There is nothing that sucks more than heading out for a 20 miler on sunday and feeling like crap in the first 2 minutes.
20 miles I wish!! I am not even close to that.
Long ride Sat and Sun, if you’re working normal M-F job you’ll need to make up cycling volume… Most people cannot run the marathon in IM b/c they cannot finish 112 miles w/o being destroyed due to lack of cycling training. Maybe make Sat swim- long ride, Sun longer ride-5k brick