Miles Per Day vs. Miles Per Run

davetheperson

I've been running for about 4 months, and now I am at the point where I can do 10 miles at a 10 min/mile pace. This is the point where muscle fatigue starts to set in, but otherwise I feel good.

I typically do a long run on Saturdays with a local running club. They do an 8.5 mile loop, but some of the runners meet earlier to get in a few extra miles before the group run. For example, someone may run 5 to 8 miles, and then 10 to 30 min later complete the additional 8.5 mile group run.

In your opinions, do you consider running, for example, 5 miles, taking a short break, and then running another 8.5 miles, "as good" as running 13.5 miles straight through?

SteveTries

Hi Dave,

My understanding of current accepted wisdom (which seems pretty well backed off by studies) is that taking a break of more than say, 5 minutes is not as good as going right through.

There are numerous physiological changes occurring on long runs and the consensus seems to be that around the 90 minute mark of continuous exertion your body is really starting to make adaptions that are key for continued performance. The one that strikes me strongest is that your training runs beyond 90 mins are teaching the body to get efficient at metabolising fat stores to fuel you. So important stuff if you are training fro half marathons or beyond.

If you aren't and you're running for pure fun, calorie burn, all round well being then it really doesn't matter that much if you aren't getting these benefits.

If you google "long run benefits" you'll find a lot of resource. This one is easy to read

http://www.tnrunning.com/articles/avery/longruns.html

davetheperson

Hi sjb74uk,

Thanks for the reply, and for pointing me in the right direction.

That explains why I having so much trouble finding and answer to my question using Google; I wasn't even sure how to even phrase the question.