long runs & training question

Lisamarie1226

Hello :-)

I am preparing for my 1st half marathon (Dallas Rock N' Roll half) at the end of March. Since our weather has been so crazy (nice, sunny, 70 degree weather followed immediately by snow, temps in the 20s -40s, ice) my training has been mostly indoors, on the treadmill.

I have been able to complete a couple of "long" runs (8 & 10 miles) outside due to the nicer weather. This weekend is another 10 miler and no way I'll be able to do this out by the lake.

So, my question is, is it okay to break up my miles on the treadmill? See, the treadmills at the gym only go up to 99 minutes (I didn't see if it will let me program 10 miles as a goal, I just saw I could manually enter in minutes)...so that's like a good 8 miles + a bit more (if I maintain a 12 minute mile pace --which is my "steady" pace for longer runs).

What's the best way to do longer runs on the treadmill? Should I do two 5 miles runs back to back? Do an 8 miler and then finish the last 2? Is okay to break it up by doing either the 5 or 8 miles, then maybe do the elliptical for a bit and then finish off the remainder? This would all be on the same day. I'm just not sure how to best accomplish this.

Any suggestions/tips/advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time ;-)

RedHotRunner

Personally, i'd just run the 99 minutes and call it a day.

I'm doing the San Diego Rock and Roll in June! It'll be my second half. Should be a blast.

Adsnwfld

Living in Northern Illinois (and not wanting to break my leg falling on the ice) I do all of my winter running on a treadmill. Aside from the boredom I feel the treadmill keeps me at pace longer. You have to run outside but the treadmill will not hurt and might even help build up speed.
I'm not a professional trainer, just a rat on a wheel.
I personally feel like I can push myself a bit harder on the treadmill

mlb929

Marathon Nation.com has a great article on breaking up your long runs, you may want to go to that website and look around.

Congratulations on your commitment, it's very rewarding.

schobert101

The purpose of the long run is to get your body used to running for that period of time or distance so you will not get the same effect by breaking it into two sessions in the same day with any length of time between them. On the other hand, you certainly could take a short break, refuel, go to bathroom etc and just reset the treadmill and add the times and distances together (assuming that your gym doesn't have a limit or kick you off if someone else is waiting). Its boring but can be done. I have done as much as a 20 miler on the treadmill several years ago but that was on a home machine and I would take brief breaks as mentioned above................but I would not separate the two workouts by several hours.