Marathon Training - what % of your weekly mileage is your long run
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briebee7
Posts: 224 Member
Ok, so I am not a marathoner. I have a strong running background however I tend to stick to 25-30 miles a week (running 3-4 days a week). On a whim last summer I signed up for a local marathon which is at the end of April. As I start to increase my long runs I know I should increase my mid-week runs as well. I am just not sure what I should be aiming for in terms of mileage.
Most weeks I can only run 4 days a week. As it stands a normal week is intervals on Tues (works out to 7-9 miles), hilly run on Weds (6 miles), an easy 5-6 on Thurs and a long run on Sat (16 last weekend).
Is that enough mileage for mid week (18-20 miles) or should I increase one of the runs? The marathon is very hilly. Also, I am not trying to be super speedy, nor do I believe that I will every do another marathon again! My goal is to get thru training uninjured and get thru the race with a minimal amount of agony.
Most weeks I can only run 4 days a week. As it stands a normal week is intervals on Tues (works out to 7-9 miles), hilly run on Weds (6 miles), an easy 5-6 on Thurs and a long run on Sat (16 last weekend).
Is that enough mileage for mid week (18-20 miles) or should I increase one of the runs? The marathon is very hilly. Also, I am not trying to be super speedy, nor do I believe that I will every do another marathon again! My goal is to get thru training uninjured and get thru the race with a minimal amount of agony.
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I don't know who is hitting 100 miles for their 20 mile long run week(s). Not me. I don't know that there's a hard set ratio. 25% - 35% perhaps. The further you get away from 35% (higher than) I'd assume the more flawed your running schedule is.
ETA: Mine was 40% last week. Whoops. Better add in more miles this week. Perhaps a real seasoned runner will chime in. 0 -
I run about 62- 66 miles per week with a long run at 18-20 miles...so somewhere around 30% but less during peak (70 mpw)0
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I think 50% would leave you really tired going into the next week...0
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The general rule is around 30%.
Also, about the 20mi long run, you shouldn't really run more than 3 hours. The general idea is that anything over 3 hours takes too much time to recover from.
For me, 20 miles is 3 hours. For some, it takes less time to run 20 miles, hence why some people are getting some 22milers in. For others, 20 miles take way over 3 hours so running less than 20mi is also technically okay.0 -
usually it's never more than 28%. This past week was 20%
Not to say that you "can't" do 40%.. It just takes a lot more out of you.
When I trained for my first full I definitely did more 35-40% . It was defintely exhausting!0 -
My plan has the 3 - 20 mile weeks at 40% (Tue 5 - Wed 10 - Thur 5 - Sat 10 - Sun 20)
Without doing the math on the other weeks I'd bet they are close to that or maybe even a little more. I have the option in the plan to do a recovery run on Monday or do some light cardio for 45-60 minutes as cross training, which I do to save the pounding on my legs. If I ran another 5-6 miles that percentage would be closer to 35%
I did my first 20 mile run last week and I wouldn't say I'm more fatigued this week than any other week in the training cycle.0 -
Thanks all for the input. That all makes sense. I will start increasing my mid week mileage to try and get closer to the 30-35% range. Knowing myself I think that would be a realistic goal.
Also, would it make sense to add into my week a "recovery" type run on the Sunday after my long run? A slow, easy 5-6 mile run.0 -
Training2BeFast wrote: »The general rule is around 30%.
Also, about the 20mi long run, you shouldn't really run more than 3 hours. The general idea is that anything over 3 hours takes too much time to recover from.
For me, 20 miles is 3 hours. For some, it takes less time to run 20 miles, hence why some people are getting some 22milers in. For others, 20 miles take way over 3 hours so running less than 20mi is also technically okay.
Ok, that makes sense. 20 will take me right around 3 hours as well.0 -
Thanks all for the input. That all makes sense. I will start increasing my mid week mileage to try and get closer to the 30-35% range. Knowing myself I think that would be a realistic goal.
Also, would it make sense to add into my week a "recovery" type run on the Sunday after my long run? A slow, easy 5-6 mile run.
I like the Sat mid distance run before my Sun long run. I think it probably more closely represents what a marathon would feel like once you get to the last miles. It also keeps me from running too fast since my legs are not fresh. I know my last 3 miles over the weekend was hell after doing a 10 mile pace run on Sat. Just my .02
If you still wanted to run long Sat you could do that run on Friday as well, which I've done a handful of times the past 12 weeks when scheduling conflicts arose.
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I've had a lot of success with adding in a 4-6 mile recovery run the day after a long when I use to take that day off. I find my hills/strides Monday feel a lot better now.0
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Thanks all for the input. That all makes sense. I will start increasing my mid week mileage to try and get closer to the 30-35% range. Knowing myself I think that would be a realistic goal.
Also, would it make sense to add into my week a "recovery" type run on the Sunday after my long run? A slow, easy 5-6 mile run.
I usually run a slow 5-7 miles the day after.
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Thanks all for the input. That all makes sense. I will start increasing my mid week mileage to try and get closer to the 30-35% range. Knowing myself I think that would be a realistic goal.
Also, would it make sense to add into my week a "recovery" type run on the Sunday after my long run? A slow, easy 5-6 mile run.
Yes!!!!!0 -
My longest runs are sometimes about 50% of my weekly mileage, since I only run 5 days a week and am often crunched for time with my schedule so my midweek runs are usually 3-4 miles, with one run of 7-8 miles on the one day I don't have class. Maybe I should add one more day of running to make it a bit more even, and I'll probably run longer once it warms up & there's more daylight hours. But honestly, even with the 50% weekly mileage all in one day, I don't find it to be all that exhausting. I'm usually more tired and achy after some focused (but relatively short) speedwork than I am the day after running 16+ miles (barring the 26.2, the ache after that was unbelievable).0
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Just out of curiosity, does this percentage change depending on the distance you are training for? I was looking over the Higdon Half-Marathon plans after reading some of the posts here and the majority of the weeks the long runs are 40%+ of the total weekly mileage...0
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sgonzalezblanco wrote: »Just out of curiosity, does this percentage change depending on the distance you are training for? I was looking over the Higdon Half-Marathon plans after reading some of the posts here and the majority of the weeks the long runs are 40%+ of the total weekly mileage...
Not really. If I'm training for a 1/2 or less, my long run is always less than 25% but I run 65 MPW0 -
I generally follow the Pfitzinger & Douglas 70-85 mpw plan mid-week and do my own thing on the weekends. That plan has the long run anywhere from 20 - 25% of the weekly volume. But it can get as high as 35% for me since my weekends can deviate considerably from their plan.0
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sgonzalezblanco wrote: »Just out of curiosity, does this percentage change depending on the distance you are training for? I was looking over the Higdon Half-Marathon plans after reading some of the posts here and the majority of the weeks the long runs are 40%+ of the total weekly mileage...
I'm following a marathon plan where the long run is 40%+ and its not been an issue the following week - bar last week. That was my own fault as decided a route that had over 2200ft of climb over the 19miles was a good idea on Sunday. Beautiful route and throroughly enjoyed it but my legs were still stiff on Wed! As for the running no longer than 3hrs - I'd never get where I want to be. I'm happier taking an extra 20-30mins than pushing the pace hard to run sub 3. My recoveries have been fine as long as I fuel the run and my recovery plus do my stretches.
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Samstan101 wrote: »As for the running no longer than 3hrs - I'd never get where I want to be. I'm happier taking an extra 20-30mins than pushing the pace hard to run sub 3. My recoveries have been fine as long as I fuel the run and my recovery plus do my stretches.
Make no mistake, one shouldn't try to run faster to keep the long run under 3 to 3:15. That does way more damage than good. The long run should always be done at your easy run pace, the same pace that you would do a week day 5 miler. If you can't do your long run at that pace, then you are running that easy 5 miler too fast.
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Thanks Carson, I guess my 5 milers are quicker but that's in part where I live as its very hilly (I live in a valley so choice is running up & down the valley or up, over and back to the next valley). Its pretty much impossible to do more than 6-7 miles without having some serious hills (unless I want to run laps which I'd find soul destroying!) so my shorter runs tend to be flatter than my long runs. My long runs by necessity usually have at least 1000ft of climb in (and usually that's over a mile or 2 towards the start & end of the run) and so tend to be slower (by about 30s a mile on average).
I'm not too bothered about race time for now (aiming for sub 4:30 on a flattish course) but obviously want to try to avoid injury during training (18months of running slowly ramping things up but with similar proportional distances and so far so good *fingers crossed!*)0 -
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