![]() Traditional LSD (long, slow distance) runs lay a solid aerobic foundation for all runners, but they’re inherently limiting. What is interval training and why should I do it?Īs important as the distance, the pace at which you do your long runs influences how much training stress you incur.And marathoners routinely put in 18-20-mile long runs, even if their weekly mileage tops out at 40 or 50. ![]() ‘If we’re seeking to stress the aerobic system and an athlete is no longer receiving a stimulus at 90 minutes, we have to run farther than that,’ he says. Mike Smith, the women’s cross-country coach at Georgetown University in the US, will go beyond that he isn’t afraid to send his 5km and 10km runners out for 16 miles. According to coach Danny Mackey, experienced runners competing in events longer than a mile need to run for at least 90 minutes to recruit fast-twitch muscle fibres and metabolically prepare the body to race long distances. Usually this means going longer than recommended, to increase the training stimulus. These guidelines scale the run to your current ability level and training load.Īs with all rules, there are exceptions. In his formula, a runner putting in 40-mile weeks would do a long run of eight to 10 miles a runner averaging 80 miles per week would go 16-20 miles. Esteemed coach Jack Daniels believes long runs should comprise 20-25 per cent of your total weekly volume. Your training history and target race distance help determine how far you need to go in your long runs. ‘Psychologically, they give you the confidence that you can handle the race distance, especially in the marathon.’ ‘The combined physiological benefits of long training runs improves your ability to maintain a pace for longer,’ says Pete Pfitzinger, a two-time Olympic marathoner and co-author of Advanced Marathoning (Human Kinetics). ![]() ![]() These runs produce more mitochondria and capillaries in your muscle cells, increase your aerobic capacity, improve your cardiovascular system’s efficiency, increase your muscles’ and liver’s ability to store glycogen, strengthen your musculoskeletal system, give you a greater ability to work through muscular fatigue and increase your body’s ability to use fat as fuel. How long should a long run be?Īs the name implies, a long run is an extended effort designed to increase your endurance. Here, we explore just how much can you gain by experimenting with your long run. Running longer or faster than before opens up the possibility of making big breakthroughs in your training, provided you tailor those challenging runs to your current fitness. This holds as true for those training towards a 5km as it does for marathoners, with Sundays regularly put aside for long training runs.īut instead of sending runners out to simply ‘put miles in the bank’, many coaches are now advocating higher-intensity workouts that challenge the body in more complex and race-specific ways. Since the 1960s, long runs have been a weekly staple in most runners’ training plans.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |