|
If you are a beginner, chances are you will hear about 'the long run' a lot in the near future. As a beginner, the long run is not important and it should only concern those who have progressed enough to begin racing or train for a marathon. The main benefits of running long runs are physiological (but partly psychological). If you are about to start a marathon, knowing that the longest run you have completed is 12 miles, this won't do much for your confidence. If you are a beginner training for a marathon, you should start on a 5k plan, and progress from there. See CoolRunning's C25k: A Program for Beginners for more details on 5k programs. When you do start a marathon training plan, they will tell you how long your long run should be, but for everyone else, it should be around 30-50% of your MPW (once you have built a base of at least 10-20 MPW). This percentage will vary a lot and can be higher if you are doing less mileage per week. Marathoners will run upto 20 miles for their long run - venturing past 20 miles greatly increases the risk of injury for few benefits. Most marathoners will do 5-6 long runs of 18-20 miles. The rest of us should go long once a week to be on 'stand-by' for a new training plan or upcoming race. Some people like to run long to add a good few miles to their base, or to help lose weight. As you can see, long runs don't just have to be about performance. Your long runs should be run at a pace around 2-3 minutes a mile slower than your fastest 5k race pace and every long run should be treated as a hard run, which means you rest or recover the day before and after. The benefits of long runs are listed here:
|
|
|
