The Longest Training Day of Your Week?
Long Run Day and Workout Day Should Be Significantly Longer
In your training week, think about the types of runs you do. How does the mileage stack up on a day to day basis? Are they all pretty much the same?
What about the paces of your runs? Are your shorter runs faster than your longer runs?
In this post, we'll discuss how to make long run day and workout day the longest—but also the most effective—days of your training week.
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Maximizing Your Long Run Day
Long run day is my favorite run day of the week. It’s a time when I can be out for a while, usually with my own thoughts or with friends, logging mileage that even Garmin would call productive.
I don’t start any run [relatively] fast, but my long runs - I definitely take them nice and easy to begin.
Since I know I’m going to be out on the roads for a while, I make sure everything is working like it’s supposed to before I get on the horse and pick up the pace.
Sometimes, it happens naturally as I warm up and other times I have a prescribed pace or effort I’d like to hit before I run. Either way, the pace quickens from my “easy” pace to a medium or moderate pace.
It might look something like this:
Mile 1-2: >8:15
Mile 3-5: ~8:00-7:40
Mile 6-10: 7:30 down to 7:00
Mile 11: >7:40
The average pace of the above long run might be 7:30s or quicker. Compare that to a recovery run day - the day after a LR - at 8:15 or slower and you’ll realize why the long run is considered the most quality day of my week. It’s obviously longer in duration, but also in intensity.
In order to accomplish a run like this, I make sure I take care of business in the days before. I eat a balanced dinner, I aim to get to bed at a reasonable hour, I stretch and hydrate before bed and after I wake up. And I definitely avoid drinking. I’ve had way too many long runs not feeling 100% and I’ll tell you, not drinking makes a HUGE difference.
Making Workout Day Count
Workout days are treated much like long run days. They matter [all runs matter, but some have more emphasis] just as much as your long run and this is where the quality and quantity of your weekly mileage comes from.
Not only should your workout days be faster overall [except for true speed days because you spend so much time recovering] they are also quite long.
If I was running a 10 mile long run, I would expect my workout day to be 7-9 miles. Consistently running a long run over 14 miles, then I don’t see a problem with a 10 mile workout day.
In order to get that 10 miles on workout day, you’d probably be expecting to run a 3 mile warmup and a 2-3 mile cool down. Scale it down appropriately to meet your mileage requirements.
Strategies for Recovering from Long Run Day and Workout Day
In order to have cracking long runs and workout days, the rest of your weekly mileage needs to be chill and in control. You can’t have fast recovery days and still have really good workouts and long runs. Your body can’t handle every single day being quality mileage [fast paces] or long distances. You aren’t that kind of runner.
The worst runs I have all week - meaning the ones that are the slowest, feel the worst, and the ones I want to do the least - all happen the day or two after a quality workout or a solid long run. ALWAYS.
It just has to be that way because I want my workout and long run day to be longer and fast.
Thriving During Long Run Day and Workout Day
If you think about non-workout days as maintenance days, where the only goal is to maintain fitness and not boost fitness, then you can justify to yourself or your Strava friends that these days can be as slow and short as you like. 3 miles? Sure. 2 minutes per mile slower than long run day? Sure!
There’s no one who will complain that your easy run is too slow or too short when you just had a really good long run at a good pace.
Summary
Long runs and workouts should be your faster and longest days of the week. Your non-workout days, including your cross training day and your day off should support your workouts because that’s the days where the fitness gains will come from. These days will be slower, require more effort to run even at a slower pace (your body should be tired from the workout), and are typically harder to get excited for.
Treat both longer days as special and focus your attention on getting good sleep, hydrating, stretching, and doing all the things that’ll make those days come out successful.
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Friday’s Action Plan
Adjust your long run effort and pace so it resembles more of a workout than a long easy run. Make your non-workout days maintenance days that support the quality days.
What Has My Attention:
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Quote of the Week:
Success starts with the mindset that you can do it. You must believe that you can, despite what adversity may come your way.
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