I've used my old handle from Merv's! I'll probably only be able to get to 2 to 4 of these per day, so I guess it might pile up.





Horizon wrote:



Fast long run; How fast? How long? How often?

I will arbitrarily refer to a long run as being a single continuous run of 15 miles or more. I have a 16-week advanced marathon program which can be extended to 18 weeks if additional time is needed at the outset to build up to the prescribed distances (perhaps following a longer-than-expected layoff or if preparing for a marathon course with specific challenges which require longer to develop new aspects of fitness). In this program, I have 7runs of 15 miles or longer (longest option is up to 22 miles, minimum longest distance of 30k) during the time from 13 weeks out from the goal race to 3.5 weeks out from the goal race. There are 2 additional workouts involving long repeats (one is 4 x 5k, the other is 2 x 10k - or something similar depending on how things are going). These are not necessarily continuous workouts (unless the recoveries are jogged) but do involve over 15 miles of total running including warmup and cool-down and are easily as taxing as a mellow-paced continuous long run of 17 miles or more. Of course the most advanced runners may have double-run days which total 15 miles or more 3-5 times per week.Of the 7 trulylong runs, 4 of them are fairly slow (with a few strides or a slight overall pace pickup during the last 2-4 miles). Two of the remaining 3 use a protocol of alternating a mile at Goal Race Pace with a mile at a slower pace (about 25% slower) in the second half of the run (the first half is a progression from easy jogging to a faster but still comfortable pace). The other long continuous run is a 17-mile effort at about 5 seconds per mile faster than Goal Race Pace, done about 3.5 weeks out from the goal race. This is preceded by a short warmup jog and a few light strides to simulate a pre-marathon warmup and also has a short cool-down jog afterwards, so the total distance is 19-20 miles. Three to four easy days follow this effort. Some runners like to have another continuous easy run of over 15 miles in the remaining time prior to the marathon.So for "fast long runs," that is basically 3 continuous long runs and 2 other long not-necessarily-continuous workouts involving stuff at race pace or faster, with only one of the continuous runs being at race pace or faster the whole way. These long hard efforts would be about 2 weeks apart, with the 4 easier long runs distributed into the schedule more within the first 8 weeks of the 16-week program.On all of these continuous runs (and on most of the workouts involving long reps at race pace), it is important to take fluids/fuels while running and to practice other things which are anticipated to be done during the marathon. Following the harder long runs, a simple sugar should be taken within 15 minutes, followed by a meal rich in complex carbohydrates within another hour to help replenish glycogen stores. Enough water should be taken in the hours following the run to assist in glycogen storage, as well as enough electrolytes to facilitate muscle recovery.This program does have built-in variability in both mileage and target speeds based on how each few weeks of workouts are going and is thus not a carved-in-stone list of unmodifiable workouts written months in advance. But bear in mind that it is anprogram intended for competitive runners with several years of prior training and racing experience and who are already able to handle at least 70 miles in a week and a single long run of at least 18 miles, so there are minimum mileages necessary for many of the key workouts, as well as the overall weekly mileages. It isdesigned for people who simply wish to complete a marathon; rather, it is for those who have a time goal in mind and who have enough racing background to have an idea of what a reasonable time goal should be. In this program, runners will do single runs of 15 or more miles and workouts involving up to 3 x 15 minutes at the target marathon pace within the first 3 weeks, so they should be quite familiar with runs of this distance and pace and should not be more than a couple of months removed from them before embarking on this program. Less advanced runners may not benefit and in fact may hypertrain trying to follow this routine.