longest run for Ironman plan.
I've had this answered by the coaches but am curious about what others do.
Month to St. George. Longest run so far this training cyle 18.5 miles. Doing the long runs per EN plan with the crazy intervals in the middle of them. My vdot as below. Fastest recent standalone marathon 3:06.
Pre EN, I did long runs of 20-22 miles, for Ironman and standalone ironman training.
I've one more long long run before St. George. Will probably do 18 miles again.
Question. What is the longest run other folks will do in their approach to a race?
0
Comments
That is my 2 cents...
Robin - I've become a convert to "shorter" long runs over the past 5 years/8IMs. I used to do 20 miles/3 hours. Now I do a fair number of two hour runs (13-14.5 mi for me) and no more than 2 or 3 (more often 2) runs of 2:15-2:30, which is about 16 -17.5 miles for me. My IM marathon times have DROPPED during this period, meaning I haven't lost anything by doing this. You will be well prepared for St. George.
Also, I routinely walk and drink for 20-30 steps each mile during those long runs, just as I would in a race.
Pre-EN I used the same guidance for the IM long run which is 2.5 hours max. I think I ran 19 miles. Never ran a marathon or an IM before and had a great run on race day.
Thanks all. So I'll stick with the 18 mile max. 18 miles versus just two miles more, is a lot easier to recover from. And I'll try to stick the EN intervals during the long runs.
For the vast majority of participants, the IM marathon is an exercise in PFM (perpetual forward motion). You really can't do much in training to prepare yourself for that particular experience. Based on your overall fitness, and your pacing on the swim/bike, your legs will dictate the achievable pace - not your will. In many ways, the IM marathon is the easiest marathon you'll ever run. Your body makes most of the pacing decisions for you.
Now, to address your question, I think that the long run is very specific to each individual. It's really a function of your running history and your goals on race day. The typical guidelines of 18-20 miles (or roughly 2:30-2:45) will work for most, but only if the pacing and recovery are managed properly. The age-old mantra for the long run is "time on your feet," but I think that's largely short-sighted. It really downplays the quality aspect, and as I said before, there is nothing you can do in your long run that will simulate the mental/physical sensation of that second 13.1 miles.
Personally - once Boston is in my rearview mirror - my long runs will take on a flavor similar to what Al described. Most of them will fall in the 14-16 mile range (1:30-1:45), allowing me to integrate a fair amount of Z4-Z5 intervals and still recover for another "long run" in 4-5 days. I find that top end speed is very much a limiting factor on rolling/hilly marathon courses. You must be able to transition from 5k-10k paces (on the downhills) back to your marathon pace without falling apart. Experiment with different types of long runs based on the terrain of your particular IM. The fabled 2.5-3.0 hour "time on your feet" run may boost your mental mojo - but after you've done it once or twice you'll get the idea. Good luck!
Look for my blog post coming on Monday, about the 3hr long run. I'm basically doing a "Stop doing stoopid shit" series of posts.
Finally, consider that EN has put over 1000 athletes across IM finish lines in the last 4yrs, many more of you count our plans, all doing at most a 2.5hr long run. You need to have faith in that data set and ignore the stoopid shit that other people do. Just sayin'
Justin, my long runs will likely be similar to yours. I start to breakdown when I go longer than about 1:30-40. My plan is for very fast, very short, very frequent runs, building endurance and durability through frequency vs volume. For me, managing foot and ankle issues is the limiter, not time on my feet. That and body comp. Today during my interval run I was doing the math on 2"/mile per pound of body weight loss x the 12-15lb I want to lose before IMWI. That's a powerful motivator.
I think you've hit the nail on the head here. Endurance is really a cumulative beast. You can get it in a few large doses, or several smaller doses. Of course, the oft-unspoken variables are run quality and recovery. I've always maintained that the standard long training run (pushing 2.5 hours or 20 miles) is a waste because you short yourself on intensity and never get the real sensation of a long day on your feet. Speed work pays dividends because it makes you faster (obviously) but it also allows you to seamlessly transition between varying paces (the inevitable consequence of varying terrain).
For an elite 70.3 racer, I'd believe it - in fact, I'd subscribe to it. They're running the HM split at sub-1:20, which isn't really that deep into glycogen depletion. If you're running sub-1:30 for a half marathon, you can easily get away with no caloric intake. Furthermore, if they boost their tempo speed off the bike with solid 30-50' runs, then they can push right up against the barrier of a half marathon (in which they won't be running nearly so fast).