While we’re a global community of runners, we all have different reasons we run. And those reasons change as life moves forward. Recently, I’ve reflected on this, and I wanted to share some of the reasons, past and present, I’ve run.

Global Running Day 2018: A Reason to Run

2014…

In 2014, I ran to see if I could. I made mistakes, but I crossed things off my bucket list as I tried new distances, races, and places.

2015…

In 2015, I ran to share my love of running with others. I joined a community group and ran with partners. I invited family to watch me race and to join in.

2016…

In 2016, I ran to push myself. Three racing seasons. Going long, and going short and fast. I learned about discomfort and I learned about bravery. I helped others learn and train.

2017…

In 2017, I found a new fear of running. My brother passed away and I feared being alone, outside, with just my thoughts.  I doubled-down and continued to run because it was part of a successful life. And there, I found more fun to be had.

2018…

I started 2018 with some fantastic races, but have found difficulty in returning to the pavement. My best running buddy, Oakley, can no longer join me. I find myself at a low tide.

Now, my reason to run is to find out why I’m running. By running, I open myself to great possibilities.

Find Your Reason

I hope you all have a wonderful Global Running Day. And today, may we all find our reason to run.

Further Reading

• Global Running Day Organization
• 7 Ways to Celebrate Global Running Day
• How Running Changed my Life
• The 11 Reasons I Run
• 3 Reasons Why I Hired a Running Coach

Readers: What’s your reason for running?

This is the last week in May’s Don’t Know the Half of It: Half Marathon series.

Don’t Know the Half of It: Half Marathon Fueling Strategy

Your body may have energy stores to complete a 2 hour run, however it will sacrifice speed to hoard and ration the energy you have available. By fueling during a half marathon race, you’ll encourage your body to burn fuel freely, allowing you to run at peak performance. Fuel (carbs, calories) is recommended for anyone who runs 90+ minutes for their half marathon.

Leading up to the race

Carb-Loading

Carb-loading can be good for a long-distance race like the half marathon by making sure your glycogen stores are full come race day. This doesn’t have to mean a giant plate of spaghetti the night before or even extra calories. It can mean choosing carbs over protein- or fat-heavy meals over the course of 2-3 days before the race.

Full stores and lots of carbs can leave you feeling heavy and tight. Through experience of several races, you may decide 2 days or no conscious carb-loading is best for you for the half marathon distance. Experiment is key!

Pre-Race Dinner

Choose a dinner that isn’t going to come back to bite you in the morning. Something simple and bland. There’s a reason why pasta is the go-to. You may also decide to eat your heaviest meal for lunch the day before, instead of for dinner. Dinner could then be a turkey or PBJ sandwich.

Breakfast

How early you’ll be awake before the race will determine the size of your breakfast. If you wake up 2-3 hours before the race, a large breakfast of 500 calories like a bagel with peanut butter and honey is fantastic. If you’re waking up closer to race start, a small breakfast of a banana or some toast will work better.

Before starting line

If it’s been an hour or two since breakfast, eat a gel with water 15 minutes before the starting line. This will start to prime your systems, perk you up, and get your body processing fuel BEFORE it needs it. You don’t have to finish the gel if you’re a little queasy with nerves — even a few sips will help.

During the race

You need 25-60 grams of carbs or 100-250 calories per hour. That’s a big range that you should narrow down during your practice runs. Practically, that typically means 1 gel for half marathoner running under 90 minutes. 1 or 2 gels for a 2-hour half marathoner and so on.

Remember to fuel at regular intervals and start before you need it. Consume fuel like gels and chews with water.

I finish just under 2 hours for a half marathon. I like to eat a gel before the race and one at the 45 minute mark. Then, throughout the race, I sip sports drink for added fueling. These two types of fuel give me several types of sugars for my body to process, so no one ‘route’ gets held up.

For someone with a 3 hour half marathon, I’d recommend fueling every 45 minutes-1 hour.

For those with strong stomachs, two or three practice runs might be all you need to test out the volume and digestibility of mid-run fuel. If you have a more finicky stomach, more practice and experimenting may be involved.

Fueling Options

I won’t go too far in depth on fueling options in this post, since it’s mostly about timing. However, there are a variety of fuel choices.

• Gels like Gu, Honey Stinger, and Hammer
• Chews like Cliff ShotBlocks or Jelly Belly Sports Beans
• Candy like Skittles, Swedish Fish, or gummy bears
• Sports drinks like Powerade or Gatorade
• Endurance drinks like UCAN or Tailwind
• Pretzels, crackers
• Dried fruits like raisins or bananas
• Dates

After the finish

The bananas, bagels, and granola bars are there for a reason. Get in a snack so your body can start the refueling and begin your recovery phase. Continue drinking water or another fluid of your choice.

After you enjoy the festivities, make sure to get a good meal with proteins, fats, and carbs.

This wraps our May journey through the half marathon. I hope you learned a few things and I’d be happy to work with you more closely through coaching or custom plan design.

Further Reading:

• Mid-Run Fuel Options
• Gluten-Free Running Fuel
• Pre-Run Snacks

Don’t Know the Half of It: Half Marathon Series

• Week 1: Half Marathon Workouts
• Week 2: Half Marathon Long Run Essentials
• Week 3: Writing Half Marathon Plans
• Week 4: Half Marathon Pacing Strategies

This is week #4 in Don’t Know the Half of It: Half Marathon Series.

Don’t Know the Half of It: Half Marathon Pacing Strategy

In general, there are three pacing strategies:

1. Positive Split: You start hard, and try to hang on. Not recommended for the half marathon
2. Even Split: You run even paced for the entirety of the race
3. Negative Split: Your second half of the race is faster than your first half

For half marathons, creating flexibility between an even split and a negative split racing strategy, will keep you going strong and give you an opportunity for some great race times.

Half Marathon Pacing Strategy by Miles

1. For the first three miles, run 5-10 seconds slower than goal pace
2. Build up to goal pace, settle into rhythm
3. Crush the last two miles
4. Sprint at the finish

You can see this half marathon pacing strategy could end up being an even split or a negative split, depending on your strength at the end of the race.

Tips for Half Marathon Stages

Beginning of the Race

The cheers from the spectators and the runners rushing around you will be a big tail-wind at the start. You’re excitement will be bubbling. You have to consciously slow down, because you will start too fast. Rein yourself in.

Focus on keeping it straight and steady. Don’t weave around people. You won’t lose a time goal in the first couple miles of a half marathon.

Middle of the Race

The crowd will start to thin, and you’ll be able to find your rhythm. Find an even pace or even effort. Periodically check your pace against your watch, but tune into your body as well.

Run the tangents. That is, run the shortest distance between curves. This is not cheating. This is how the race is actually measured. If don’t run the tangents, you’ll be running longer than a half marathon distance.

Check in with your body and time goals. When do you need to start pushing? Which goals are within your reach? How do you feel?

End of the Race

In the last couple of miles, you’ll have to increase your effort. That might be to keep your goal pace, or it might be to speed up and create a negative split.

If you’re feeling strong, stop looking at your watch, and instead look to your competition. The end of a half marathon is a great time to start picking off people who started too fast. Focus on a person ahead of you and gradually reel them in. As you pass them, give a surge so they feel discouraged to follow, then look to the next person.

When you get close to the finish, begin your sprint. There’s beer at the finish!

How do you choose your goal pace?

Choose your race pace based on your fitness, your goals, and the specifications of the course and weather.

Half Marathon Goals

I recommend 3 or 4 goals for a half marathon race, so you remain flexible and always have a goal you’re working towards.

• Personal record
• Personal course record
• Personal record by X minutes
• Sub 2 hour
• Sub 2:10
• Sub 2:30
• Sub X:XX
• Finish strong
• Finish without stopping
• Finish without walking
• Finish

By choosing and layering goals, you can always have something to work toward, hold on to, and count as a win.

Course and Weather

• What’s the forecasted temperature?
• What’s the forecasted humidity?
• Is it hilly? Are the hills on the front half or the back half of the course?
• Is it a trail race?
• Are you adjusted to the elevation?

Temperature is a common pace-limiter. Temperatures of 55F can start to mess with runners. If you would like to run at 9:00 min/mile, and it’s 75F, your body will be working as if its running 8:45 min/mile which suddenly might not be sustainable. And it gets worse with humidity. Choose your goals, pacing and fueling strategies accordingly.

For First Time Half-Marathoners

For first time racers, I recommend no time goal. It’s just so hard to predict what is feasible, if you haven’t gone the distance before!

Good goals for first time half-marathoners are…

1. Finish without stopping
2. Finish without walking (or without extra walking breaks if you run/walk)
3. Finish strong
4. Finish

First Time Half Marathon Pacing Strategy

1. Run the first two miles slower than you want to go. You should be holding yourself back
2. Find an even effort, no panting, that you can maintain. When you reach hills, keep EFFORT – not PACE
3. When the last mile arrives, decide if you’d like to push the pace and pick up speed
4. Sprint at the finish if you’ve got it

If you choose a time goal, you might push too hard and fall apart at the end of the race. Then, next race, you still won’t know a good time goal. If you instead run an even paced, solid effort for the race, you get a great race time that you can work with and improve on.

For the “What was I thinking?” Racers

Sometimes you have good intentions when you sign up for a race, but then don’t get a chance to train. This is me basically every February half marathon, thinking I can train through the holiday season. ha!

This next strategy gives you a good foundation to either finish strong or finish without too much pain. It’s great if you haven’t prepared as much as you should have, but would still like to see what you’re made of.

“What was I thinking when I signed up for this?” Half Marathon Pacing Strategy

1. 1st mile easy pace
2. Next 7 miles cruise with even effort
3. At mile 8, decide to finish with dignity or push
4. If pushing, gradually pick up the pace each mile to create a progression run
5. Sprint at the end

Read this strategy in action here. 

Strategies vs In the Moment

The half marathon is a long race and strict agendas and plans aren’t going to cut it.

Take into consideration temperature, humidity, and course difficulties to temper your expectations. Have a general guideline strategy like the above, so there is plenty of room for Plan B, C, and D. Race smart and stay flexible on race day. Good luck!

Further Reading

• 5 Race Scheduling Mistakes
• Race Pacing Strategies
• How to Manage Race Day Stress
• Choosing Plan B in Your Running Season
• How to Taper for a Big Race

This is week #4 in Don’t Know the Half of It: Half Marathon Series

• Half Marathon Workouts
• Half Marathon Long Run Essentials
• Writing Plans: Half Marathon Training

Next week, we’ll finish up with fueling strategies for the half marathon race.

This post is Week 3 in the You Don’t Know the Half of It: Half Marathon series. I recommend reading the series Understanding Training Plans to make the most of this post.I’ll use principles in both to help us out today.

Don’t Know the Half of It: Writing Half Marathon Plans

Meet Jane

Jane runs four days a week, about 20 miles a week. This is her third half marathon. She typically races 5Ks and  has run a couple of 10Ks. Today is May 1. Her race is June 30. In her first two half marathons, she started too fast and couldn’t handle the tail-end of the race. Her goal is to finish strong this half marathon.

Step One: Determine the macrocycle

We learned about macro, meso, and microcycles in training periodization. You can read about it here.

A macrocycle is a long training season that ends in a goal race and recovery from that race. There might be multiple races within the macrocycle, but it will lead up to a race where peak performance is desired.

Let’s start Jane’s macrocycle the week of May 6 and end her macrocycle the week of July 1 (week after her race).

Step Two: Choose mesocycles

A mesocycle is a discrete training phase for a specific purpose (physiological, psychological, or both). In it, you introduce a specific training stressor to encourage your body to adapt and make gains.

Mesocycles can be blocks of 2-10+ weeks. Since Jane has 8 weeks to train for this half marathon, I’d keep it simple and give her two mesocycles of four weeks each.

I’ll build her long run in both mesocycles. Given Jane’s experience with 5K and 10K racing and her propensity for starting too fast, I’ll prescribe a mesocycle of steady-state running which will be close to her half marathon pace. And, I’ll prescribe a mesocycle of fast-finish workouts, to give her practice finishing strong on tired legs.

Step Three: Choose microcycle

Jane wants to keep a 7 day microcycle, corresponding to a week, because that’s easiest for her work/life schedule. She recovers well from her weekly mileage, I don’t see any reason to change it.

Step Four: Fill in plan

1. Start at Jane’s typical week and build from there.
2. Mark races, recovery weeks, mesocycles
3. Fill in long runs
4. Determine weekly mileage
5. Fill in quality runs
6. Fill in easy runs

How to use this information

You can use this information to completely build your training plan from scratch or change a free plan you find online. Whether you DIY or hire me to design you a plan, by understanding how training plans are written, you can make better day-to-day decisions when life throws you scheduling curve balls.

In the next two weeks, we’ll wrap up the half marathon series with pacing and fueling strategies for the race itself. See you then!

This is week #2 in May’s You Don’t Know the Half of It: Half Marathon blog series. Check out last week’s breakdown of half marathon workouts here. 

Don’t Know the Half of It: Half Marathon Long Run Essentials

Why a Long Run?

While the saying is, “You can half-ass a half marathon,” prioritizing the long run in your training can lead to faster times on the race clock.

A long run will…

• Make you more comfortable with the distance of the half marathon
• Build your cardiovascular system in ways shorter runs cannot
• Change your body on a cellular level into a powerhouse
• Increase your endurance for half marathon and beyond
• Increase your speed endurance for all distances by strengthening your aerobic system

The great thing about the long run for the half marathon, is that it isn’t as time consuming as the marathon’s long runs, but they should still be sacred in your eyes. Often times for frequent half-marathoners, their midweek training is already maxed out by time constraints, but improving their long run will go a long way to improving their half marathon performance.

How are you running your long runs?

Increase your long run by 1-2 mile or 15-20 minute increments. Since long runs for half marathons don’t build as high as marathon long runs, I often take the opportunity to increase long runs by 1 mile or 15 minute increments. Given the proper running base, we can get up to 15 or 16 miles, do some shorter long runs with a speed component, or both. These long run workouts boost confidence and fitness for the race when basic distance begins to feel easy.

Does my week support my long run?

Despite the wonderful benefits and values of a long run, you can’t just run 10 miles every Saturday and take the rest of the week off. You need appropriate shorter runs throughout the week to support your long run, to minimize injury risk, and keep fitness gains.

Preferably your shorter, maintenance runs will be half the distance of your long run. For example, regular runs of five miles supports a ten mile long run. Or looking at total mileage, your long run is 25-33% of your weekly mileage. Both of these guidelines are great for base running, but as you get deep into your training cycle, it may not be feasible. You may want to peak with a 16 mile long run, but be unable to increase your midweek mileage accordingly in that same span of time — this temporary imbalance can be OK with a strong running base. Just don’t make it a regular off-season occurrence.

You can also offset this imbalance between midweek miles and long run miles by developing a medium-distance run during your week. Maybe you can’t run 6 miles every midweek run, but you could on Wednesday. You might run 3 miles / 6 miles / 3 miles / 8 miles. Now you’re long run is at 40% of your weekly mileage. Add in another day of 3 miles, and you’re at 35%, further minimizing the injury risk from an “acutely long” long run.

Am I running my long run too fast?

Unless you’re purposefully running goal pace miles or another specific workout, your long run should be done at easy, conversational pace. These runs are about time on your feet and encouraging your body to improve its aerobic system, so don’t rush your long runs – you’ll lose the benefits.

If you find yourself slowing at the end of your long runs, try starting slower next time. You’re looking for a steady pace without panting, without unintended walking breaks, and with the ability to take a quick phone call or chat with a partner.

Read more about pacing the long run here. 

When am I ready for overdistance?

If you’ve…

1. Raced at least one half marathon,
2. Have a high-mileage base (ie, you’re already running 8-10 mile runs), and
3. Have the time to build the distance safely with proper rest

then you’re probably ready for overdistance runs. 13 or 14 miles may be enough stimulus for your first over-distance training cycle. Later, overdistance of 15 or 16 miles could be beneficial to make the half marathon feel more comfortable and build aerobic endurance.

When am I ready for speedwork within the long run?

1. When you’re ready to progress to overdistance or you already have,
2. You’ve already incorporated speedwork in shorter runs during the week, and
3. Your long runs feel easy.

Rather than continuing to pile on miles onto your long run to make it harder, you can sprinkle in a few faster miles to increase the difficulty of the workout.

Should I fuel my half marathon long runs?

Fueling is individual to everyone. For runs less than 16 miles, you may want to eat a small meal before your long run and run without mid-run fuel with the philosophy that your body will learn to more effectively burn its fuel stores. Or, you may want to fuel mid-run any run over 60 minutes. I at least recommend fueling for any “high quality” long run, such as race pace miles where performance is the goal vs time on your feet. Also, use one or two long runs to practice your race-day fueling to remember the logistics and test your stomach.

Learn more about fueling the long run here.

Can’t I just stick with a 8 (or other number) mile long run every week?

From a running science perspective, you introduce a stressor to trigger fitness gains. Eventually the body adapts to the stressor and fitness plateaus. By changing up the stressor – by changing the distance, pace, terrain – you improve. Keeping the same variables day after day will make you very efficient at those specific variables. Change it up to improve.

In the long run…

The long run takes up a lot of your time. Make sure you’re supporting it with reasonable midweek workouts and conscious decisions regarding fueling.

Then, make sure you’re getting what you need out of it. If not, switch things up. If you’re not sure what changes to make to your training cycle, I’d be happy to help. I do online coaching and custom plan designs.

Stay tuned next week on how to build a training plan for your half marathon. Maybe you won’t need my services after all.

Further Reading

• Beginner’s Guide to the Long Run
• Ultimate Guide: Building the Long Run
• Ultimate Guide: Pacing the Long Run
• Ultimate Guide: Fueling the Long Run + FAQ

This is the first article in our series You Don’t Know the Half of It — a series devoted to improving your times in the half marathon.

You Don’t Know the Half of It: Half Marathon Workouts

When choosing workouts for your half marathon training, remember that 80% of your workouts should be conversational pace or slower, building an aerobic base which is your engine for the entire race. 10% of your miles may be at goal pace to practice the pace and understand how it feels. And 10% of your miles may be faster than goal pace, which will help you feel more comfortable at goal pace.

Half Marathon Workouts: Slower than Goal Pace

Aerobic runs

Aerobic runs make up the bulk of your mileage (even at the elite level) and should be run at a comfortable conversational pace. Running at the correct pace trains your aerobic system more efficiently than if you run too fast. Read more about the physiology behind conversational pace here. 

A typical half-marathoner’s training week will include 3-4 aerobic or recovery (the slower-end of conversational pace) runs.

Long slow distance (LSD)

Your long runs should be more about time on your feet, and not running at a fast pace. Body adaptations occur due to length of workout, rather than speed. Consider measuring your long run by time, as that’s the variable that matters here. Read more about the long slow distance here.

Steady-state runs

Steady-state workouts are run at a slightly slower pace than your lactate-threshold pace. An easy-medium, if you will. Steady-state runs can be done during base training for additional stimulus to your aerobic system and teaching you to maintain consistent effort throughout a longer distance.

Steady-state pace should be sandwiched between 10-20 minutes of easy running as a warm-up and cool-down. Start with 20 minutes at steady-state pace and increase duration as your plan allows. You might build up to an hour of steady-steady running, not including the easy miles before and after. These workouts are great for base building, because they add variety and a different stimulus without taxing your body.

Learn more about steady-state runs here. 

Half Marathon Workouts: Goal Pace

Goal pace practice can be done in many ways, depending on your experience level. At all levels though, distance should be reined in to avoid overtraining. Training should spark body adaptations, not hurt your next workouts or your goal race.

Goal pace runs

Sandwich goal pace miles in between easy miles of a long warm up and cool down. This works well with a medium-long run in the middle of your week during the race-specific portion of your training cycle.

Start with 2 miles easy – working up to goal pace, run 4 miles at goal pace, then finish your run with 2 easy miles. You can build on this workout by adding more goal pace miles OR adding more easy miles at the end to train on tired legs.

Goal pace intervals

You can add in a recovery interval between your goal pace miles to make the miles less taxing on your body while still getting practice at goal pace. This workout will also teach you how to change gears multiple times during a race.

Try 2 miles easy, 1 mile goal pace, 1 mile easy, 1 mile goal pace, 2 miles easy and build from there.

Long run + goal pace

Finish a long run with 2-5 miles at goal pace after your legs are already tired. Be sure to do this workout with a long run distance you are already familiar with. Don’t add miles and speed at the same time. Also, less is more here. Running too many goal pace miles in a long run can quickly become a race effort and will hurt your race time weeks later.

Read more about this workout here. 

Half Marathon Workouts: Faster than Goal Pace

Strides

Strides are 100 meter accelerations that pack more punch than the effort they take. They can be added to base training at the end of easy runs to add a little speed. They are perfect at the end of a training cycle to tune-up leg turnover. And strides can be done as a pre-race warm-up to prime your system.

This is an easy way to sprinkle in some faster-than-goal-pace with less injury risk than other types of interval speedwork.

Add 2 strides to the end of one of your easy runs during base training, building to 6 or 8 strides. Put them in the middle of an aerobic run to learn gear changing and active recovery. The day before your race jog 2 miles and finish with 2-4 strides.

Read more about strides here.

Tempo runs

Half marathons are raced just below your lactate-threshold, so running lactate-threshold runs have a two-fold purpose. By running lactate threshold runs, you push your lactate-threshold back. So you’ll be able to run faster with less fatigue. Second, by running faster than goal pace, running at goal pace will feel easier.

Again, oftentimes, these workouts are run too fast. Your lactate threshold is near your one-hour race pace. Start with 15 minutes of lactate-threshold pace sandwiched between easy warm up and cool down miles. Build from there. This is another workout that should leave you feeling good and will pack more punch than its effort.

Learn more about tempo runs and the half marathon here.

Interval speedwork

Some may benefit from interval speedwork for the half marathon, but I would first prioritize and maximize workouts that I’ve already discussed, since they help with speed endurance and aerobic strength needed for the half marathon distance.

Longer distance intervals such as mile repeats and 800 meters will be more effective for half-marathoners than shorter sprints. Use shorter recovery periods to push your anaerobic threshold. These workouts should total 4-6 miles with warm up and cool down and be included in the final mesocycle to tune up legs in race preparation.

Putting it all together

Keeping periodization in mind, build your base with aerobic runs with steady-state runs and strides. As you increase your long run, add in tempo runs and goal pace runs. Then, sprinkle in faster miles with a tune-up race or some mile repeats at goal pace to be ready for race day.

Next week, we’ll be talking about the cornerstone of the half marathon workouts — the long run. See you then.

Missed part of the guide? Read Week 1 on building long run mileage and Week 2 on pacing the long run and advanced long run workouts.

Ultimate Guide: Fueling the Long Run

For races, it’s clear that fueling improves your performance. With your tanks constantly topped off, your body will freely burn its engines hotter. Otherwise, it will protect its depleting stores, sacrificing speed and performance. For training, opinions vary on how you should manipulate your fuel to trigger body adaptations. Fasting inhibits hormones needed for protein synthesis which can hurt your recovery and strength building, but may encourage your body to burn fat more effectively. We’re still waiting for science to come to a solid conclusion on this one.

Either way, fueling is highly personal and what works for one person might be just the absolute worst for you. Depending on body weight and intensity of the run, you may need 100-250 calories (25-60 grams of carbs) per hour for runs over 75 minutes. This often takes the form of eating a small snack before your run and consuming sports drink and/or energy gels + water throughout your long runs.

Jelly beans – cheap fuel

Experiment to find your strategy

In the last year, I’ve changed how I fuel. When I fueled any run over 90 minutes and only used gels, I felt spikes and crashes in energy and felt dependent on my next sugar fix during my run. Now, I fuel any run of 16+ miles and shorter high quality runs (ie long tempo runs, race pace runs). I eat before my run, frequently sip sports drink during the run, and consume gels + water when needed. These changes led to steadier energy levels for me for both fueled and unfueled runs. So, be sure to experiment with your fueling and find what works best for you.

Practice fueling during long runs

Even if you don’t regularly fuel your long runs, they are perfect time to practice race-day fueling. With practice, you’ll know which foods work best for you and when to eat them. You’ll also master eating while on the move.

After you have a routine down, you can minimize your practice runs. Although I always recommend one practice run each racing season to make sure your tried-and-true is still working and to prime your stomach for eating & running.

Read more:

• Interview with Barbara Casaceli, RD: Are You Eating Well Enough to Run Your Best?
• Mid-Run Fuel Options
• Gluten Free Mid-Run Fuel Options

Ultimate Guide: FAQ about the Long Run

1. Can I split the long run into an AM and a PM run?

While it’s better than missing the run completely, you’ll lose many of the benefits when you split up the run. Most of the magic from the long run come after spending a couple of hours on your feet. When you take a midday break, your glycogen stores will replenish, you’ll rehydrate, and your muscles will start to recover. For the most race-specific training, avoid splitting up your long run. If you do, don’t do it every week; split it unevenly, trying to get as long of a first run as possible; and try to minimize the time between the runs.

2. Isn’t it better to run closer to my goal race pace than slower?

Not necessarily. Running firmly in your aerobic zone will more efficiently train your body and prepare you for race day. I often have clients that want to run fast during their shorter long runs, but when I add distance, they drastically slow down and suddenly require walking breaks. They haven’t been training in the correct zone to prepare them for the added miles. And that’s something  you definitely don’t want to discover on race day.

Running fast for your LSD (long slow distance) and easy recovery runs risks overtraining. Save your speed and effort for runs requiring it. Additionally, long runs are beneficial by the amount of time spent on your feet. Training runs are often already shorter than your race distance, so less time on your feet means less conditioning.

Read more: Pace Zones and Their Benefits

3. What should my longest long run be?

Your longest long run will depend on a number of factors.

• Goal race: Marathoners typically should have a long run of 16 miles or more. Half marathoners can make do between 8 mi and 16 mi, depending on…
• Experience: First time half-marathoners could run a 10 mile long run. Experienced half-marathoners looking to improve may run a 16 mile long run.
• Time available: Don’t aggressively increase your mileage just to hit a certain long run distance. Don’t cut into your taper/rest time to fit in one more longest-long run. It’s better to arrive at the race slightly undertrained than with an overtrained, tired, or injured body. Increase your long run appropriately with the time you have available.
• Added difficulty: You may find making your long run harder by adding fartleks or race pace miles may be more beneficial than blindly increasing your long run.

Read more: Choosing Marathon Plans and Writing Marathon Plans

4. What should I do the day before and after?

The long run is a quality run. Don’t run hard the day before or after (unless purposefully doing back-to-back hard runs to train for an ultramarathon or endurance event). Consider an easy run or cross-training the day after to keep your legs moving and recovering without too much added stress. Eat well to encourage physiological adaptations post-run.

Read more: 10 Things to Do After Your Run

5. What about a long run every other week?

A long run every 14 days can be great during the off-season when you aren’t specifically training for a race. During the racing season, 5K and 10K specialists might swap out a long run for another race-specific quality run, cutting down their number of long runs. For those who are injury prone or simply need more recovery time, every other week builds in more recuperation time between bouts.

For those training for the marathon or even half marathon, who would like to increase time between long runs, I’d recommend a 9 or 10-day block schedule, rather than 14. You can also consider adding more frequent cutback weeks. The long run is simply crucial to long-distance races and it will be difficult to effectively prepare with only 2 long runs a month.

Read more: Extending Training ‘Week’ by Training Peaks

6. Tips for unexpected stomach trouble during a fueled race?

If you encounter stomach trouble during your race, have crackers or pretzels ready to help settle your stomach. If you can’t handle any more fuel, swish sports drink in your mouth and spit it out. Your brain will signal to your body that fuel is on the way and will keep the engines burning hot, but it won’t add to your stomach woes.

Any more questions?

If you have a question about the long run, please add them to the comments for me and the other readers to answer.

I hope you enjoyed this series on the long run. Next month I’ll be breaking down the half marathon and in June – the full marathon. See you then!

This is Part Two of a three-week series. Last week we talked distance and how to build your long run. Check it out here. 

Ultimate Guide: Pacing the Long Run

LSD: Long, Slow Distance

The long slow distance is crucial for training for long distance races. Running at conversational, aerobic pace increases your endurance, strengthens your cardiovascular and respiratory systems, primes your energy systems, and basically builds a strong running engine that will support you for hours… days even.

The long slow distance is run at an easy to easy-moderate pace. Your easy pace is a wide range varying day-to-day. It can swing by as much as 30-40 seconds in either direction. It depends on temperature, terrain, your recovery status from earlier runs, your mood, etc.

Your easy pace is about a minute slower than your marathon race pace, and 1:20 slower than your half marathon race pace. For example, if you have a recent half marathon time of 2:00 hours (9:11 pace), your easy/long run pace will be around 10:35. If you don’t have a relevant race time to use, run at a pace where you can comfortably finish the distance. If you find yourself slowing down in the last few miles or taking walking breaks, start slower next time.

Whether you have a guideline pace or not, pay attention to your breathing and heart rate — don’t press too hard. The distance itself is the training stressor; appreciate the mental training and the time on your feet.

Why would I run that slow?

For those trying to hit a goal time in the marathon or half marathon, it can be frustrating to “run that slow”. But, training runs are not races. They are part of a conditioning series and are only one workout in your week. You have to take into account all your workouts leading up to the long run and all your workouts you plan to do after.

With tapering and rest leading up to your race, you’ll be able to race faster than you’ve trained.

Read more: Pace zones and their benefits

Ultimate Guide: Pacing the Long Run for Advanced Runners

For experienced runners with high mileage bases, covering the distance of a long run might not faze them. I experienced that first hand this year. I ran 18 miles on a Saturday and 9 miles on a Sunday with no signs of soreness or fatigue. The distance itself wasn’t stressing. And I still had over two months to train for my marathon.

Rather than piling on excessive miles to make the long run hard, I added intensity to the long run. And I’ll tell you that it doesn’t take much. Here are four ways to add difficulty to the long run, if the distance is just not enough.

Race Pace

Finish your run with miles at goal race pace. For shorter long runs, you can do a few warm up miles and complete the majority of the run at race pace. For longer long runs, do the majority of the run at easy pace to tire your legs, then test yourself with a few miles of race pace at the end. You’d be surprised what 3-5 fast miles can do.

Read More: Long Run + Race Pace for half marathoners

Fartlek

Take the middle miles of your long run and run a fartlek workout. You can run it unstructured — fast for a few minutes, back to easy pace, medium for a mile, etc. Or you can set up some structure to it. Either way, you add variety to the mental monotony of the long run and teach your legs to change gears during a long distance, helpful for passing other runners or picking it back up after a bad patch.

Read more: Structured fartlek runs

Progression runs

A progression run, where you build speed as the run continues, can be done with marathon pace. After several miles of easy pace, you can speed up by 10 seconds/mile until you reach marathon pace for a mile or a few miles. For shorter long runs, you could even end a bit faster than your marathon pace. This workout will teach you how to push when it’s hard.

Read more: Boost your finish with progression runs

Tempo pace

Are you seriously still looking for more intensity? Well, fine. Sandwich your easy pace long run with lactate threshold pace miles. After a warm up, run cruise intervals about 15 sec/mile faster than marathon pace, then the bulk of your long run, followed by another set of cruise intervals. Running harder in practice, will make your marathon pace feel easier on race day.

Check out the details of this workout on Competitor.

Read more: Tempo runs

One Variable at a Time

Do not increase distance and intensity at the same time. Let me say that again. Do not increase distance and intensity at the same time. That’s why these are advanced workouts. If you’ve never run an 18 miler, now is not the time to add in race pace miles.

Periodization

These advanced runs should be done at the end of your training cycle, right before your pre-race taper. Early in the season prioritize your mileage base and mid-week quality runs. As your long run reaches your greatest distance and your race gets closer, you can add faster miles to increase the difficulty of your long run and fine tune your fitness for race day.

Read more: Macrocycles & Mesocycles

Pacing the Long Run

The easy pace of long runs has a purpose – a great many purposes. Don’t throw them away lightly. Be smart about your pacing in advanced long runs to avoid overexertion and overtraining. The test isn’t the workouts; it’s race day.

If you’re interested in getting a training plan with long runs customized to your experience and goals, check out my plan design services here.

For the last week in the Ultimate Guide to Long Runs series, I’ll answer frequently asked questions concerning the long run and discuss fueling. See you next week!

While the Beginner’s Guide to the Long Run explained how to get started, it’s time to answer some advanced questions. This three-week series starts with effectively building the long run during your training season.

Ultimate Guide: Building the Long Run

Base Mileage Long Run

When you’re not training for something, what’s your default weekly mileage? What mileage feels relatively easy to keep up? This is your base mileage.

Your long run during your base mileage can be 25-33% of your weekly mileage. So, 30 miles per week (MPW) would include a 7-10 mile long run. Even base mileage can benefit from variety. You might run 7 miles three out of the four Saturdays, and 10 miles on the fourth Saturday.

Read more: How to Build a Mileage Base

Building the Long Run

Often times you’ll have to increase your long run to prepare for a long-distance race. You’ll need to build up your shorter runs to support your long run, although it’s typically necessary to skew the percentage your long run takes from your weekly mileage into 40-50% of your week’s mileage, especially for the marathon. This is temporary and still must be done with care.

It’s traditional to build the long run in 2 mile or 15 minute increments. This both feels doable when facing the workout and allows you to make significant gains within a month. You’ll find long runs are taxing and you won’t benefit from charging upward relentlessly or indefinitely. That’s where recovery weeks come in.

Read more: Balancing Rest and Running 

Recovery weeks

Recovery or cutback weeks are necessary to give your body time to actually adapt to these workouts. You might take a large cutback in your miles every 4-6 weeks, or a less intense cutback every third week. Recovery weeks are crucial as you aggressively add miles or intensity. The best pattern for active recovery weeks is dependent on the runner.

I use “time on feet” to decide the right cutback for a long run. Depending on experience and mileage, 90 min, 2 hour, or 2.5 hour runs might be appropriate. If last week’s long run was a 2.5 hour, 15 mile long run. I’d assign a 90 minute long run as recovery, dividing by pace to get 9 miles. Thinking about ‘time on feet’ makes you consider what would actually be a break, rather than just cutting a few miles off the top.

Overdistance

If you start with a higher mileage base, you can build your mileage less aggressively and reach distances over your race distance. For a half marathon, long runs of 15-16 miles can build your endurance, improving your half marathon performance.

If you’re starting with a lower mileage base, it’s risky to aggressively build to overdistance amounts. In this case you’ll often perform better on race day if you don’t reach the race distance in training. Pushing too hard can lead to overtraining and the sluggish, exhausted body that comes with it.

Read More: Overtraining – Just Say No

Your Longest Long Run

Runs over three hours are taxing on the body and require a lot of recovery. There’s only so much fitness that one run can build, and it’s going to hurt the rest of your week. Runs of 3.5-4 hours should be carefully planned with a purpose in mind.

The 20 miler most runners do in preparation for a marathon typically falls into that time range. This run can be an extreme confidence booster, but also exhausting. Consider the long runs before and after it and adjust all three accordingly.

Balance time on your feet and recovery to decide the length of your longest run. You can perform well with a longest run of only 16 miles or even if you unintentionally miss your longest run. There is no magic in 20, but the magic you give it.

Tapering

Schedule your longest/hardest long run 2-3 weeks out from your marathon. A one week taper is usually sufficient for a half marathon. Longer tapers might be beneficial if you’re running overdistance.

Don’t just blindly do the traditional 12 mi/8 mi for your marathon taper. If your pace is slower, you might end up with less rest than other racers. You need just as much rest as them! Consider time on feet — 120 minutes/60-75 minutes might be a better guideline.

Read More: How to Taper & How to Not Go Crazy During a Taper

Adding Races while Building the Long Run

A relevant, tune-up race is worth its weight in gold, even at the expense of one of your long runs. However, too many races can butt into your long run training, making it difficult to safely increase mileage and the gains that come with it. A compromise can be made by adding warm up miles and cool down miles to races to make them long runs.

Read More: 5 Race Scheduling Mistakes

A Harder Long Run?

As you start, the distance of the long run is stimulus enough. If you’re experienced and have settled into high mileage, you’ll need to make the long run harder – and that doesn’t necessarily mean adding more miles. Next week we’ll talk pacing about the long slow run and some of its speedier counterparts.

During my taper, when I attempted my goal pace 9:32 min/mile (4:10 marathon), it felt awful. To be honest, anything faster than 10 min/mile seemed absurd to me. But, despite missing a lot of final runs, I had a strong running base and had gotten in some good training so I needed to pluck up the courage and line up behind the starting line.

2018 Skidaway Island Marathon Recap

The Skidaway Island Marathon is the only locally run marathon in Savannah. It’s a small race but well-organized. I started in the first corral and ran the first few miles with the 4:15 pace group to warm up.

Credit: Corey Brooks

The pace group had a talkative person in their midst, so I pulled ahead for some solitude. In the first few miles, it was clear that the mile markers were off by about a third of a mile. I wasn’t sure if they’d work out in the end or if the course was long. I wondered if I should speed up to make my goal time.

The course slinks and loops around Skidaway Island with just a couple obvious out-and-backs. Most of the course is within the gated community of The Landings with water views, flat lands, and shady roads.

Since it’s a gated community, times that I might have had TH (The Husband) for a gear or fuel change-out was not possible. I did appreciate the offering of water bottles along with the regular water cups at the aid stations. It made consuming my gels a lot easier on the run.

Credit: Corey Brooks

During some of the middle miles, I ran with someone going same pace. We said good morning and that was it. It was nice though to have someone next to me and not have the chatter of the pace group. Eventually he fell back and another man took his place. Then I was on my own again.

I was able to take in all my planned fuel, which was great. I didn’t hit the wall, which I was thankful for. A lot of runners walked through the aid stations, which seemed really tempting in the last miles, but I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to start back up again.

Credit: Corey Brooks

The Last Six

In my last marathon, I was hurting for the last six miles. My feet felt like concrete and I was just trying to hold it all together. This race, I had to remind myself to stay focused but I kept good form and even picked up speed.

TH found me toward the end of the race and ran with me for a bit. It was really nice to get that extra encouragement, especially in those last miles.

A song came up on my playlist with the line “This is what we do.” And in that state, any stupid song speaks to me. And here we all were. Nobody was feeling great in the last few miles, but we kept moving forward. Cause this is what we do.

This is what we do. Death Face. Credit: Corey Brooks

The 4:15-pacer picked up pace to finish in 4:15. He didn’t have anyone with him anymore. He also reported that the race was long, so he was having to correct. I was running 9:22 and I couldn’t keep up with him. I ran my fastest mile split for mile 24.

Marathon #4 Complete

I finished the race in 4:16:10 which is a 5 second PR. My GPS did clock an extra third of a mile, which is about 3 minutes of running time. I raced steady and strong. I didn’t have any miles slower than 9:58. All my splits were in a 39-second window. I recovered well, only my obliques (good posture, anyone?) and quads were sore for a couple of days.

Although it was long, the course was beautiful and well-marked. The volunteers were fabulous. I really appreciate the hospitality of The Landings residents and the hard work of Endurance Race Services.

Credit: Corey Brooks

While it was months of work for 5 seconds, my performance was strong. I’m thankful for my body to carry me 26.5 miles.

I still wonder what I’m battling. I’ve tried to care for my body’s needs, but I feel like I’ve been failing it and it’s been failing me more often than not in the last couple of months. But that day, it felt good. I’m proud that my body could battle and show up for this race.

I’m in for a bit of an off-season, but it’s what my body needs. And I’ll continue to care for it and it will continue to carry me.