Advice on Timing Long Training Runs

[KeyLargoCards]

All, any advice would be welcome! Training for the 1/9 Marathon following the Galloway training plan. I missed my 10/16 17 mile run due to being at Food & Wine Festival (I know, don't cry for me). So, I made up the 17 miler the following w/end(10/23) and am now trying to get back on track. Technically, there is supposed to be a 20 miler on 11/6 & another long run on 11/27. I have a day off work on 11/4 though, and am considering moving that 20 mile up 2 days to 11/4.

My question: With just ~12 days since my 17 miler, is 11/4 to soon to do the 20 miler. My body feels fine now, but curious as to everyone's thoughts.

Thank you!

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

If you feel fine how, then 12 days of recovery should be fine. That said, there's been plenty of posts elsewhere about just how beneficial those long runs really are vs keeping the distance runs a bit shorter to reduce the amount of recovery time. I know that for myself, I'd be ecstatic to hit 15 miles, much less something longer.

 

[DopeyBadger]

All, any advice would be welcome! Training for the 1/9 Marathon following the Galloway training plan. I missed my 10/16 17 mile run due to being at Food & Wine Festival (I know, don't cry for me). So, I made up the 17 miler the following w/end(10/23) and am now trying to get back on track. Technically, there is supposed to be a 20 miler on 11/6 & another long run on 11/27. I have a day off work on 11/4 though, and am considering moving that 20 mile up 2 days to 11/4.

My question: With just ~12 days since my 17 miler, is 11/4 to soon to do the 20 miler. My body feels fine now, but curious as to everyone's thoughts.

Thank you!

My advice is that if the 20 miler fits best with your schedule on 11/4, then go ahead and try. But I'd advise going slower than the "current fitness M Tempo" + 2 min (classic Galloway LR pace) you normally would on a long run and ease into it given the reduced time between these runs then what the original author intended. If at any point your pace begins to fade (the pace slows and you're unable to maintain scheduled pace anymore), and the fade is not because of hills/heat, then be prepared to pull the plug on your run. Any more than a 20-30 sec/mile fade is too much. If your body fades during a training run, then it's a sign the training is too much. You're better off pulling the plug than grinding through it. It's the rule of "one more". Every training run should end with a feeling that if you wanted to do "one more" you could have. Be it an extra mile or an extra speed interval. There's minimal benefit to pushing beyond what we're currently capable of. It's hard to train too slow. It's easy to train too fast or too much.

 

[KeyLargoCards]

Appreciate the feedback from both of you! We'll start out and see how it goes...

 

[kps7795]

My advice is that if the 20 miler fits best with your schedule on 11/4, then go ahead and try. But I'd advise going slower than the "current fitness M Tempo" + 2 min (classic Galloway LR pace) you normally would on a long run and ease into it given the reduced time between these runs then what the original author intended. If at any point your pace begins to fade (the pace slows and you're unable to maintain scheduled pace anymore), and the fade is not because of hills/heat, then be prepared to pull the plug on your run. Any more than a 20-30 sec/mile fade is too much. If your body fades during a training run, then it's a sign the training is too much. You're better off pulling the plug than grinding through it. It's the rule of "one more". Every training run should end with a feeling that if you wanted to do "one more" you could have. Be it an extra mile or an extra speed interval. There's minimal benefit to pushing beyond what we're currently capable of. It's hard to train too slow. It's easy to train too fast or too much.

I love this rule...never heard it before either. At the end of my easy run yesterday (4 miles), I was thinking to myself that I could easily go for another mile or more. It made me crack a huge dopey (pun intended) grin as my run was winding down.

 

[DopeyBadger]

I love this rule...never heard it before either. At the end of my easy run yesterday (4 miles), I was thinking to myself that I could easily go for another mile or more. It made me crack a huge dopey (pun intended) grin as my run was winding down.

Rule of "one more"
Rule of "train slow to race fast"
Rule of "save it for race day"
Rule of "easy isn't easy unless it feels easy"
Rule of "trust the training"

There are lots of good phrases that help keep us in line when training.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Thought of two more!

Rule of "just because you can, doesn't mean you should"
Rule of "don't survive the training, thrive because of it"