Midweek Medium-Long Run - Strong Ally to the all Important Long Run

Basically, the long run (LR) is the fundamental corner stone to Marathon Training Programs. I think most can agree on that.

What is happening in the LR that is so important?

Around the 90 to 120 minutes into a run the body starts to run out of glycogen stores, remember that glycogen is one of those essential ingredients for our energy production process, and as a result our bodies look for a way to accommodate for this problem. The physiological adaptation that occurs is the muscles are taught to conserve fuel (glycogen). So the more long runs the more fine tuned this physiological adaptation becomes. One article I read suggested it takes years for this benefit to really be fine tuned, maybe that is a topic for another day.

Note: This physiological adaptation kicks in at 90 to 120 minutes irregardless of how fast you run.... so why run fast and unnecessarily breakdown your muscles, compromising next week runs? Are you hearing me?

Knowing what we know about the importance of LR, lets now shift off the LR and now take a poke at the MLR.

• They last between 90 and 120 minutes, but never longer than that (i.e. 16 to 24 km);
• They are short enough that you can add some spice to the run by integrating a variety of intensities or not (this is for all you fleet footed SOB's); and
• Separate your MLR and LR by 60 to 72 hours in a weekly schedule. For example if you do your LR on Sunday, do your MLR on Wednesday or Thursday.

So if you want to add another workout in your weekly plan that will trigger the physiological adaption of teaching your muscles to conserve fuel and one you can do at a variety of intensities and does not have a prolonged recovery the MLR is the ticket.

Mikey