How important is the Long Run in this system?

Training Advice/Discussion 5k/10k

15 years ago 10/03/2008 8:38pm EDT

So, I'm a senior in HS, and I was wondering about how I should spend my weekends in my system for XC and Track (training is pretty much identical, same coach, small school)

My week pretty much goes...

Monday- Race

Tues- Easy Run

Wednesday- Track/hill work

Thursday- Track/hill work (whichever we hadn't done the day before)

Friday- Easy or Tempo

And that gets me anything from 20 to 28 miles. What I've been doing over the weekends has been a run of 11-12 miles on Saturday, then 5 easy on Sunday, so most weeks I'm getting into the 40s.

I'm wondering, am I wasting my time with all the miles on the weekend? No one else on the team runs more than 8 miles on the weekend, and I'm not getting better any faster than they are or anything. Is that extra mileage really necessary in the system? Am I just spending energy on aerobic development that could be better used for higher quality workouts during the week?

Full disclosure, I'm about a 10:45 3200m guy, so I'm not great, even by high school standards.

15 years ago 10/03/2008 9:19pm EDT

re: Long Run?

[quote]Long Run? wrote:

My week pretty much goes...

Monday- Race

Tues- Easy Run

Wednesday- Track/hill work

Thursday- Track/hill work (whichever we hadn\'t done the day before)

Friday- Easy or Tempo

Saturday and Sunday? You race on Monday?

--------------

Monday:race

Tuesday- rest/PM: 5 easy

Wednsday-am 4-5 tempo/pm: 8-10 Long run

Thursday-am 3 easy/pm: 3 easy

Friday-am:4 fartlek 2-3 minutes sessions/ pm:speed (track/grass)

Saturday- 6 easy

Sunday- rest or 3 easy

15 years ago 10/03/2008 9:38pm EDT

re: Long Run?

Your two hard days back to back may be the main issue with your lack of improvement. For most high school athletes a hard/easy/hard approach may be best.

15 years ago 10/03/2008 9:48pm EDT

re: Long Run?

Here's what you do: go easy on your coached hard workouts and work your way up to 50-65 miles per week. I followed a similar training strategy in high school, my pr's were 4:42 and 10:17. This past year I got up to 80 miles a week and hit 4:21 and 9:16. Granted that's a few years down the line, but the main difference was I mainly focused on tempo runs. Before the mile pr I did maybe 3-4 workouts of 200's or 400's at mile pace. These are aerobic races.

Mileage will make you better, and that is the main reason you aren't running that well. There is no way you are going to reach anything approaching your potential on 30-40 miles a week.

15 years ago 10/04/2008 7:36pm EDT

re: Long Run?

You need recovery. In HS, a day off is almost always necessary. Also, I agree that 2 hard days in a row is probably a bad idea at this point in time. (And then a possible tempo on Friday?... take it easy man.)

If your recovery goes well, so will your training.

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How important is the Long Run in this system?

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