% of long run vs total weekly mileage (Read 345 times)

I am using a Running-Wizard plan right now and really love it. I do my weekend long run with a friend who has been running off and on for at least the past ten years. She is a "recreational runner" in that she doesn't care what pace she runs, she never runs anything other than easy, and doesn't race. We enjoy our time together for our long run though and our paces match pretty closely, I probably "push her pace" just a bit if anything. She recently dropped a run and now only runs five miles three times a week, and then our long run over the weekend. This means that she is running about fifteen miles max during the week, but then we run around fourteen miles together. Last weekend I ill so she went out by herself and ran seventeen miles! She did say she was not running fast, so I am guessing around a ten minute mile pace. I am worried that having her long run be such a dramatic percentage of her total weekly mileage is ultimately not going to be good for her. Is there harm in her long run being so long compared to her weekly mileage? Or since it is a fairly regular thing and we run easy (9:20's when we are together) does it not really matter?

I'm a fan of the long run being a max of 20% of weekly volume. I think the number of times you run in a week is just so much more important than any single run and would rather see a bunch of shorter doubles than some crazy long run.

Personally, it's worked really well for me. I don't think I've ever run over 14 miles and currently my longest runs hardly ever eclipse 13 miles and I'm running 70+ mpw. Granted, if you're doing marathons longer runs become more important, but even then I believe that running more often trumps any single run's mileage.

If she is a recreational runner with no goals and she is not being injured by the runs, what does the mileage matter? She obviously enjoys the runs. If the pace is easy for her then I wouldn't worry about it. 30 miles a week is not a ton of mileage.

+1.  If she was training for performance, it would matter.  If she's just running to run--and not getting injured--it doesn't.

 You answered your own question....she's doing her own thing and doing what makes her feel good. It's not like her legs are going to fall off if she violates the 30% rule. There's nothing to criticize because there's absolutely nothing wrong here.

Everyone is different. One summer I trained for a 15 mile race and ran my best time for that race

I was only doing 2 x 5 and a long run. So some weeks my long run was over 50% of my miles

I'm a fan of the long run being a max of 20% of weekly volume. I think the number of times you run in a week is just so much more important than any single run and would rather see a bunch of shorter doubles than some crazy long run.

My thoughts exactly.

I wouldn't think her body would like it after a few times of doing 1 run a week that is 50% longer than her other runs per week, combined. I know for the month that my hubby's work schedule changed and my mid/longish run was stuck at 9 miles do to a time constraint, while my LR Saturdays kept adding mileage each week, ultimately resulting in my LR being almost double any other run distance, my body let me know it towards the end of my LRs that is underappreciated the large distance differential. So it wasn't necessarily my LR that was the issue though, it was that no other run was even close. I would think she would be fine if one of her runs was a nice inbetween distance to compliment her LR.

So I realized on my own that to run my LR mileage, I needed to have a mid/LR to compliment it. But I am also full marathon training with a time goal.

There is something so magical sounding about just running whatever whenever, so I am a bit jealous of anybody who does at this point. Your friend sounds dreamy! I don't think I would crush her dream and haphazard way of running unless she started complaining of an injury or lack of endurance and asked my opinion. But until then, I think I'd just enjoy her company.

Yeah, the more I read the more I am inclined to agree, I am just not sure of how I should approach talking to her about it. Does injury go up? Will it just be hard to recover? Is it just not a good idea? For someone totally unconcerned about race performance and the like, it's hard to argue with the fact that she would rather just go about doing her own thing and run as long as she feels good. She was extremely proud of herself for running farther than she ever has before, and I don't want to hurt her feelings or criticize

So don't.

It's going to be ok.  Over time, learn if she has any 'secret goals' she hasn't verbalized (some people do this) and if so, start talking about how YOU might approach it.

mpw over time (aka 'total volume') is way more important than the long run.  That's good feedback, but there's no need to parade rain at this point.

That said, I dunno about the 20% thing.  Some people go with "max run is a third of weekly volume".  Every now and then, my max run has been 50%.  But not consistently.  Point being, it's good to have a guideline out there, and that number is probably smaller than most new-ish folks think... but honestly, it's a bit complicated by the idea that some folks really really want to "do" a marathon or ultra on pretty low mpw. I know lots of folks who have "done" a marathon on 40mpw average-over-time... but if they'd capped their long runs at 8 miles (20%) that might have been ugly.  Should they not have attempted their marathons on 40mpw?  Eh, we can go round and round on that.  But they did... and got out of it what they wanted to get out of it.

But if this person is always running easy and just getting out there to get out there, and isn't complaining about being hurt, then just let it be.  Over time, some folks stay like that.  Others begin to get itchy to race.  Then it may become more important. Or not.