3 Hour Long Run - How Often (Read 2921 times)

Is this a question of units of measure? Instead of asking if one should run over 3 hours, maybe the question should be something like this: "Should I spend as much time in a long run as it takes me to run a marathon?"

That's why I referenced my performance in a hilly trail 50k, which took me 3:51. I finished 5 minutes behind Mark Lundblad, who won the largest ultra in the country, the JFK 50 miler just a few months prior.

My longest training run in the 6 months prior to that effort was 16.6 miles, just under 2 hours. (I did have lots of 80-90 mile weeks, and I ran a certain hilly marathon in November.)

Maybe if you had run some 3 hour runs you would have finished first.

Maybe so, ya troll.

All I'm saying is that I was able to run a strong effort for 4 hours without doing a single 3 hour run in training--an effort that came within probably 15 minutes of any record that will be set on that course over the next 10 years. So, perhaps we can assume from that the addition of 3 hour training runs wouldn't be the "key" to completing a 4 hour race.

If you like 3 hour runs, go for them. Just don't assume that you are doing them because they are a necessary aspect of training.

 

 

So, perhaps we can assume from that the addition of 3 hour training runs wouldn't be the "key" to completing a 4 hour race.

 

If you like 3 hour runs, go for them. Just don't assume that you are doing them because they are a necessary aspect of training.

I guess not 3-hour training runs per se.  But I just looked at the runs prior to my 4:05 marathon.  All around 3 hours.  I don't think a 3:30 marathoner ever really needs to do 3 hour training runs. But for a 4-hour marathoner, the 20-milers seem to work out to about 3 hours. 

I think I just gained a new kind of respect for people who run 4:30+ marathons. 

Man, I need to get faster.  It's gonna be a new kind of Spring (I hope).

True.  And for whatever reason, those 20-milers didn't get where I wanted to be at all. Plus, my gut feeling is the reason for this was that I did not run enough of them (and 2 other excuses/lessons learned). 

mta: Next time around, I will not consider myself ready for a marathon unless, 4 weeks out, I can run a 20-miler with the same ease with which I ran a 12-miler 8 weeks out.   

True.  And for whatever reason, those 20-milers didn't get where I wanted to be at all. Plus, my gut feeling is the reason for this was that I did not run enough of them (and 2 other excuses/lessons learned). 

 

mta: Next time around, I will not consider myself ready for a marathon unless, 4 weeks out, I can run a 20-miler with the same ease with which I ran a 12-miler 8 weeks out.   

That's a pretty common gut feeling after a first marathon.  I'm pretty sure that was my gut feeling after my first few marathons.  Much later I proved to myself beyond a doubt that the number of 20+ mile training runs I did in a cycle had little or nothing to do with my marathon performance and if anything the fewer of them I did, the faster I ran.

A good question would be "how long does Mark Lundblad run in training?"

Why?

I bet Mark runs much longer runs than I do in training. But he is also a much more experienced ultra runner, and he focuses on the 50 mile distance, which is 6+ hours of running. I'm a newbie to marathoning and particularly to ultras. I've only been at it three years. That's why I don't do many of the really long runs. I don't have the experience or the strength to benefit from them. If anything, my experience is more relevant to the newbie marathoner (it was the third ultra of my life) than Mark's would be.

(FWIW, in reference to Trent's earlier comment, Mark put those 5 minutes on me over the first half of the course. I was actually closing over the last third of the run--though we both slowed some. Might have had something to do with the fact that miles 27-30 were straight uphill. I also beat a guy who got third at the US 100 mile trail championships the July before. He does much longer runs than I do in training, but less overall mileage.)