Forums >General Running>How long should be the duration of long run two weeks before the big day?
I often here that your longest training run should be 3-4 weeks before the big day. My big day is March 7th (4 weeks from now). I have been doing long runs every other week and they were 3hr, 3hr, 3hr, 4hr and 5hr. I will do one more long run after 2 weeks; I am not sure how long should that be. I would love to hear your thoughts about it.
About big day: I want to try moving for most of the day.
What's the big day? Marathon, 50k, 50M?
Based on your long runs, I'm guessing you are running a 50M race. You have a bunch of really, really long runs already...and by long, I mean based on time. I don't see what's to gain by pounding out another 4-5 hour run within 2 weeks of a big race. I'd probably do a solid run in the 2.5 hour range. Solid effort, but easy to recover from. My experience is limited, so there's that.
Off topic: In glancing at your log, I see you running your easy days around 8:45, sometimes less. Unless the terrain is really different, I'm curious why you do your 17 - 20 mile long efforts at up to 13:00 pace. I assume you are doing significant hiking, but not sure the reasoning.
What's the big day? Marathon, 50k, 50M? Based on your long runs, I'm guessing you are running a 50M race. You have a bunch of really, really long runs already...and by long, I mean based on time. I don't see what's to gain by pounding out another 4-5 hour run within 2 weeks of a big race. I'd probably do a solid run in the 2.5 hour range. Solid effort, but easy to recover from. My experience is limited, so there's that. Off topic: In glancing at your log, I see you running your easy days around 8:45, sometimes less. Unless the terrain is really different, I'm curious why you do your 17 - 20 mile long efforts at up to 13:00 pace. I assume you are doing significant hiking, but not sure the reasoning.
Thanks for your feedback.
On the big day I would love to cover 50 mile. I am trying to do this on local trails which are rocky, but not much total elevation gain; 4500-7000 feet of total elevation gain depending on which routes I feel like doing on that day.
You guessed it right about the pace due to terrain and hiking. Most of my easy days are on flat with hardly any elevation gain. I do long run on trails. For example, the last 26 miler was on rocky trails with total elevation gain of ~3300 feet. The 13:00 pace 20 miler that you mentioned was on runable, but rolling hills with total elevation gain of ~5600 feet. I suck at climbing and have to hike a lot on uphills.
Chief Endurance Dork
I agree with the previous poster that it'll depend on what your race distance is. But also it'll depend on when your last long run was -- was it the 5 hour run? And how long before the race was that? If it was at the 4 week mark, then I would stick to around 2 hours at the 2 week mark, and then roughly 75-90 minutes one week before for a last shake-down.
endurancenerd.com
Yes, it was the 5 hour run. And it was 4 weeks before the 'race'.