Jess runs for bacon
Just curious to see where everyone does their long runs. Do you stay in the neighborhood? Do you go on trails? Loops?
Looking for some ideas for my marathon training and wanted to pick your brains.
Team TJ
I just stay in the hood. My daily run is 1 lap plus 1 street. Long run = multiple laps.
Running for TJ because he can't.
Are we there, yet?
I'll do them almost anywhere. I've even done them on indoor tracks. Most of the time I run them at a local park and surrounding roads. Since I'm planning a 12-hour race in September that is run on a .9 mile loop, I plan to do more LRs on a .92 mile loop in another local park.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
Go figure
I drive and park for all of my runs just because I'd much rather run through "city" areas than residential neighborhoods. I very, very rarely run loops, but occasionally I loop portions of my runs. Once my runs reach the 18-20 mile range, I pretty much cover the entirety of my town. As for trails, I do them about once a month for a change of pace.
Trying to find some more hay to restock the barn
I have two great spots for long runs. One is a 40 minute drive to an out back trail of 18 miles. The other is a 22 mile loop that is about a 45 minute drive.
I have a 4 mile square that I walk out of my front door to run, and can extend it to 6 miles or 8. I don't like running it more than twice but will occasionally run it 2.5 times for ten miles.
I also have a pretty adaptable route near my work that I run during the week from 3 miles up to 7 miles.
Sloooow.
My "long" run is less than everyones' short run, but I drive to a park that has a 1 1/4 mile loop. It's nice to run there.
The same place I do my other runs: on the path along the river which is right across from my house. I run out and backs because of this.
My "regular" route out my door is about a 4 mile loop through a park, no driving needed. For anything over about 6 miles, I can take a short stretch of road to get me into another park, and then depending on the distance hook up to a bike path that will take me as far as I've needed to go at this point.
My answer is: yes.
Squidward Bike Rider
Either in my neighborhood or I drive to somewhere and park...depends on both my mood and how many miles I have to do.
I mostly use an area that hits a combination of very large park and rural roads. The other option is to just stay here in the outer 'burbs and make a couple really big loops.
I'm looking forward to finding some more routes out by the new house.
I try to avoid doing loops because I get bored. I'm lucky that from my mom's house I can run a bike path that runs along lake michigan 6 miles out and back. I love going to the local university and running the cross country trails there, but it's not feasible in the winter or when it's been really rainy. I have a couple of 2 mile loops I run sometimes too.
Wickedly Average
I can do up to about 8-9 miles at my normal running location if I include weaving up and down the streets in "dogpatch", but for anything longer, I go into Chattanooga and run the riverwalk. I have done long runs also at the Chickamauga battlefield, but I don't really like to drive 40 minutes + just to run.
Tom (formerly known as PhotogTom)
5K - 25:16, 10K - 55:31, 15K - 1:20:55, HM - 1:54:54
Kato Runner
I usually do my long runs on one of three paved trails within about 5-10 minutes of my house. I am very fortunate to live in an area that has hundreds of miles on trails within a few miles of my home. Did one 6 mile run from my front door, but do prefer the trails, as they give much more scenery, but can be challenging at 5:00 am this time of year with lack of lighting.