[tommytortoise]

Hello,

Just completed week 7 of the plan with a 19km run. Looking ahead, I see a 31km run on the schedule. Based on my recent long run, that 31km run will take at minimum 3 hrs 37 min.

Is that ok? I have had different opinions, for and against, from people I have run with.

thanks

(start of week 8 and calendar shows all green for my workouts!)

[leyla@8020endurance.com]

Hi T,

There can be diminishing returns on running over 3 hours for some athletes. I would wait until you get closer to that workout and make a call on how you are feeling in terms of resilience and overall fatigue. If you feel good and strong you could go for the distance (as I am sure it mostly be in zone if you are on a level 1 or Level 0 plan). If you feel the body would not benefit from that long of a run then run to time and 3 hours, nailing all of your other sessions.

This is a comment we have in our long run workouts in the plan:

The importance of Long Runs in marathon training is somewhat exaggerated. Research has shown that both average and peak weekly mileage have a bigger impact on marathon performance than does the distance of the longest single run.

Happy Training
Leyla

[Author]

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