7 Tips for Running (Tip #4 The Long Run)

The Riddle of an Ironman's Life

“The Long Run is the Golden Key to becoming a good runner” – Alec Riddle 

The one key component of developing your ability as an endurance runner, is the Long Run, so try and do 2- 4 long runs a month (experienced runners can do a midweek long run of 90 minutes). One cannot develop a decent Base, without long runs and variety is, in my opinion, the spice in a runners life, so don’t try and do the same course, at the same time, same pace, week in, week out, or your motivation may wane.

How long is a Long Run? I would say 90 minutes or longer.

Doing a Long Run in Kona (Energy Lab) with Kyle Buckingham 2012. Young Jamie in the foreground doing his ‘long’ run!

How fast should a Long Run be? In the inital stages of Base Training, I think err on the side of caution and run…

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7 tips for Running: Tip #3 (Base Training)

The Riddle of an Ironman's Life

Base,Base, Base!!! You have to develop your aerobic engine and the bigger the base, the more solid the foundation, the higher the peak. Build gradually, steadily
and frequently, interspersed with regular recovery sessions.

Putting in the hard yards!

The more consistent the pressure you put on your plumbing system(cardiovascular)  the better and the best way to do that is to train at a more consistent ‘effort’ level in base training, so be careful of taking the hard/easy methodology of training too literally.

I am a great believer in what I call steady state running. In an ideal world, discovering your  aerobic threshold, lactate turnpoints and key heart rate zones would be great,
but it is not absolutely necessary. Steady state running is running just beyond
conversational pace and upwards and there are two ways to judge when you have
‘maximised’ this form of training. (In other words just below the red line…

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Running Principle #1 (Specificity)

To get better at something you have to practice doing that activity (regularly). Runners would naturally spend most of their time running, while Triathletes have to try and balance their cross training efforts. However, Triathletes have to realise that swim, bike or gym training may well limit their development as a pure runner, even though it prepares them for the rigours of running after a swim/bike.

As we are focussed on Running here it is important to acknowledge that to get better at running, that is what you need to repeatedly stress. Distance runners will avoid heavy cycling, swimming or gym work, as the extra body or muscle mass will impede their running ability.

For Ironman participants, Specificity is extremely important. Read more…. http://ironmansa.com/2011/11/27/7-tips-for-im-running-tip-5-specific-conditioning/