Long Run Workouts for Running

Long Runs

The long run is the weekly session that builds endurance. Running for 60 minutes to three hours at a mostly easy effort strengthens the heart, adds capillaries and mitochondria in the leg muscles, trains the body to use fat as fuel and makes muscles, tendons and bones more durable. It also gives you time to practice drinking, fueling and pacing for race day.

The workouts here range from a first 60 minute long run and a run-walk long run for beginners to marathon-specific sessions with blocks at goal pace, alternating kilometers and fast finishes. Easy long runs are guided by heart rate, while long runs with pace work use pace targets. The trail long run uses heart rate and power, since pace means little on climbs.

Most training plans include one long run per week, often around 20 to 30 percent of weekly volume. Jack Daniels and other coaches cap long runs at about two and a half to three hours, arguing that longer runs add fatigue faster than fitness. Keep the majority of long runs easy, and add pace work only in the build and peak phases, every second or third week.

To choose a workout, start from the longest run you have done comfortably in the last month and add no more than 10 to 15 minutes. Beginners pick an easy version, half marathon and marathon runners add pace work as the race gets closer, and trail runners train time on feet.