Running With Jack

Yesterday was a rest day, I ran 89K/55M for the week and my legs told me it was better to just stay home and rest. So I spent a little time with my wife and caught up on some unfinished tasks around the house.

For the next two weeks I am going to try to continue with the current training intensity, although my mileage may stay about the same.

I was thinking last night if I should continue with the two back-to-back longer runs over the next two weekends, or just run one longer run. Generally for a marathon the back-to-back long runs are almost overkill, a long run of up to 3 ½ would suffice.

I think most of you realize the importance of long runs in training for a half or full marathon, so I won't comment on this. Back-to-back long runs seem to be used mostly by ultramarathoner’s who want to simulate running on tired legs and the additional metabolic load of longer ultramarathons. Plus they help you learn to hold back the first day, as you need to in the first half of a long ultra (100K or 100M).

I think the uncertainty comes from a fear of burning myself out before marathon day. This feeling may not be justified, as my body has recovered very well from everything that I have thrown at it over the last 4-5 months. And to tell you the truth I would much rather experiment with the back-to-back runs now, and risk overdoing it, then making a mistake next spring when I am training for a 100K which would prevent me from doing the run.

As far as my September marathon is concerned, it really doesn’t matter which route I go, important is only that I get in a couple more long runs (and don’t break anything).