Understanding the Medium-Long Run
When it comes to marathon training, most plans revolve around a few key workouts: interval sessions, tempo runs, and those lengthy weekend endurance runs. But there's a significant opportunity between those easy runs and your long run that many athletes overlook—enter the medium-long run. This session is gaining traction as a powerful yet underappreciated component of a runner's weekly mileage.
The medium-long run is defined as a distance that falls between an easy run and a traditional long run. For instance, if you typically cruise through five or six miles on easy days and push up to 14 or 15 for your longest run, a medium-long run might sit comfortably at around eight to 11 miles. However, there's no rigid distance requirement; the essence of this run is in its function, providing another chance for aerobic development.
Renowned coach and author Matt Fitzgerald emphasizes that integrating medium-long runs into your training can boost your overall aerobic capacity, helping runners accumulate mileage without overstressing their bodies. This approach prepares runners for races in better shape, focusing on sustainable endurance rather than just one standout long run that skews the training balance.
The Advantages of Including Medium-Long Runs
Fitzgerald's core argument is compelling: Rather than obsessing over the length of a single long run, athletes should aim to maximize their overall weekly mileage. He notes that for both marathoners and ultrarunners, weekly average mileage tends to be a more reliable predictor of race performance than the distance of the longest run.
So what are the implications here? If a long run is significantly longer than the other workouts of the week, it creates a disproportionate recovery burden. For example, let's say a runner maintains four five-mile runs during the week and then pushes for a staggering 15 to 20 miles on the weekend. That long stretch can leave them reeling from fatigue, requiring extensive recovery that compromises the next week's workouts.
By incorporating a medium-long run, athletes can spread that endurance training across the week. Instead of lengthening every run slightly—a tweak that can wear out legs quickly—they simply extend just this medium-long session. As coach Nick Farr highlights, this technique effectively raises the weekly mileage while keeping the overall load manageable.
Fitzgerald points out that the most significant beneficiaries of medium-long runs are marathoners and ultrarunners looking to solidify their aerobic base. Still, this workout also serves less seasoned runners well. It’s particularly advantageous for masters athletes, newer runners easing into longer distances, and busy runners who prefer consolidating their extra mileage into a single session rather than extending the training week.
However, a vital note of caution: while a medium-long run is less taxing than a traditional long run, it shouldn't just be an additional challenging workout if your training week already includes intervals and tempo runs. Instead, think of it as a smart alternative to one of those harder sessions, allowing the body to adapt without an overbearing training load.
Integrating Medium-Long Runs into Your Training Regimen
So how do you determine the distance of your medium-long run? If you commonly run six miles on easy days with a 14-mile long run, Fitzgerald suggests starting with an eight- to 8.5-mile medium-long run. After your initial outing, evaluate how you felt during and after the run. Were you able to recover adequately? Did it leave you energy for successive training? If the answer is yes, you're set to build on that foundation.
As you plan your weekly training, aim for no more than three quality sessions. If your schedule already includes interval training on Tuesdays, a tempo session on Fridays, and a long run on the weekends, the medium-long run would typically replace either the Tuesday or Friday workout, ensuring your easy days remain intact. Recovery is crucial, and allowing appropriate rest between demanding sessions will allow your body to adapt effectively.
Inserting medium-long runs should ideally follow a solid base-building phase, around 12 to 16 weeks before your racing event. Waiting until the last few weeks of your training can lead to rushed adaptations and missed opportunities for benefit, according to Fitzgerald.
Ultimately, these medium-long runs can be an invaluable addition to your training regime, helping to bridge the gap between easy runs and long runs, creating comprehensively sound training that sets you up to tackle your race day challenges head-on.
