Getting Mileage the 'Easy' Way

by Steve Clarke
(Albuquerque, NM USA)

I'm a masters marathoner running in the sub 2:40 range. I have a problem grinding through 2-3 hour long runs on the weekends, so I cheat by working in two days of 3 runs per day into my program.

In the later stages of my preparation, I will run 3 times 1 hour runs and end up with 25+ mile days twice per week. I only add a few long runs to the program, really more as gear check, etc.

Max mileage in a week for me is 100 at the very peak, but a lot of 80+ mile weeks in there.

But generally, the 3 hour training run does nothing for me except kill my confidence because it is invarialy much slower than marathon pace and it never really feels very good either.