Long runs for faster runners

by Alex
(Germany)

Question about the long runs :

"Hi Marius,

if I someone can run around 2:30 h in the marathon, would you recommend to shorten the very long long runs as stated in the 2:45 h - plan? How many miles do you think the longest run schuld be?

Isn't it a waste of time to run (run/walk) 3 or 3:30 h? And what about runners whon can't take the long runs you recommend and get injured when running for such a long time?

Thanks for you answer.

Kind regards

Alex"

Answer: Hi Alex and thanks for your questions.

I still recommend the very long runs, even if your goal is 2:30, however - it is not as important as if you are more of a rocky runner/slower runner as a 2:30 time means that you probably have plenty of previous miles in your legs and can handle the mechanical impact of the marathon better.

So if you choose to not run 3:30 type runs, I would at least have a few runs of 2:30 - running the whole way and of course the very hard interval runs that are in the 100 day plan as well. Those are extremely important.

I wish you all the best,

kind regards,
Marius