Question:
I hope some experienced runner can help me with a problem.
I will be running the Air Force Marathon in September (my third) and
have been using Hal Hidgon's training program this year. The main
difference between this and what I have done in the past is that it
calls for a run of half the long run distance at race pace the day
before the long run.
So, yesterday I did a sixteen mile long run after doing an eight mile
run at my goal pace on Friday. I had a lot of trouble finishing
yesterday and am wondering how important these back-to-back hard runs
are. Last year, I was doing basically the same mileage, but took a day
off before the long runs.
If anyone has any advice either way (either to take it easy and skip the
Friday runs or suck it up and just do it) I'd appreciate it. Hal, if
you're out there, how important is that aspect of your program?
Answer:People like Hal Hidgon have good tough training programs but may lack
some understanding about the principles of recovery or perhaps he just
didn't explain it.
After you run any hard run as you did on Friday, you must follow that
with an easy run. This is what is meant by the long 16 mile run the
following day. This should be an easy recovery run. You need to do this
run more then you need to rest because you just won't get the right
kind of recovery just by resting. You need to refuel the tank after it
has been sucked out and the only way you can do this is by easy
running. If you absolutely can't run the following day then there are
several things you can do.
1. Walk or jog at least an hour later that day after the hard run on
Friday so as to begin your recovery process.
2. Walk and jog for 16 miles on Saturday as you feel. If you can't jog
then just walk it. Even the walking will help recovery which is the all
important purpose of that day.
3. Break the 16 mile run up on Saturday into two workouts, one in the
morning and one in the afternoon. After the morning run which might be
difficult, you should feel somewhat better in the afternoon because the
morning run would have already helped your recovery.
Just to repeat. If you have run a very hard run on Friday, the 16
mile run on Saturday is a recovery run and should not be considered
anything more than that. It is absolutely necessary to have recovery
runs and you will not get the same benefit just by resting.
And finally, for a marathon, you should eventually build up to
include hard runs around the 20 mile mark to properly prepare to run
the marathon. And when I say hard, I mean hard, not just jogging.
