Triathlon Training: Alternatives To The Long Run

Triathlon Training: Alternatives To The Long Run

“I’m struggling to fit my long runs into my weekly schedule on a regular basis, what should I do?”

This question from an athlete training for an Ironman later in the year.

Quite a common one, this.

We talked about four things.

Extending A Run

Firstly, extending one of his current runs. He attends a club session on a Tuesday evening. He often arrives early, and then after having some social time with fellow runners, leaves late. We could extend this Tuesday run. When he arrives early, run for an extra 20-30 minutes before the club session starts. Or perhaps, instead of ‘social time’ at the end, extend the session and do some easy running. Or even run both before and afterwards.

We did talk about the risks here. If the session is a high intensity session, I would be wary of increasing the long runs whilst pushing a high pace in the middle. Instead of going ‘full gas’ during the club session, drop the intensity to a more moderate ‘tempo effort’. Less risk, but still getting a great session in.

Double-Run Days

Secondly, double run days. He doesn’t have time for a single 90-120 minute run. But he does have time for two 45 minute runs in the same day. We could incorporate this type of session into his day.

Run Frequency

Thirdly, frequent runs. Instead of three runs per week, where one is the long run (which is often missed), amounting to a total of (say) 3 hours of running per week, do five or six runs covering the same sort of volume.

Run Blocks

Fourthly, run blocks. Similar to the third point, we break up the long run into two or three consecutive days of running. Instead of a single two hour run on Saturday, perhaps we could do an hour on Friday, an hour on Saturday and an hour on Sunday (brick run after his endurance ride)? More running, yet easier to fit into his schedule.

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Some options for him to think about there. Which option would you go for?

I have previously written a post about different types of run sessions, which you may want to incorporate into your training programme. Read it here.

If you would like some help with planning your training, or want some coaching support, just get in touch and we can take it from there.

Triathlon Training: Alternatives To The Long Run

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