by Larry Eder
This is Sunday, April 14, 2024.
Week 5, day 7.
This is your long run day.
Your workout:
Warm up slowly,
75-90 minutes of running for juniors and seniors and 65-70 minutes for freshmen and sophomores.
Hydrate,
Cooldown,
get out of wet clothes,
Recover,
Larry’s Deep Thoughts:
Long runs build many things.
Ron Clarke, the great Australian runner who held 34 world records during his career, loved a 22-mile long run with his training mates in Australia.
They would charge up the hills, catch their breath, and then do it again.
Kenny Moore, two-time Olympian, a great writer for Sports Illustrated, and former AR holder in the marathon, did a 30-mile run once a week, with two rest days afterward. Running about 70 miles a week, Kenny Moore ran a 2:11 marathon off that low mileage!
Emil Zatopek, the greatest Olympic distance runner of all time (in 1952, he won the 5,000m, 10,000m, and marathon), once ran three hours in his bathtub, stepping on dirty clothes to wash them and getting his long run in.
Long runs are relative.
I loved our long runs in college, 18 miles one week, 20 miles the next, and 22 miles the following. The variety helped keep our attention and kept us healthy.
My memories are, however, of the time I spent with my buddies, from Paul Gyorey to Gerhard Behrens to John Maloney. Long runs build friendships.
I suggest a time for high schoolers. For freshmen and sophomores, try 9-10 miles. For juniors to seniors, try 12-14. Keep it relaxed.
