Shortest long run for marathon preparedness? (Page 2)

My first marathon was when I was 28, I thought it would be fun to try even though at that time I only had 2 runs in my life over 10 miles, with my long run 15 miles. Then I got hooked, and for the next 18 marathons I typically got up to 21-23 before the race.

I'm currently in the process of 'cramming' for the NYC marathon in five weeks. I did the 70.3 World Championships on 9/9 and the NYC marathon is on 11/4, leaving me eight weeks in between. I'm getting in five higher mileage weeks (mid 60's) with long runs of 17, 20, 17, 20, 17 on each weekend. In the two 20 mile runs I'm doing 12-14 miles near the end at 'goal' marathon pace.

While this is far from ideal, I hope that running around 45 mpw from May-August will help me out a bit. As others have said, it's a lot more about total volume than one or two long runs. In my previous two marathons, I did long runs of 22 miles, and felt great. However, there really isn't anything that can prepare you for that last 10k on legs that have already run 20 hard miles. It simply isn't the same to do a long run of 20 miles and compare it to adding 6 more miles on heavy legs. The marathon really starts around the 20 mile mark - can you maintain your pace, or will that last 10k be a death march?

The Hanson brothers have a great training system that peaks around 16 miles for a long run, but there are a lot more miles run at 'marathon pace' throughout the week than in other plans. Their philosophy is to train the body to 'acclimate' to race pace and favor total volume per week than a long run each weekend. Seems to work pretty well, and I might give it a go for my next marathon build.

Edited by natethomas2000 2012-09-29 6:36 AM

26 was my longest. I normally do multipe 20+ mile runs.