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Lead Stories: Friday, November 21, 2008

The longest, long run in marathon training

Posted December 26th, 2006 at 7:00 AM by Jim Fortner

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips

Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TFS. Also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.

There are two distinct camps among runners on the length of the maximum long run during marathon training. There are those who believe that it’s best to run 26 miles (and even longer) in training for a marathon … and then there are the rest of us. I am on the “doubting Thomas” side of the fence. Let me explain why.

I do not subscribe to the generalization “to race the distance … train the distance” for all runners and all distances. For instance, to take it to an extreme, do ultra runners “train the distance” while preparing for a 50 or 100 mile race? How about for a 6-day endurance race? Of course not.
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