Sep 37 min read

Why The Long Run Is Your Most Important Workout

Updated: Oct 26

The long run is your most important workout

My 11 years of running and coaching runners have been a massive learning curve for me. I have attempted to implement many different training methods, and most have failed. I have read many books and spent relentless hours researching to find the best training methods to maximize running gains. The one workout I have found to be important to every runner is the long-run workout.

The aerobic base should be built for at least 12 weeks before you go to try and run a fast 5k or when you try to run your best 10k. The long run is the most important part of building a strong aerobic base.

The principles of training I discovered work best for runners are a mix of Marius Bakken, Arthur Lydiard, and Alberto Salazar (controversial I know).

Lydiard even had his 800m athletes run a 22-mile long run weekly during their base phase.

ChampionsEverywhere wrote an interesting article about the Lydiard long run: Secrets of Arthur Lydiard’s Waiatarua long run.

What is so special about the long run?

During the building of your aerobic base, there are many different sessions that a good coach would have you focus on such as; hills, tempos, easy runs, strides, sprints, gym workouts, and most importantly long runs.

The main goal of the aerobic base is to increase your aerobic capacity, and the long run is the run that is going to help you to achieve this the best. This is because after a certain amount of time running you will become glycogen depleted, this is where your body runs out of glycogen and you have to start using fat as your primary fuel.

The benefits of running when glycogen is depleted:

Teaches your body how to burn fat as a fuel. This will teach you how to run better when you run out of glycogen.
Increase fat metabolism.
Increases how efficient your body is with fuel.
Increase glycogen stores in your body.
Increase how long you can run before you hit the wall.

Other long run benefits:

The long run is the most important workout because it increases the amount of anaerobic work you can do later down the line. The more long runs and the longer they are, the more anaerobic work your body will be able to handle in the summer, meaning you will be able to run even faster.
Increased red blood cell count
Increased amount of oxygen red blood cells can carry
Increased lung capacity
Decreased amount of oxygen muscles need to work
Increased body's efficiency with oxygen
Increased mental strength
Increased strength
Improved fat burning

Think about it, if your body has more oxygen, uses the oxygen better, and requires less oxygen to run the same pace, then this means you can run faster before building up any lactate acid. If you can do that then you are a far better runner than before and can expect some big PBs when you start putting in some faster sessions.

Overall, long runs are an important workout because they offer the most returns from the work you do, they hold all your training together and if you run them consistently through your base phase then you are bound to see some big PBs.

Read RunnersWorld article: 10 long runs to make you better, faster and stronger.

Why should I focus on building my long run before doing hard intervals?

Well, whilst many coaches will get you running hard intervals all year round because “you will learn to run fast”, “you need to run hard to get faster” or “all the best runners do them”, we here at GeorgeLewisHealth think that they are run far too often.

We think that the intervals are the icing on the cake at the end. However, the energy systems that interval sessions train can be maxed out in a short amount of time. But, some things take a lot longer to train such as; aerobic capacity, raw sprint speed, strength, power, and mental strength. This is why during this huge training period we spend our time trying to develop the skills above.

By building your aerobic capacity first you are increasing your anaerobic potential. This means the more work you put in laying the foundations with good long runs, the more you're going to be able to train anaerobically after the base phase, therefore improving a lot more.

Yes, they have their place but they need to be used at the right time or they just destroy progress. Most interval sessions will train your glycolytic system or your Vo2 Max system, and research has shown that both can be maxed out within 4 weeks if trained properly!

A lot of athletes worry that if they aren't doing fast workouts they will lose their speed. However, during your base phase, you should still be focusing on developing your speed with strides.

How should you build your base?

Most coaches believe that base building is simply a method to build athletes back as fast as possible after an injury or time off to get them ready for more endless and hard interval sessions.

They set a period aside for a training block where the athlete will run at a very easy pace and run high mileage, this is an elementary version of an aerobic base because there are so many different sessions you can do to benefit the energy systems which take ages to develop.

My athletes see huge improvements in their sprint speeds through winter because we can safely work on sprints during the aerobic base without ruining aerobic development. Winter is also when we get strong in the gym and perfect our form with good warm-ups.

So, for my athletes, the months of September through March (which is a standard base phase for many of the world's best) are spent doing long-run workouts, easy runs, sprints, tempos, hill sessions, strides, long warm-ups, and gym sessions.

During your aerobic base, you should be developing your aerobic capacity, improving your strength, and form, and developing your raw speed. All of this will prepare your body better for when you start running some faster intervals.

Build your aerobic capacity:

Develop your strength, form, and raw speed:

For most the aerobic base is very boring, but my athletes can run very fast during their aerobic base because they are training things that take time to develop so they aren’t going to plateau as fast. Also, the workouts can be made to be much more fun.

It is not uncommon for me to have pretty good runners get very close to their 5K PB at the end of the base training, even if they have not done a single interval yet.

Tips for the long run

Now you know the importance of the long run, it is time to get into some tips to get the most out of your long run.

Build up slowly! It’s easy to see all the benefits of the long run and want to start running longer as soon as possible. However, towards the end of the long run when you are most tired, you are most susceptible to injury.
You become fully glycogen depleted after roughly 90 minutes, however, your glycogen stores will be very low after 60 minutes and you will start getting a lot of benefits for everything you do after 60 minutes. When I used to do 15-mile long runs, I would say I got most of the benefits from the last 3 miles.
Take it slowly. This is especially important if you are on 3 sessions a week because your long run becomes a session in which you get tired so you cannot afford to do it fast! However, if you are someone who is on 2 sessions a week and has an easy day before and after your long run then I highly recommend you try out some long run workouts.
Stick to softer surfaces. You will take a lot of steps in the long run so you can save your legs by sticking to softer surfaces such as grass or trails.
Take your post-run recovery seriously after. There is no point in doing a really good long run and not doing all the proper recovery afterward, as you will not be able to get the proper adaptations in the long run.
The long run should make up 20-25% of your weekly mileage. If you run 40 miles per week then your long run can be 8-10 miles or if you run 100 miles per week then your long run should be 20-25 miles. But, this is just a guideline and should not be stuck if it does not work for you. If you are someone who can not handle high mileage but still wants the benefits of doing a good long run, then just build up your long run slowly and feel free to ignore this rule.
Don't take on any calories throughout your run. You should not be consuming calories during your long run as this delays you becoming glycogen-depleted and therefore decreases some of the benefits of your long-run workout.

So, why do coaches make runners do these hard interval sessions so often?

Well, if you take a runner and get them to run hard intervals for 4-6 weeks they are going to improve, so coaches are going to think "These interval sessions are great" and give them more, and when they stop improving they give them more and more. But, the improvement stops and we plateau, burn out, or get injured and then take some time off, only then hit the interval again. And then we have the nerve to wonder why a huge breakthrough isn’t happening for us.

"You have to train to be able to be able to train." - Arthur Lydiard. Without the aerobic base, you simply are not ready to run intervals.

Anyway, I hope this guide has been clear enough to help you understand how the long run can benefit your performance, I wish for you to be consistent with your long runs and see it as the workout that can help to prevent plateaus.

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