[rnate]

Hi,

I’m on week 7 of the 20 Week Luke Nelson’s Intro to Ultra Running Training Plan. It calls for 5 days running, total 34 miles, and 2 days of strength workouts. I don’t have time to fit the workouts in on all their separate days. I’ve been condensing the 5 running days down to 3 by adding the shorter runs to the longer runs. I’m still running the same amount of miles, but with more recovery days in-between. I feel good after a 16 mile run that was only supposed to be 12 miles, then I have 2 days off to recover. Are these alterations going to be detrimental to my overall fitness improvement, or put me in danger of over training?

Thanks

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on February 13, 2020 at 10:08 am #38123

If you feel like your recovering well, then it may even be better. I imagine if you’re using Luke’s plan that your goal event is a long one?

[rnate]

rnate on February 13, 2020 at 4:00 pm #38137

Yes and no, I’m doing a local half marathon the beginning of April and a 50k at the end of April. I’m a big fan of the long run, I’d be happy to condense all the running down to two days, just run 20 milers, with 3 to 4 recovery days in-between. Being able to spend 4 to 6 hours running in the mountains is more of an end goal for me than the races themselves.

So as long as I feel like I’ve recovered sufficiently from the last long run then I’m not hurting any thing by condensing the weeks mileage? I would still use the plans mileage per week as a guide to keep me from overtraining and for when to taper.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on February 14, 2020 at 1:33 pm #38191

The one other consideration is speed. If 4x five miles is at a higher average speed than 1x 20 miles, then you’re getting a different (and perhaps better) stimulus.

You could (sorta) compare it to weights. Someone lifting could do (4) sets of five reps of an exercise at higher weight or (1) set of 20 reps at a lower weight. In those contexts, more-sets-higher-weight is more strength-focused; one-set-lower-weight is more strength endurance.

You may want to mix it up like that to get a little from both worlds. You need both speed and duration to race well.

[Jan]

Jan on February 15, 2020 at 1:29 am #38210

@Scott Semple: But would you say that it’s better for long goal events to have, say, 2 weekly 10 mile aerobic runs than 4 weekly 5 mile aerobic runs? Plus long runs, ME, hill sprints of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on February 15, 2020 at 10:14 am #38225

If they’re at the same speed, then the longer runs are more important because they’re more specific to the event. If the shorter runs are faster, then they’re another aspect that’s worth training.

If the runs are at different paces, you could train both and converge them as you get closer to your event.