Half-Marathon Training with Other Events

I'm training for a half-marathon in December. The beginning of the training schedule overlapped with the end of triathlon season which was perfect but now my mileage is creeping up and I'm wanting to run in some local 5K and 10k races. How do I do my long run AND a 5K in the same weekend? Do I run the 5K on Saturday and then do 9 miles on Sunday or do I run the 5K and just do 6 miles the same day? I did a biathlon last Saturday and was too sore on Sunday to get my 6 mile run in. How do you seasoned runners do it?

I know runners that would race the 5k and then keep running until they get in their mileage.

I also know people that run the remainder of the miles later in the day.

What I did was move my long-run to midweek so that I could do an event over the weekend. I actually enjoyed getting up early and starting my long-run at 5 AM before the work day started, but I know not everyone can do that.

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Originally Posted by limewave

What I did was move my long-run to midweek so that I could do an event over the weekend. I actually enjoyed getting up early and starting my long-run at 5 AM before the work day started, but I know not everyone can do that.

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I know that this is what Susan does, too. She likes to keep her weekends open for brevets or other biking events, so she shifts her run plan so that her long runs are during the week (Wednesdays, I think).

I don't have any long runs yet, so I'm not much help! :p

Yep, same here. I'd do a long run Wednesday evening if it was up to 10 miles. Then again, I did most of my training with the same group I raced with, so we'd all go to the race on Saturday/Sunday and do the Wednesday run together.

The long run is an endurance effort, not a speed effort, but if you race hard with a 5k or 10k you could find yourself too tired/sore to run the next day. Same could be true with putting your long run fewer than 2 days before your 5/10k, your race performance could suffer. It might come down to which is more important to you and how often you are going to race at the same time.

So, you have a few options....
1. Move your long run day to at least 2 days before your Sat/Sun race (Thu/Wed, as suggested). Might mix up your schedule, or you could just consistently shift your schedule so that your long runs fall mid-week if your other schedule can handle that. Probably more doable with a HM than a full marathon, so this might work well. If I do this, I do long run, rest day, easy endurance run, race day. You could use the "race day" in place of a tempo or intervals run so you don't really lose anything.
2. Do your long run the same day as the race - but account for the intensity of the 5/10k as different than your normal long run. You might be slower or need to shorten your long run distance. Not a bad option but I tend to get caught up in races and this never goes according to plan. You could do it later in the day which has the advantage of teaching you to run tired ;)
3. Do your long run the next day. Your legs will be tired so your psychological self might suffer (I feel slow, I am slow, this hurts, I hate running, what am I thinking ;)). Straightforward otherwise, though.
4. Skip a day then do your long run. Might mess up your following week's training schedule, but you could swap days or put in an extra rest day (or put in a ride instead - good for recovery - and consider it 60% the miles of a run, something like that).

Really you have 3 key runs a week - tempo/race pace, long run, intervals/hills - so as long as you squeeze them in you can play with any training plan and your schedule to make it work.

Thanks everyone. I never thought about moving my long run to mid-week so I would have the weekend to do the short runs and bike rides. Makes sense. I may have to give it a try.

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Originally Posted by Bike Chick

Thanks everyone. I never thought about moving my long run to mid-week so I would have the weekend to do the short runs and bike rides. Makes sense. I may have to give it a try.

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I was hesitant to do this, but realized it was my best option. It turned out to be very liberating. I loved having my weekends freed up. Good luck with your training!

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Originally Posted by GLC1968

I know that this is what Susan does, too. She likes to keep her weekends open for brevets or other biking events, so she shifts her run plan so that her long runs are during the week (Wednesdays, I think).

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Yup, long runs at oh-dark-thirty on Wednesday mornings. I'd been doing them alone forever, until a friend recently asked if she could join me. She and I were both training for yesterday's Girlfriends Half Marathon in Vancouver, so we were on the same event schedule. She runs more slowly than me, but that turned out to be good. It really forced me to do them little slower than I had been. Made a huge difference in how I felt afterwards too. (12 miles feels easy when done at 11:30 per mile! Long, but easy. :-) )

But, I digress. The point is, doing them on Weds means my legs are fresh enough/recovered enough from whatever long bike rides I inflict upon them over the weekend. And, by the weekend, I'm recovered from the run fatigue. Works out pretty well!