Scheduling the long run

[Wahine]

DUH ! I was only taking run training into consideration, not training for a triathlon! Hello (bonk on head)

Wahine that is interesting about splitting the runs up. does a person get the same benefit doing it that way vs doing all 8 miles at the same time?

Theoretically/physiologically yes. And it helps to prevent injury if you're finding yourself really plodding through the long runs. So ultimately, it may be more effective if you feel like you're getting beat up on your run.

I appreciate the concept of clustering the long ride with the long run for long-term training. However, would it make sense to first get yourself up to the distance the those workouts further part?

That's harder to answer because it depends a lot on the individual. If distance is a challenge and you're not doing any other specific workouts during the week that are based in intensity (eg hills or speed work). I would say that a novice might benefit from spreading things out. If you've got an athlete with base that is trying to get in at least one other demanding workout a week it doesn't really work. If you have an athlete that has a big base in one discipline, sometimes what I'll do is have them only do one or two easier workouts in one discipline while they work hard on building distance in another by not only doing long workouts but increasing frequency of workouts until the overall mileage for a week is up, keep them there and then bring the other discipline back in and increase distance there. Even then, I still prefer to see the long workouts clustered.

The main reason for the clustering is to load the system and recover over a day or two, then load the system again and recover. Recovery is more effective that way over the long term than spreading things out too much. Then you end up with one challenging workout every day and never really get a full recovery day. It feels good in the short run but in the long run is more likely to lead to overtraining and burnout.