There wasn’t anything too exciting about my week of workouts, but I wanted to talk a little bit about my long run workout. Whenever I’m not training for a race but running decent mileage, I love adding in long run workouts to change things up. It can be boring and repetitive to do long runs week after week with no real purpose!
The workout I did on Saturday seriously made the run fly by. I was always thinking about the mile I was running and what was coming next (a harder or easier mile) and before I know it I had covered 9 miles. I ran 2 more to cool down and get home.
There are so many ways to make a long run into a workout, and they can be as hard or easy as you want! I posted these two workouts before: Marathon Focused Long Run Workout and Half Marathon Tune Up Workout and see below for the workout I did this weekend.
Monday: 6 miles with 3 x 1 mile at tempo pace
After last week’s long run, I was itching to try running some faster paces again. While it was hard to get motivated on a Monday morning, I felt good once I was out there.
Tuesday: Strength Training
No pictures from this workout, but it was still a good one!
Wednesday: 5 miles easy
I got out the door early enough that I was able to make my usual 3-4 miler into a 5 miler. I think I’m finally adjusting to the colder weather!
Thursday: Strength Training and Spinning
Once again I got in both my strength training and cross training on Thursday. This meant I could run a few miles on Friday.
Friday: 3.1 miles easy
Just an easy 5k with a glimpse of the sunrise!
Saturday: 11 miles with 3 x 3 mile progressions
As I started out I caught a perfect sunrise, which got me excited for my run. I was planning to follow a modified version of Meredith’s Negative Split Workout which she shared over 2 years ago and I still find myself going back to it whenever I need to mix up my long run!
I started out easy and gradually increased my pace for 3 miles, then repeated that sequence two more times, and finished with a cool down.
This run seriously flew by, and I was proud of these paces. What’s weird is after the hard mile I found it was challenging to really slow down. Even though I felt like I was going so much slower my pace was still pretty fast.
Sunday: Rest
A rest day feels so good after a tough week of workouts!
[Tweet “Long run workouts are a great way to change things up when you’re not training for a race! #weeklywrap #runchat @milebymilerun”]
Do you every incorporate a workout into your long run?
Do you have a hard time slowing down after a hard interval?
omg when I saw the title of your post I was like – reminds me of how we used to love my negative split workout to make things fly by lol. thanks for sharing the link! I always come back to that one in my head too! Maybe I will even run it today. 🙂
It’s such a fun workout and I love that there are so many ways to change it around!
Nice week! 11 miles with progressions – awesome! I’m jealous 🙂
Thanks! I cant wait until you are posting about your long runs:)
Fantastic job! Your improvement is really remarkable. Inspired!
Thanks!
Great week of workouts! I’ve never added “quality” into my long runs except to practice a fast finish. What a great idea to make them go faster…literally. Ha!
Haha yes! Its nice to make the miles pass by faster especially when its cold out.
Great job on that long run! I like doing long run workouts, especially during half or full marathon training. When I am not training for race, I like to pick up the pace near the end – a faster finish makes the run go by faster.
It definitely helps to pass the time on a long run!
what a great week of workouts! Like you, I’m also not training for a race right now but I still want to get in some good mileage. On Saturday I planned for 6 miles but ended up doing 7 and it felt nice to get in over an hour of running!
Thats awesome! I like doing no-pressure long runs when there is no training plan to follow!
I’ve had a few long runs in my training plans that included mini pace workouts within, but I’ve never thought to do this when I’m not training for something and just heading out for a weekend long run for enjoyment. Love the idea to make it more fun and interesting!
Its a great way to change things up and make the mile pass by faster!
Nice! I’m already itching to get back out running, and I’m wondering if I could possibly try to build off of those 6 miles and push my mileage.
That sounds great! Hopefully after you recover you can pick back up where you left off.
Wow 11 miles! That is amazing 🙂
You’re so right about throwing in a workout in the long run…it goes by so much faster!
Keep it up girl!
Thank you! It really does help the run go by faster.
Awesome workouts, especially that long run! I like to throw workouts into long runs as I train for something specific to really know where my fitness is at, and as you said, it makes it fly by!!
Yes, definitely! It was nice to push myself a bit without having to commit to a race.
I like doing a weekly long run when I am not training for anything too but mine are usually done a slow pace consistently. I should incorporate more speed into those. Hey if you want to connect of Garmin my name is Lacey02
Sometimes its nice to just to a slow, easy paced long run! I will try to figure out how to add you on Garmin… I don’t think I have ever connected with anyone on there and Im not even sure what my username is!
I do like to mix things up, especially if I’m running alone, to make things go by faster. Great job!!
Thanks! Its nice to change things up a bit rather than always running the same pace.
I’ll have to try the 3 x 3 progression. That is my favorite kind of run anyway. I think it would help to have something different to focus on during those long miles. And, it breaks it up a bit too. Thanks for linking!
It really does help to break up the run! Hope you can give it a try.
I’ll sometimes add some tempo miles in my long runs, but since I do half my running on a treadmill I end up doing a lot of my ‘workout’ runs on the treadmill otherwise I’d be bored to death. Maybe not the best way to go about it. I like the idea of switching it up!
I think that makes sense and I would probably do the same thing if I ran on the treadmill regularly!
Amazing post! I have just recently started running as well – and I have to admit, that I have never felt better in my entire life yet! Cheers and keep running 🙂