DON'T BREAK UP!

Ok, there’s one thing that I hope never happens- the break up. The awful, dreaded break-up that makes me irritated that it even happened. They end up cutting it short, but then they come back because they decided they wanted more. But for some reason, things just weren’t the same the second time around… it felt worse than before. Things really aren't just the same when you prematurely end a running affair that was meant to be a long lasting one… Breaking up your long training sessions is not an experience you want to partake in!

From a triathletes perspective, training involves multiple workouts per day. Sometimes there are two swim sessions (acceptable), there might actually be a morning and PM bike or run… so you’d think that breaking up something like your long run really isn’t that big of deal… but it really is a big freaking deal people. Trying to break up your long run, ride, or a swim to get part of it in earlier and then another part later in the day is just… clearly a waste of time, energy and recovery… unless you’re into that type of (aimless) training…

The purpose of a “long” ride or run is to gain the benefits of training for longer than your typical training session durations. The adaptations that you acquire don’t really start to kick in until the last 15-20% of the total duration. The precious time towards the end of your long session is exactly what you are working for. Yes, there is a lot of build-up and time spent just chugging along until you get what you want. When you put in the time, you finally get the added metabolic and cardiovascular benefits you need to be a successful endurance athlete when going long. A long session also gives you an important test of mental focus and improves your overall physical comfort stamina range. Both of which are just as important as being in shape.

What you can only get from going long:

• Muscle strength and adaptation for going the distance
• The metabolic advantages of burning more fat making you more efficient
• Cardiovascular endurance to continue to push onward
• Being able to mentally tough it out for a long training block… no one said it was easy!

If you end up breaking up your session into two parts, it’s important to know that your body won’t just “resume” where you left off. In general, a session consists of a warm up period, the workout part, and a cool down. The body likes to go into recovery mode very quickly. In fact, in about 10-15 minutes of rest, you’ve missed your window to continue onward. The same thing goes for longer rides, running sessions, swimming, etc. When you are training long, frequent, longer stops should be avoided at all costs. You’re shutting down the body and then having to re-vamp it back up. It’s like they never went together, they’re just two separate workouts. SAME THING GOES for your transition runs- you've already missed out if you've taken more than 15 minutes to start your run after a ride. It's a perfect time to practice your quick transitions. Be prepared before you head out for your ride if you know you're going to do a transition run.

Ever notice how many people in various endurance condition form can just go out and ride a century? But they stop, a lot, for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 1 hour… at a time. The same principle can be brought to this concept. Breaks make training easier, and your time restraints aren’t as difficult to manage… Now these are all good excuses and are definitely more inviting to the mind, because the training is easier in these scenarios. Again, no one said it was easy and that’s not the point of a long training session.

Consider if you split up your long run. You run 13 in the morning, and 9 more at night… can you guess how those 9 miles are going in the evening? Worse than if you could’ve combined the two together and now the recovery time for your body is reset as well as not getting the benefits of going long- the marathon is 26.2- not rest after a half and go run some more after lunch. Endurance sports require the body to become efficient the longer you go. Don’t cut yourself short by breaking up these precious workouts. When you break them down, you’re breaking yourself down even more by wasting your recovery, your time and if there’s one thing I can’t express enough- you’re letting go of one of the best quality workouts you can get.

I mean, I know we’re not runners, but look at the feedback of advice asking for almost permission breaking up their long run!

As a professional athlete and coach, you can tell I don’t allow it. But by all means if you just like training a lot and want general, non-directional fitness, go ahead! And worst case scenario, if you really REALLY can't fit it in, can't skip an extra hour of sleep, going for the long run on Friday night instead of grabbing beers... then I GUESS something is better than nothing, but science and I still feel very strongly for the full-on affair. It's not easy, but many have made the lifestyle choices and adapted to the long hour demands of ultra-distance training.