How Many Weeks Before Your Marathon Should You Run Your Last Long Run?

Many marathoners run their last long training run two or three weeks before race day. Doesn’t it make sense to run your last “biggie” reasonably close to your race to derive maximum benefit and bolster your endurance? After all, you recover during your taper.

Running your last long run this close to race day is a critical training error. During a long run, leg muscles sustain considerable damage. Contractile fibres get damaged or destroyed. Until the muscle tissue has repaired itself, the propulsive force that your leg muscles can exert is decreased, hindering your ability to maintain running at race pace over long distance.

Research shows that even after three weeks, marathoners’ leg muscles are not completely recovered from their last long run. Four weeks or even longer is required for full recovery. In a landmark research study, Dutch researchers found that two-thirds of marathoners in their study already had significant amounts of muscular damage in their legs on race morning, even before having run a single step that day! They were not fully recovered from their previous training, their last long run being a major contributor their “muscular misery”.

Clearly, running a marathon on less than fully recovered muscles stacks the odds against you running a good race.

A far better training practice would be to conduct your last long run four weeks prior to your marathon. The four week gap would facilitate complete muscular recovery, toeing the starting line in peak condition and running your personal best.

Bennett Cohen (the Savvy Runner) and Gail Gould are the Founders and Presidents of the International Association of Women Runners (IAWR). To learn more about this global community of women who share a passion for running, visit www.iawr-connect.com

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