Run coaches offer smart strategies on how to move, modify, or skip your longest training run of the week.
By Cindy Kuzma
Whether you’re training for a marathon, trying to run your fastest 5K, or aiming to get faster or go longer, a weekly long run is a staple of most training plans. And, because we live in a nine-to-five, Monday through Friday world, it’s likely your weekly training plan slots your long run into a Saturday or Sunday. What happens, though, when you have a busy weekend or just don’t feel well? Let’s face it, most runners’ lives are more than track workouts and gel consumption.
“Your training doesn’t exist in a bubble, and there will always be things that come up in a training cycle, no matter what distance you’re training for,” Montana DePasquale, a Rhode Island-based run coach tells Runner’s World.
The answer on how to tweak your long run day depends on a variety of factors, including how far in advance you know about the conflict and how much you run every week. Here, run coaches give advice to help you make the inevitable adjustments to your scheduled long runs.
How to Change the Day of Your Weekly Long Run in Advance
No matter your race goal (or even if you don’t have a race goal), when you start a training cycle, sit down with your calendar and incorporate a few buffer weeks into your potential training schedule, DePasquale says. For instance, allow 18 weeks to complete a 16-week marathon training program. This gives you some flexibility to train safely even with the inevitable interruption or two.
Then, because human beings are creatures of habit and long runs demand respect and a little extra intention, it makes sense to slot them in on the same day each week so you can also schedule time to fuel beforehand and recover afterward, Amanda Katz, a certified personal trainer and running coach in New York City, tells Runner’s World.
Finally, make note of holidays, trips, or weeks when your schedule will conflict with other obligations. Remember, while many runners have an early Saturday alarm or belong to the Church of the Sunday Long Run, no law says thou shalt not do your long run on a Wednesday or a Friday.
“The non-traditional long run day is becoming more and more common,” Katz says, “and rightfully so, because running should fit into our lives, not the other way around.”
In fact, about one-fourth of Katz’s runners now opt to regularly slot their lengthiest efforts on a non-weekend day, either because their job schedule demands it, they have a busy family life, or they simply feel better doing it that way. It’s interesting that according to the 2024 Garmin Connect Data Report, Garmin users have the most personal energy or “body battery” score on Tuesdays and the lowest score on Saturdays.
Keep in mind, though, that Katz often transitions runners preparing for a weekend half or full marathon back to a Saturday or Sunday long run as race day nears. If possible, take a few weeks to do this. For instance, go from a Wednesday long run to Thursday, then Friday, then Saturday, building in your taper time, too.
On the other hand, DePasquale guides her weekday long runners to alter their taper rather than switch up their long-run day. This typically means adding an extra medium-long run about a `week before the race, so they don’t do a long run too close to, or too far away from, their goal effort.
How to Swap Long Runs Once in a While
Even if your weekends are generally open for running long, events such as weddings and trips can sporadically interfere with your Saturday or Sunday schedule. In these cases, you have a few different options.
1. Slot Deload Weeks Around Trips
Every strong training program includes cutback or deload weeks in its schedule. Planning ahead means you can slot those deload weeks to accommodate trips or events, DePasquale says. If you’re traveling during marathon training, for example, you can run 22 kilometres instead of a 32 kilometre run that includes 9km at marathon pace, if that is easier within your travel schedule.
2. Skip The Long Run!
Another option—Katz’s preferred one, most often—is for runners to simply skip the long run for a week. This works especially well if you’ve built in some buffer time and your training has generally had few interruptions, DePasquale says. When you consider that travel and special occasions place their own degree of strain on your body and mind, it’s often the wisest choice.
Let’s face it, squeezing in 19 or 24 kilometres before a big event or on a trip can be more anxiety-provoking than it’s worth. “Drop it without stress,” DePasquale says. “You don’t have to worry about how it’s going to affect your next week, and then next week, you just get right back on your regular schedule.”
Likewise, if travel is involved, consider whether you’re the kind of person who prefers not to run much (or at all) on vacation. “There are some of us who really enjoy running when we travel, and some of us where it’s an extra stress on our bodies,” Katz says. Plus, destinations differ: Will you be close to a well-populated running path, or in a more remote location with safety concerns? Being honest about the logistics and your personality can help you set yourself up for success, DePasquale says.
Remember, too, the long run isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition. If you have 24 to 25 kilometres on the schedule, getting 16 to 20 kilometres will provide a sufficient physiological stimulus to carry you through to the next week. You can also downgrade from a long run with a pace goal to a purely easy long run, which will be less demanding.
3. Flip Your Days!
Your last option is to flip the day of your long run for just one week. For example, do your long run on a Friday before leaving town, or on Monday instead of Sunday.
To do this, stay mindful of the density of your training week, says DePasquale. Density or training load measures the distribution of your total mileage, and is weighted toward hard workouts, such as interval sessions and long runs.
“We don’t want to end up in a scenario where we’re doing speedwork the day after a long run, or we’re cramming in all the rest of our weekly kilometres within a really short time frame,” DePasquale says. You also don’t want one week’s long run to fall within a day or two of the next week’s—those are all recipes for overtraining, injury, and burnout.
Instead, time your workouts to allow at least two days of easy running or complete rest between “hard” days of fast or long runs (this can be one day if you’re an advanced runner). So, if your long run moves from Sunday to Monday and you normally do an interval session on Tuesday, move that workout to Thursday (although, again, this may mean reorganizing your total weekly plan).
How to Handle On-the-Fly Adjustments
Of course, some schedule changes are even more last-minute: You wake up with a fever, simply don’t feel like going out, or there’s a threat of thunderstorms on your usual long-run day.
For weather obstacles, flip things if you can, once again keeping in mind your overall density and shifting other hard runs as needed, DePasquale says. Just be sure that when you do go out for your newly scheduled long run, that you get in some fuel beforehand. “Even if you only have 30 minutes before a long run, get some easily digestible carbs in your system,” she says. Don’t go out on a long run completely fasted. Instead, eat and then head out.
Nevertheless, it’s okay if your preparations aren’t perfect because going with the flow in training can increase your discomfort tolerance so you can calmly navigate mishaps around race day. “Especially if you’re going to a race that you’re traveling for and there’s a bunch of logistics thrown in, you’re probably going to have something happen that’s less than ideal,” she says.
However, one thing you shouldn’t cruise through is illness. In most cases—including respiratory symptoms, vomiting, and migraines—it’s typically best to simply skip the long run and return to training when you feel better.
“You’re not gaining fitness by running on empty,” Katz says. “When you’re ill, your body needs all the resources that it can get to get you well.” If you push through, you’ll likely stay sick longer and see a negative snowball effect on your training for weeks to come.
Meanwhile, if you’re just feeling kind of meh, consider your options. Perhaps your training is on track overall and you’re simply uncharacteristically sluggish. Try pushing the long run off a day or two. Just note the density of your next week and adjust the timing of other workouts as needed, DePasquale recommends.
It’s also fine to take a mental health day and get back on schedule the next day or week. No single long run will make or break your training plan, and a minor reset could be just what you need. “We don’t expect training to be rainbows and butterflies, but it should be generally enjoyable,” DePasquale says. “You should have some autonomy. You should have some flexibility.”
Of course, if this happens a lot, you need to get curious about your relationship with running, says Katz, and make sure it is serving you, not the other way around.
On the flip side, what if you wake up on a rest day itching to go long? Some runners—ultrarunning champion Courtney Dauwalter comes to mind—see success simply by running as far as they feel they can on any given day, Katz says. Switching things around with density in mind or tacking a few extra kilometres onto the end of an easy long run is probably fine occasionally, DePasquale says. However, if you regularly feel tempted to do more than your training program requires, consider whether your long-term health and goals would be better served by practicing restraint.
“You want the majority of your training to be in that easy effort, sprinkling in those hard days and only going to the well every once in a while,” Katz says. “I would challenge folks to celebrate the fact that their body feels good enough, and that means it’s recovering well, and that they’re running at the correct efforts.” In other words, just as low motivation is a sign of overtraining, extra enthusiasm can be viewed as a sign your training plan, long runs and all, are exactly right.
