The Art of the Back-to-Back Long Run
The Back-to-Back (BTB) Long Run is a staple of the ultrarunner’s training plan. If it hasn’t been a part of your plan up to now, it should be. There are a lot of topics in running that require a good understanding of the science behind the methodology. While there is plenty of science that could be discussed when talking about the BTB long runs I think it’s more important to talk about the Art of it. This is one of the hardest parts about being a running coach. You have to be able to combine the science of Exercise Physiology with the Art of working with people and adapting what you know to fit their needs. I feel very strongly that the BTB long run is a critical part of training for an ultra so I’ll skip most of the science and get right to the Art of incorporating it into your plan.
Why
When I talk to people about a concept in running that they don’t REALLY understand I like to start off with the “Why”. I find that runners in particular like to know why it is they are doing a certain workout instead of just blindly following what someone says. The first “Why” is durability. If you’ve read any of the other blog posts you will have come across the word Durability. In my mind, it should be at the center of focus for an ultrarunner and the vast majority of your training should increase your durability. A high level description of Durability is your body’s ability to withstand pounding over a very long time and keep moving forward without injury. Think of the durability of a diesel truck that just keeps on going no matter how rough you treat it. BTB long runs are quite possibly the best way to really build durability during your training plan. They are as effective as running ultra races every week without nearly as much stress on your body. The second “Why” also leads into durability but deserves it’s own mention. The BTB long run is a great way to increase your total mileage for the week without having to dedicate several hours each day to training. Many of us have “normal” jobs and families which makes it difficult to get in 2 or 3 or 4 hours of running every single day. It may be much easier to log a couple of long runs on the weekend than trying to find the time to knock out 10-15 milers every day. The third “Why” is that it is very important to know what it feels like to run on tired legs. Running BTB long runs should give you the confidence during a race that you can keep on pushing for many more miles even after your legs feel like their shot. During training you will likely wake up after a long run and feel like there is no way you can go back out and knock out another one. You drag your butt out of bed and get going and before long you realize that it was just a mental block. Once you get warmed up your body can respond to the demands of running. This is a very useful bit of mental ninjutsu that can help you keep on going at the tail end of your next 100 miler. The last “Why” that I’ll mention is the ability to do some good nutrition and hydration strategizing for race day. During your BTB long runs you should practice your race day nutrition and hydration to see where you can improve. This means that you should be eating and drinking the same types of things that you would on race day. Don’t go out and only train with gels and electrolyte drinks and then eat pizza and hamburgers on race day. This will be a really good test of how your body can digest food while covering long distances. It can also tell you if you are taking in enough calories and fluids without having to blow up on race day. If you feel really bad the day after a long run and can’t run the second one, you may have to adjust your calories or hydration.
What
The BTB long run is a little difficult to exactly define. I’ll do my best here to give some thoughts on what it is vs what it isn’t so you can decide if what you are incorporating into your plan would fall into the BTB long run category. Most runners reserve either Saturday or Sunday for their Long Slow Run. This is a run that is typically towards the low end of your Zone 2 HR but is, by far, the longest run of the week. At the very beginning of your plan this run may only be 10 miles while the other runs during the week may top out at 5 miles. Once you get further into your training plan this run might be 20+ miles. The easiest way to think about the BTB long run is to just mirror your weekly Long Slow Run the next day. For many people, this will look like a 20 mile run on Saturday followed up by a 20 mile run on Sunday. The sessions do not have to be exactly the same length to be effective. The key is to make sure that both runs are much longer than your other training sessions during the week, and when added together are close enough in distance to replicate the effort of a “training” ultra. Some people may even choose to split up each long run for the first couple of weekends. This might look like a morning 10 miler then an evening 10 miler on Saturday. Rinse and repeat for Sunday. The key is to make sure that the total miles for the weekend is roughly double what the Long Slow Run was prior to starting the BTB long runs. What does not qualify as BTB long runs would be the standard Long Slow Run on Saturday followed by a few high intensity miles on Sunday. Also what wouldn’t qualify is if you had been running 16 miles for your weekly long run but decided to make your BTB runs 10 miles each.
When
This question becomes very important with regards to the Art of creating your plan. The placement of the BTB long run naturally falls on the weekends for most people who have a typical work schedule. That does not necessarily mean that it has to fall on the weekends. The tricky part is how you schedule the runs around the BTB long runs. During the time period that you are doing the BTB long runs they should be the highest priority runs in your plan. This means that everything else should be planned around them. I highly recommend sandwiching an Off Day and Recovery Day around the BTB long runs. I generally prefer to place the Off Day before and the Recovery Day after. You may have to schedule a easy run the day before but it should not be very long. If you have any Zone 3 or 4 runs scheduled for the same week, they should be as far away from the BTB long runs as possible and have either a Recovery Day or Off Day between. For example, if you have the BTB long runs scheduled on the weekends then your higher intensity run should be on a Tuesday or Wednesday. We talked a bit about When during the week to place the BTB long runs but what about the timing during the training plan as a whole? This, like the answer to many of these questions, is that it depends. I would not recommend starting them right away. I would typically allow at least 8 weeks of solid base training before getting into BTB long runs. I also don’t recommend running them all the way up to your goal race. The sweet spot seems to be running BTB long runs for 4-6 weeks and ending about 6 weeks before your goal race. This can obviously be adjusted to fit your needs but the keys to remember are not to run these too close to the race and not to start them before you have a really solid base of training completed.
How
The very fortunate part for everyone is that these BTB long runs are already built into the Ultra App’s training plans. I’ve done all the work to set these up in each plan to follow all of the guidelines that are outlined in this post. If you follow the plans that are laid out for you in the app you will have done the necessary build-up runs to prepare you for the BTB long runs and you’ll have a really good idea what HR you need to target for these runs so you don’t go too hard and risk injury. If you don’t want to use the training plan that was developed in the app, simply follow the guidelines listed in the other sections to start incorporating these runs into your own training plan.