Make up miles?

I always wonder what's a runner to do when it comes to days when you can't run.

Say, you are on a training plan and you're set to run 30 miles next Sunday. You can't make it because your employer is sending you at the last minute to visit a customer across the country. You'll be in flying all week end long.

What do you do? Do you push this missing day to the following Sunday? Do you just ignore it and move on to the next run?

As I got more experienced, I have experimented both ways either by NOT making up for a "lost" day and making up for it. It seems that the latter is actually more detrimental in terms of fatigue.

What do you do?

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Comments

  • Sounds like you are on track, fenagle around and see what feels right. It helps me to look at the "big picture" or look at how the few weeks around it are arranged and then figure out how to re-arrange that long run...need a day after as kindof a rest type day or ez run and the day before you don't really want an intense run...so on.  Also be creative about getting that long run in...running a long run in a new city/town or doing it much earlier or later in the day than you normally would or even at night with a light can make it fun and an adventure. Make the most of the hiccup and even take advantage of it.

  • Hey Lori, I think you make an interesting point. There is no hard and fast rule. In a few weeks, I am going to start Eric's  50 Miles training plan on TrainingPeaks and I really want to commit to it at 100%.  This plan seems to be a logical progression in miles and overall difficulty level and I want to make sure I do re-arrange the long runs the correct way, I mean without sabotaging my training. Then again, I could be making this more complicated than it really is.

  • It depends on the run and my schedule. So far I've found no hard and fast "rule". If it is an easy short run or due to illness, I usually just go on to the next and don't try to make anything up. If it is a long run or just a schedule conflict we usually adjust the week to fit the change of plans and re-arrange the long run. We never try to "force" a run to make up.
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