What Percent of Your Weekly Miles Should Be Your Long Run?

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Declan commented on my previous post about how not to run the majority of your weekly miles in one day and that the long run should only represent 25 to 30 percent on the weekly runs.

I haven't been able to stop thinking about this.  I've been following CARA's novice marathon training program which is almost identical to Hal Higdon's Novice 1 training plan.  I hadn't even thought to question it either.

When you do the math, the long runs amount to 50 percent of the total mileage for that week (except for the cutback weeks).  If you follow the Novice 1, the most miles you run in one week is 40, which is the same week as the infamous 20 miler.

So, let's say that I go off the Novice 2 training for Week 8.  The runs are: 4, 7, 4 and then a 15 mile long run.  Again, that breaks down to 50 percent.  I did some math to try to figure out what I'd need to do to have the 15 miler only be 30 percent of my weekly miles. (Side note:  I think my math is right, but if it's not - feel free to correct me!)

I'd have to bump up my mileage from 30 miles to 45.  That's a significant jump especially since I have yet to hit weekly mileage in the 30s.  Also, in order to get an even break down, I'd have to run 9, 12, 9 and then the 15.  Or, I'd have to split up the 30 miles over the course of 4 days, which translates to 7.5 miles a day if I ran Tuesday-Friday.

Neither of the two plans above are even feasible for me. 

First, my work schedule is not conducive to long runs greater than an hour if I were to run before work.  I can and have run after work, but I much prefer to run right away in the morning.  I can beat the heat if it will be hot that day and I like having that sense of accomplishment knowing that I was pounding the pavement while my whole neighborhood was still asleep.  I feel sorry for whoever lives above my garage since I'm opening that thing at 5:30 (or even earlier!) weekday mornings!

Second, the thought of running 4 days in a row kills me.  In fact, three days in a row is pretty hard for me as is.  I liked last week since I ran every other day and I felt like I gave my legs ample time to rest and recover.

As of now, I'm going to stick with the CARA Novice Program.  It's been around for ages and it's tried and true.  I followed it last year and was able to finish so hopefully it will happen again this year but with better results.  Plus, the long runs are supposed to be easy, comfortable and slower than the weekly runs, which mine are.  If I go slow on those runs, I'll minimize my chances of getting injured.

In other running news, I failed to make it out the door for my morning run since I chose to sleep in.  As for punishment, I have to run after work, which is not preferred.  And, the kicker is that I want to get up early Wednesday to run 6 before work.  This will be interesting.  I'll take today's run slow to save energy for tomorrow morning. 

I probably shouldn't have eaten a Good Humor bar, but our building was doing an ice cream social and it would have been a shame to miss that!

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?  What percentage of your weekly run is your long run?  Is it OK to break up the longer weekly runs and run twice in one day as opposed to all at once?  It's not preferred, but it is better to get the mileage in or the distance?