stop running long on sunday ?

The common belief is that it is not ideal for training to do them in back to back days, but what's always ideal for training is not ideal for real life.

I save my most taxing workouts on Saturday and Sunday because generally, I am more rested then and have the most recovery time to be functional for what the rest of my day holds.  Yes, I could wake up and run 16 miles before work on Thursday, but I would either have take vacation time at work or start at like 4 am, neither of which are "worth it".

Triathlon and life are about balance.  For those who have families and social responsibilities and a pretty rigid work schedule, it's certainly harder because your hours are finite and not very flexible.

The long run is a key workout for sure, and you can benefit from doing them on fresh legs.  If you have to have long bike one day and long run the next, it doesn't hurt to mix it up sometimes and run on Saturday and ride on Sunday.

This is exactly how I've been doing it from basically the beginning. I don't particularly believe you get any special benefit from long bike followed by a long run the next day and I would rather separate long efforts by a few days.

Plus, I really like having a full weekend day to do nothing. Saturdays are reserved for the kids/family and sleeping in. I have plenty of time to do long runs, even long bikes often before work during the week. Sure I lose a bit of sleep but to me that is a better tradeoff than losing 1/2 or even a full day of weekend time.

Not that I really have a long run right now but....

I know I tend to leave work late a lot of nights, but Friday tends to be comparetively early, plus I don't have to get up as early on Saturday (excluding a workout).

If one could do a long run (ride is less likely due to fading light) on a Friday night and do your ride on Sunday afternoon you would have about 2 days in between.

If you have to do them Sat and Sunday I would think it would be best to do the Saturday in the morning, and Sunday in the afternoon.

I have a simple reason why I plan long bike on Sat still...weather...I can always swap to run and hope Sun is better.

Running in the rain is no problem, but don't want to bike in the rain....too dangerous here.

..and...sitting on the trainer for 3 hours is not my desire.

I've done it both ways for a variety of reasons and in my experience which ever workout is done Sat. usually feels better than the Sunday workout.  I usually take an easier day Fri and Mon which seems to help with prep and recovery. 

That being said the long run Sat seems to effect the long ride Sun more than the other way around.

Good idea!!  Do you do a short run after your long rides?

The article assumes that you're slogging through your Sunday long run.  I don't.

I tend to do a medium long run Saturday but not a run off the bike.  Typically it's placed in the evenings.

Sundays I do a short transition run off the bike, usually around 25-30 minutes just to see how things are shaking out. 

You're not getting the point if that's your takeaway.  The point is that a long run following a long bike is of less quality than if the long run was done midweek.  It's really not a debatable concept. It's basic physiology.  I understand if one has to do the long bike/long run thing on the weekends due to life/work constraints but there's absolutely no other reason to do so.  

You're also making the assumption that my mid week workouts (2-a-days with the most intensity during the week) lends itself better to a long run than on Sunday after my Saturday long ride.

My Sunday long runs are usually at the same pace, if not faster than my mid week runs because Saturday is the only day I don't run (so my running legs have gotten a nice little break).  And the 21ish hours of rest (including an extra nap on Sat afternoon) is the most rest I get between workouts the entire week.

For those reasons...in my personal experience...I think the concept is debatable.

I would agree with the article that if you are slogging through your Sunday long runs...then you probably need to change something up.  But I don't see the point in moving *MY* long run to another day when there is no specific evidence other than a guy writing an arcticle who doesn't know me, my training schedule, or my background.

Keep in mind the source of the article, EN.  IIRC their whole philosophy is train less but at higher intensity which given that parameter, I think their mid week long run makes logical sense.  I think you hit the nail on the head though, you have to figure out what works for you.  I like midweek long runs because it gives me the ability to double up on hard/long rides on the weekends and still pull a fair amount of intensity into my long run which if I were still trying to stuff it in on the weekend wouldn't work.  Plus I'd just flat run out of time too.  

During the summers when I usually end up bike racing, I also prefer doubling up on the long rides on the weekends.  But instead of moving the long run to the mid week...I just stop running. 

Yeah, I think ultimately and fortunately/unfortunately (I'm not quite sure ) lots of different things work for lots of different people. 

I think that sometimes sounds like a cop out to say that, but it's true.

It sounds like we can agree that your long run shouldn't be a slog, and if we have the ability to rearrange our schedule so that doesn't happen, great! In fact, I think it's always good to look at different ways of structuring our training plans. Shoot, things come up, life is always changing and it's good to try new approaches every now and again.

I think EN had brick workouts in their can plans.  Then, they got rid of them saying there is no value added to brick workouts.

It's not just the EN guys that share that philosophy.  Pretty much every coach worth a darn shares that philosophy.

It really isn't debatable.  You're more rested/recovered during the weekdays... pretty much regardless of intensity... than you are trying to follow up a long run after a five hour bike ride the day before.

My schedule looks like this for the week.

M: Swim, Run

T: Bike, Run

W: Bike (AM), Swim

Th: Long Run

F: Swim, Bike

Sat: Run

Sun: Long Bike

So I don't two-a-day my long run day and I don't run the day before.  I will also have 30+ hours between my last leg workout (AM bike on Wed) and my long run.  I would not have the same quality long run if it was done the day after a 4-5 hour bike ride.  Contrary to what you or anyone wants to believe - you're not running on anything remotely close to fresh legs in your scenario.  You might be successful in what you're doing but I'd submit and pretty much guarantee you'd be more successful moving your long run to midweek.

 I think this is better.   I'd do long runs tuesay.  Then again my long runs are rarely over 90 min, so I could get that in pretty easy mid week

Same here as I'm only racing HIMs this year so I doubt I'll see my long run go over 2 hours until Marathon training starts up next winter.  

Can you please give me the details of my scenario.  I'd be interested to know.

ETA: And since I'm running on such trashed legs consistantly around 15-45 seconds above marathon pace, at what pace would you suggest I be running my long runs if I were to be so much more fresh?

I don't have many good options but to do long run and ride back to back on weekends. Due to work hours, weather, traffic, and (lack of) street lighting, they can only be safely be done on weekend mornings, unless on a treadmill or trainer. I generally do the long run on Saturday (after Friday off from S/B/R) with some intensity thrown in (tempo or fartlek) and the long bike on Sunday. Have tried it the other way but found that biking on Saturday affects the quality of my long run way more than running long/hard on Saturday affects biking. If I have to switch the workouts (if there's the chance to join a buddy or group ride on Sat., or if I'm leaving town on Sunday), the long run definitely is more of a "slog".  Monday is a swim-only day. It may not be theoretically the best way to arrange training, but it's the best I can do given the reality of my life.