What is long distance running? How much is too much?
So let's say you're running 30 minutes to one hour each day, under what category is that?
It certainly isn't warm-up, cause it's pretty long. Is that considered long distance running?
Or is long distance running for dozens of miles?
I just love running but want to keep things in moderation also, sometimes I actually go twice a day. That's how much I love it. It's like a drug.
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The "official" distance for long distance running - as used by IAAF and IOC - is 3 km (1.86 miles) (Wikipedia)- but having said that most runners equate "long distance running" and "endurance running" and thus consider 3-15 km as middle distance and only longer distances as long-distance.
One of my running mates - who run 20-25 marathons plus a couple of 100 km races every year(!!) - considers everything less than 42 km as middle distance, whereas his wife considers everything over 3 km as an impossible long distance!
So "long distance running" is what you want it to be. If you run 10 km a couple of times every week and consider that long, then it is long distance to you!
It would be useful to have a little more info here to give a more helpful reply.
What is your reason for running, what is your age, and are you planning to race?
What is a long run really depends on the distance you are training to run. If you are training for a 5k, a 5 mile run may be considered a long run. If you are training for a marathon anything between about 13-20 miles would be considered a long run.
As to whether 30 minutes to an hour is over doing it. It again depends on your fitness level/age and goal?
If you are just doing it for fitness and you are enjoying it, I would say what you are doing is fine, unless you are really young. If you are looking to get faster, it maybe worth adding some interval training. Happy to answer further if you can provide more info.
If you enjoy doing it, keep doing it.
Just make sure you eat plenty of healthy, nutrient dense foods, drink plenty of water and have some quality, well fitted running shoes.
As for whether or not you would classify 30-60 minutes as long distance, I'm not sure.
Somewhere over and above 15 to 20km's I'd call long distance running. But I guess it's open to interpretation to some degree.
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