On today's episode of The Distance Dr Daily with Dr Kate, she discusses how long runs are the cornerstone of marathon training, but most of the questions runners actually have, how far, how often, how hard, when to peak, and what to practise, don't always get answered clearly in a generic training plan.
I walk through five evidence-based considerations for getting your long run right, drawing on recent research and applying it practically for runners building toward a half marathon, marathon, or longer.
I cover:
How often to do your long run, and why every 7 to 10 days can work better for some athletes, particularly those who are injury-prone, postpartum, or new to marathon training.
How long your long run should actually be, based on what research shows works across different weekly training volumes, and why staying under 25 km may cost you on race day.
Where to place your peak long run in the training block, and how far out from race day it should sit.
How to progress your long run distance safely using the 10% rule, which applies specifically to your long run rather than your overall weekly volume.
How hard your long run should be, where marathon pace work fits in, and why it shouldn't be every week.
What to practise during the long run, including fuelling, hydration, cadence, and biomechanics under fatigue.
This is for runners who want to train smarter, not just harder, and who want to understand the why behind the long run rather than just ticking off the kilometres.

Study references:
Fokkema T, van Damme AADN, Fornerod MWJ, de Vos RJ, Bierma-Zeinstra SMA, van Middelkoop M. Training for a (half-)marathon: Training volume and longest endurance run related to performance and running injuries. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2020 Sep;30(9):1692-1704. doi: 10.1111/sms.13725. Epub 2020 Jun 3. PMID: 32421886; PMCID: PMC7496388.

Knopp, M., Appelhans, D., Schönfelder, M., Seiler, S., & Wackerhage, H. (2024). Quantitative Analysis of 92 12-Week Sub-elite Marathon Training Plans. Sports medicine - open, 10(1), 50. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-024-00717-5

Generic running plans are not automatically bad. In fact, for many runners, they are affordable, accessible, and much better than making things up week by week. But the problem is that a generic plan does not know your injury history, your sleep, your training load tolerance, your work schedule, or how your body is responding.

In this episode of Distance Dr Daily, I explain how to make a generic running plan work better for you.

We talk about why individualised coaching is usually the gold standard, but also why generic programs can still be useful when you adjust them properly. I cover the two biggest things runners need to modify: their expectations and the program itself.

I also explain how I would think about adjusting a plan if you have a history of bone stress injury, Achilles tendinopathy, recent injury, poor sleep, or limited training time.

The goal is not to throw away your generic plan. It is to stop following it blindly and start making it fit the runner in front of it.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why individualised programs often outperform generic ones
• Why generic running plans can still be useful
• How to adjust your expectations when using a pre-set plan
• What to change if you have a history of bone stress injury
• How to modify speed, hills, and sprint sessions with Achilles tendinopathy
• Why strength and rehab work need to be prioritised
• How to choose the most important sessions when time is limited

You have downloaded a marathon, half marathon, or triathlon training plan. It tells you to run in Zone 1, Zone 2, Zone 3, or maybe gives you interval intensities… but how do you actually know what those paces are for you?

In this episode, I explain how to take a generic training plan and make it more specific by applying your own training paces. We go through two practical methods you can use without a lab: the talk test and a simple 1-mile / 2-mile critical speed test.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE CRITICAL SPEED CALCULATOR HERE:

https://www.thedistancedr.com/criticalspeedcalculator

I explain how the talk test can help you identify easy running, moderate or threshold-type work, and harder efforts, and why critical speed can be a useful anchor for setting more objective training intensities. I also cover why generic heart-rate formulas and old race PBs can sometimes lead you astray.

This is a practical episode for runners and triathletes who want to stop guessing, train with more confidence, and make their plan actually fit the athlete in front of it.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How to apply your own paces to a generic training plan
• How to use the talk test to guide training intensity
• What critical speed is and why it can be useful
• How to test using a 1-mile and 2-mile effort
• Why “220 minus age” is not a great way to set heart-rate zones
• Why your current fitness matters more than your old PBs

If you are a runner, triathlete, or endurance athlete who has ever walked into the gym and thought, how much weight am I actually supposed to lift? this episode is for you.

In endurance sport, we usually have clear intensity markers like pace, power, heart rate and cadence. In the gym, it often feels much less obvious. In this episode, I break down the 3 main ways to measure strength training intensity: percentage of repetition maximum, RPE, and reps in reserve.

I explain what each method means, where each one can be useful, and why I generally prefer reps in reserve for endurance athletes. We also cover how to apply these methods to heavy strength work versus muscular endurance work, why gym intensity often gets confused with cardio effort, and the common mistakes that can leave endurance athletes underloading their strength training.

If you want your gym work to actually transfer to performance, durability and meaningful adaptation, this episode will help you stop guessing your loads and start training with more intent.

If you’ve been told to stop running because of injury, illness, travel, surgery, or just life being life, your first instinct is usually, “I don’t want to lose my fitness.”

That makes sense. But fitness is only one part of what makes you feel good when you run.

In this episode, I unpack the four key ingredients that help you still feel like a runner when you return:

• aerobic fitness
• strength
• tendon stiffness and elastic energy return
• tissue tolerance to running loads

We cover why cross-training can maintain fitness but still leave you feeling flat, clunky, and heavy when you get back to running, and what to focus on instead so your return feels smoother, stronger, and more springy.

If you’re in a phase where you can’t run right now, this episode will help you think differently about what to train and why.

A lot of endurance athletes have heard the same message for years: lighter is better, leaner is faster, and body fat is the thing standing between them and better performance.

But is it really that simple?

In this episode, I am joined by Dr Grant Landers, Senior Lecturer in Sport Science at The University of Western Australia, to unpack one of the most deeply ingrained beliefs in endurance sport: that lower body weight automatically means better performance.

Together, we discuss what body composition actually means, why endurance sport has historically become so focused on fat mass and adipose tissue, and why that conversation is often far more simplistic than the science supports. We also explore the roles of lean mass, bone mineral density, fuelling, robustness, recovery, and athlete health, plus what tools like DEXA, skinfolds, ultrasound, body fat scales, and standard scales can and cannot actually tell you.

This is a thoughtful and practical conversation about moving away from “race weight” as the goal, and towards something much more useful: performance readines

Zone 2 is everywhere right now, but the more people talk about it, the more confusing it seems to become.

In this episode, I am joined by Rob Merrells and Nick Baldwin to unpack what zone 2 training actually is, why there is so much disagreement around it, and how endurance athletes can apply it in a way that is practical, realistic, and evidence-informed.

We discuss thresholds, heart rate, pace, power, RPE, and the talk test, as well as what to do if “easy” running sends your heart rate through the roof. The conversation also digs into whether zone 2 is really as magical as social media makes it sound, how much of it time-poor athletes actually need, and why lower intensity does not automatically mean lower injury risk.

This is a thoughtful, practical episode for runners and triathletes who want to understand zone 2 beyond the hype.

Most runners know they “should” strength train. Far fewer know how to do it in a way that actually helps performance.

In this episode, I break down the 5 most common mistakes runners make with strength training and show you exactly how to fix them. We talk heavy strength vs high reps, calves vs glutes, single-leg work, progressive overload, rest periods, and what a smart runner strength session should actually look like.

I also give you a practical anti-mistake strength session to help you put the ideas into action.

If you want your gym work to improve your running rather than just make you tired, this one’s for you.

Part 2 is all about what to do after a bone stress injury diagnosis and how to reduce the chance of it happening again. I’m joined again by sports dietitian Lauren Nash (Updietitian) to give a holistic, evidence-based approach that covers both sides of the equation: training load + fuelling.

We discuss how management changes depending on pain, location, and injury grade, why some sites are treated much more conservatively (and may require repeat imaging), and why “non-impact” doesn’t automatically mean “safe” early on. We also unpack a common endurance athlete trap: replacing running with huge amounts of cycling, swimming, and gym work — and accidentally digging an energy deficit while the body is trying to heal.

From the nutrition side, Lauren breaks down how to adjust intake during recovery without falling into under-fuelling, how to periodise nutrition to match training, and why blood tests and DEXA scans can be valuable tools in the bigger picture. We finish with practical, prevention-focused strategies: returning to running by building volume before speed, adding a bone-specific stimulus (short plyometric doses), addressing strength deficits (especially calves and hips), and sanity-checking the advice you absorb online.

Bone stress injuries are common in endurance athletes, and one of the most frustrating parts is that they often feel like they “came out of nowhere.” In Part 1 of this two-part series, I’m joined by sports dietitian Lauren Nash (Up Dietitian) to unpack what a bone stress injury actually is, why the terminology is confusing (even among experts), and why two athletes can run the “same program” yet have totally different outcomes.

We cover the load side (quiet training changes, session density, too few true low-load days, and why it can feel
Link to the Delphi Consensus Study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39638438/
sudden), and the physiology side (low energy availability, REDs, menstrual dysfunction, and why you can be under-fuelling without losing weight). We also dig into overlooked contributors like diet culture, calcium intake, and gut conditions that can reduce nutrient absorption.

In Part 2, we go practical: management, return-to-run, and how to reduce recurrence risk.