Triathlon superstar Sam Long has already offered his top tips on how to improve your cycling – now the US ace is here to fix your running.
The 29-year-old ‘Big Unit’ has some lofty targets for the 2025 season as he targets the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice in September.
But Sam has again taken time out from his busy schedule to offer his fans some advice on how to improve a key part of their triathlon training regime.
Sam Long’s top run tips
In a YouTube video (watch the full version at the foot of this page) titled “How to crush your long runs”, Long said: “I think there is some confusion about how to do things. It’s really quite simple how to execute it. These three tips will make you execute your long run better, more consistently.”
Those top three tips are as follows:
1 – Don’t be a “Silly Sammy”
What does he mean by this? Well, Long says being a “Silly Sammy” means “starting too hard, so you end with no gas left”, or as he puts it in the video, going out with your mates and drinking shots at the bar at the start of the night so when everyone else is dancing later on in the club, someone has to take you home and put you to bed! Sam’s advice for a long run is to “always negative split” and “start easier” because “it shows you’ve got control over yourself.”
2 – Follow the 10% rule
Sam says: “Only build your distance, your volume or your time by 10% maximum per week. It’s really quite simple. You might think you can go 15% and yeah maybe you can, but there’s risk involved. It’s better to build that 10% per week.”
3 – The Tortoise and the Hare
Long’s final rule revolves around the famous story of the Tortoise and the Hare – with a sequel about becoming a jaguar!
He says: “You want to think about category or style of long run you’re doing. We start with being the tortoise. The distance is enough and we start off nice and steady. The second level is a transformation. A long run where you’re going to do tempo at the end. You start off as the tortoise and then you add five miles of tempo towards the end. Then, level three, you turn into a jaguar and the whole run is fast. An interval long run. You’re meeting the distance and the pace. Progress those as the year starts.”
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