When making a training plan, one of the questions you have to ask yourself is the dreaded Saturday versus Sunday long run decision. Now don’t get me wrong, your plan is always flexible, we have to start somewhere, right? Let’s work our way backwards and look at Sunday first.
Running long on Sunday allows you to…
- Potentially have a life on Friday night.
- Sleep in on Saturday, regaining energy for Sunday.
- Drink and eat throughout Saturday, preparing you for Sunday.
On the other hand, running long on Saturday allows you to…
- Get your run DONE so it’s out of your mind and not thinking about what you still have to do the rest of the weekend.
- Who are we kidding? Friday night rolls around and I just want to go home and drink wine after the week. This party animal never has wild Friday nights anyways.
- The rest of Saturday is fair game for naps, going out and other weekend shenanigans.
- Sleep in on Sunday, watching The Food Network with Chicken Face in bed. No pressure to do anything but indulge in absolute laziness.
While Sunday runs technically allow one to properly rest and fuel for the long run, having it done, being relaxed and enjoying time with Chicken Face is worth any long run preparation.
It’s Sunday and I’m currently drinking (more) wine, hanging with this little monkey and watching 17 Again. Damn you, Zach Effron.
(Thanks auntie Caroline for the bow!)
Moment of truth: Saturday or Sunday? Why?
Happy Running!
Saturday. Long runs can be daunting at times, but when I do part of them with a group they seem more manageable. Sometimes I’ll run six with San Francisco club DSE Runners on Saturday mornings in Golden Gate Park, then finish the rest of my assigned miles on my own.
My long runs are not very long right now but I actually do them on Friday. That way I have the weekend entirely free. I am a student and I only have class 9:00-11:00 Friday so I usually go after class
Long runs on Saturday because church is Sunday and a day of rest.
Saturday. I am all for getting it done and not having to think about it for the rest of the weekend. Also that way if the weather is awful or something comes up it can always be moved to Sunday.
SATURDAY! I only recently made the switch because I looooove sleep and could never imagine giving up sleep-in-Saturday… but getting it done on Saturday and having the whole weekend ahead (plus, sleep-in-Sunday!) has totally won me over. I DO love that most races are on Sundays, though, so I have an excuse for a totally lazy Saturday beforehand 🙂
I pretty much always do long runs on Sunday and I’m not sure why…it’s not like I have wild and crazy Friday nights or anything. I may switch to Saturdays when I start training for Big Sur, though.
I have a weird schedule sooooo I do my long run when I can squeeze it in, which is sometimes on a Friday or Monday or Tuesday or….well, any day of the week is fair game. However, when I had a more normal-ish schedule, I did like the Saturday long run so it would be over and done with and on with any weekend fun!
Sunday long runs can be nice if you spend the rest of the day watching football and drinking beer. 🙂
I’m definitely a Saturday girl. I like having it over with.
It sounds like you have a rest day Sunday. How do you feel about recovery runs? Any benefits? I’ve had them on my schedule for this whole training cycle and I’ve only done one! A walk or spin is good enough for me!
Sunday. Hal Higdon’s plans have me doing half of Sunday’s mileage on Saturday at race pace. I rest on Friday and cross train on Monday.
It’s a little inconvenient to have so much mileage on the weekend, but it beats covering that distance during the week. And it’s fine if you’re slow on Sunday as a result. You get the benefits of long runs, even if you do them slowly.
Definitely Sundays because then I can spend the rest of the day being lazy on the couch watching Sunday TV (which we all know is the best tv). The only thing I don’t like about Sundays is since my weeks are Monday-Sunday the pressure is on to get in all the mileage. Whereas if you do a Saturday long run and for some reason can’t bang it all out, you still have Sunday!
Cute pup by the way!
Saturday! Get er done!
Okay (1) Lola is ridiculously cute. Love that picture. (2) No question, Saturday long runs are so better for this girl – I never want to go out on Friday nights (Gah, when did I get so old!!), and its better to get it out of the way. I always stress about my long run, so I don’t want to burn a whole weekend worrying about it!
I’m a Saturday long run kinda girl. The group I run with goes early Saturday mornings, and I do Sunday school and Church on Sunday. I did go out one Friday night for a friends birthday and stayed up till 2, which is highly unusual for me. Met my friend at the gym and ran 10 miles on five hours sleep, just to see if I could do it. No records set that morning, then went home and napped for four hours! Now that’s recovery at it’s best! My long run with my friends is one of the high points of my weekend, I look forward to that time all week!
I typically run on Sundays but the only real reason is because the first training plan I ever ran had me running on Sundays and I got comfortable with it. I do switch it up every once in awhile when I know I have something pressing though.
Saturday for sure! Except every once in a while I will squeeze it in during the week SUPER early before work…usally for 15 or less! And then the weekend comes and I have the WHOLE weekend to enjoy!
Saturday all the way!! I am too exhausted from the week on friday, that a nice dinner and a glass a wine and I am out before 12pm. I love that my run is done and I am up early saturday and have the whole day to have fun and then relax Sunday. Sunday is hard because I usually have plans Saturday night.
I do Sunday’s if I can run on the weekend because I have yoga on Saturday that i like going too. But normally my long runs are on Tuesday
I think that in theory I tend to default to Sundays, but that’s only really because most long races tend to be on Sunday so for some reason it feels right. In practice, though, weekends around here can be unpredictable, so depending on what’s going on, it may happen Saturday, Friday, Monday, or somehow split up between two consecutive days. Basically, I guess I do it when & however I can. 🙂
I did a post just like this with many of the same reasons and I still struggle to find the perfect answer 🙂 I love doing mine on Sunday since I am recharged after the work week and like to take Mondays off, BUT I also love to have it out of the way and have the rest of the weekend to play. I think it just depends on how the week goes, what my plans are and all that, it’s always changing!
Definitely Saturday! I need to have Sunday as my one day a week to sleep in and not set an alarm. 🙂
Saturday! I never go out on Fridays anyway because I’m too tired from work. Plus I like to keep Sundays open for long bike rides if necessary.
Great post! If I have all my stuff together I like to do my long run on Saturday, mainly to get it out of the way. Also, that allows me to do a short run on Sunday if I like, to just get the legs shaken out from the long run.
But I’m with Nurse on the Run, doing it on Sunday during football season makes it awesome to come home and watch football!
I plan for Saturday, but have my running log with Sunday as the first day of the week. I end up backed into a corner and feeling like i NEED to do it Saturday to meet weekly goals. That can be good or bad…Maybe we should just do TWO a week. 🙂 Just in case we miss one.
I am definitely a Saturday long run girl. But this past weekend I did it on Sunday. It just happened that was the only time I could do it this weekend. But I prefer Saturday. I love having the rest of the weekend to relax and I never go out Fridays cause I am too darn tired from the week!
Saturday! I’m training for my first marathon so I’ve been getting long-run anxiety, and I just need to get it over and done with as soon as possible so I can enjoy the rest of the weekend! I also found that if I do my long runs on Sunday, I’m super tired and drained for work on Monday, where as running on Saturday allows me to rest and be lazy all day Sunday : )
My “long” runs currently aren’t so long, but I totally vote for Saturday. I like to start the weekend off on a great foot, so to speak, and as I believe someone else mentioned, if the weather freaks out, you can always move it to Sunday. It’s win-win.
Saturday for the win! Like you, I’m too worn out from the week to make much of a Friday night so I’m content to sit home ,eat an early dinner and crash for the sat am alarm. We also attend church on Sunday mornings so it’s really hard to squeeze in a long run before worship. I’ve done it in a pinch, but saturdays are my preference. 🙂
Saturday alll the way!! i rest friday and do recovery elliptical on sunday. i am spent by friday anyway and then i have the whole weekend ahead of me by running saturday. love this post btw
My grad school program is strange and we have class on Friday nights 5-10pm and Saturdays 8am-5pm. Soooo, that really only leaves me with Sundays. I’ll be done with school in a year and I imagine I’ll switch to Saturdays then!
http://feelingsfoodandrunning.wordpress.com/
As much as I always liked the Sunday long run. I love to start my week off on Monday with a good, hard, fast run, either a tempo or intervals. I realized I’d never be able to with a Sunday long run.
I totally agree with you on watching food network all day on Sunday!