Long runs make you stronger if you do them correctly

By Cobi Morales
How far should you go on a long run to become a stronger and faster runner? The problem seems to be that the majority of runners tend to run longer distances that are often shorter than they should be and do so too fast, thus they often peak too early and finish less than "strong", you know the feeling of being burned out.
What are the physiological benefits of long runs? The benefits include an increase in the number of capillaries per muscle fiber which improves efficiency and an increase in the myoglobin content of your muscle fibers. What does all of this mean to you? Well, the more oxygen can reach the mitochondria, the greater energy production which results in keeping a faster pace for extended periods of time.

 With the original question in mind, here is a chart on how fast and how long you should go to become  stronger:

What pace or effort?
Effort - Easy super easy

 *Advanced runners should keep a pace that is around 2 minutes slower than their half marathon pace.

 *Intermediate runners should keep a pace that is around a minute slower than their half marathon pace.
 

 Note: This is our own personal philosophy to easy long runs, there are of course other approaches which often suggest faster paces.

What distance?

 Here is a reasonable ELR build up for a half marathon (we generally suggest  one easy long run every 2-3 weeks )

Faster more advanced runners:

 12M
15M
18M
18M

Intermediate level runners:

12M
12M
15M
15M
18M

Good luck everyone !

Cobi Morales