33

How Fast on Long Runs?

If there were ever a type of run to ease into, it’s the long run. When people have to slow at the end of a long run, or cut it short, it’s almost always because they’ve run the first half of it too hard.

Fifteen minutes into a long run, you should be running no faster than the pace you can honestly tell yourself you can hold to the end. If you get to a few miles to go and are itching to pick up the pace, that’s the time to run faster. There are few running experiences more unpleasant than crashing and crawling in the last third of a long run.

Unless your long run is a key part of preparation for a long race—which we’ll look at in the next chapter—keep your pace at a relaxed, conversational effort throughout. The challenge is simply covering the distance. The range of effort at which the physiological changes you’re after by going long is broad; increase your chances of finishing the long run feeling strong by keeping things at the gentler end of that broad range.

If you plan your training in terms of minutes per mile relative to race pace, try these rough guidelines: Do your long run a minute per mile or slower than your marathon race pace, or 90 seconds to 2 minutes per mile slower than your 5K race pace.

Stacey Cramp