How fast/difficult should my long run be?

Yeah, that's crazy fast for a long run for you. The rest of the stuff looks reasonably nice for where you are, but it may take time for you to realize the benefits. Ease off on those long runs (start them out like your easy runs, and only get faster if it feels good to do so), and you should probably be rolling by track season. Are you only doing 6mi tempos, or are you doing shorter tempos and some other light fast stuff as well?

Since you don't get the purpose of long runs, let me enlighten you. Long runs are meant to build your aerobic capacity. simple as that.

What a lot of runners do incorrectly is turn a long run into a LSD(long, slow, distance) run. Long runs are a workout. 7:10 pace would be good for you. you want to build that incredible cardio system and long runs are the key.

That being said, take your easy days easy. run your miles at above 8 minute pace and recover

im at work wrote:

Since you don't get the purpose of long runs, let me enlighten you. Long runs are meant to build your aerobic capacity. simple as that.

What a lot of runners do incorrectly is turn a long run into a LSD(long, slow, distance) run. Long runs are a workout. 7:10 pace would be good for you. you want to build that incredible cardio system and long runs are the key.

That being said, take your easy days easy. run your miles at above 8 minute pace and recover

Easy runs are also meant to build your aerobic capacity. Running at 8 minute pace for a long run is perfectly acceptable.

let me enlighten you some more wrote:

im at work wrote:

Since you don't get the purpose of long runs, let me enlighten you. Long runs are meant to build your aerobic capacity. simple as that.

What a lot of runners do incorrectly is turn a long run into a LSD(long, slow, distance) run. Long runs are a workout. 7:10 pace would be good for you. you want to build that incredible cardio system and long runs are the key.

That being said, take your easy days easy. run your miles at above 8 minute pace and recover

Easy runs are also meant to build your aerobic capacity. Running at 8 minute pace for a long run is perfectly acceptable.

I calculated it out, you should be at 7:25-7:49. take it or leave it.

For newer runners, the main stimulus in long runs will be in just covering the distance. Easy pace is fine, and your pace will drop naturally as you become more familiar with the long run distance. Long runs are good for HS kids running track, but they're not highly race specific, so you don't want to cook yourself with a hard long run so you can't do more important workouts later in the week. For running the 1600/3200, a traditional 20-minute tempo is probably more useful than a slower6-mile tempo, so do more of the short tempos and fewer of the long tempos.

Thanks for the all the advice.

It looks like I’ll stick with 7:30 pace for long runs (may fluctuate depending on how I feel).

As for workouts, i’ll do longer intervals every other week, usually 8x800 or 5x1200 at just over 6:00/mile pace. Not currently doing any shorter 3-4 mile tempos but should I?

Sorry, I should probably be clearer. Would it be better to replace the long tempo by doubling that day and doing 2 shorter ones (2-4 miles)?

im at work wrote:

Since you don't get the purpose of long runs, let me enlighten you. Long runs are meant to build your aerobic capacity. simple as that.

What a lot of runners do incorrectly is turn a long run into a LSD(long, slow, distance) run. Long runs are a workout. 7:10 pace would be good for you. you want to build that incredible cardio system and long runs are the key.

That being said, take your easy days easy. run your miles at above 8 minute pace and recover

I don’t agree with this at all, running at a faster than neccesary pace is actually bad for your fitness as it brings down your overall fitness and doesn’t really help on race day , sure run moderately but it should be slow enough that you aren’t #1 super out of breath and #2 aren’t feeling like it was a strenuous workout , my 5k is 18:20 ish as a freshman and I run my long runs 8:00-8:30 pace depending how I’m feeling ,everyone’s different but running 7:10 is too close to your actual race pace, You and I have around the same time and Ik for me I wouldn’t like running 12 miles at 7 minute pace so slow it down a little , a good rule of thumb is unless you are doing a sort of workout temp run or something of that sorts , don’t run faster than 7:20-7:30 it doesn’t benefit that much and it makes you more tired the next day which can make your workout or harder run be slower , but if you run easier the days you are actually supposed to go fast can be faster, and you are able to give it more energy , it also gives you more rest

I don’t agree with this at all, running at a faster than neccesary pace is actually bad for your fitness as it brings down your overall fitness and doesn’t really help on race day , sure run moderately but it should be slow enough that you aren’t #1 super out of breath and #2 aren’t feeling like it was a strenuous workout , my 5k is 18:20 ish as a freshman and I run my long runs 8:00-8:30 pace depending how I’m feeling ,everyone’s different but running 7:10 is too close to your actual race pace, You and I have around the same time and Ik for me I wouldn’t like running 12 miles at 7 minute pace so slow it down a little , a good rule of thumb is unless you are doing a sort of workout temp run or something of that sorts , don’t run faster than 7:20-7:30 it doesn’t benefit that much and it makes you more tired the next day which can make your workout or harder run be slower , but if you run easier the days you are actually supposed to go fast can be faster, and you are able to give it more energy , it also gives you more rest[/quote]

Hey look man, we don’t run the same times or distances at all. My long runs are at a pretty fast pace.

Secondly, look at my follow up post. I used a calculation to arrive at 7:25-7:49. I didn’t make it up. I guessed 7:10 and it happened to be off.

Lastly. A long run should never be followed by a workout. An easy day should be after a long run, nice and slow to recover.

Hey look man, we don’t run the same times or distances at all. My long runs are at a pretty fast pace.

Secondly, look at my follow up post. I used a calculation to arrive at 7:25-7:49. I didn’t make it up. I guessed 7:10 and it happened to be off.

Lastly. A long run should never be followed by a workout. An easy day should be after a long run, nice and slow to recover.[/quote]

Lol i was talking about the guy who posted this, he and i have a pretty similar 5k time, ig 7:25 to 7:45 is fine as long as he feels good,but for me 7;25 feels a little fast i probably could do 7:45 but I prefer 8 minutes becAuse I feel more relaces, and yeah ik that you dont go for a workout the next day but if you go too fast it can take multiple days to fully recover

Lots of bad answers in this thread. The reality is that there is no one magic long run pace. Some of your long runs should be very easy cover-the-distance types of things. 8:15-8:30 or slower if you are feeling tired. Some of your long runs should start easy (8:30) and then pick up the pace about halfway through to what would be your marathon pace or so (maybe 7:00 let's say). Some of your long runs should be shorter but done at a faster pace, maybe 7:15 or so. Mix it up. Have fun. Don't get injured.