In reviewing the Daniels VDOT and E/L pace charts my long runs appear to be a bit slow. I am doing 15 miles at about
6:45 pace and I am in 15:20ish shape for 5K.
Should I attempt to pickup my pace to the 6:13 level or are there benefits to the 6:45 pace. I sure don't want to waste my time out there with "junk miles".
Stick with what you are doing. If anything yo should be running slower than 6:45. I would suggest dropping the pace to lower than 7 mins and possibly pick up other runs in week by 5 - 10 s per mile - depending on whta pace you are doing obviously. The science behind this is that there are benefits in terms of mitochondrial activity that can occur at a pace slower than 7 minute mileing for some1 of your ability.
At least once a week run 5 miles at less than 6mins per mile as well as your other quality sessions.
This will build up your threshold level.
I use Daniels in my coaching. It's important to remember that the charts used in the book are the center of the bell curve he generated from all the data he has accumulated over the years. You may not necessarily be a representation of the mean .... who knows, you may be an outlier. Run by feel; I think that Dr. Jack would tell you the same thing. In our program we find about 10% of our athletes don't fit the "norms" represented by the Daniels charts.
In addition, it has been reported that the East Africans run very slowly during some of their long runs (significantly slower than "E/L" pace), although sometimes I doubt what has been written about their training.
Yeah, I usually view the E/L paces as more of a speed limit than a goal. Something to keep you from going out too hard on a recovery or long run.