Long Run To Slow For My Fitness?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you should be basing your workouts off of current fitness, as in the last race you ran, not PRs.

Yes. Back in the day when I was in your kinda shape I did long runs at about 4:15-4:30/km pace, so about 7:00-7:15min per mile. My longest was a 20miler in 2:20 with the last 3km in 11min. But it was a very hot day.

McMillan has you doing long runs in under 7:30 pace.

http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/cgi-bin/calc.pl

Are you running at altitude?

My last two races were the 4:28 and the 9:46.

And no, I live/run at about 300 feet above sea level. I guess I just like running slow.

McMillan Running Calculator say you should be between - 6:22 and 7:22 mile pace

Tinman's running formula - 7:40 for aerobic maintenance

There's a difference between slow and 8min/mile pace. Most guys do that for shakeouts, not long runs. Considering the in-shape "hit the gym couple times a week" guy can WALK about 5 miles in an hour (12min pace) you are RUNNING pretty damn slow.

Ralphy wrote:

There's a difference between slow and 8min/mile pace. Most guys do that for shakeouts, not long runs. Considering the in-shape "hit the gym couple times a week" guy can WALK about 5 miles in an hour (12min pace) you are RUNNING pretty damn slow.

I just get in a groove at about 8 min/mile. All my teammates run at about 6:50-7:10 pace, and I'm faster than most of them at every distance.

I guess I just need to get used to running faster?

What's your stride like at that pace?

I race about a minute a mile slower than you and my easiest runs tend to be 8 minute pace. At 9 minute miles - kinda sorta my equivalent to your 8 - I'm pretty sure my gait would be far more of a shuffle.

OP, I'm similar to you in that 8 min. pace feels like "cruise control" pace and I wonder if we should be pushing it on runs that long. I guess it depends to what distance you're training for. In a high milegae week, you may not have the legs to go 7 min pace for 15 miles especially after doing track workouts and tempo runs as well.

nsmb, old and slow wrote:

What's your stride like at that pace?

I race about a minute a mile slower than you and my easiest runs tend to be 8 minute pace. At 9 minute miles - kinda sorta my equivalent to your 8 - I'm pretty sure my gait would be far more of a shuffle.

I feel like I take more steps when I'm running 8 minute miles compared to 7 or 6 minute miles.

It depends. What are you training for, and what surface are you training on?

It's not too slow. The idea is not to get out of breath. But you probably could have gone faster if it felt ok.

shep proudfoot wrote:

It depends. What are you training for, and what surface are you training on?

Right now I'm training for 10k cross country. And I train mostly on the roads. The 15 miler was all asphalt/sidewalks.

HRE, I understand now the idea is not to get out of breath. So what's the purpose? Time on your feet?

You should feel like you're working, but feel comfortable at the same time. The idea is to recover, but still get some aerobic training in. You should probably be running around 7mins./mile so find out what works around there. And for goodness sake, don't vary your pace by 1:50. 6:07/8:57 spread is way too much. Run as steady as possible. Unless one was all uphill and the other all downhill, you should be pretty consistent within 20-30seconds each mile.

What are you doing with an 8:57 mile and a 6:07 mile? Both of those are absurd. Stick with a normal pace.

Where are these splits coming from? You are either:1) full of shit2) run up and down cliffs3) take GPS as truth4) take mile markers on a trail as truthWhich is it, junior??

Some say 2 slow wrote:

My slowest mile(mile 12) was 8:57. My fastest mile(mile 15) was 6:07.

Is this too slow?

Aside from the 6:07 which is wayyy out there, your nearly 10min/mile pace screams Ultra Marathon. Keep up the molasses-slow movement and extend the avg. run to 20 or 25 miles. Show up to a race and the 40-50yr old geezers won't know what hit'em!

Python wrote:

What are you doing with an 8:57 mile and a 6:07 mile? Both of those are absurd. Stick with a normal pace.

The 6:07 was hammering it home so it wouldn't be slower than 2:00 for the whole run. The 8:57 was almost all uphill.

keepitup wrote:

Where are these splits coming from? You are either:

1) full of shit

2) run up and down cliffs

3) take GPS as truth

4) take mile markers on a trail as truth

Which is it, junior??

Some say 2 slow wrote:

My slowest mile(mile 12) was 8:57. My fastest mile(mile 15) was 6:07.

Is this too slow?

GPS.