I had a bad marathon experience my last time out because I didn't focus enough on LSD. There were a number of guys who, IMO, did their long training runs too fast and bonked hard on race day. I read a lot of stuff indicating that going too fast on long runs (with higher heart rate) negates the critical endurance building aspect of the run. So for Boston I vowed to do a ton of LSD and focus on a slow, disciplined pace (about 25% slower than race pace goal) for the entire run. Now my training partner wants to change things up for the last two long runs, based on Pfitzinger's site. Here's what Pfitzinger says:
"Your long runs should be run 10 to 20 percent slower than your goal marathon race pace. This will ensure that you?re running with a similar posture and are using similar muscle patterns as when you run at marathon pace. If you do your long runs much slower than this, then you?ll run the risk of not being prepared for the marathon. Slow long runs reinforce poor running style and do a poor job of simulating the demands of the marathon."
Now I don't know what to think. I'm inclined to say Pfitzinger's advice applies more to gifted, elite level runners than it would to regular guys like me.
Opinions, anyone?