I've always thought an hour or so at slower than tempo pace was a good overall fitness workout when you aren't really in gear to do a harder "real" workout, regardless of what event you're preparing for. In my build up for New York this weekend, I've done it many many times, today being the last one.
This should be a fairly easy effort right? Obviously more than a run, but not enough to labor I assume?
I usually train at a faster pace for anything 10mi and under and beyond that at marathon pace.
A hour at marathon pace IS tempo pace.
I don't think you should need a cooldown from marathon pace unless you're just trying to get in mileage. Cutting out the cooldown would keep it from becoming a semi-long run
The best thing for long term aerobic development is consistent mileage and long steady runs like you describe. Pace accordingly depending on the distance. I believe the rule is marathon pace runs should be 10-16 miles, but no longer, so yeah, 10 miles at marathon pace is a easy-moderate effort workout that should be a staple of anyone training for the long distances, and should be included in every runner's training plan during certain parts of the year. Personally I like to treat my long runs (usually 15-16 miles) as workouts and run them around 6:00 pace (I'm at over 6000ft, so 6:00 pace is somewhat quick) year round excluding the few peaking weeks I have. I feel like long steady runs and short thresholds (4-6 miles) are what really make distance runners. Everything else is icing on the cake more or less. Everything has value, but it's the mileage and threshold type stuff that will pay off big after a few years (or even months).
This post just fired me up to get out the door. Thanks.
Guppy wrote:
The best thing for long term aerobic development is consistent mileage and long steady runs like you describe. Pace accordingly depending on the distance. I believe the rule is marathon pace runs should be 10-16 miles, but no longer, so yeah, 10 miles at marathon pace is a easy-moderate effort workout that should be a staple of anyone training for the long distances, and should be included in every runner's training plan during certain parts of the year.
For me, 10 miles at MP is definitely a workout. By itself, it's not a really tough workout, but I would still place it in a week as a workout, with appropriate rest before/after. I consider it a long tempo; my tempos can range from 3 miles at half pace, up to 8-12 miles at marathon pace.
I will sometimes do a run like this after more easily miles (5-10 easy miles), which makes it into a fairly tough, fairly specific workout.
Good workout yes. How hard should it be? - Well that depends on your goal marathon pace and your weekly mileage. when i trained my brother to run a 3:00 marathon off of 50mpw (he didn't run for year before that) he could easily do 10-15 miles at marathon goal pace without it being too hard. for me a 10 mile run at marathon pace in the middle of a 120 week would be a pretty hard effort..much like a very strong tempo run. At hansons we do a 16 mile simulator run once a segment at marathon goal pace and it is pretty much balls out (during a high mileage week).
as far as the cool-down goes - its going to depend on your weekly mileage as well. mileage for the marathon is a good thing so getting in a big day like that (ramping up your metabolism) and then burning through your glycogen to transition to some fat burning (probably on the cool-down) is going to train your body to utilize its fuel sources more efficiently during the later stages of the race.
El G commonly ran 50-60 minutes at 3 min/km which is 4:48 pace. He would run 10 miles in under 50 minutes for 5 days in a row. If the focus of your training is high end aerobic running than I think it should be too laboring, assuming you aren't going crazy with miles
when i was running marathons, this was my key workout and i would not have classified this as an easy/moderate run. in fact, found this excruciatingly and i had to really psych myself up for it hard when done alone and untapered.
it always freaked me out how hard that run was but the pace i hit for this workout turned out to be my marathon pace.
In the midst of heavy training, 10 miles at MP will be work. For me it usually feels hard enough that I think "how could I hold this pace for 26.2 miles?" But with a little bit of tapering, and with the race day excitement, it proves possible.