Lenny Leonard wrote:
I'd say your distance of those runs are a little long as well. If you are running 35-40 miles per week on 6 days running, and your easy day is 6 miles, how long is the long run?
You'd be better off with a 3-4 mile easy day (8:00/mile +). Workout days is where you get to see how you stack up to the varsity guys, but even then you shouldn't be running yourself into the ground.
5-7 miles a day at 7:20-7:45 is no problem at all, I don't see any reason to run lower mileage. Running 3-4 miles on most days at 8:00 would be incredibly easy and probably wouldn't be of any benefit beyond just staying in shape. I would only even consider running like that the day before or after a meet, and sometimes not even then.
But you are right about my easy days being too fast, especially in the hot and heavy weather I'm in right now. I realize that base training shouldn't be wearing you out. But like I said in my earlier post, there's pressure on my team to run faster than easy pace every day. I will talk to my coach about this.