fast finish to long run

Your 5K pace sucks if you can run 2 miles at it after 20.

Adding to the convo wrote:

Your 5K pace sucks if you can run 2 miles at it after 20.

This.

Last two at slightly faster than marathon pace (if MP is 5:45 running these at 5:30-5:40) is a great workout.

Adding to the convo wrote:

Your 5K pace sucks if you can run 2 miles at it after 20.

QFE.

Its not bad for you. I like to try to run my last few miles at a quicker pace. But you should not be able to run your 5k pace after 20 miles for nearly a full 5k.

I try to run the last few miles of my long runs at 5k pace as well. But I think that if you are training for a marathon it would be a good idea to lengthen the distance a bit. I try to do at LEAST the final 5 miles of my 20 milers at 5k pace. For my best training cycle I would run the final 8 miles of my 20's at 5k pace.

Good Luck and check back in after you make the adjustments.

tkejteoeue wrote:

I try to run the last few miles of my long runs at 5k pace as well. But I think that if you are training for a marathon it would be a good idea to lengthen the distance a bit. I try to do at LEAST the final 5 miles of my 20 milers at 5k pace. For my best training cycle I would run the final 8 miles of my 20's at 5k pace.

Good Luck and check back in after you make the adjustments.

LOL BRAVO SIR

My 5k pace is 6:02 , I'm a 38 yr old female runner. does that pace really suck? and if I'm fine running that pace for the last two miles of a long run, am I under training? I'm already at 80 mpw with decent speedwork and tempo.

tryingtofly wrote:

My 5k pace is 6:02 , I'm a 38 yr old female runner. does that pace really suck? and if I'm fine running that pace for the last two miles of a long run, am I under training? I'm already at 80 mpw with decent speedwork and tempo.

What is your pace for the rest of the run?

7:45

tryingtofly wrote:

My 5k pace is 6:02 , I'm a 38 yr old female runner. does that pace really suck? and if I'm fine running that pace for the last two miles of a long run, am I under training? I'm already at 80 mpw with decent speedwork and tempo.

Assuming this is a serious post: others have told you that if you can run the last 2 miles of a 22-miler at 5k pace, your 5k pace sucks not because it's 6:02 (or 5:02 or 7:02 for that matter) but rather, because you are telling us that you can run 5k race pace for 2/3 of the race length not just in a workout, but at the end of a 20+ mile run.

Which makes no sense. If your 5k pace was truly your 5k pace, you'd be hard pressed to do 1 mile that fast after a 20. The more likely scenario is that your true 5k pace is faster than 6:02.

Going back to your fast finish long run: agree with others the last 2-3 miles progressively faster, finishing somewhere between faster than MP and slower than HMP is a great workout.

thanks! maybe my 5k pace isn't 6:02 anymore after all the high mileage weeks, really appreciate the feedback

I agree you probably would PR if you ran a 5k right now.

I also agree with a previoud poster that you should try to run the last 5 @ MP or even HMP. I think that would be more beneficial.

But what you are doing is not bad for you.