Just wow... wrote:
Warm up and warm down is a totally different animal than a training run. I'd think there would be minimal benefit for him to do an easy run at 9:00/mile pace, and probably would be better off doing some low-impact alternative than bouncing around that slowly.
Whenever you hear about elite plodding along at 8+ min miles, you have to ask about what percentage of the run or weekly mileage we are talking about. It is one thing to have a slow first 20 mins of your morning run. It is another to do it for a whole hour. Same thing with having 1 or 2 slow sessions versus it being 80% of your mileage.
And of course if it is a Kenyan, how many feet of elevation gain and at what altitude. An 8 min miles straight up a mountain at 6k feet is a lot harder than some flat sea level run?
There is definitely a feel issue where running slower than ~9 min miles always has a plodding level no matter what the exertion level. At 6 min miles, you reduce the stride length but cadence and foot strike feel a lot smoother.