Hey James good long run! i had a question im about 3 and half months out from myrtle beach marathon in march. My question is just 2 weeks ago i ran 14 miler at 8 21 average pace and it was around threshold pace 166 average heart rate. I keep hearing from others that i need do my long runs slower at 9 30 pace for 15-18 milers......do u think i need run my long runs slower? i always hear diff things run them faster or u wont get faster! or run them slower or u will burn out! im planning a 3 hour long run saturday u think i need do most my long runs slower at 145-150 average heart rate? or sprinkle in faster paces? i can run 15 miles at 830 to 820 paces but my heart rate be in zone 4
For me this block I've been pushing hard on the long runs because I've only really being doing the 2 runs per week. If I was doing 5-6 sessions a week I would probably take the long runs slow and have a run 2 faster efforts during the week. As you get closer to the marathon 1 month before the taper, I would start adding in some marathon pace miles to your long runs.
