Here's my take on long runs for marathon training, for what it's worth. As with any workout (tempo runs, recovery runs, VO2max runs, etc) there is a correct pace to get the desired benefits from it. With long runs for marathon training, if you go too slowly, you won't be giving your body the stimulus it needs to perform adequately on race day. Your posture will be different, your stride will be different, the muscles you use will be different, you won't be taxing your heartrate or breathing enough. So yes, there is a point where the "S" in LSD is too slow. Conversely, if you do your long runs too fast, your risk of injury goes up. You also need extra recovery time by running your long runs too quickly, thus detracting from your future workouts. The success of your training depends on being able to stress and recover your body repeatedly over many weeks, and is the cumulation of many workouts. Putting all your eggs into a single long run, then having to spend the rest of the week recovering from it, is not the most efficient method of improvement. An ideal marathon training program will contain a variety of long run types. Steady state runs where you maintain the same pace the entire time. These are usually done at the "higher" end of the long run pace spectrum. Then there are progressive paced long runs, where the bulk of the run is done at the lower end of the pace spectrum, but increases gradually to marathon pace as the run progresses. As a reminder, the long run provides the following benefits that are essential to success in the marathon. o - they increase the amount of capillaries in your muscles, thus allowing more blow flow, thus allowing better transport of energy and removal of waste to your muscles. o - they teach your body to store more glycogen. More glycogen means more energy available for you. o - they teach your body to utilize and burn fat more efficiently, thus conserving glycogen. This pushes off "the wall" in the marathon. o - they increase the size and number of the mitochondria in your cells. The mitochondria are what takes the glycogen and converts it into energy that your muscles can use.
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Will someone else weigh in on this hypothesis? Do the MM's who run loads of marathons sacrifice speed? Could they run a couple of marathons each year considerably faster with a system of periodic training buildup? Someone else comment here please. Spareribs
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