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Run durability long run

Patrick- 

I'm doing Nov and Dec as basically the run durability plans 2 and 3, in prep for the hacked OS that we have talked about leading to Boston. Looking at the durability plans.... I get that they are mostly about frequency and not beating yourself up, but I'm having a hard time understanding the long run.  

Admittedly, I have taken a couple weeks off, but I just ran a half marathon for which I was doing 13-15 mile long runs routinely.  My paces are (rounding, to make the math easy): TP=6:30, HMP=6:45, MP=7:00, LRP=8:15

If I read the plan right, the long run is 70 min, of which the "work" part is 30 min of BAA, where (again, if I understand correctly), the "race pace" means Ironman race pace, which means around LRP.  Thus the "work part" here, is 8:30, 8:15, 8:00.  I presume that the rest of the run is slower? Or is it supposed to be 8:15?

What am I missing?  When I'm in the middle of a big race buildup, my "easy pace" does sag to the Long Run Pace.  But in routine parts of the year, my "easy pace" is closer to 7:30-7:45.  I'm not sure how I go about doing a long run almost a minute per mile slower than my natural easy pace or what I'm trying to achieve.

Maybe I'm not understanding the BAA concept, since, the first part (if I understand it), is naturally slower than your easy pace to begin with.

If I were writing this plan for myself, I'd write the long run as 90 min with the last 20-30 min at MP, or 1:45-2:00 at easy pace. It seems really straightforward to maintain a 90 minute long run "floor" year round, but maybe I'm missing something.

Can you help me out understanding and giving a little guidance? Maybe this just comes from my bias as a relatively strong runner compared to my swim and biking.  Thanks!

 

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