Long run pacing...
My long runs reached 2 hours in duration last week.
This is the longest amount of time I've ever attempted to run for,
I decided to walk for 30 seconds every mile (to simulate aid station spacing) and I was able to hold that for 6 miles, then I needed to add more frequent walk breaks due to fatigue or lack of endurance and began running 4 minutes and walking 1 to get to the end.
So, given the fact the I cannot run my Z2 pace for the entire time, should I run/walk from the beginning (like 4/1 or walk breaks at the 1/2 mile) or should I run for the entire mile each split while slowing down more and more as time goes on? Or something else?
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Jeff Galloway ('72 Olympian in 10k and marathon) is the walk/run guru - he's been pushing it for 40 years. Check out his web site devoted to this concept for "beginning" runners; at the end is a link to a tool for answering your question:
http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/run-walk/
I know all about Galloway and have some of his books.
I'm trying to reconcile the run/walk/run method with the recommended EN way of walking the aid stations.
Should I stick with run/walk/run for my training and racing or should I try to get myself to walk only aid stations?
And, ask Coach P via the Micro Forum for his advice.
I was trying to hold Z2 pace, which for me is 9:46.
Between miles 6 and 7 I started to fade and ended the run at Z1 pace.
I did this run on a treadmill with a 1 degree incline due to bad weather outside.
In building for my first HIM and then IM I followed Al's advice and each time I went out I just tried to extend my running versus the need to walk at prescribed pace and eventually was able to hold the pacing for the longer runs, it just takes time. I'm always amazed at how the fast folks do it but have to just realize you just have to work with what you have and make the best of it. For me at least the frequency of running gives the greatest improvement and any time off punishes mercilessly, unlike bike/swim where I can take time off and still jump back in and not feel like I never did that sport ever in my life.
Perhaps it would be a good idea, for the beginner HIM and IM plans, to add in the run/walk/run protocol for those not from a running background.
Or somewhere in the Run Wiki.
Hmm ... did you have sufficient ventilation - a fan (or 2) blowing full blast right on your chest & head? Enough fluids (probably need over 40 oz/hour)?
Temp was 70 degrees
Treadmill pace seems faster than outdoors...is that normal?
Hi Don--
FWIW, I have my last long run tomorrow. (HIM INT, first HIM cedar point 70.3). When I am on the tmill, I try to drill paces more deliberately, but during the summer use them only (a) if it's too hot outside or (b) for interval work. The tmill is ruthless--start @ L4 and see if you can comfortably descend. A tmill on a one percent grade will give you approximately the same pace as on a flat road. If you leave it level, then a 9 minute mile is more like a 9:30. At two percent, the 9 min mile becomes about an 8:30. And so on. www.hillrunner.com. FANS ARE HUGE.
W/r/t the long run--running for 2 hours is a long time--it requires a mantra like "I do this because it's fun" or a shameless lie ("I am light and fast."). Although my phone will tell me pace and HR, I do the whole thing almost entirely by RPE and HR because it's hot out, and it's a rolling run (roughly 600 feet of up over 10 mi, which would be 3000ft over 50 miles). My A race is flat. There are also stoplights I have to wait at; if I'm lucky, I stop once or twice. If I'm not, I have to more often. To me, the most important part of the run is the push at the end--if I'm drained before that, then I haven't paced properly.
The point (again, n=1) is not that you walk every aid station, or every other, or run the whole way. It's that you have a plan that allows you to get to the end of the race without bonking. It's like writing--first you need a complete draft--that's usually better with an outline. Get that first. If you need to stop every mile, then go ahead but execute that last 30 minutes. Then revise (e.g., perfect execution.) Practicing that plan will build confidence. My own approach has been that since I bring nutrition/perform along on the weekly death march, I look forward to the race where I will have designated breaks every ten minutes or so. I may walk every aid station. I may not. But I have begun to believe that I will finish.
Read the book Jeff wrote it is worth it. With anything else when you get the gist of his method you can play with it according to how you feel.
For example my test shows a 3 min run than a 1 min walk. I would adjust this to execute a faster pace say start at 3/1 then put a few miles into that scale down to 3/45-30 sec, for a few miles more until, if possible for me, run it in the last few miles.
The last 15 minutes were tough, but I imagine that is the way it should be since I've only run for two hour twice.
Don- in my opinion I think you should work up to running the entire run in your training, then during the race the walk breaks are a bonus not just another run with walk breaks. My worse races were when I trained with walk breaks. Just my opinion, but its backed by some ugly experiences.