Long SLOW runs

Long slow run by definition should be 30-45 seconds per kilometer slower than your planned marathon pace. I have read this but rarely implemented it. My present normal pace seems to be 6:30-6:40 min/km. When I ran 21k last August 22 with Stella and Lyn we ran it in 2:33 or at a pace of 7:19 min/km. I have never in my recollection run this slowly for any long runs. Even when I just start out from rest I generally run at 7 min/km. So I panicked and proceeded to run all my midweek runs as fast as I could while covering the planned distance.

I ran 13km on my own the day after with a pace of 6:27 min/km. I had to "catch up" the last few meters for every kilometer mark to make sure I made it below 6:30. It was exhausting especially after 10km but hopefully I can call this my interval workout.

I ran 8km 2 days later at 6:15 min/km and another 8km with my expat friends the day after that at 6:27 min/km. All done at what I call the huff-puff pace. The last one was really tiring as I started out tired!

This weekend was the 32k long run. Again with Stella and Lyn. I was beginning to look forward to this "relaxed" pace after all.  I started at 3:15am and was home by 7:30. My watch recorded 3:48. Did I mention I pause my Garmin whenever I stop?! All the time in between was spent stopping in the house to hydrate (2 Pocaris plus copious amounts of water), change dripping socks and fuel. I've never run such relaxed long runs since I've started and I really hope it works.

For the upcoming marathon I want to finish below 5 hours pain free.Running the marathon can be such a long painful event it doesn't seem to make sense to prolong it. I really hope the slow pace works for me because there's little I can do at this point except do my midweek runs like what I just did.

In the mean time, having covered 66km for the week just gone, it is now time to ease up and pull back. And look for a 21k race for the next weekend to cover my long run and try to up the pace a little more.