Arthur Lydiard
If you are a disciple of Arthur Lydiard, how fast you run you
long run will depend on which phase you are in. If you are in the
initial phase, where you are building up your mileage, then your long
runs should be run at an easy pace. Beyond that, your runs should be
at a more brisk strong aerobic effort.
OK, but exactly what is an easy pace and what is a strong aerobic effort.
The problem with Lydiard is that although he was an extraordinary coach,
he was a miserable writer and most of his books are unorganized. (Many
will be yelling "blasphemy" at this point.) Reading Lydiard is not like
reading Daniels or Pfitzinger. With those two you know what they expect
of you; Lydiard needs to be interpreted. Here is my interpretation of "easy
pace" and "strong aerobic effort". The former is faster than jogging, but
not so fast that you can't carry on a conversation. You should never feel
like you are pushing yourself. The latter approaches you're anaerobic
threshold. In his 1995 book Running to the Top,
Lydiard instructs us to
"keep the effort just below that point where it can overbalance into anaerobic
running." Sorry, no firm heart rate ranges or percentages of your goal marathon
pace when discussing Lydiard's approach.
Tim Noakes
Dr. Noakes in his discussion of Base Training (fourth edition of
Lore of Running) states "base training consists
mainly of long, slow distance (LSD) running. The aim is to run as high a mileage
as possible without overtraining and to increase gradually the average speed and
distance of the training session." In this and in other discussion about base
training, Noakes clearly states that runners should not be concerned with speed
during this preliminary part of the training cycle. Obviously that includes long
runs as well as other runs. Noakes is less clear about how to treat long runs
during other phases.
Hal Higdon
According to Hal Higdon, "speed is of little importance during long runs,
according to coaches I contacted. More important is time spent on your feet."
Thirty to ninety seconds, or even more, per mile slower than goal marathon
pace is OK, he says in Marathon. Well,
that is pretty clear. Higdon does, however, believe in
the principle of specificity and consequently does believe in race pace
training, but that, he states, is better done during a shorter, mid-week
workout.
Sleamaker and Browning
In Serious Training for Endurance Athletes,
Sleamaker and Browning suggest a pace on the low end of the scale. Any
"overdistance" workout, and this is defined as any exercise lasting more than
75 minutes, should be done at between 60% and 70% of ones maximum heart rate or
55% to 65% of one VO2max.
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