Run pace...LSD compared to 5K?

My LSD of 16 miles yesterday averaged 10:45 mpm.  Last sprint (5K run - Aug 2005) tri I did had my pace at 8:52 mpm.  The first race I EVER competed in took place in August 2004 and was a 5K.  I ran that race in 35:17, which equated to about ~11:23 mpm.

I try to do my long runs at around 11:00 mpm.  Yesterday, I ran with a friend and he pushed our pace on the second half of the run which lowered my time - we hit 8 miles at 1:27.50 and the second 8 miles took us 1:24.??.  The first half we were nailing 10:50mpm (darn close to what I want) and 10:30 for the second half. 

As far as working on being faster, I don't really care.  I'm shooting for distance and endurance - I know that with time and aerobic training, speed on the shorter distances will come sooner or later and that without too much extra work.  

Steve    

Yes.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

It seems most of you have a 2 minute per mile difference or there about with many of you responding what I consider more advanced runners than I. I am building my base this off season. My coach figured my heart rate zones and for my long slow run I am to keep my HR under 146....after about 45 minutes it normally drops into the 130's.

One of the goals I have is to learn to run faster. Now is not the time of the year to work on speed....but for the first time I am building a base should that help me next season. My long slow runs are getting faster which I find encouraging.

Ken, I am reading your book. I think the chapter on getting to your ideal race weight is the best information out there. I highly recommend Ken's book for anyone trying to lose a few poounds or more than that. He explains how to teach your body how to burn fat instead of store it, with concrete ideas...it is great and is helping me a lot. I look forward to your next book concentrating on weight loss for triathletes.

I'm reading and digesting the run technique chapters...and do need to work on it and study it more. I am concentrating on increasing my cadence.. I think the DVD will help even more to be able to see it.

I play soccer 60 minutes a week...normally 6 minutes on and 6 minutes off the field......so I play about 30 minutes. I'm counting that to speed type of workouts. I can tell I'm getting faster at sprinting as I can now keep up with most of the other players and can beat some for 15-25 yd sprint where 6 months ago most of them could get away from me.

Now just to avoid injuries playing soccer and I'll be good.

I'm doing free weight strength training 2x a week. I can tell it is helping strengthen my core...now I can do push ups easily!! Even as a kid I couldn't do them.

My 5K split times in sprint triathlons lately have been consistent with the pace of my Z2 LSD training runs.  I attribute that to the fatigue level after the swim & bike legs, that and the lack of brick training.

I'm about six months into my HR base training. I'm still slow, but feeling stronger and seem to need less recovery time, which are good things.  I'm trying to stay disciplined about my HR training, but it's sooo frustrating forcing myself to run slower when my goal is to run faster.  I'm hoping to see some payoff this summer.