Numpty question on LSR pace

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DiscoSteve May 2012 10:52am, 2 May 2012 144 posts	0 DiscoSteve I know this is going to make me sound a bit stoopid, but I've read comments on various threads about doing a LSR and this should be a fair bit slower than expected race pace. Why is this, is it simply cos you run further than race distance so would expect to run slower, or is it to do with being out for a longer time? I find it hard sometimes to try to run slower than I would naturally in a race (admittedly pretty slow anyway..). Am sure this is really obvious and explained in most basic running books but any insight appreciated!
James1982a May 2012 10:57am, 2 May 2012 7,667 posts	0 James1982a The majority of your runs should be less than race pace! This is to avoid injury & burnout. If you run at race pace every day, eventually your body will say no!
Devoted2Distance May 2012 11:01am, 2 May 2012 1,078 posts	0 Devoted2Distance Not necessarily true. I haven't been injured for years and have half marathon, marathon and 10k PBs already this year and I rarely run below 7.2m/m in training. If you haven't much experience though, I don't recommend it. It's only because I've built this up over 8 years that my body is used to it now. Best stick with the conventional training plans (including long slow runs) if you're still finding your feet. Always good to experiment though as running is such an individual sport that what works for one may not work for another.
Kenny_Boy May 2012 11:03am, 2 May 2012 400 posts	0 Kenny_Boy Steve, it's generally accepted that "time on feet" is important to prepare your body for race day - thus running more slowly to be on your feet for longer. Also, if you run all your long runs at MP, you'll almost definitely get injured!
Kenny_Boy May 2012 11:04am, 2 May 2012 401 posts	0 Kenny_Boy And you don't sound stupid - perfectly reasonable question!
James1982a May 2012 11:06am, 2 May 2012 7,670 posts	0 James1982a D2D, Is it possible you are racing too slow? What is your breathing pattern while racing?
Autumnleaves May 2012 11:10am, 2 May 2012 146 posts	0 Autumnleaves On a slight tangent to this - when you work out your LSR pace, do the training etc, presumably you get fitter and therefore faster when it comes to a race? At what point do you adjust your training paces to take account of this? (I'm using you as a general term, this isn't addressed to any one particular fetchie).
Devoted2Distance May 2012 11:11am, 2 May 2012 1,079 posts	0 Devoted2Distance James - It's a catch 22. I run to relieve stress and if I don't run at a decent pace, I don't get that satisfaction/stress-release. If you look at my PBs, my race pace for 10k is 6.4mm, Half pace is 6.5mm, Mara pace is 8.14mm - obviously Mara doesn't add up because I still need to sort fuelling out (I can't take anything on as everything makes me sick so I run out of energy) if you contrast that mara pace to my 20 mile PB (2.34) that makes sense. I've become slack in my interval efforts - I was running them a while back on the treadmill but now that it's better weather out, I tend not to go to the gym much. Last night for example I ran my old faithful 10k route and ran between 6.1mm and 7.2mm, if it feels good, that's generally how I'll run. I'm not a clock-watcher on training runs, I just run as I feel but I'd never intentionally run slower.
Keefy Beefy May 2012 11:11am, 2 May 2012 7,427 posts	0 Keefy Beefy There are variation online, but Fetch has one of those calculators that you can enter a recent race time in and get standard training paces: http://www.fetcheveryone.com/training-calculators-trainingpace.php
Keefy Beefy May 2012 11:12am, 2 May 2012 7,428 posts	0 Keefy Beefy Soz, Fetch's one just does it for intervals and fast stuff. RW's is what I was after: runnersworld.co.uk