Slower is Better

The weekend rain broke long enough this morning for me to "sqeeze in" my 20-mile run, which was the last long run in my training plan for the Marine Corps Marathon. Now comes three weeks of tapering before the marathon on Oct. 29th.

I don't know if you ever get used to running upwards of 20 miles on a single run, but I must say I feel much better after this morning's 20-miler than in my previous ones. Probably because for the first time I stuck to running slow and steady throughout the run rather than trying to run at the same pace that I do my short and intermediate runs at during the week.

Most experts suggest doing your long runs anywhere from 45 to 90 seconds slower than your marathon pace. Lately I've been training around a 10:30 minute per mile pace. This morning my average pace was 12:44 per mile. Easily the slowest pace of any of my long runs.