The Long Slow Run - Getting A Bit Muddy On A Lap Round Town.

The Long Slow Run - it's not High Intensity!
My "threshold" is between the two short bars on the far right.
The two tallest bars are at about 85% and 90% of my threshold.
(this is a screenshot of a real run taken from my Training Peaks account)

The Long Slow Run.
A classic training technique.

It's not much to do with how fast you go - it is about stretching the distance.
It's not about being so dead beat at the end you can't move - it is about pacing yourself round, so you finish in "good order" - maybe a bit creaky, but not too much.


And it's about not getting injured.
If the ground is a bit suspect, slow down a bit!
Take time to cross the road safely!
It's just about doing the mileage.

This does three things:
1) it builds up your legs a bit without such a high risk of injury as high intensity running
2) it builds your endurance - if you can't run for an hours, you can't run for two!
(two hours is a popular half-marathon target time for "normal" folks)
3) it burns off a nice lot of calories. Calorie burn for running is much more closely related to distance than it is to speed (I suppose that for most folks they are going to slow for wind resistance to be a big factor - unlike cycling!). Yes, fast running uses more calories per hour, but a set distance takes less time, so it all levels out.
If you take, for example, the popular Harvard Exercise Tables (which I believe to be the basis for apps like MyFitnessPal, amongst others), and plot the running data for distance rather than duration, the calorie usage per mile is pretty much constant.
Indeed, I did that in a previous post!

So for general health and fitness, as well as part of a decent program to build oneself up for amateur events (like a half-marathon or a marathon, for example), I give you the Long Slow Run.

p.s. Your national Government Health organisation probably sets its weekly exercise requirement at the equivalent of three 5 km (3.1 mile) slow runs a week. If you can't manage that, start with a 3.1 mile walk or walk/run, and see how you get on!