Why You Need Race PacFaster in Your Long Runs

Why You Need Race Pace or Faster in Your Long Runs

April 30, 2026•2 min read

Why You Need Race Pace or Faster in Your Long Runs

When you learned about running and how a training plan works you probably learned the same basic structure that I did. You should have easy runs separated by a speed workout, a tempo run, and an easy pace long run. This carbon-copy has been used forever because it works.

But what I noticed as I got more into training and training theory, is that the people who are actively getting better and not hitting plateaus in racing are all adding quality into their long runs.

And why would you not?

Here are some reasons to include it in your plan:

You're gonna be sore, do it with a purpose.You are already on your feet for a long time and will likely be sore enough to have to wait a few days to do something hard again. If you include some race pace work do you think you will be more sore? Maybe at first, but as you get used to adding race pace work into long runs it becomes the norm and makes your goal race pace feel very comfortable.
You ned to practice race pace in training.And if you never practice your long run pace in an actual long run how are you going to get used to what that feels like?
It makes you faster, faster.Your body gets used to flushing lactate and delivering oxygen to the working muscles at a more efficient level. You are teaching your body to do what it specifically needs to be good at on race day.
Do less speedwork, kind of. By adding speed work into the long run you don't have to do as much throughout the week. Something we have been doing lately is combining traditional speedwork with threshold/tempo work. So instead of 3 big workouts in a week most weeks only have 2. That makes you feel a lot more
Change up your structure = seeing improvements.Mixing it up is the best way to see new gains from your training. Adding in some threshold intervals, marathon pace reps, or entire long runs at 90-95% of your goal pace can be a huge difference maker in getting your body ready to tackle your next race.
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Happy running,

R2S Team