When you're training to race, whether it's a 5K, 10K, half or marathon, you need to incorporate some long distance running into your schedule. The purpose is to build up stamina for your racing. Personally, I like my long runs to be longer than the next race in my schedule, but not everyone agrees with that.
My reasoning is that if you have run longer than race
distance a time or two you will know at your start that you can
comfortably handle the length. Then all you need to concentrate on is
holding your pace. The long distance running you use to build up this stamina is through long, slow distance (LSD) runs.
LSD runs are an essential part of your half training program.
As the name implies, they are intended for building distance, not
speed. The speedwork comes from pace runs, tempo runs, intervals and
fartlek.
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