What is the long run?

I did a 6 mile easy run at 9:50 pace today. I felt great. I'm looking forward to my long run out on the road tomorrow. I'm glad I don't have to do another long run on the treadmill this week.

Some of you just getting into triathlon and/or running maybe asking what exactly is a long run? The long run is the most important run of the week. If you have to miss a scheduled workout during the week, it should not be your long run. This is kind of a catch-22 though, because no one should attempt to do a long run without building their base, which is done by doing shorter runs. Therefore, all of your workouts are really important, and I would not be a good coach if I didn't emphasize that.

Cyclists should listen-up to this discussion too, because every cyclist should also be doing a long ride every week. For the purpose of this discussion, I will call it a long run, but everything I'm going to say holds true for a long ride as well.

First, let me address my biggest problem with most people's long runs. Almost everyone does their long run TOO FAST! How fast should you go? Check back tomorrow to find out.