Are there any disadvantages of including too many long slow runs in Marathon training?

Yes I wanted to know if there are any bad effects of including too many long slow runs in your marathon training and too little speed workouts.Whether it really helps you in your competitions.Also does it really help you in your subsequent marathons after your first marathon?|||What is too many and what is slow?


You do not have to do long runs at your race pace, as long as you do some speed work such as a 10K race every week or two.


It is certainly good to have a distance base that will carry over in your after marathon training.|||It depends on if you are running to complete your first marathon or if you are running for a specific time. If you are running to complete your first marathon you don't even need to run speed workouts. If you are running for a specific time then you have to have a balance which depends on the individual runner and how they respond to the training. Too many long slow runs and you may be too tired to do the speed workouts, too few long slow runs and you won't have the strength to finish the race at the pace you set for yourself. If you continue training after your first marathon you don't need to build up to your long runs. For example most marathon plans have you run a 20 mile run, building up from around 6 over a period of 12 weeks. If you are already doing 20 mile runs you don't need to build up, you are already doing them. In that sense it helps.|||If you never train at race pace it will be much harder to run that pace on race day. Maybe adding fartlek one day and a tempo run another would help your training program