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Long Run Coronado

I haven't done a long-run in a while and it's time to see how my vacation running worked out.

What is a long-run? In some respects it's self-explanatory. It is a run that is longer than your standard distance. However, it is also slower than your standard pace. The rule of thumb for a long-run is to go a minute to a minute and half slower than your goal.

For instance if you have a goal of running a marathon in four hours, your goal pace is nine-minute-miles. For your long-run you will go at a pace of 10:00 to 10:30 per mile.

My favorite long-run location is Coronado. Starting from Glorietta Bay Park, head South and West under the bridge. Follow the path along the golf course and then stay to the left side of the road all the way out to The Strand and pick up the bike path again.

If you take the path all the way to Imperial Beach and back you can easily get 20-22 miles in. That is a perfect distance for marathon training. You need only get up to 20 miles once in a marathon training cycle.

The course is flat but there are a few gradual grades that appear. The course is almost completely free of traffic lights.

The one issue is bathrooms and water. There are three places to use the bathroom on the course. There is a park about three miles in, there is Tidelands Park further down and also Silver Strand State Beach.

Silver Strand Beach is on the opposite side of the road and requires a small detour.

Since I don't like to carry water with me, I have deposited water on the course in the past. I drive out and leave water bottles at the bus stops along the way.

These bus stops are in the middle of nowhere so I'm not concerned about someone tampering with them. I reuse Gatorade bottles and just throw them in the trash can at the bus stop.

This course is also great for cycling. Runners need to be aware of cyclists and stay to the right. The rules of the road apply.

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I haven't done a long-run in a while and it's time to see how my vacation running worked out.

What is a long-run? In some respects it's self-explanatory. It is a run that is longer than your standard distance. However, it is also slower than your standard pace. The rule of thumb for a long-run is to go a minute to a minute and half slower than your goal.

For instance if you have a goal of running a marathon in four hours, your goal pace is nine-minute-miles. For your long-run you will go at a pace of 10:00 to 10:30 per mile.

My favorite long-run location is Coronado. Starting from Glorietta Bay Park, head South and West under the bridge. Follow the path along the golf course and then stay to the left side of the road all the way out to The Strand and pick up the bike path again.

If you take the path all the way to Imperial Beach and back you can easily get 20-22 miles in. That is a perfect distance for marathon training. You need only get up to 20 miles once in a marathon training cycle.

The course is flat but there are a few gradual grades that appear. The course is almost completely free of traffic lights.

The one issue is bathrooms and water. There are three places to use the bathroom on the course. There is a park about three miles in, there is Tidelands Park further down and also Silver Strand State Beach.

Silver Strand Beach is on the opposite side of the road and requires a small detour.

Since I don't like to carry water with me, I have deposited water on the course in the past. I drive out and leave water bottles at the bus stops along the way.

These bus stops are in the middle of nowhere so I'm not concerned about someone tampering with them. I reuse Gatorade bottles and just throw them in the trash can at the bus stop.

This course is also great for cycling. Runners need to be aware of cyclists and stay to the right. The rules of the road apply.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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