I second this. There's another psychological aspect to me. Training the "let's resume" action of your brain is very important. And doing this alternating smooth to harder is one good way.
I've had good success with this strategy - it breaks up the monotony of long runs, and overall pacing is accomplished by changing interval duration instead of trying to maintain a precise fixed speed over the entire run.
Unfortunately, I've had no success convincing other beginners to try this method, as the predominant wisdom is that you have to run over the entire duration, and beginners almost always go far faster than they should.
I started with a C25K plan in November 2020 and ran my first half marathon in October 2021. I'm looking at marathons now, it's changed my level of fitness far more than I could imagine.
I did a few 4 hour marathons in my early 20s, and in December I decided I was going to train for another one, after doing very little cardio for a long time. The run/walk approach has been great for me. I run for as long as I can, then walk 100m, run 400m… until I think I’m done. I’m getting through 10k in just over an hour now, and when I started I was struggling to mostly walk 5k.
I often did that. It's a nice feeling when you just walk-as-pause after a good run then when you're still warm and rested you feel the desire to resume the run :)
I didn't follow any training plans to get up to the half marathon distance. Once I'd finished the C25K plan I decided to see what 10K felt like and it was ok... did a few of those and then tried 15K. At that point I figured I could do a half and entered one. Although I didn't follow a plan I do keep an eye on my GPS watch to see what pace I'm doing - if I'm planning a long run I'll hold back the pace from what I know I can run so I don't tire myself out.
I think training plans depend a lot on what you're wanting to do - I just wanted to complete the distance; I could probably do it faster with a proper training plan but I've found running without worrying about time (too much) to be enjoyable (and I have still got respectable results for my age).
https://medium.com/runners-life/how-to-start-running-using-j...
I've had good success with this strategy - it breaks up the monotony of long runs, and overall pacing is accomplished by changing interval duration instead of trying to maintain a precise fixed speed over the entire run.
Unfortunately, I've had no success convincing other beginners to try this method, as the predominant wisdom is that you have to run over the entire duration, and beginners almost always go far faster than they should.