Easy Runs are harder for me than workouts...Why?

you dont THINK your easy runs are too hard, BUT your body is telling you otherwise. if you are in college and are running with other guys there is a good possibility that you are running too fast.

Not an expert and I don't have enough information about your history to fully diagnose, but this is my take.

I experienced easy runs being difficult for me when one of two things happened.

When I was pushing the workouts too hard, my easy runs the following day would be torture. I was simply too blasted from the day before to "jog" and hour and those easy days seemed more difficult than they should have been. My solution was to stop maxing out my workouts. I laid off a bit on the intensity my workouts to were and I was able to recover on my easy days. If I pushed too hard on a workout, I never recovered because my easy days were hard too due to the extreme exhaustion I placed my body into. This led to slower and slower times as the season progressed because my body got beat down.

The other time I experienced easy days being very difficult is when I bumped my milage up too quickly, say a summer of 50 mpw and then practice started and I went to 90. It was simply my body telling me I wasn't ready for all the miles. Maybe run less that 70 minutes on your easy days for a week or two and let your body adjust slower to the increase in milage (if this is your scenario).

Like I said... just two instances where I experienced my easy days being difficult. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the input guys... I'll make sure to back down even more on the easy runs.

if your easy runs are too hard at 730-830 pace than my best guess would be that your workouts are too hard, not your easy runs, like someone else suggested. Running slower on the easy runs isnt going to solve the issue.

hm? wrote:

if your easy runs are too hard at 730-830 pace than my best guess would be that your workouts are too hard, not your easy runs, like someone else suggested. Running slower on the easy runs isnt going to solve the issue.

Not exactly, my workouts I finish feeling just fine. Like I said I feel better after a workout than I do after an easy run. My workouts I start slower and negative split(not struggling). During my workouts Im running "easy" enough that I could carry on a short conversation with someone. My workouts I typically run at or slightly slower than my 8k race pace. I typically finish workouts feeling like I could do more repeats. I finish easy runs and I feel totally drained and I ache.

The best objective way to gage effort is with a heart rate monitor. I use the Garmin 305.

DOMS

its easy to finish feeling fine at this point in the season, it does not mean you are not pushing too hard. I would say you should try to back off in workouts a little bit, not easy runs. Also, maybe you need to run more miles. easy runs should not hurt that much, even if you cranked the shit out of a workout the day before.

The answer may lie in the time.

You think that what is making you sore is your work from the day before, but like many different fields of physical activity, the onset of soreness and muscle regrowth from a workout can hit the body hardest two days after the effort.

Just something to keep in mind.

Remember to stretch, too.

I think some of it could be mental. I used to always get up for speed workouts and long runs, but would struggle to find the motivation for the in between easier/shorter runs. But don't be afraid to slow it down to make it more of a recovery run as others have said.

Boredom.

You are a sprinter. Change events. Run the 400m instead.

the answer has to do with your how efficient your are...running at faster paces is actually easier for you because 1) that is what you are used to and 2) you are more efficient at those paces...slow you down & it wouldn't matter what you did the day before you are not able to run slow efficiently (i know i used to have this problem big time).

It is cause by not doing enough or much slow milage. Your body does not know how to burn fat (the energy source used when we go really slow). THis should be done over the summer when you are base building - my guess is you have done most of your summer milage fast (or at least too fast).

What is the answer/solution: well it is too late to back and redo your summer training, but you still need to do those slow longer runs and they will still hurt more than your fast days...but as you do them more and more you will gradually become more efficient at them...but go as slow as you can stand on them (that is where the main benefits are).

What sort of crap is this? "Base building is more efficient if you run really slow". If you´re not doing any workouts during base phase then most of your runs should be at a steady pace. Read your Lydiard.

I'm sorry where did you find that quote you attributed to me? could you go back and highlight for me? cause i don;t see that anywhere in there, but nice try.

+ that's not very good journalism - trying to say i said something i clearly did not say...the fact that you misinterpreted what i said or didn't understand it is one thing but to outright lie and put quotes around something not in my post is pretty bad.

the question this runner has is why are the slower run harder for him - the answer is simply because he is more efficient at a faster pace. I have experienced that same thing - a 10 mile run at 6:00 pace is easier for me than one at 7:00 pace and much much easier than one at 8:00 pace...in fact i don't even think i could go slow enough to see what 8:00 pace feels like.

Easy Runs Hard wrote:

Thanks for the input guys... I'll make sure to back down even more on the easy runs.

Not the point, we think our bodies immediately respond to the workout that we did...aka the 6 by 800 workout we did on Wednesday helped me today in the race. But our bodies do not respond to a 24 hour cycle. Certain things take longer to recover.

You may feel fine after the workout (i.e. your breathing and heart rate) however the breakdown of your muscles and accumulation of lactate acid in the blood takes a while to clear out.

This is why it takes old people longer to recover from a workout than young people.

If you have access to Daniels Running Formula, check the VDOT max chart or check out runworks.com since its based on his formual to see if you are running the workouts at the correct pact.

You might be in the lead however, you might be running at a interval pace rather than a tempo pace. (Not saying you are but just a example)