Easy pace. Too slow?

No such thing as "too slow" for easy days

Seems like you are doing just fine but maybe try to push a day or two of those easy days during a week and see how your body responds. Nothing crazy but 6:45 sounds doable.

7:39 does seem mighty slow for a 4:02 miler but I'm nowhere near that so idk but I wouldn't fret. Best of luck.

Old guy ramblings:

Running hard on the hard days and easy on the easy days is likely a big contributor to your being a 4:02 miler.

Too many people, especially young guys, are stuck in the "medium zone". The medium zone isn't fast enough to really add any fitness, but isn't slow enough to allow recovery. Recovery/easy pace is what it is and it isn't a set pace. Beating on young guys some more, too many of them delude themselves into thinking that if they run their easy days faster, it will result in greater fitness.

One more thing ...

Running faster on an easy day happens because of greater fitness, but greater fitness does not come from running faster on easy days. ;-) It has to *happen* you can't force it.

I know a sub 4 guy who doesn't run faster than 7:00 pace 5 days every week. I wouldn't worry about it- but doing some experimenting is a good idea (not near major races obviously).

No such thing as too slow on easy, I'm sure you got that idea.

You're doing lots right with your mile time. Why listen to us? But yeah, don't go out there and run almost fast on easy days, just because. Bad stuff, that.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I'm a 5 minute miler and I run faster than you!

Jdkdk wrote:

I'm a 5 minute miler and I run faster than you!

delicious irony there. I will refrain from pointing out the obvious...

I think you are being smart by runnjng slow

bump

In the season leading up to my 3:59 my easy runs were between 7:15 and 7:45 and my long runs were sometimes as slow as 8:00 depending on how I was feeling.

I don't know if I'll agree that there is no such thing as too slow, but you are no where near too slow.

While I agree with the general drift in the opinions expressed here, I am compelled to point out that, for me, lots of easy mileage (or super easy for a 4:02 guy) has never prepared me well for races, especially in regard to VO2 max-oriented races (5k, 10k). If my body does not experience at least some of the suffering involved at these shorter distances, it just balks at the bad feeling when it starts to take effect, especially in the 10k wherein the suffering could be rather prolonged. I do not say "pain," as nothing in particular hurts, but there is a good deal of suffering. It feels nasty.

Perhaps I am not yet experienced enough or am not smart enough in my training, and so I have yet to do things in a completely correct manner, but I can run mile after mile at easy or moderate pace, and then feel terrible when it comes to running three fast little miles.

For example, my friend does lots of 8:00 and 8:15 stuff and then has no problem banging out 5:50 or 6:00 in a race. This is incomprehensible to me. Really--incomprehensible.

Just my two cents.

Let's be clear:

RECOVERY days and EASY days are two completely separate things.

RECOVERY days should be as easy as you want and should be run at a completely comfortable pace. RECOVERY days may feel tough since you may be sore from the prior day's workout, but the point is to try to be as comfortable as possible.

EASY days just means a day that is NOT either a workout or a recovery day. THESE should not be "as slow as possible." These are comfortable but steady runs, and you SHOULD be pushing at least to some degree during these runs, particularly near the end where you can throw in some speed to finish the run.

WORKOUTS - feel like puking / legs go numb

RECOVERY - sore but easy easy effort

EASY - steady with some pushing and you get that runner's high

Same here. I slogged all of my easy miles while I was building mileage and paid the price. I aced workouts, but on race day, I was ill-prepared for the grit and gruel of prolonged suffering.

Now I push a little harder on my easy days. Still conversational, but I can't sing and babble like I used to.

Your handle of "workout champ" is simply perfect here....so true and fitting.

Yes, it seems that the body (or my body) needs more than a tough weekly workout in order to respond well to the faster pace that will be experienced in a race. I need a "dose" or "taste" of that nasty stuff on a fairly regular basis, otherwise my body will balk in a race. Actually, there is probably a mental component here, too--a learning process, perhaps. Simply put: I have to be accustomed to the faster breathing and general feeling of suffering during my training. Without this, I just cannot do the VO2 max stuff in races (5k, 10k).

I wish I could learn more about this...

Some of this has to do with where you are in your training cycle. At 4:02, you don't want to get stuck with daily runs at 7:40 all year round. Certainly, there is a place for one recover run per week at 7:40 all year round. But don't force yourself to go faster or slower, easy days just are what they are. You could need them at 7:40 at any given time because your sleep is off or you are stressed at work/school. They might jump to 6:00 on vacation.

As a general rule, easy days for me tend to fall within the range of 5K pace + 2 to 3 min. per mile. I don't seek out this pace, but this is where it ends up when I just run by feel on easy days.

@^%YTUH N(sdvvo8p7 wrote:

Some of this has to do with where you are in your training cycle. At 4:02, you don't want to get stuck with daily runs at 7:40 all year round. Certainly, there is a place for one recover run per week at 7:40 all year round. But don't force yourself to go faster or slower, easy days just are what they are. You could need them at 7:40 at any given time because your sleep is off or you are stressed at work/school. They might jump to 6:00 on vacation.

Thanks for the reply. I see your point, and agree that "easy" pace does vary. I still cannot understand, though, how a person can switch gears, going from mostly 8:00 pace to 5:50 to 6:00 pace in a 5k or 10k race. I could not do it.