not a flatlander wrote:
I do or aim for most of my easy runs at or below 70% but I do ask myself - - What's the point of even running if you're going below 70%? Active recovery? Might as well just cross train on EZ days (probably why so many are doing the bike or elliptical these days), or even just take the day off, or go for a walk.
Someone posted a study on here 2-3 months ago about the lack of benefits or any benefit below 70%. 75% it said you start to get a benefit or more of a benefit at least. Also 75% is still easy running in a lot of programs. Not sure what it is about that extra 5% that people are afraid of. I truly doubt you'll feel a difference if you're honest. I've done easy runs at both for extended periods of time. I've done 90 min long runs with friends at 75% & the increase in load on ICU compared to say 68-69% is definitely significant so you get a nice bump in fitness.
I also think those of us in hilly areas are probably fine to go above 70% avg since we're already going as slow as possible & the difference in speed between 70 to say 75% is very marginal. I live on the bottom of a hill & within first 75 meters my HR is already well above 70%. No, I'm not walking up every hill. I'd be walking half the run & would need double the time to get an EZ run in. Treadmill, track are about the only flat surfaces. But when I go downhill my HR is way below 70% so it kinda evens out. But HR gets thrown out the window a lot of runs.
If 75% of MHR was where the benefits are, then elites would do it. Virtually all their easy running is well under 70%. Are you saying they should just spin a bike easy and cross train and do 4-5 running workouts a week and they would be running world class times on 5 hours a week running? Because the assumption that it's only active recovery when you look at it like that, is obviously ridiculous.
Easy running for most other programs has always been way, way too hard in my opinion. They panic into thinking because you are on reduced hours, you should cram in some more intensity on what should just be recovery days. It's a tale as old as time. I'm yet another person who has worked this out the hard way and going from 75% MHR to well under 70%, the shift in accumulated fatigue is just almost unbelievable for what seems like a small change, to keep me fresher.
I think the easy day section of sirpoc's book is the most important part and the key to the whole system.