Why are my easy runs getting slower? Any way to fix this?

Your legs are tired due to the mileage increase, it is normal.

I am dealing with this issue too. Used quarantine to build up mileage. Was already normally 60-80, now doing 2 weeks at 100, 1 week at 80. On my 3rd cycle of this- 9 weeks total. Do one faster tempo/threshold workout and one long temp (usually in my long run) a week.

Was going fine and felt super strong. Now it feels like the wheels fell off.

Its surprising because for 8 weeks at this high mileage it was fine, and why now week 9 suddenly be struggling so much.

The only thing you should worry about when it comes to the pace of your easy runs, is about them being too fast. The reason why they have gotten slower is that it is getting hotter and more humid as we enter into summer. My best advice is if your personality is too neurotic is to throw away the GPS watch and use a simple basic watch with just a timer and focus on running based off of effort and time.

Just a shot in the dark, but have you looked into the basics such as nutrition and rest? Are you sleeping well and eating enough? Supplementing with multivitamins as necessary? You could easily be deficient over time especially with constant high volume. I'd always be worn out towards a few weeks into high mileage too. Perhaps the only way to speed up easy runs would be to rest, but I'm sure that's not in your plan.

I believe the slowing in pace is the body's natural way to conserve energy as it knows your constantly expending energy.

Built up to 90 miles from what weekly average? Also, where do you live?

Probably the two most important questions for you to answer before any analysis can be made are:

What time of day are your runs?

Where do you live?

This has kinda been happening to me too. I've gone from 10-15 mpw to 30-35 since quarantine, and my easy pace has gone from 9:20s to 8:30s to about 9 flat now. I think the huge jump in mileage for me has brought my pace down because I'm doing so much more work than I used to, so I assume it's the same for you. Once I get into the actual season I figure I'll be in good shape and my times will drop once faster workouts begin, and my mileage goes down some.

Some more info

Past 6 weeks of mileage has gone 80, 83, 83, 64, 90, 93

Easy pace continued getting slower even on the 64 mile down week, which I don't get.

Sleep and diet are pretty good, but not amazing. Have been going to bed about 30 minutes later than usual lately but still getting about 8 hours.

I live in Florida, so yes, it is getting pretty hot and humid. Don't see how that would affect how my legs turnover though. I run early mornings before 6am, but I double and feel the same way on evening runs.

It's weird, I would think an 8:00-8:30 would feel like jogging in place for a sub-17 guy. The suggested easy pace for me is like 7:00-7:45, and I didn't even touch that range on easy days this week.

Did you move to Florida recently? Do you compete in high school or college or as an adult? Was 80 miles a week the norm before getting to 90? (mainly asking that question because it seems popular on this forum to try going from 60 to 90 miles a week when everyone's season got canceled)

Lived in Florida my whole life. Finished competing in high school this year and am moving on to becoming a marathoner. Held 75-80 miles/week all last summer and felt good. Was doing 50-60 during March and early April and just taking it easy after track got cancelled. Then gradually built up mileage going to 70 for some time, 80 for some time, and now 90.

In your original post, you said "I would think my easy pace would get faster since starting workouts, but it is only getting slower and is discouraging."

Did you increase volume and start doing workouts at the same time?

Going from 50-60 to 80-90 is a huge jump in such a short amount of time. Especially since you said 6 weeks ago was an 80 mile week, after doing 50-60 miles in March and April. Add the Florida heat and humidity and you get the fatigue you're talking about.

I would suggest cutting volume back to 50-60 miles a week if you want to keep the intensity up or cutting the intensity out while keeping the volume up. Turning both up, volume and intensity, as the weather transitions from Spring to Summer is a lot for the body to take on and try to adapt to. Only turn one dial up at a time, not multiple.

A positive side, for you, that marathons won't be happening this year is that you can be patient as you transition into the marathon distance from high school. And with no marathons scheduled for this year, I wouldn't even think about training for one. Just have fun. Maybe do a few 5k or mile time trials this summer but take it easy. And now that you're out of the high school competitive cycle, you'll see that most everyone in the south treats the summer as their down season of running because it's so hot and humid. And the winter months become those base training months.

I don't see the problem here.

Easy runs are for recovery. You're doing higher mileage and adding some workouts, so you need more recovery. The only way to achieve that is at a slower pace, especially with the weather getting warmer.

The good news is that your easy run pace does not matter. There's no reason you should feel like you need to hit a certain pace on an easy run. If you need to run slow, run slow.

You say that you're going from HS to running marathons. Extra fatigue is a very normal part of moving up in mileage. If you can stay healthy, you grind through it for a month and then it starts to feel normal. (But if you can't stay healthy, back off the mileage and workouts for a while before getting back to it.)

The mileage increase. If you went down to like 70 I bet you would run a little quicker in Easy days. Would that make you faster in the long run? Maybe, maybe not.

The thing that I've noticed in my own training and every other good runner at my club is that we all have a wide range of paces and that range has increased in both directions as we got faster. The only time I would worry is if you're consistently well below your target paces for sessions. As they say, the slowest runners in the world are Kenyan pro's on an easy day

With the increased mileage, how much have you increased the length of your easy day runs?

getting slower wrote:.

I live in Florida, so yes, it is getting pretty hot and humid.

Don't see how that would affect how my legs turnover though.

I run early mornings before 6am, but I double and feel the same way on evening runs.

.

You live in Florida. End of thread.

What time are your evening runs? Hopefully after 7 pm.

getting slower wrote:

Built up to about 90 miles per week recently

current fitness is around high-16 for 5k

I do strides twice a week, an interval session, tempo run, and long run each week.

Maybe, just maybe, your body is helping you getting over-trained as you are increasing mileage while at the same time doing two sessions a week and a long run, and in warm conditions. Something's gotta give....

KAV wrote:

getting slower wrote:

Built up to about 90 miles per week recently

current fitness is around high-16 for 5k

I do strides twice a week, an interval session, tempo run, and long run each week.

Maybe, just maybe, your body is helping you getting over-trained as you are increasing mileage while at the same time doing two sessions a week and a long run, and in warm conditions. Something's gotta give....

helping you NOT getting over-trained...

Ok, It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the warm weather. If that was the case, I would be slowing down throughout runs and it would feel hard, but I actually have the exact opposite.

For example, on this morning's run my first mile was a really slow 8:50, and the rest went something like 8:33, 8:24, 8:15, 8:05, 8:07, 8:02, 8:01, 8:04, 7:46. I do dynamic warmups such as squats, lunges, and stretch kicks, but it doesn't seem to do anything as I'm still starting out very slow and staying slow throughout the run. My stride feels very short and choppy at the start, gets a little better throughout but I can never seem to feel completely smooth. I'm not really worried about my easy runs, but Its just weird to me that the pace that feels natural for me on easy runs is much slower than what would be expected, as a lot of the training calculators are saying 7:00-7:45 is my easy pace. I do think my legs are just flat from the mileage, so I'll try taking a down week this week to see if it makes me more springy. But again, I don't get why my easy pace kept getting slower the last time I took a down week.