Older runners that hated/refused to run "easy" when younger- do you regret it now?

I actually have no idea if I ran easily or hard. Almost everything I did outside of interval sessions, which became very rare once I was out of college, was at about the pace I could run for a marathon at that particular time. I thought it was easy, if you can hold a pace for 26 miles you aren't breathing hard and doing it for 10-20 miles seemed manageable. As time went on the paces got much faster but the effort remained the same and I usually finished runs feeling, to use Lydiard's phrase, "comfortably tired." I don't regret it but have no idea what would have happened if I'd only done that 3-4 times a week and shuffled around on other days.

My only regret was not buying several pairs of my favourite road racing shoes:

https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/gear/shoes/a760781/nike-air-streak-ekiden-pound49-99/

Yes, I left far too many great runs in training and not in races because of how hard I pushed.

I suffered from "I know what is right for me" syndrome.

Funny how things can be so clear now that were blinding at a young age.

I know mine was all ego, and our coach did not discourage running hard.

If we were on a 5M run and one of the slower guys on the team was running with me I would pick it up because "there's no way that guy should be running with me". When in reality I should have just chilled and got the run in and hit the intervals hard, or the tempos hard.

Had our coach stressed putting in some easy days I think we still would have run too hard, but maybe we wouldn't have been so quick to turn every run into a race.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

This is Jim Kiler wrote:

Yes, I regret it.

I'd run into older teammates sometimes on morning runs, and I was shocked at how they'd be shuffling around at 8 or 9 minute pace when I ran every morning at 6 or better. Then they'd dust me at workouts.

During the 70s, L.S.D. (Long Slow Distance) was about 7:00. It would have been almost physically impossible for me to run 8 or 9 minutes per mile. At the time, my definition of jogging was 8 or slower.

I'm confused. You were talking about your HS teammates as if it happened recently just a few weeks ago. Now you were running in the 70s? Do you lend this account to your grandson? I'm being serious.

Also, not sure how it would be physically impossible to go 8-9 minutes per mile, given even Kipchoge does runs at that pace. There may have been less widespread good info, that is true. But there were plenty of people back in the day that still took easy days very easy.

Just run, baby!

konrad1198 wrote:

Currently I run without a set structure or plan, and it usually amounts to me running anywhere from 11-14 miles a day. I know this is not an optimal way to train, and to be honest, I doubt I am getting faster/improving as a runner. I would not consider all my running easy running, as most times I end the run pretty exhausted (again, I know this is not good). Otherwise, I do not consider the run "productive" (I come from a soccer background, where running meant hard effort).

Those of you who felt similarly, that easy running was stupid/unproductive, how do you feel now? Thank God I have not experienced significant injuries yet, but I fear that pretty soon this way of running will catch up to me in the long-term.

What age do you consider "Older"? For any and all runners who are under 40, you're not that old and shouldn't be feeling the effects of running "Too Hard" when you were younger unless you were ripping 100mpw in your 20's. Once you reach 40+ you'll start to regret those "Over- Achiever" days big time. If you're over 40 and are able to run 50mpw or more at a sub 7:00 pace without too much stress, you didn't run hard enough when you were younger. If you're over 40 and not competing, the best advice is to run how you feel. Some days will be good and some not so good.

"Go Run One"

idontgetityo wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

During the 70s, L.S.D. (Long Slow Distance) was about 7:00. It would have been almost physically impossible for me to run 8 or 9 minutes per mile. At the time, my definition of jogging was 8 or slower.

I'm confused. You were talking about your HS teammates as if it happened recently just a few weeks ago. Now you were running in the 70s? Do you lend this account to your grandson? I'm being serious.

Also, not sure how it would be physically impossible to go 8-9 minutes per mile, given even Kipchoge does runs at that pace. There may have been less widespread good info, that is true. But there were plenty of people back in the day that still took easy days very easy.

When did I talk about my HS teammates in the present tense? Hardly any of them still run. One of them has had hip replacement surgery.

Tell me your PRs and what pace felt too slow for you. I'm being honest when I say running 8:00 to 9:00 would have been uncomfortably slow for me. You mentioned Kipchoge but I've read that Nenow did his over distance at 5:45 pace.

I'm an old parent so I have aways to go before I'll have a grandson.

deleuze wrote:

Just run, baby!

quote of the day.

i loved to run with africans, because that's all you do,

running with americans was the worst, they run partly using their analytical brain, which is cringe. its like making love while eating ice cream, one thing at a time please. so that is the westerns disease,

myself, i regret long slow distance runs too much, when i thrived off off proper running, which is at 430 to 5 min mile pace.

the long slow distance worked for a while, and its of course an essential part (not the minstay) of the training formula.

at the end of the day, my endurance which was naturally in the highest percentile was eroded with long slow distance to the max.

it is called a form of exhaustion.

just running with the africans, you got a better pace going,

at the end of the day, whatever you do, monitor the effect, and you have to recover.

sometimes you run 20 miles and recover well, and sometimes not.

you have to know communicate with your body and focus on that.

without being neurotic, which we all become, these days.

I don't regret it yet but I'm only 66. I'll let you know when I get "older."

Not only not incorporating rest days, but also not focusing on total body development. Didn't do upper body strength training, cross training, yoga, core training, agility drills for strengthening lower leg development...all I did was run and to my horror most of it on sidewalks. I was toast after high school.

Did get under 4:30 for the mile and 10:00 for the deuce so I'm proud of that.

In college, I didn't hate/refuse to run easy, I just did what my teammates were doing. A bunch of 20 year old guys full of testosterone turned every run into a race. I went along.

After graduation, I started doing my easy runs easy (and alone), and was amazed at how much better my body felt and how much faster I recovered.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

This is Jim Kiler wrote:

Yes, I regret it.

I'd run into older teammates sometimes on morning runs, and I was shocked at how they'd be shuffling around at 8 or 9 minute pace when I ran every morning at 6 or better. Then they'd dust me at workouts.

During the 70s, L.S.D. (Long Slow Distance) was about 7:00. It would have been almost physically impossible for me to run 8 or 9 minutes per mile. At the time, my definition of jogging was 8 or slower.

Not physically impossible at all. You were just not comfortable running that slow because you never practiced it. There are high profile guys everywhere that run far slower than that on easy days and those guys were certainly far better than you were. Some competitive post collegiates would not go on long runs with Rono because he ran too slow. After hard sessions Ryan Hall would run 8+ minute pace. Desisa regularly runs 9:30s multiple times per week and outside of buildups he trains high volume everything 8+. The guys coming out of Cheptegei's camp all run slowly albeit on difficult routes. Many Kenyans train this way per one of my friends that managed to make it to the US on his running ability, not an easy feat if you're coming over in your 30s and not as a college recruit.

I'm adopting it more and more. 32 yo and been running off and on since college. For me it comes down to paying attention to my heartrate which I think is really important. I'm not a sports physiologist but isn't it important for your easy/steady days to be 75%ish of your max heart rate to benefit blood cell and mitochondrial development to improve endurance and oxygen efficiency? At a higher pace you don't reap these benefits as much. So why run longer at a faster pace at all expect for dedicated workouts?

Our college team had a lot of the ego thing going on (which I'm sure many programs experience) that would always ramp up the pace on easy days. Whether it was high school rivals that cared about "winning" the days workout or guys that just wanted to get in and out of practice as fast as possible.

The best example I have from college: a guy a year younger than me always fell off the back of the pack on our easy run days (70 minutes @ 6:45-7min/mile) even though he was fully capable of running with us. It was never a fatigue issue but he always said he just didn't want to run that fast for 70 minutes. When we would do XC or track workouts he would be in the main group but didn't ever kill the hard days. He just got in good, injury free workouts and as it seems, his body's system developed correctly and was able to recover consistantly. He had some good HS track pr's but was more of a soccer player than a track runner. Ended up being one of the fastest runners in our schools history. Almost broke 4 in the mile, 8:45 in the steeplechase and some decent XC seasons despite being an 800 guy in high school.

Yes, I regret hammering too many runs. Hammering for me would be a jog for many of you as I was a mediocre but serious runner.

Too many high end aerobic runs and tempos. I have no desire to push anymore and feel like a slug.

konrad1198 wrote:

To those asking,

Yes I know this is inefficient training, and even though I've read enough to know I should change things, part of me just doesn't feel good/fulfilled if my daily runs are not in the double-digits (at least 10 miles/day). Again, I know it would be more productive to run lower on some days and increase mileage on one day for a long run day (6 on one day, 14 the next instead of 10 and 10). Perhaps when I decide to try racing I will start getting more into periodization.

No, but regret no doing more longer runs. I was a 1500 to 5000m runner (who found 5000m a bit far) and very rarely went longer than an hour (at around 6:00 pace). In my mid-50s I did work up to doing 3-4 runs of 90 min plus in a cycle, and probably benefited, although I must admit to loathing the long run, and finding it the most difficult to recover from.

I'm 64 know and still run longer runs relatively quickly - 'long' run of 8 miles at 7:20 pace on Sunday. Do some short recovery runs of 3 or 4 miles at 8 min or a bit slower, but have never got comfortable at that pace.

I’m 31 now and rarely run much slower than 6:30 pace on “easy” runs. I think I averaged under 6:20 for over 3,000 miles last year and am still running times and workouts close to what I ran in college. I’m actually quite surprised that I’m still able to rep quarters in 65 and 200s under 30 at my age. For most runners who are capable of running under 15, it isn’t necessarily going to exhaust you to start out around 6:40 and push closer to 6:15 by the last few miles. I do know that I can no longer crank out 100 mile weeks at this pace (nor do I have the time/desire to do it anyway). So the trade off for me as I get older is to just cut the mileage down in the 65-75 mile range and take days off when I need to. Of course, I could be absolutely shot by the time I’m 40 and not be able to run at all, but I’ll take my chances and try and press the issue while I’m still fast.

I’m sure you are faster than I am. You can have that one. My point is that if Kipchoge can run at 9 min pace, it shouldn’t be hard for anyone else. Of course not everyone follows that type of training, including other elites, but it certainly isn’t physically impossible as you mentioned.

It’s not a matter of regret.it’s simply physically impossible for me to run at a pace slower than 7:30.