Advice on EZ runs and slowing down...it's paying off!

Sounds like you are ready to run a PB. Congrats on the success in training!

A lot of people feel like they have to run easy pace at a certain pace that is often too fast to be truly aerobic. Kudos to you for swallowing your pride and doing easy runs the right way! Good to see you are reaping the benefits as well.

Best of luck to you on your future development!

Thank you! I'm just doing base training until I get to June, then will either do Pfitzinger's 18/55 or work with the local running group (Marathoner In Training) in Cbus.

If DeWine kneels on Ohio's chances for big events this fall and there's no marathon, I'll still keep hoping for a Spring 2022 one.

I'll start speedwork at some point as well!

When you run easy runs too fast you needlessly deplete glycogen stores without providing added stimulus to your aerobic system to offset the glycogen costs.

Bythebay12 wrote:

When you run easy runs too fast you needlessly deplete glycogen stores without providing added stimulus to your aerobic system to offset the glycogen costs.

I do not have the answers, but I feel there are two different issues with recovery. One is the muscular load feeling heavy for example after a speed workout the day after. The other is energy in the legs, connected probably to glucogen storage. The first is fixed with recovery time and efforts, and the second recovery time and eating right to fill up the storages.

So I feel that thresholds dont tire the muscles too much, I just need to refill the energy, whereas a speed-workout or a long moderate run will need enough muscle recovery before next workout. I can do alternative biking to recover the muscles very fast, but the energy is regardless to be filled up.

From what I can understand for the OP, I recognize this as what I try to do as well. I try to run easy runs below a muscular feel of NOT pushing the muscles and legs. I do not care about the breathing or the HR, but some days the legs are tired and I run slower or the legs are fresher and I can run a little faster. A too moderate pace is too much muscular work adding to the recovery need. A muscular easy effort seems for me to give me enough recovery.

You're doing it right. For those easy runs, err on the side of easy. If you finish and feel it was too easy, that's perfectly fine. Put that extra energy into your next fast workout and crush it. Then go back to an easy run the next day. It works.

I see so many beginning running training groups start right off with speedwork and very little base. Nothing beats a solid 2-4 months of base before speedwork!

Which running group? CERT? I just moved to Cbus and I’m looking for a running group

Marathoners In Training.

https://www.trainwithfleetfeet.com/marathoners-in-training-mit

They have training paces here:

https://www.fleetfeet.com/s/columbus/mittrainingpaces

The interesting thing are these paces (I know the formatting is bad sorry):

Full Goal Time Half Goal Time Race Pace Training Pace Tempo Pace Interval Pace

2:45 1:22 6:17 7:30 5:57 5:28

3:00 1:30 6:52 8:10 6:32 6:00

3:15 1:37 7:26 8:50 7:02 6:24

3:30 1:45 8:00 9:27 7:33 6:56

3:45 1:52 8:35 9:59 8:02 7:20

4:00 2:00 9:09 10:30 8:44 7:56

4:15 2:07 9:43 11:17 9:07 8:20

4:30 2:15 10:13 12:04 9:47 8:56

4:45 2:22 10:52 12:40 10:18 9:28

5:00 2:30 11:27 13:00 10:39 10:00

5:15 2:37 12:01 13:30 11:10 10:26

5:30 2:45 12:37 14:00 11:42 11:08

5:45 2:52 13:10 14:30 12:13 11:34

6:00 3:00 13:44 15:00 12:44 12:06

I had a similar experience. I started to slow down, run by heart rate (140-160) and ended up dropping some time off all the distances. The meet where I got injured is when I stopped PRing, other than that every meet and every event was a PR.

When you run slower you put less stress on your legs and energy stores and improve your aerobic fitness at the same time. It was a little scary when I was being passed on runs by the back end of the group when I usually try to run with the varsity guys, but it pays off the next day when they guys talk about feeling tight/tired and I end up passing them with ease in the latter portion of workouts. Stay strong, don't give in.

That's a great point and I'm glad others are responding.

Even when I ran slow it was counterintuitive to feel it and keep slowing down.

man, I wish I didnt have a bum achilles and could join you

How are you able to get it to say Yeeeeeeeet below your username?

Congrats on the success!

I posted about this a while back. Easy/Recovery Days are supposed to be just that. I saw a lot of posts saying you must run at a certain pace and or a certain distance. The key is to "Run how you feel" and then slow down. Of course, this varies with everyone and one size doesn't fit all but the concept is the same for ALL runners. It's where you plug in those easy days is where it gets tricky. As the Old School saying goes "Better to be under-trained than over-trained".

Good Luck!

What do I do when my teammates utterly refuse to do so? I advise them to run at 9:00 or slower, but they really don't want to.

jecht wrote:

How are you able to get it to say Yeeeeeeeet below your username?

You have to pay like $100 and join the Letsrun sub club.

What are your pbs? Or what goal time are you trying to hit. When I'm running solo I can't bring myself to run above 8:00. Even 8:00 pace feels like I'm log rolling. Trying for a 2:2x marathon in the fall. Ran a 1:12 half last year off like three months of training, so a decent marathon should be in the cards. Right now I'm averaging 80 mile weeks at 7:10 average pace, which might be a little fast, but I'm still feeling good.

7:10 sounds right for you. What you might do is just to start a lot slower the first kilometer like Ethiopian runners do. The guy who wrote a book on their training said they would start easy runs at 8:00 for the first kilometer, and then by the end they might be going a good deal faster than 4:00 for the kilometer (better than 6:30 pace). So, you start slow, gradually pick it up by feel and do something like a progression.

My current PBs are 1:39/3:24.

I'm trying to conservatively get to 3:15 (dream goal of 3:05 and a BQ) this fall, but realistically, this cycle is 3:15. In terms of a half, I'd love to run 1:30 or 1:33. I ran the 1:39 on an average of 25-30 mpw with a peak of 38. I'm consistently right now between 40-50, and have kept it in that range for the past 5 weeks. I'm trying to really base-build without overdoing it and going up to 60 and getting hurt, for instance.

I ran the 1:40 on Saturday and still had tons left over. I wasn't breathing hard at the end of it or doubled over. It felt strong and I did my cooldown like normal, then stretched and went home. I live up in Dublin so it's flat--I do need to get better at hills, as I've only done 3-4 hill workouts at Worthington Hills and also near the skateboard park in Worthington.

So I've slowed down my run by feel, and at the end of each run my legs aren't heavy anymore at all, yet I'm able to knock 7-8 out with ease and the best part is, even the "slow" times of 9:40 will get faster as well...9:30, 9:15, 9 flat, etc.

Then I'll be able to start workouts/speed with MIT and/or with Pfitzinger (depending on how MIT works out), maybe both blended in.