Who here takes their easy / non workout day runs "slow"?

Nothing wrong with it, my friend who was a similar runner to you, even down to the 1:58 PR ran his easy days at 7:50-9:00 even

Eventually, as you get stronger and do more miles, you'll be able to run faster on your easy days. You're probably just weaker aerobically, but it'll come in time. Long-term process.

I'd say that the pace of your easy runs is the least important thing to worry about, except that a lot of people actually mess up their training by running them too fast. They don't recover enough between workouts to benefit from the workout as much as they should because they were struggling to keep up with other people on their easy days instead of recovering. It's a common problem with high school athletes.

Let your teammates talk all they want out of season. In season, make a statement on the track and you won't have to say anything at all.

Most my easy runs are 7:30-9:00 depending on feel/time of day. Sub 30min 10k PR. Make sure your workouts are hard and try not to compare yourself to others.

dude11315 wrote:

By slow I mean 8:00 /mi pace to 9:00 /mi pace. The other day I was given a hard time by another teammate for not going fast enough.

I cant go 7:30 /mi pace or faster on an easy run or else I'll feel like I'm racing and it always feels terrible on my breathing and legs. Mind you I used to be a 400 runner that moved up to the 8 (1:58 800. I just started running it in March after 2 years of not competing in track)

How can I get to be able to run those paces without feeling tired? Is there anyone here who is reasonably "fast" and takes their easy runs slower than most? Is there a reasoning to why others run at a blistering pace for "recovery" and others run slower but yet perform the same, or worse? Thanks

Dude, that is my fast pace.

You just need to make sure you maintain a (relatively) high cadence and it'll do more for you than forcing a fast pace everyday.

Easy pace varies a lot. You should never force it in any degree. If easy is 10 min/mi one day, it is what it is. Tomorrow it will probably lower, and then it is what it is. Don't listen to your mate on this one.

If what you ask is whether slower or faster easy runs are better if two people are as fast when competing, the answer is: Why do easy runs? Two reasons; build aerobic capacity and recover between workouts. If one person is recovering and the other ain't, the latter will probably either perform worse or get injured in workouts.

Yep, workout paces and effort are far more important than easy run pace.

goodjob wrote:

Most my easy runs are 7:30-9:00 depending on feel/time of day. Sub 30min 10k PR. Make sure your workouts are hard and try not to compare yourself to others.

I wasn't sub-30 minute but 7:00 pace felt very comfortable and I wouldn't have wanted to run any slower that. Anytime I ran with another runner or a group, it would be a least that fast, there would be constant chatter and no one would drop of the pace. I would have considered 9:00 pace to be too fast to walk and too slow to run.

Do you deliberately run that slowly and believe it to be beneficial? If you can run 4:50 pace for 10K, 9:00 should be unbearably slow.

lol unbearably slow? You’d hate to run with the Kenyans. They warm up slower than that. The fast Japanese do entire easy runs at 10:00 pace.

28:06 shape wejo would be too slow to train with you.

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=152890

These guys are tougher than you because they can tough out jogs slower than 9:00 pace.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Cathal_Dennehy/status/1450478542957989894?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1450478542957989894%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.embedly.com%2Fwidgets%2Fmedia.html%3Ftype%3Dtext2Fhtmlkey%3Dcb7145f1731b4c328f8e4d2201854ceaschema%3Dtwitterurl%3Dhttps3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fcathal_dennehy%2Fstatus%2F1450478542957989894image%3Dhttps3A%2F%2Fabs.twimg.com%2Ferrors%2Flogo46x38.png

iheartlr wrote:

lol unbearably slow? You’d hate to run with the Kenyans. They warm up slower than that. The fast Japanese do entire easy runs at 10:00 pace.

28:06 shape wejo would be too slow to train with you.

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=152890

Yeah, but it's jogging and not running. Is there some benefit from running so so slowly and adding up to 40% to time spent running (jogging)?

Dude, it's all about taking your recovery and foundation runs at a slow sexy pace. Whatever feels comfortable to you. Run slow on the off days so you can hit your times in workouts and races.

This is why I’m faster than you. Keep racing your easy days and running mediocre workouts. Yes some days 9:00 miles are necessary after a hard workout. I run on feel not numbers on my watch.

Too fast easy runs showcases insecurity about oneself. True story.

Sorry. I retract. That was an unecessary comment from me.

It’s true though.

Nobody is worrying about the pace of someone else’s easy run. And, the majority of people run like 12 minute miles. 9 minutes, especially if you have nice relaxed form, still looks good to people anyway. Nobody can tell paces and no one cares. Run how you need to run to recover.

Dude11315,

Everything I've read about easy runs is that you can only mess them up by either going too fast, or by going so slow your form suffers and is so unnatural as to cause injury, which is hard to do. Easy is what feels easy. It's all there is to it.

The whole point of easy runs is not to build speed, but to allow your body to absorb the speed training you did in the day or two before, while still getting an aerobic boost (which happens best at low heart rate and pace). The other purpose is to rest up to benefit most from your next speed workout.

Ignore your teammate. He's playing mind games and doesn't know what he's talking about.

goodjob wrote:

This is why I’m faster than you. Keep racing your easy days and running mediocre workouts. Yes some days 9:00 miles are necessary after a hard workout. I run on feel not numbers on my watch.

7:00 was a very easy pace and intervals the following day were no problem at all. Mark Nenow ran 140mpw at sub-6 pace. 9:00 pace absolutely is not necessary to recover from a hard workout and I've never met a anyone that ran that slowly. I've read that 2 minutes off 10K pace is fine but you recommend over 4 minutes? Or you even striding at that pace?