Finding my "easy" pace

There is a really simple way to make sure that your easy run is easy. Forgive me if you've heard this before and not found it helpful, but if you could have a meaningful conversation, then that is a good easy pace. Some call it the "talk test."

Be careful though, it can be easy to fudge on this if you're feeling chipper, especially if you run alone. Something like, "This. (huff) Is. (puff) Notthathard (gasp)," is not a meaningful conversation. You can probably tell by feel if you could talk. If you can't tell by feel, then if you have a partner have a conversation, if not . . . I don't know, recite the Gettysburg Address or something!

Your high heart rate may be due to your lack of recent training. With more training, your body will store more water. The extra water in your blood plasma will give you a bigger heart stroke volume and a lower heart rate, both at rest and during work. It will also reduce your maximum heart rate. Thise is a normal training adaption.

OP, you're putting way too much thought into this. If you're coming up with a formula and exact pace, or even pace range, for your easy pace, it's not your easy pace.

Easy isn't a pace and it isn't a heart rate. It's a level of effort. Find it by running what you think is "easy" for few weeks on your non speed days. If, when speed work days come around you find yourself feeling run down and beat up, you are not running easy enough and need to adjust your perceptions in that regard.

So go for a normal run and do not look at the pace. If your watch is a GPS that records splits, do not look at them during the run. Just continually ask yourself if the pace you are doing feels "easy" or not. Then, in the aggregate, match it up with real-world experience (e.g. how you feel on speed days) and you will figure it out pretty soon.

I find that the pace of my easy runs varies quite a bit over the course of the year.

easy should feel easy. only you can know what this pace is for you personally.

I have spent the night in the MIT computer lab utlizing 50 mainframes trying to compute your optimal "easy pace." Here are the two results that came back:

Result One: You must run 8:35.875 seconds per mile on your easy days. The unfortunate drawback is that if you are off by more than .001 seconds, it is no longer easy and you won't reap the maximal benefits. In fact it could seriously hinder your efforts. Most elite runners can tell when the pace is off by .01 seconds. Very few can pace themselves down to the thousandth of a second. I hope you can.

In case you can't run that precisely:

Result Two: QUIT WORRYING SO MUCH ABOUT YOUR EASY PACE. IF YOU CAN'T SPEAK OUT LOUD IN COMPLETE SENTENCES YOU ARE RUNNING TOO HARD. NO ONE WINS ANY AWARDS OR IS CONSIDERED ANY COOLER FOR HAVING A FASTER EASY PACE. JUST LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. YOUR EASY PACE SHOULD FEEL EASY, REALLY EASY.

easymoney wrote:

Result One: You must run 8:35.875 seconds per mile on your easy days.

is that for the mile or the full 1600m?

you knew this was coming wrote:

easymoney wrote:

Result One: You must run 8:35.875 seconds per mile on your easy days.

is that for the mile or the full 1600m?

Just what in the hell is a "full 1600m?"

can't tell you. top secret.

easymoney wrote:

Result Two: QUIT WORRYING SO MUCH ABOUT YOUR EASY PACE. IF YOU CAN'T SPEAK OUT LOUD IN COMPLETE SENTENCES YOU ARE RUNNING TOO HARD. NO ONE WINS ANY AWARDS OR IS CONSIDERED ANY COOLER FOR HAVING A FASTER EASY PACE. JUST LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. YOUR EASY PACE SHOULD FEEL EASY, REALLY EASY.

Okay. That's the remedy for running easy runs too fast. How to know that we're not taking it a little "too easy" on our long runs?

marathon in march wrote:

easymoney wrote:

Result Two: QUIT WORRYING SO MUCH ABOUT YOUR EASY PACE. IF YOU CAN'T SPEAK OUT LOUD IN COMPLETE SENTENCES YOU ARE RUNNING TOO HARD. NO ONE WINS ANY AWARDS OR IS CONSIDERED ANY COOLER FOR HAVING A FASTER EASY PACE. JUST LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. YOUR EASY PACE SHOULD FEEL EASY, REALLY EASY.

Okay. That's the remedy for running easy runs too fast. How to know that we're not taking it a little "too easy" on our long runs?

If you couldn't talk in complete sentences but it isn't really uncomfortable yet.

That HR certainly wasn't an easy run.

For purposes of comparison: I'm 52, in about 3:35 marathon shape right now. I run 15 every Sunday morning. My fastest average pace (i.e., averaged over the entire run) in a recent run was just under 8:20 pace, and my average HR was 155. My max HR is exactly 200. I ran the first half of the run at around 9:00 pace (HR 140 or so) and the second half at 7:35 pace with a HR of around 170). That second half is closer to marathon pace than half marathon pace. My HM pace right now is 7:10 - 7:15.

You were below your lactate threshold, but you were running what I'd call steady, not easy. There's a distinct difference. Some might call what you did "high end aerobic pace." For me, that notch is a HR of around 166-170, which is to say between 83 and 85% of max. My breathing rate is a steady 3/3; I'm breathing deeply but not hard. The moment I start pushing above that, I'm pushing--and my breathing rate shifts to 3/2 and then 2/2. The moment you get some tightness in your chest, you're probably a little above threshold. But ALL those paces are above "easy pace."

For me, steady pace happens between 75% and 82%. If your figures are right, you were at 84%. That's my 168. For me, that particular HR is high end aerobic. Of course, a run that averages that HR will have many miles below that HR and many miles above. What you don't say is how many of your miles were below that HR and how many were above.........

1) Put on your shoes.

2) Go out the door.

3) Tell yourself you are going for an easy run.

4) Go for a run, occasionally reminding yourself that

you are going for an easy run.

5) That will be your easy pace.