Struggling with easy running

Listen to music

I know that Ricky Retardo. I'm just saying that easy running sucks because it's a time sink, not that the effort is hard

Do your easy runs on grass, it will feel a lot better. I promise you. Grass makes running slow comfortable, because it absorbs most of the impact, and does not really return it. So a slow pace can feel a lot faster than what it really is.

My easy pace is about 7:30, but on grass, I feel like I'm flying with that pace, and it feels a lot harder. So I'm forced to slow down, because I just want to easy run. I usually run about 9 min pace on grass, and it feels comfortable and relaxed as hell.

I tell you last year was a huge breakthrough for me racing wise, because I was able to increase my long runs to about 1 hour and 45 mins. And that was all due to doing my long run on grass.

Find a baseball field or an open park and lap it, the time will fly by.

This is an easy problem to correct. Find a running group and tag along for your easy runs. You know the type. Maybe they meet outside the local running store.

I guess I kinda understand what you are going through...

But as a "time sink," isn't 60 minutes at any pace still 60 minutes? If you believe in the value of that 60 minutes at the base-building pace you're running, it might feel just as not-boring as a faster run. Consider that a hard run, if you don't believe in it... if you're thinking it's too fast... feels sucky on the other end of the spectrum. It sounds to me like you're not convinced of the value of what you're doing. I'm not downplaying that feeling at all. I understand that it would feel like banging your head against a wall. When you embarked on this phase of your training, you felt it was a good enough idea to try, right? Maybe go back and remind yourself of those reasons. If they're no longer applicable, maybe it's time to move into another phase?

JamesTheAmateur wrote:

Does anyone else struggle with easy running? And by struggle I don't mean the effort since I've learned to keep the bulk of my running in the easy territory as measured by heart rate and breathing. I mean struggling with doing it. Easy pace is easily my most hated pace. It just feels like I'm banging against my head against a wall. I'm sure part of it is that my easy run pace is about 10:15/mile so I'm just damn slow. But also I just find it boring. When I was in high school, I think most runs were about marathon pace based on how hard I'd end up breathing.

Unfortunately the 90s showed that running faster but less is a lot worse than mostly easy running. But crappin' a I'm not a fan of base training

It sounds like you aren't good. So why do you care? It's not like you are going to get better. If you like running just go do it.

And why do we care? You stink. Questions about easy run pace is like a 24 handicap golfer asking if his sand wedge should be 56 or 57 degrees. It's pointless.

Do your easy running on forest trails (if you have access to such luxuries). The pace feels faster than it really is, and it´s a pleasure to be out in mother nature.

RealCici wrote:

This is an easy problem to correct. Find a running group and tag along for your easy runs. You know the type. Maybe they meet outside the local running store.

I second this. Find a group or at least one other person to run with and the miles won’t seem as arduous.

Easy runs should be your most dreaded days. They are the days you are recovering and the body is healing and damaged. That's just how it is. Revel in the hard days, and dread the easy days.

JamesTheAmateur wrote:

Does anyone else struggle with easy running? And by struggle I don't mean the effort since I've learned to keep the bulk of my running in the easy territory as measured by heart rate and breathing. I mean struggling with doing it. Easy pace is easily my most hated pace. It just feels like I'm banging against my head against a wall. I'm sure part of it is that my easy run pace is about 10:15/mile so I'm just damn slow. But also I just find it boring. When I was in high school, I think most runs were about marathon pace based on how hard I'd end up breathing.

Unfortunately the 90s showed that running faster but less is a lot worse than mostly easy running. But crappin' a I'm not a fan of base training

The 90s didn`t show that running faster but less is a lot worse than mostly easy running. It only showed that many of them didn`t know how to perform it correct.

Another trick might be to run new routes, especially to places where you can find your way back but aren't quite sure of where you're going. You might spend your time wondering if the road/trail connects to road X rather than thinking I'm only on loop 2 of 10.

too hot wrote:

RealCici wrote:

This is an easy problem to correct. Find a running group and tag along for your easy runs. You know the type. Maybe they meet outside the local running store.

I second this. Find a group or at least one other person to run with and the miles won’t seem as arduous.

Third. I hate doing slow easy runs by myself for the same reason: they're boring and seem to take forever. But if I meet up with a group that normally runs that slow, then I invariably end up having good, fun runs with people that I might not ordinarily run with, and often end up making new friends. Just be sure not to lead the group or you'll end up 1-stepping everyone and making their lives miserable as you push the pace. Stay back and join the conversation and get in the miles.

Don't forget the lesson of the 70s. That is if you feel good pick up the pace. This is how you can get away if you don't do any quality work. Trust me try to hammer every easy run, you can't. But should you hammer a easy run if you feel good? Yes you should. Run by feel, some days a sub 6 min feels really easy for me. Other days a 8 minute mile feels really easy. Just get you time in on your feet and just run baby. Some runs will be at a 8 minute pace other runs will be at a 6 minute pace. Just run by feel.

Just run baby.

Just my 0.02

Sand Dunes wrote:

Don't forget the lesson of the 70s. That is if you feel good pick up the pace. This is how you can get away if you don't do any quality work. Trust me try to hammer every easy run, you can't. But should you hammer a easy run if you feel good? Yes you should. Run by feel, some days a sub 6 min feels really easy for me. Other days a 8 minute mile feels really easy. Just get you time in on your feet and just run baby. Some runs will be at a 8 minute pace other runs will be at a 6 minute pace. Just run by feel.

Just run baby.

Just my 0.02

To quote HRE:

A lot of times in those days you'd be doing a distance run and you'd really get cranking. You might be at your marathon pace, you might be a bit slower, you might be noticeably faster. But a lot of it was unplanned. Sometimes a bunch of guys would get together planning to run 10 miles or so and you'd know that there wasn't going to be a lot of mucking around but you wouldn't say something like "Let's get in six miles at 5:30s."

I remember an interview done with Jeff Galloway in the mid 70s where he said he'd been planning to do interval sessions all season long but would often be really tired because he'd been teaching all day so he'd bag the intervals and just do a distance run. But he said he usually started to feel better as the run went on and it would end up being pretty fast, sort of the ancestor to the tempo run.

It might be hard to get people from that era to say whether they did tempo runs or not. The term and concept didn't really exist. But it was not at all uncommon to run ten miles or so where you'd go "out" in maybe 30-32 minutes and come back in 27-28 or even faster if you were pretty fast. But we didn't really have a name for it and it was not always planned, sometimes not timed. If we had a name for it it was probably "run to the barn" and you might do it for days on end or you might do it sporadically if you weren't feeling great and you may not even record it in your log except for the distance covered. If you were PLANNING on running fast you probably were going to do intervals, though there were plenty of exceptions. Clayton, for example, trained almost exclusively on what we'd now call tempo runs.

Take off your Garmin and just use a simple stopwatch setting running watch. Run for minutes, and your entire life will change before you. Stop being a slave to your watch and you will see your times drastically improve!

I add Strides or hills or even run on trails to make my easy runs more interesting. Maybe you could try that.

get a blood test

years ago, when I was competing, I struggled to keep up during easy training runs I would normally scorch through.

I went to a doctor and had blood work done. Turned out I was Iron deficient Anemic. With proper diet and medication I was back to top shape.

Never underestimate the power of medical community :D

Could it be a balance problem?

I have the same problem with easy runs, and I've concluded that it's caused by a leg-length difference (1.5 cm, they say).

Because we spend more time in the support phase when running slowly (i.e., the supporting foot remains in the ground longer), the small, postural muscles must work harder to maintain balance, and a leg-length difference exacerbates this problem.

I've found that this can be more exhausting that running fast. And the fact that running slow is much less exhilarating than faster running adds a psychological burden.

I'm now using a custom-made, rigid orthotic in one shoe that I'm hoping will remedy this problem with time by restoring symmetry to the legs and postural muscles. So far, so good.

To me it depends from many factors, first of all as somebody already said, running with a group or a small group helps a lot

,miles pass before you know, talking while you running.

How it seems the easy runs easy it depends also by how good is your aerobic system.

To me sometime easy run (or better regeneration run) are the hardest part of the week. Why? Cos maybe they just come after a

hard workout day so the legs are really tired but usually after 20 ,30 minutes I feel the benefit of regeneration run.

Also it depends from muscolar twitch type if fast twitch or slow twitch type.

Slow twitch type usually can handle easy run better and at a faster pace than slow twitch type

To me is very important on easy run day to run by how do you feel and forget the pace the run must be easy , I mean somedays the pace can be 5'30/km , other day 5'/km

another day 4'50". But of course many people do easy runs always at a certain pace (10k pace +50"-1') to me thats it doesnt works . I use a lot of regenaration pace (10k pace + 1'30" or more) and a few of moderate pace (10kpace +50"-1') during quality phase of training or race phase. While in the buildup or base training the moderate pace is the one I use most of the two

speeds of Easy run