One of the most frequent concerns brought up by runners is that they are running tons of miles, but they are seemingly not making any progress. They report that despite following a strict training program, they seem to have hit a plateau. The first thing I look at when a runner tells me this, is the speeds at which they are running as well as how many rest days they are taking a week: most times, these are the main culprits for the plateau they are experiencing.
What I find is that these athletes are running all their runs at the exact same pace, day in and day out, although they are rigorously following the “plan” as far as how many days/miles a week they assigned to run. Another thing I find, more often than not, is that when they have rest days scheduled in their plan, they are not truly resting, but doing other “non-running” activities and counting them as resting.
I am firm proponent of POLARIZED TRAINING, which simply means training is composed of 80% easy running and 20% hard running. So, what is an EASY PACED RUNNING?
Easy pace is a pace that is generally 2-4 minutes (sometimes more) slower than your 5K race pace and 1-2 minutes slower than your marathon race pace. This means that if you raced a 31min 5K (~10 minute mile), for example, your easy paces should be between 12:00-13:00 mm. You should be able to talk in full sentences during these runs, with your heart rate staying low and you should be finishing feeling fresh, not taxed. Easy pace runs are NOT runs that are fast but you feel strong, runs with heart rate spiking to 170 bpm or faster than marathon race pace.
A lot of runners are shocked when they find out what their true easy paces actually are. The most common comments I get is “I cannot run that slow” or “how will I ever get faster running that slow?”
SLOW is a relative term. Olympian’s Molly Seidel runs marathons at 5:30 mm pace, and her easy runs would be in the 7:00 mm or slower range; in fact, I have seen her Strava stats where she is running easy runs in the 8:00mm range. For the rest of us mere mortals, a 7:00mm pace would be impressive for a 5K and under no circumstances be considered an easy run. Also, if Molly Seidel can run her easy runs 2-3 minutes slower than her marathon pace, so can you.
As to how we can get faster running easy 80% of the time, this can be accomplished because we will be running the rest of the time HARD. Yes, you have to run fast to get faster, just not ALL THE TIME.
SO, why are easy runs important for runners?
- Give your body an opportunity to increase endurance, to add distance without the stress of speed.
- Increased recovery/turnaround time between runs
- Feeling fresh for the other 20% of the time for hard/fast workouts
- Avoid injury
- Ability to increase training load without burnout
- Give your mind and body a break so you can actually enjoy the act of running (that’s what we are all here for, right?) without having to think about speed.
Make sure you’re running your easy runs slow enough to be considered as such- avoid the grey zone! This is the speed a lot of runners mistakenly stay at, thinking it’s their easy pace; this is a pace that’s slightly slower than marathon race pace but faster than a true easy run. This will hinder your recovery and you will not get any of the benefits listed above.
Still wondering how all of this would work out? Get the help of a certified coach, who can make a personalized plan just for you!