Tip: It's Hard to Go Easy
January 12, 2010
Do you run easy enough or slow enough on your easy days to fully recover? Well, if you want to recover from a workout or a long run then the subsequent easy day needs to be slow enough for you to recover from the previous session thereby giving your body a chance to absorb the work you put in. This is a simple principle and one that is common to runners from novices to professionals, from marathoners to milers.
I do have a confession, however: I'm not running easy enough on my easy days, even though I know the elemental nature of doing so. Which begs the question, "Why not?" My answer is lame, but it's also problem for many of you. When I look at my watch at the end of an easy run from my house the calculations come quick. I know my "easy day loop" is 5.2 miles and I can quickly figure out that over 38 minutes is much slower than 7 minute pace. We all have a pace per mile (or per kilometer) that we wrongly think of as "the slowest pace I ever go" and when we go slower than that pace we don't feel good about our run, even if during the run we were cognizant of running easy. I don't want to think I run 7:30 pace somedays, yet the irony is that the day following a hard long run that's the pace the feels right, even though I secretly wish 6:50 felt easy.
So what's a runner to do? Well, I know what I'm going to start doing. I'm going to leave the watch or Sportband at home and just go for the run; I'll get the volume of running in on my easy days and and I'll just go by feel. While it will be hard to leave these items behind, my guess it that it will be easier than looking at the number at the end of the run and feeling bad about the pace/time, even though I know that running easy on the easy days is important.
*Coach Jay’s advice is provided as general training information. Use at your own risk. Always consult with your own heath care provider for questions relating to your specific training and nutrition.
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