Adjusting Easy Training: Running the Right Kind of Easy

One thing runners often err on is their easy pace. They run a great workout, average 7:00 pace per mile, and then come back the next day and run 9:00 minute miles in recovery. This type of training, something I would never condone as a coach (click here for more information on coaching).

So why is the establishment of such pacing essential? Why can’t one just go out and run without giving the pace a thought? The fact of the matter is, most articles that cover the plateau effect, where a runner sees diminishing growth in their performance and fitness, comes from the fact that the spend too much time running too easy. They are capable of running at 8:30 pace for a long, long time, but because 8:30 requires an alteration of their comfort zone, they run 9:30 pace and then complain that their 5k time will not improve. This is not to say that running easy is not recommended, in fact it is the majority of your weekly miles, but what is important is to understand that your easy pace, the pace you run long runs in, warm-ups, cool downs, and steady runs in, needs to be at a level that also creates and promotes fitness.

Skora Bases

With this in mind, consider converting your easy pace over to something that meets the above criteria, something that is not easy but easy enough not to overstress the system. Our legs need to incur stress during these runs, but not workout stress. I place runners all over on E runs based on their goals and adjust this pace as they improve. Currently, I have an easy pace of 8:01 per mile. Not too fast, but most definitely not slow (depending on the runner that is, I make all of these judgmental statements about myself). This pace will elevate my performance in a multitude of distances and ultimately allow for a faster easy pace.

Now I have a per run goal, a need for all runners, and a way to avoid junk miles. This pace is to be replicated over the course of runs, whether I feel fresh, fast, and thus able to go, or if I am beat up from a quality workout. This is to apply a proper amount of stress to my system, to force my system to adapt, and in doing so, force my overall level of fitness to increase. Off course, I have to work into it. Some days this effort comes easy, others I struggle, but my goal is to hit this mark more often than not a per run average (regular runs not workouts). As a runner adapts and becomes more serious, such training should be taken into account.

On Finishing a season: Running the Real Race

“A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence”—Jim Watkins

After months of training, my runners have entered the post season environment. The air is electric, the urgent nature is apparent. These kids have gone through multiple phases of training that honestly have lasted since last summer, if not longer. They built a base for cross country starting in

June, they worked on their lactic threshold and built a speed game, they tapered for the post season, the girls took home a state crown, and then they took two weeks off. Enter track season. As November expired, they worked to renew their base, as January came in lactic threshold training began, but we still pushed, overdoing it—early season races have little substance beyond confidence and tired legs created mental strength—then we started training to race, and now we taper.

Districts are days away and it is run well or go home time. Cliché or not, anyone who had ever seen the Rocky movies felt the urgency of hearing “Eye of the Tiger” blast over the stadium loud speakers. If you do not place in the top four, you are out. You ran a 4:36 mile, you better beat the two guys breathing down your neck. That was the scene for our last workout. Nothing we did today mattered for districts, but it mattered more today. All we could do was maintain our fitness, but we chewed through the track. We said hit your 3200m pace on 800m runs, you hit it. Hit your mile pace on 400’s, you did. Run with a person you will race near, you grabbed on with your imaginary rope and didn’t let go. God forbid someone walked across the track—where we once yelled track, we now barked, daring them not move and feel the freight train or urgency coming their way.

Pontification aside, they have their eyes on the prize. We have run weekly meets for two months, not one of them means a thing. This week we are racing, run well you live on to next week, another chance to achieve on your home track for the second week in a row. Fail to understand your race and you get an early off season to rest up and prepare for cross country. As I posted in my article on daily and weekly goals (also published by Skora Running), every run has a purpose. Every time we spent half an hour working on core and doing leg strengthening has come down to this week. All the pain, all the suffering, was for now.

You may be asking how does this apply to you? Almost every runner races—races are sacred

in a way—and this week were these high school kids are getting their chance to advance, represents the end of a journey to their sacred event. When you work to your 5k or half marathon and see those workouts on your training plan, remember how each moment builds to the moment you are standing at the line waiting for the gun. They are not something to groan over and complain about, but rather means to an end. Attack them. Be excited, recognize the process, and when you get to your race, treat it like a race and not an event. Understand that there are no second chances, no going back. If you fail to meet your goal, you wait until next year. District track is once a year, so is the Turkey Trot Half Marathon. Never forget it and race your heart out.