Keep It Easy, Keep It Simple, Keep it Conversational
This might actually be my favorite running tip of all time.
Keep your easy runs easy.
Seriously, who doesn’t want it to feel “easy” when they’re running?! And to think that this is the actual goal that I give my clients for the majority of their runs…Who wouldn’t want me as a run coach? I'm just gonna go and brush my shoulders off
Just sayin’.
Anywho, onto actual information.
You might hear this called a handful of things - keeping your easy runs easy, low-threshold training, conversational pace, etc. What it all boils down to is that you are running below your anaerobic threshold. When matched up with heart-rate (HR) this means you are keeping your HR roughly at or below 80% of your maximum working effort HR. This will be different for everyone, and can even change for a specific individual over time.
How will it benefit me?
Well first of all, it makes running more enjoyable. How, might you ask? Well because you won’t be out of breath and hurting so much, you will be able to sing along to your fave music and you can be in a mind-frame of actually enjoying your time and thoughts and not just cursing the idea of running.
But more on the technical speaking side of things, running at this pace will allow you to
-Improve aerobic endurance by teaching your body to use oxygen more efficiently
-Decrease your chance of injury and allow for higher volume with lower stress
-Increase recovery, allow for quicker recovery and then full attack of hard training
How do I do it?
Think conversational pace. You want to be running at a pace where you could hold a full conversation with a friend. Or sing along to what’s playing on your headphones. We know it’s Taylor Swift. Or Missy Elliott. Or Tim McGraw. Or Drake. Ot maybe that's just me. But it’s cool, belt it.
There are a handful of ways to find your HR zones, some more accurate than others, some easier than others. One way is to take a look at your highest HR on your last race, or super hard run, or a solid push 20min effort where you do become breathless. Then take 80% of that max #.
For example, my max HR during a half marathon was 183. 80% of that is 146. So when doing an easy/low-HR run I want to keep my HR below this mark of 146.
But what if I’m slow already?
Then congrats, you’re normal. Welcome to the club.
This is the hardest part of all of this. The majority of newer runners that I come across are worried about going too slow. But when you are using your own metrics, this isn’t the case. Even if that means you have to add in walk breaks to keep your HR down. You will improve more quickly, and keep running more long term (and distance) if you train appropriately. Trust me, I know how uppity the running community can come across, and I know no one wants to go around sharing their “slow” run times, but it’s something I have learned to embrace as a positive. So before you knock it, try it. Then own it. And find the joy in running.
Is low heart rate training the only way to run, or the best training technique for every person? Of course not. But it is becoming more well studied and the benefits are flowing.
Do you have more questions? - Come and find me. I’m always down for an “easy” chat.
Happy Running.
Your Favorite Mess Coordinator,
Teddi
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