Topic 1: What is "Easy pace?"

A few years ago I was at a race, and a friend/coach asked me a very good question.  She asked, "What do you define as easy pace for your runners?"  I thought it was an excellent question.

When we talk about easy pace, we need to factor in some variables.  For one thing, what is the weather like on that day you're going for a run?  Is it cool and crisp?  Or is it humid and hot?  The weather plays a very significant role on effort levels.  Those hot and humid days are slower runs because there is less oxygen in the air.  Runners need oxygen to perform better.  The more oxygen you can get to your muscles, the faster you can run.  So when you are running in the heat, don't be surprised if "easy" all of a sudden is 9:00 pace instead of 8:00 pace.  A second variable is the terrain.  Are you running up a mountain?  Are you running on a flat course?  Are you running on trails with rocks and roots?  A third thing to consider is what workout(s) and amount of miles have you done that week?  Are you fatigued and tired from a higher mileage week?  One runner doing 70 miles per week might actually be doing their overall easy paces faster than a runner doing 100 miles per week(even if the 100 mpw runner is faster in races), because of the muscle fatigue associated with mileage.  Did you do a race recently?  So think about those things first before you get upset how "slow" you're running those easy paces.  

I define easy pace as slower than anything that is approaching the aerobic threshold.  In other words, it should be aerobically comfortable and a pace you could run for a very long time if you had to.  However, I don't define easy pace as an exact pace.  I define it as a range of paces.  Some days the pace is faster, others slower(because of those variables above).  This range of pacing can also vary from runner to runner.  I believe it is a really good thing to have a bigger range of paces.  I have found that anything from around 6:00 pace to 10:00 min pace is my easy pace on any given day.  The important thing is to run by what feels right on each day, reading your body and how it is responding.  The goal of easy pace is to recover so that you can do your next workout(which is to push the aerobic system and/or anaerobic system).  If your easy pace right after a hard workout is pretty slow, chances are you ran a really tough workout and pushed yourself!  It is compensation for the effort you put in the previous day, so listen to your body.  

From my experience, I can break down easy pace into several paces as a result from training or racing.  The first is after a very hard race.  Either during a cool down or a short run after a race, my paces tend to be the slowest.  Sometimes I joke with myself on my slowest easy pace PR.  I've run some 10:00-11:00 min miles on post race cool downs(I've raced 4:59 miles for my fastest half marathon).  The next slowest pace is after a really hard workout-either on the track or a hard long run.  After that it is pretty much the rest of any mileage and other runs in between hard workouts.  These are runs that are not necessarily after hard workouts, but also do not need to be pushed in pace in anticipation of a hard workout coming up.  To summarize, I have found easy pace to be defined as a combination of cool downs, recovery runs, pre-workout runs, maintenance runs, and even warm ups.  Therefore, the pace can range quite a bit.  I believe that it is important to have a wide range of paces, but that can depend on the runner.  It is actually very difficult to have a range of paces to train at.  

There is one other variable related to easy pace that I have discovered through my own training.  The complexity of the development of a runner affects easy pace relative to speed.  In other words, take the current version of myself, at my fastest which is a 1:05 half marathoner in 2019, vs a couple of older versions of myself(let's say when I was a 1:16 half marathoner in 2004, and a 1:10 half marathoner in 2011).  During my training around 2004, I would say that my easy pace runs were not as much of a range as they are now.  I think a lot of them were something like 7:00-8:00 miles. Now, that range has shifted to a much wider expansion of around 6:00-10:00 miles.  But also, I run higher mileage now-so you have to factor that in too.  While I have gotten faster at racing because of consistency, higher mileage, and faster workouts, I have also gotten better at running slower.  If you want to get faster, don't just practice running faster; practice running slower too!  Several Kenyans I have talked to told me how easy they run sometimes(yes 10:00 miles).  But when they go to work, they get serious about running 4:00-5:00 pace.  While the Kenyans are the world's fastest distance runners, they probably are also the best at running a huge range of paces.  

Thanks for reading,

-Chris Sloane

Feel free to leave any comments below and feel free to reach out to me for coaching coachchrissloane@gmail.com.