Thereās a physiological reason to go slower: it conditions the aerobic system, which is where the overwhelming majority of your energy originates in every distance above the 5K (and even the 5K is pretty aerobic IIRC). See 80-20 Running by Matt Fitzgerald.
And yes--running coach here, almost all recreational runners do their easy runs too fast. Social media has made this worse IMO, because people are always posting their Garmin screens. Nobody Cares.
Definitely not pace, that can vary so much based on sleep, terrain, weather, etc. Heart rate is also a mixed bag for those reasons, plus watches arenāt very good HR monitors, you need a strap for best accuracy. I go by more intuitive measures like talk test and feel. You should finish an easy run and feel like you could do the whole thing again.
I don't think I've ever finished a run feeling that way. If I'm close to that at the end of a run, I usually keep going, I guess, until I feel like I've "done something". Thanks for the inspiration.
I often get discouraged because my pace is so slow that I call it snail pace. After reading your post today I see that itās not š pace but sexy pace. Terrell, thank you for writing and thank you making me feel sexy again :)
I bought a tee shirt in Macyās a few months back (I live in t-shirts) tha has a picture of a snail with a caption that reads āSnailed Itā ... wish I could find it in a running shirt!
I wonāt venture into the topic of slow sex but slow running can be an amazing experience if you can unplug, and use all your five senses to observe and take it all in....My most memorable runs have been my slowest, on trails, & amongst the trees. And yes, I still hug a fewāļøāļøāļø
Honestly, it's going to take some conscious effort for me to slow down -- I find myself just naturally wanting to speed up. But I know there's very good reason to slow down... now, to just do it!
Perhaps like me, the competitive urge ( against clock or other runners) is well established in our DNA but after my first & last Marsthon marathon at 64 years old, I just naturally began to slow down. Perhaps I had nothing else to prove to myself or age was catching up. But now, I truly only enjoy a running pace that allows me to ātake it ALL inā. I only run for the joy of it nowā¦. The minute hand no longer motivates me. After an hour on the roads or trails I am done, no matter the distance or pace. One day Terrell you will not only understand this in your head, but your body as well. Enjoy the urge to run fast as long as you canā¦
Finished third in my 5K age group at Run to Stay Warm (74-76) on 11/19/23 It amazed me. I just walked and enjoyed the scenery. Made fairly good time, would have been better but the markings were difficult to follow. I'm still walking up and down the hills here in Oregon. In spite of the rain, I've had a hard time staying out of working in the garden and am out in it everyday.
Read Dickens for years. . . almost all of his writings. We had autographed copies when we lived close by the Southern Utah University. . . same with Mark Twain and Kipling.
I don't know if running slow is sexy. I've been a slow runner ever since I started! I think I was just cut out that way! :) :)
Yeah usually I do that - especially for easy or recovery runs. So Iām sure that Iām not running too fast. An easy run differs for me in pace during the year.
At 73 my best times are in the past. I used to look at my watch to make sure I was hitting my splits, no more. How many of you have gone out on a run, "Just for the hell of it?" or you hand nothing better to do? How many have looked down when you ran and picked up a coin on the street or something else that caught your eye. I have a jar filled with coins, a few dollar bills and everthing from washers, to bolts and other shinny things. I run now just for the joy of it. Returning to the sport after a long hiatis I find I enjoy it more when I don't set my watch and run until my body tells me to stop. I still have a 5 or 10K in me and maybe a half or two when I'm in better shape again, but the days of a full marthon are in my past and rightfully so. I still LOVE to run, but the days of setting a new PR are in my past but noticing what's around me sets my heart to racing. I hope that never changes.
Iāll turn 74 on the 19th. Never was fast ... always have and still do enjoy just lacing up and getting a few miles in. The āpicking upā stuff happens on Saturday morning when my wife walk a 5K that passes three schools, a swim complex and a tennis center ... on this walk, we pick up trash in one bag and recycle cans and bottles in the other. On a good day, 50 to 60 cans and bottles make it home to our recycle container. Slow pace lets us talk to passersby and appreciate the sky and clouds.
Wow!!! It sounds like you hit the Jack Pot! Don't you just hate that some people are such slobs? I watch people throw trash or cigarette buts out the windows of their car when they drive by. I guess they think everthing is their trash can and can't be bothered to have a trash bag in the car. I live near a chain of lakes and every year we have a clean up day. You'd be shocked to see what we pull out of the lakes and how many trash bins we fill. Will the slobs ever change ? Not unless someone in authority see them do it and fines them... Until then the good people will collect their trash and pray that one day they'll change.
As usual, you nailed with this! I just finished reading āA Christmas Carolā over the weekend AND watched āThe Man Who Invented Christmas.ā I love reading that book every December and that movie is one of my favs. They get me in the mood for Christmas! I hope to slow down this holiday season and really enjoy it. š„° Iām also an advocate of slow running! Thanks for this! š„³ You rock!
After Achilles tendinitis last year, not only I had to go slow, but I had to stop for 6 weeks and do lots of physiotherapy. That wasnāt sexy for me, but then I grabbed the books by Matt Fitzgerald and learned to embrace the slow run. Itās hard in the beginning, but I began to grow fond of it. I feel zero pain for the first time in 17 years and running IS my meditation. I usually listen to a book during slow runs. And āsexy paceā makes my 47-year old me feel even better.
No one writes an essay like you....I finally had the time to read this this morning...and it made me reframe my almost embarrassing December running goal: All I want to be able to do is to run 2 miles by the end of the month at a "sexy pace." It's a start--and it no longer sounds embarrassing after reading this essay...Thx for the movie recommendation...
Flannery OāConnor, Dickens, and slow running-this post was written specifically for me! What a treat to walk with you around OāConnorās property and then along the streets of 19th century London. What a treat. Thanks, Terrell šā¤ļø
I tend to run too fast on slow runs too. I know this and try to relax and enjoy the run more. I've mentioned before that I've gotten a few people to start running. At first the days I would run with them felt like "wasted run days", but now I embrace it, enjoy it, and stop and smell the roses (or pick up coins Steve). I love running and the slow days reinforce that feeling. Race pace can wait until the next run.
If slow equals sexy, then Iām a sex symbol.š
HA! Love that, Maria!
You and me too!!
Thereās a physiological reason to go slower: it conditions the aerobic system, which is where the overwhelming majority of your energy originates in every distance above the 5K (and even the 5K is pretty aerobic IIRC). See 80-20 Running by Matt Fitzgerald.
And yes--running coach here, almost all recreational runners do their easy runs too fast. Social media has made this worse IMO, because people are always posting their Garmin screens. Nobody Cares.
Exactly, exactly, exactly this ā thank you so much for sharing this, MaryAnn. So youāre a running coach too?
Currently inactive, but yes, a level 2 coach with the RRCA!
How do you define an easy run? By pace? Heart rate? Power? Iām just curious, because there are different concepts...
Definitely not pace, that can vary so much based on sleep, terrain, weather, etc. Heart rate is also a mixed bag for those reasons, plus watches arenāt very good HR monitors, you need a strap for best accuracy. I go by more intuitive measures like talk test and feel. You should finish an easy run and feel like you could do the whole thing again.
I don't think I've ever finished a run feeling that way. If I'm close to that at the end of a run, I usually keep going, I guess, until I feel like I've "done something". Thanks for the inspiration.
I often get discouraged because my pace is so slow that I call it snail pace. After reading your post today I see that itās not š pace but sexy pace. Terrell, thank you for writing and thank you making me feel sexy again :)
Exactly, Mirtha! So glad to hear that š
I bought a tee shirt in Macyās a few months back (I live in t-shirts) tha has a picture of a snail with a caption that reads āSnailed Itā ... wish I could find it in a running shirt!
Ha!Ha!Ha! Thatās awesome.
I wonāt venture into the topic of slow sex but slow running can be an amazing experience if you can unplug, and use all your five senses to observe and take it all in....My most memorable runs have been my slowest, on trails, & amongst the trees. And yes, I still hug a fewāļøāļøāļø
Honestly, it's going to take some conscious effort for me to slow down -- I find myself just naturally wanting to speed up. But I know there's very good reason to slow down... now, to just do it!
Perhaps like me, the competitive urge ( against clock or other runners) is well established in our DNA but after my first & last Marsthon marathon at 64 years old, I just naturally began to slow down. Perhaps I had nothing else to prove to myself or age was catching up. But now, I truly only enjoy a running pace that allows me to ātake it ALL inā. I only run for the joy of it nowā¦. The minute hand no longer motivates me. After an hour on the roads or trails I am done, no matter the distance or pace. One day Terrell you will not only understand this in your head, but your body as well. Enjoy the urge to run fast as long as you canā¦
I did my first p, and only, marathon in early 2013 after I had just turned 63.
Finished third in my 5K age group at Run to Stay Warm (74-76) on 11/19/23 It amazed me. I just walked and enjoyed the scenery. Made fairly good time, would have been better but the markings were difficult to follow. I'm still walking up and down the hills here in Oregon. In spite of the rain, I've had a hard time staying out of working in the garden and am out in it everyday.
Read Dickens for years. . . almost all of his writings. We had autographed copies when we lived close by the Southern Utah University. . . same with Mark Twain and Kipling.
I don't know if running slow is sexy. I've been a slow runner ever since I started! I think I was just cut out that way! :) :)
Sexy pace is nice. š Do you only look on your pace or also on heart rate?
I don't actually check my heart rate much -- except later, on my watch. Do you keep track of that while you're running?
Yeah usually I do that - especially for easy or recovery runs. So Iām sure that Iām not running too fast. An easy run differs for me in pace during the year.
At 73 my best times are in the past. I used to look at my watch to make sure I was hitting my splits, no more. How many of you have gone out on a run, "Just for the hell of it?" or you hand nothing better to do? How many have looked down when you ran and picked up a coin on the street or something else that caught your eye. I have a jar filled with coins, a few dollar bills and everthing from washers, to bolts and other shinny things. I run now just for the joy of it. Returning to the sport after a long hiatis I find I enjoy it more when I don't set my watch and run until my body tells me to stop. I still have a 5 or 10K in me and maybe a half or two when I'm in better shape again, but the days of a full marthon are in my past and rightfully so. I still LOVE to run, but the days of setting a new PR are in my past but noticing what's around me sets my heart to racing. I hope that never changes.
Iāll turn 74 on the 19th. Never was fast ... always have and still do enjoy just lacing up and getting a few miles in. The āpicking upā stuff happens on Saturday morning when my wife walk a 5K that passes three schools, a swim complex and a tennis center ... on this walk, we pick up trash in one bag and recycle cans and bottles in the other. On a good day, 50 to 60 cans and bottles make it home to our recycle container. Slow pace lets us talk to passersby and appreciate the sky and clouds.
I believe the writer David Sedaris does that too. He lost lots of weight just by walking and picking stuff up. Heās very funny!
I love David Sedaris too!
Wow!!! It sounds like you hit the Jack Pot! Don't you just hate that some people are such slobs? I watch people throw trash or cigarette buts out the windows of their car when they drive by. I guess they think everthing is their trash can and can't be bothered to have a trash bag in the car. I live near a chain of lakes and every year we have a clean up day. You'd be shocked to see what we pull out of the lakes and how many trash bins we fill. Will the slobs ever change ? Not unless someone in authority see them do it and fines them... Until then the good people will collect their trash and pray that one day they'll change.
As usual, you nailed with this! I just finished reading āA Christmas Carolā over the weekend AND watched āThe Man Who Invented Christmas.ā I love reading that book every December and that movie is one of my favs. They get me in the mood for Christmas! I hope to slow down this holiday season and really enjoy it. š„° Iām also an advocate of slow running! Thanks for this! š„³ You rock!
Thank you, Corrina! Right back at you!!
After Achilles tendinitis last year, not only I had to go slow, but I had to stop for 6 weeks and do lots of physiotherapy. That wasnāt sexy for me, but then I grabbed the books by Matt Fitzgerald and learned to embrace the slow run. Itās hard in the beginning, but I began to grow fond of it. I feel zero pain for the first time in 17 years and running IS my meditation. I usually listen to a book during slow runs. And āsexy paceā makes my 47-year old me feel even better.
No one writes an essay like you....I finally had the time to read this this morning...and it made me reframe my almost embarrassing December running goal: All I want to be able to do is to run 2 miles by the end of the month at a "sexy pace." It's a start--and it no longer sounds embarrassing after reading this essay...Thx for the movie recommendation...
Diana! You are so incredibly kind -- thank you SO much.
Flannery OāConnor, Dickens, and slow running-this post was written specifically for me! What a treat to walk with you around OāConnorās property and then along the streets of 19th century London. What a treat. Thanks, Terrell šā¤ļø
Thank YOU, Jen!!! Have you seen the movie?
No, but itās on my list now.
I tend to run too fast on slow runs too. I know this and try to relax and enjoy the run more. I've mentioned before that I've gotten a few people to start running. At first the days I would run with them felt like "wasted run days", but now I embrace it, enjoy it, and stop and smell the roses (or pick up coins Steve). I love running and the slow days reinforce that feeling. Race pace can wait until the next run.
Exactly! There are no wasted days out there.