07 Oct The Importance of Easy Runs

Have you heard of the 80/20 rule in competitive running? It refers to the gold-standard percentages for easy and hard running. A general rule of thumb is to run 80% of your miles “easy,” and 20% of your miles hard. This, of course, is relative to the person. Someone who runs a 5 hour marathon has a different “easy” pace than someone who runs a 2:30 marathon. Many runners track their pace efforts through heartrate monitoring, but it’s not necessary to do so, if you’re fairly in-tune with your body. If you are tracking through heartrate, your heartrate should be at about 65-70% of your max on an easy run. If you’re not using heartrate data, plan on your easy run pace being about 2-2:30 minutes slower than your race pace.

Now, why do this? Why run so much of your mileage at a relatively slow pace? Well, there are a few significant reasons.

1. Easy running serves to develop cardiovascular fitness
2. Easy running builds resistance to injury
3. Easy running allows you to recover from your hard days by moving blood through your muscles to improve muscle repair

Running too hard, too often, is a recipe for disaster. Doing so will put yourself at a risk for overtraining, injury, constant fatigue, hormonal imbalances, insomnia, etc. Running too hard, too often, can actually limit the aerobic adaptations and benefits that occur during all those easy miles. If your muscles are constantly being broken down and you’re not giving your body enough time and opportunity to rest, recover, and rebuild, the damage you’re doing usurps any adaptations that might be occurring.

In conclusion, SLOW DOWN and don’t be afraid to run 4-5 days/week at a conversational pace! This will help you become an aerobic machine