How to Know Your Easy Running Pace
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 พ.ค. 2021
- Most of your running should be at an easy pace. But how do you know your easy running pace?
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Your easy running pace is an important pace in your training because most of your running will be at this easy effort. In fact, for beginnners, about 90% of their running should be at an easy pace! In this video, coach Jason Fitzgerald discusses how to determine your easy running pace and important considerations to remember about the intensity of your running.
Jason Fitzgerald is a USATF running coach, 2:39 marathoner, and the host of the award-winning Strength Running Podcast. He's the 2017 Men's Running Magazine's Influencer of the Year and his work has appeared in Runner's World, Health Magazine, The Washington Post, Lifehacker, and other major media.
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Agree with this but I think the problem that new runners face is that in order to keep the heart rate in the lower zones they would be forced to almost walk. Pair that with the excitement that new runners get as fitness increases fairly quickly at first rusulting in pushing themself's into a more of a zone 3 effort for most of their runs but the improvements soon level out amd the pace never gets any quicker. Perceived effort is definitely more important for new runners to use, consistently running will build a decent aerobic base that can eventually be built on. On a side note I've ran 2.40 for a marathon and never been able to train under 70%of max heart rate but can hold 85% of max for a very long time. Don't get to hung up on the numbers, lace up get out the door and enjoy yourself weather that's easy or hard, long or short it doesn't matter as long as you keep repeating it.
This is a great comment and I am in exactly the same boat as you. There is no way I can keep even a jog at 60-70% of my VO2Max yet I can hold a 80-85% HR for very long periods of time (2+ hours). When i first started my easy runs ranged from zone 2 to zone 3 but always kept it below zone 3.
What do you mean that you can’t hold 60-70% but can hold 80%+? Thanks
Easy pace you should be able to breath only through your nose. I’ve switched to nasal breathing and I no longer have to look at my watch for pace or heart rate. As soon as I feel the urge to breath via my mouth I slow down.
same here
I did the same today intuitively and it works! Only nose breathing is the key indicator!
Thanks. Going to try this on the long run this weekend.
I can run in zone 4, even get close to zone 5 with pure nasal. I really wish this worked for me
Exactly! I find its much easier to do inside on a treadmill than outside in the cold
1:20 Key takeaway: “easy pace is not actually a pace, it is an effort”, a guideline that only needs and only works with a high degree of honesty to self.
The "Strava effect" is so real too. I see runs where person says super easy, blah, blah. blah and they have tempo and threshold work. Cracks me up. Going off HR is something I don't understand completely. So many outside factors affect HR. Hydration, heat, stress, elevation, altitude, caffeine, etc. One very effective thing I do is remove pace from displaying on my watch for any runs other than workouts that required paces.
I agree with the HR. It's not something I would use because of the many other variables that determine HR. It's therefore far better to go by perceived exertion.
I try to run an easy pace, such as today, and it feels tougher to do on my body, and my heart rate is higher than when I am running faster.
I’m definitely struggling with finding the right easy pace.
Ooh yes thank you for this. I've slowed my pace and my breathing and it helped somewhat but it feels like a struggle
Thank you for your great advice, especially for older runners over 60, who are prone to injury.
I love the three "C", Comfortable & Controlled & Conversational, thanks
Thanks for this!
Makes perfect sense. Thank you ❤🙏🏾
I do a 90/10 split. It has paid dividends. Zero injuries and I cut my mile by 5 minutes.
“Your easy pace is not a good reflection of your capabilities on the course.”
Thank you. Now I just need to internalize that. I know it already but the ole ego gets in the way.
Joe Satriani knows what he’s talking about 🤟🏻👍🏻💪🏻
HAHAHAHAHAH legit
When I saw Joe Satriani live on G3 without his hair I first thought someone else played cover songs of him :-D
This guy has been surfing with the alien
Great video. I believe my easy pace is just not easy enough. Thanks for the good information.
Hahahaj
Thank you for this informative video, the next question that always cross my mind is ...when all this slowing down approach will turn into faster result? during my race? I don't get that part of the process yet.
If it's easy. Nailed it!
I'm so glad to see this. I really wanted to love 220-age, and I do still use it on some easy runs, but it always felt like fitting a square peg into a round hole for me, especially as a trail runner.
180-age
@@jackwright3098as far as I understood, 220-age gives you the theoretical maximum heart rate, meaning that your heart shouldn't physically be able to beat any faster. The 180-age(-some other factors such as previous injuries) gives you the ideal easy training heart rate. But I guess one has to just figure out which system works best.
Good information
Just googling this and the notification popped up 😂
This is the best explanation of heart rate by a country mile 👍
City park yeah thanks for the info
The great thing about slowing down is that your legs can just go miles and miles. The downside is making the time for that. I've gone from way-too-fast, 50 mi/wk to a slower 80 mi/wk, and it's been transformational. My simple formula is that I run easy (ish) pace all week, and throw 1-mile speed intervals into my long run on the weekend. So I'm consistently focused on aerobic mileage, with weekly reminders of what it's like to go 20 sec/mi faster than goal marathon pace. Overall easy:fast ratio is around 90:10.
I do the same, it’s just so easy to go from easy to moderate to cut my 10 mile runs by 5-10 mins for family life purposes. Sometimes I do threshold runs only once every other week
I've always been a relatively slow runner... but enjoy going the distance.
I’m glad you posted this vid, although with my body, I add a 4th thing to “comfortable, controlled, and conversational”. Although I can’t come up with a word to keep the alliteration going, i would say easy pace needs to be “30 seconds per mile slower” than comfortable, controlled, and conversational.
My “CCC pace” is between 8:15-8:45 per mile....but I do easy days at 9:00-9:30. Why? I found that year round training at the faster easy pace causes me to accumulate fatigue. Dialing it back means I am always about 4-6 weeks away from any race from a 5k to a marathon and am able to taper almost at a moment’s notice. I am a sub 1:25 HM runner, and I don’t know anyone that runs easy pace as SLOW as I do. I had many years of going on “perceived effort” and HR......and it ended up being too fast. Just my 2 cents if someone is still questioning.
Until someone can show me some compelling research that shows a year’s worth of 9:00 plus easy pace is measurably worse than 8:30 or faster, I’m sticking to the easy pace that is actually SLOWER than the “CCC pace”.
The research actually does support your approach. Usually faster racers are running proportionately slower on their easy days! On your easy days, nothing is too slow :) Even going a bit too fast can be fatiguing so I think you’re on the right path. I take this approach too. I often ask myself how much slower I can possibly go.
I don't think anyone would argue with this as the only 'danger' on an easy-run day is going too fast. I only wear my watch, not to pace myself, but rather to monitor if I'm going too fast (and to dial down my pace if I am). I believe Eliud Kipchoge is known to run about 5 min/per kilometer pace on easy-run days (although I dare say this would be the lower end of the spectrum).
Personally my comfort-zone is 5 min/per kilometer. I sometimes wonder if this is the correct pace, but I always 'check in' with myself. Does it feel comfortable, am I relaxed, am I not 'forcing' it, is my breathing in a 'state of zen'. When these boxes check 'yes', then I believe my perceived effort is an easy pace.
This video obviously for the more elite runners. My wrist heart monitor works very well, I haven’t run a whole lot of races, I don’t run anything past a 10k and im 62 yo. HOWEVER, I have been using the 80/20 method for about 6 months now and I have definitely improved! So thanks my friend. Best wishes from your cuzins down here in Colorado Springs 😂
how long have you been in Colorado Springs?
I control my effort level by using different cadences for different runs. So for example a nice easy run ( even a long run) I will run at 165-170 steps per minute - for a tempo run at parkrun I will use 185 steps per minute
I'm glad you poo'd on 220-age. I've seen all these running channels recommend it. It's not remotely close for me. It would have my max HR at what my threshold pace is
If a running channel is wrong about something so basic, what else might they be wrong about?
@@JasonFitzgerald Most running channels are wrong about very basic things. Don't trust everything someone says, unless they've absolutely done scientific experiments in order to determine what is valid or not. Majority of things you hear runners say is anecdotal, and so it may not be demonstrably true, and the observed improvements may simply be the side effect of some other improvements they made.
Havent seen any channel say the 220 rule is correct
You can also use power to run your easy runs such as with the Stryd
not on topic but the water at 1:20 is beautiful.
Well shit and thank you sir!
I've found that my easy place does decrease when I run slowly. This is very counterintuitive. Can you explain why it happens?
Thanks for the video. So to be clear looking back at several hard efforts (TT-virtual 5K's) and the max HR during those efforts can be used to set max HR? My max HR at higher efforts is so much higher than my 220 - my age. Setting max HR via effort on all my apps (Strava-Stryd-Garmin connect) would have me training a bit different. Thanks again. Hope I understood the max HR thing.
@Abel Sanchez. Unless you were really going all out at the last mile, I would guess you didn’t hit your max at the end of a 5k TT but it could be a safe estimate to avoid pushing too hard which isn’t a bad thing. I would try a 4 x 800 repeat with recovery no more than 50% of the interval, so if you do 800m at the 6min/mile pace, it will take you 3 mins for the 800 and recovery no more than 90secs. Make sure you warm up for 15-20mins, push really hard on the last rep and if possible have the last two reps on a slight hill. Plug in your 5k TT time into the McMillan calculator to get your speed paces. Alternatively if you don’t want the stress of the interval, add 3-5 bpm to that 5k TT max and be flexible in tweaking your max hr when you get more data down the road.
I just started running again after 3 years of not running at all and my body is feeling it, I'm not able to run at all so I been fast walking for the last 9 days, when do I expect to be able to run a least for 1/2 mile? I was never a fast runner but I did run a 50K ultra as one on my last races
What exactly does conversational pace mean? No matter how slow I jog, I will be panting while talking, i.e., if I’m on the phone, the person on the other side will be easily able to tell that I’m running (even if say one could hypothetically block the foot tap sounds). Can people jog so easy that you sound the same as if you are walking to a person on the other end?
Where do I fit, I am too scared to run faster. I am 77 yrs old but that's not the restraint it's that if I run faster I may not be able to finish the run. I keep pushing just a little bit but not getting really any faster.
Hi,what a nice easy advice video. I have just started using the Maffetone method for my easy runs. Would you recommend or anyone in the comments recommend
I used it over the winter on my treadmill for base building, and was able to run more often, never feeling sore or exhausted after my runs. Now that the ice is gone, I'm back on the hilly trails, and run based on effort. I'd be walking WAY too much if i ran based on HR. It literally stressed me out and sucked the joy out of my running when I tried. I'm glad I put the 3 months in, and will probably do it every winter.
MAF has been a huge help for me. Was having pain on every run for several months (lower leg/ankle). I've been on MAF for about 6 weeks and the pain is *gone*. I'm actually running *more* (time-wise) than I was before, but without the pain. I'm not sure if I've gotten much cardiovascular benefit from it yet, but you're supposed to give it 4-6 months, so I'll keep at it. And you definitely need to leave your ego at home. The pace is embarrassingly slow, and you'll likely have to walk a fair amount, especially at first, and if the weather is warm.
I’m pretty slow. What you describe as an easy pace is my HR on a walk. Even a slow jog puts my HR at 80% plus.
Do you recommend not running at all during “easy pace” days?
Then you need to walk before you can run.
Hi, I got a question. Like you mentioned on the easy pace, my easy pace is comfortable, controlled, conversational but my heart zone doesn't fall in the perceived effort easy pace zone. Personally I don't use heart rate, mainly is because I'm from a tropical country, and the outdoor weather/temperature is always between 32-35'C.
So as much as easy pace, hard pace etc. what is the best way to measure my aerobic fitness?
trade mill?
@@woorawoora sorry, I don’t quite understand your statement
Perceived effort is always the way to go really. Even the most accurate heart sensors/equipment only tell half a story on a given day. Coming from a cycling background before running, you're always told to go with power meters if you can afford them (obviously not an option in running). An individual's heart rate can vary a huge amount from fatigue, form, sickness, hydration ... Your FTHR one day might seem entirely achievable for the distance you have in mind, another day it might push you into the red. Get comfortable with feel first and then you're well grounded to know when you're heading into a pace you can't maintain. This isn't to say heart rate data isn't useful, just for the purposes of someone finding their feet over a distance it might not necessarily be that helpful.
I am.64 now my hr is high on the treadmill at level.12 at 4 mph my hr reaches 135BPM and I am breathing deeply and diaphragmlicly I keep.my hr between. 120 and 135 for 20 minutes.My resting hr is 50BPM
I think most runners do their easy runs way faster, I myself included. I have seen 23 minute 5k runners doing their LSD in what for them would be a tempo pace
Can you recommend a chest strap that gives live readout so I can monitor my HR during my run?
I wear a polar H10. It syncs well with my garmin forerunner 45. However, Before I bought the watch I monitored the live readout on my phone. It was a little inconvenient, but I made it work.
www.polar.com/us-en/products/accessories/h10_heart_rate_sensor?gclid=Cj0KCQjwkZiFBhD9ARIsAGxFX8DhcEII7AhZNsosk92OezadfCx5vIPvk5K-Vg-gwA6uVEmDM5XBIBwaAjDwEALw_wcB
Any chest heart rate monitor of a major brand (Garmin, Polar, Wahoo, Suunto…) compatible with the ANT+ protocol (protocol designed for inter-operability between fitness sensors of different brands) should do the job correctly.
some people / coach told easy pace should be below Zone 3, but my easy put me on Zone 3 ..
which one i would consider? Heart rate or effort?
effort.
I love those glasses 🤓
Rocking the Elton John glasses🤩
If I dont watch my pace and just try relax and focus on feel of movement I run slighter faster. Vdot seems really really accurate for me. If I try race outside of the recommended pace for a given distance I tend to blow up. For me its 740 to 834 the weird thing is I see lots of much much better runners do runs at or near my easy pace which seems strange. If your racing at 5 min a mile give or take why would your easy pace be the same as mine because when I do intervals and get to a 545 pace I feel on the verge of sprinting and its incomprehensible to me to feel like what it would be like to race at a 5 min a mile pace at any distance.
Because if they are racing at 5min/mile pace, say a 15:40 5k or a 32 min 10k etc, they are likely running 60+ miles a week. If they want to be fresh for their workouts while running that sort of mileage then they will need to run super slow on their regular runs. However if you are running lower mileage, recovery is a lot simpler and to an extent takes care of itself :)
@@connor3030 so if I'm regularly running an average of 60 miles per week and I typically bump up my peak volume before a marathon to near 90 should I slow down on my easy runs ? But try to not completely crush my long run but try to bring my long run pace closer to my goal pace ? Right now I ran a 20 mile run at 728 per mile per my Garmin I'm shooting for a sub 3 hr marathon in April. I ran a 301 in October but it was part trail and had about 1900 ft of vert gain/loss and unseasonably warm weather for Ohio at near 70 degrees near the end of the race.
@@mikefaber3567 I'll be honest with you mate my answer to your first comment is just what far more experienced runners have told me. I'm only just getting into racing. & I'm definetely not in any position to give you advice on marathoning, sorry haha.
Good luck with the sub-3 hour attempt though, I'm sure you'll crush it judging by that October race!
@@connor3030 no problem I appreciate the honesty I'm clueless to I've only been at this since 2019 and w covid I kind of got a crap sandwich. Abd since I'm 46 time is of the essence.
@@mikefaber3567 Nice one, I can only say that I hope I'm aiming for sub-3 when I'm 46, that is awesome
I run 10km at comfortable pace of 4:20 per km what can I do to improve my pace
Follow a good training plan
A good polarized training plan
What about returning runners? still 90/10?
When I run at a pace as you describe as easy, I find my form really gets sloppy (slower cadence and sluggish feet). Any suggestions ?
I would also love to know his opinion but my two cents would be running drills, uphill repetitions and strides. Also what works for me is muscle trough some patches of bad shape by bit risking and or by cross training a lot and then take it easy when my easy pace is mechanically more workable for my body.
Yes, I also had this issue. However, I found the reason for this was that I was altering my technique to run slower which just didn't feel comfortable. I was lowering my arm swing and 'riding in the saddle', which is not the way I usually run (I run with a high chest arm swing, long stride length and hip extension, which for me feels more free and relaxed, even when I'm running at a fast pace).
So, I decided to just stick with this technique but slow it right down. While doing this, I find that keeping my normal high arm swing allows me to get a 'bouncy' effect but also keeps my torso straight and importantly, I just feel relaxed and now I really enjoy my easy runs.
Hey coach and other runners. Help me out. I’m 75 and in good shape but when I run I have a pain on the left side of my lower back and a cramping my butt on the left. I think my pelvis is out of line What do you think ?
I found out I have arthritis in my pelvis. But no big deal. I’m good
I don’t have this problem if I warmup well
love them shades!
I find that nasal breathing is not a good cue for easy effort because if you keep practicing with nasal breathing alone, you become better and better at breathing through the nose alone even at over 90% of your max HR.
Yeah do you think cause I’m doing my first 50k Ultra, I should try to do the entire thing at my easy pace (if I can ) .
My long run was 32k and I think at the start i went to fast , slightly… but by 27k it really started to hurt. Or is this me just adapting to the new stress/distance possibly
To me this is very confusing 🤔. Maybe somebody can help me out where I got it wrong.
70% of my MHR(205) would be 144.
but based on the LTHR (185) calculator by Joe Friel the upper end of my zone two would be 166.
So what should I be running at 85% of the time as a beginner? 😅
Under 166 or so is my guess! With a high max HR like that, a HR in the low-mid 160's is probably still fairly easy.
Lactate threshold is a different thing than zone 2 max jogging.
At a day and age when I am testing 7.2 MPH as a ten minute race pace, 7.9 MPH as a five minute race pace, and 8.5 MPH as a two minute race pace, I am sometimes running only 6.2 MPH on theory that all I am trying to do on my 6.2 MPH days is run fast enough to burn as much fat as I can, but if I run super fast within the above said limits, my body will burn more carbs, instead of fat. I can run faster than any of these above posted numbers, once I burn off that stubborn belly fat.
You are a human, not a car. You run paces per mile/km, not miles per hour.
I am 68 and can still reach around 175, hope that is good.
It says nothing :-). Everybody is different! Don't let your maximum heartrate tell you what is good or not.
People with cardiac arrythmia don't find any difficulty for reaching high heart rate at an advanced age, but the only thing is, it is a health issue ! One must know putting things in perspective.
Honestly easily accumulated miles work such wonders…. I remember the first time I started doing higher weekly mileage at slower pace so thought I had wasted my time
Finally, I don't have to feel bad about being a "slower" runner! Haha, thanks!
Sir I can't run even 3km please tell me how to improve endurance
Check out a couch to 5k program
Run slower
Just run
Lower your speed increase your mileage
Nothing is easy when you're overweight and starting new. My easy pace is walking....when does running become easy?
a few weeks to a few months in! Stay patient... I could not finish a 3 mile run without walking when I first started. And it made me feel terrible for a week.
I have been in your position multiple times for various reasons. What works for me is twofold: finding the right pace is important but focusing on running drills is as much important. Running drills and later strides and hill reps will make you better stronger runner when you run slowly. Also, by consistency your easy pace will improve tremendously after few months. At first when introducing running just take it easy and maybe focus more on cross training and drills, when you will get stronger you can add some volume and intensity gradually. This will make your easy pace faster for sure.
Finally I know it’s triggering (warning!) but
Losing weight will help you get faster too (to a point).
Thank you for the replies! I’m two months in. I just finished a 5k program. I’ll add some hill repeats too. I do hope it becomes easier when I lose more weight and have done it for longer. I love running but I’m excited to someday have a pain free, longer distance run.
Ill one up Jason (sorry Jason! lol)...I couldn't even run two consecutive laps around a 1/4 mile track when I first started. I was also overweight. My easy pace was 15 min/mile. I actually couldn't even "run". I was walking. Using my HR monitor, my 13min/mile pace was 170-180 bpm. Long story short though, I agree with Jason. A few weeks to a few months. For me it was one slow month and started seeing progress in month two. Patience AND consistency is key. Even walking/jogging is a mental battle in itself. I've lost 60 lbs over 7 months and my new easy pace is 9:00. My "CCC" is getting around 8:15-8:45 nowadays. My HR hovers around 150 to 160 depedning on how I ate and how much i slept. My first 5K all out until I started hyperventilating was 36 minutes lol. And that was an effort I could safely say at the time was not repeatable. I would be happy with sub 40 at the time. Now I can comfortably finish sub 21 min 5K and sub 42 min 10K.
Along with patience and consistency, I would heavily emphasize one distance. I ran purely based on distance and not time. 1 lap turns to 2 laps and 2 laps turns into 1 mile. That 1 mile turned into 2 miles and that 2 turned into a 5K. Just keep working youre way up and youll be going the distance.
I'm a year and a half into running. Convinced it never gets easier. You just get stronger.
How to know tempo pace
Have you searched our older videos? ;) th-cam.com/video/9w45WWhTvJI/w-d-xo.html
Tempo is just below your lactate threshold. You have two LT'S, LT1 and LT2, your watch will tell you your LT2 if it's twinned with a watch strap. Your LT1 will be around 8-12 beats lower than your LT2. LT1 is where you move from aerobic to anaerobic, you will feel your whole body shift slightly from an aerobic to a more muscle taxing state, this is what happens when you go past LT1, mine is at about 154BPM, my LT2 is at 163BPM this is where the body has a sharp rise in an inability to clear lactate, basically your not getting enough oxygen to clear it. Tempo runs are for the purpose of improving your pace at these heart rates, how do you do it? You run and bring your heart rate slowly up to for me what would be around 150bpm and let it stay there or just above that but not above LT2. You run a block for 10/15/20/30/40 mins depending on fitness/experience. You can also run at a tempo pace, drop your pace down a couple of notches and return to tempo pace twice, three, times, four times and so on. This trains the body to endure high levels lactate, clear it then return for more abuse, you have to train this by more reps. Your slightly higher than LT pace is really important, for example it's usually a pace you can hold for 40-50 mins, so I could manage 160-170 for that period which is the pace I could manage for a 10km race. You train at LT to improve it. Your watch will tell you if it improves every so often, it will give you a new LT heart rate, and pace you can manage. All pretty cool when going in the right direction.
I found doing easy pace 80/ 20 turned me into a bit of tractor .
Nonsense. A) Wrist heart rate sensors can be accurate enough for any purpose. Saying that they're not reliable enough *period* is lunacy. B) Often max heart rate matches the formula(s) close enough. So going by formula can absolutely work for many people. C) When determining heart rate zones there are formulas taking your training level into account, such as the Karvonen method which uses resting heart rate as an indicator of training level. You might want to check that out.