When should we run easy? In the beginning of our training plan, we start off even easier than when
we finish our training plan because we've gotten stronger in effort. But we start easy in the
beginning because if we start smart and easy, we can progress to a different kind of easy
at the end of the long run, the long, the training plan.
Are you constantly worried about getting injured or you don't know how to get faster as a runner
and you want to continue to run for stress relief? Then this is the podcast for you.
Welcome to Healthy Runner, the only place that provides you with training tips, injury recovery,
and prevention tools with actionable strategies by experts in the running industry so you can
develop a stronger running body and feel confident that you can overcome any obstacle as a runner.
I'm your host, Dr. Dwayne Scotty, avid runner, running physical therapist and coach,
educator, founder of Spark Healthy Runner, where we help dedicated runners get stronger,
run faster, and enjoy lifelong injury-free running with the perfect online running coach,
even if you've been told to stop running with an injury or you think coaching is just for fast
runners. Learn more about our signature coaching program at learn.sparkhealthyrunner.com.
Every week on the show, we coach you to grow as a runner, just like the process of building a
strong, durable home that will last a lifetime requiring little maintenance. The design and planning
is your mindset. The foundation is your strength training. The framing is your run plan. The electrical
and plumbing is your nutrition. The insulation, drywall, and flooring is your recovery. The
landscaping and exterior is your race strategy. If you master the six parts of growing as a runner,
your running will be strong and last long, hitting PRs well into your 40s, 50s, and beyond.
Every week, we help a runner just like you build their dream home. I'm your host, Dr. Dwayne Scotty.
Welcome to the Healthy Runner podcast.
Now let's take a quick pause from this episode in which I hope you are finding value from
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try. Trust me, we recommend it to all of our Healthy Runners in our coaching program and you
will never feel more confident that you are safe while running. Now let's get back into this episode.
Have you ever trained for a race, whether it was a 5k, a half marathon or even a marathon and you
think you did something wrong in the training? You either didn't hit your goal, time or worse,
you got injured and you just feel like you're not meant to be a runner. Maybe you're just too old
for running or are you looking to start running and you want to learn how to do it the right way?
Do you want to learn the secret that has really got me back to my faster time since I ran
eight years ago and the secret that has allowed me to PR my last marathon at each 42. It is learning
how to master the most important run in your training. The easy run. It is not sexy. It won't
win you strabakudos and you won't want to brag about this run, but it is essential that you learn
how to master this type of run in order to get stronger, run faster and enjoy lifelong injury-free
running. Today I have with me Coach LaToya from our healthy runner coaching team who is going to
really educate us about the single most important run you should be doing as a runner each and every
week while getting in your mental clearing miles. This will be the official how to do an easy run
episode so you can get stronger, run faster and enjoy lifelong injury-free running for decades to come.
Coach LaToya is going to really educate us what is an easy run? Why you should run easy?
What are the benefits of an easy run? How do you do an easy run? When should you run easy
and factors to consider when finding your easy run pace and then tips that will really help keep
your easy run effort in check? So Coach LaToya, you know how we do this, give all the new listeners
in our community a little bit of backstory about yourself and let us know why you love to run.
Hey guys, Coach LaToya fell in here. I'm so excited to talk about the secret sauce,
the easy run. So let me tell you who I am and why I love the secret sauce, the easy run.
Coach LaToya, I've been coaching for several years and I love running because it helps me run off
the crazy. I say that all the time because it's just become part of my lifestyle and I run here in
Connecticut. I will run first thing in the morning bright and early before the sun's coming up
and I will run late at night to get my miles in part of that mom life, you know, making that life
run balanced. It's part of my lifestyle and that's what I love to do and I love to coach others and
help them see their potential, their light, the ability, hone that in, find what's missing,
that missing piece to help them shine their and their miles out and get their goals and PRs and
and just confidence boosted through running. All those things can happen and it butterflies into
life. So that's what I love to do. Yes and I love that you have brought that passion to other runners
to help them be able to get those benefits and coaching them to their first 5k, their first half
marathon, their first marathon. So I love that you've been able to kind of spread that joy around
and guys at Spark Healthy Runner, we've given hundreds upon hundreds of runners a plan for getting
stronger and running faster without getting injured and our plan will work for you too.
All you need to do is stay tuned and follow the easy run plan that we're going to give you.
Next, you need to take action and implement the plan and then lastly, third thing you need to do
is share it with a running friend who is frustrated with stubborn injuries and they're only interested
in training for races but are wondering why they're not getting any faster and here's that stake if
you don't do these three things. You will continue to get frustrated training for a race because you
didn't have the quote unquote fitness or you got injured or you're not getting faster on race day.
The easy run is the single most underutilized type of run and the most common mistake that new
runners make when they're just starting out. At Spark Healthy Runner, we have a six step plan
for how to actually grow as a runner and the six steps include mindset,
strength training, your run plan, your nutrition, your recovery and your strategy.
When you kind of master these six steps that we say of kind of building a strong house,
then your running is going to be reliable and durable like a well-built house.
And today's topic is really going to dive into the actual run plan and your run plan should be
properly progressed around four types of runs as you're building blocks. And the first of those
runs is the easy run. So that is what we're really going to be getting into today to develop kind of
the frame of the house and it is really this easy run that is that frame. So it is super, super
important. And I'm looking forward to getting into this topic with you, Coach LaToya. So
let's talk about what is an easy run. An easy run is the run you as a seasoned runner or a new
runner will spend the bulk of your training doing. The 80-20, a large number of your time will spend
easy running. That means not breathy, not miserable, not suffering, not wanting to die, but easy,
consistent pace, building up your aerobic threshold, building up tolerance in your lungs and your
muscles and really laying a foundation for progression to the next step, whether it be a faster run,
even more distance, time on your feet. The easy run is where we want to spend the bulk of our time
doing just what it sounds like, easy. The run should not be hard. You should not be suffering,
miserable. And for some people it looks like a run and for some people it looks like a shuffle
into a jog. It all is dependent upon you and your skill, but again no matter whether you're seasoned
as a runner or brand new to it, we're all doing the basics of the easy run. Absolutely
important for us to get down. The bulk of our running will be easy.
Okay, so it is easy. It's not like a misnomer. It's called an easy run for a reason. It should
feel easy. You mentioned kind of 80-20 rule and if someone's new to running, they're like
80-20, what does that even mean? Can you just explain what that does mean?
Absolutely. So the bulk of your training block or season, if you will, will be
consisting of a lot of 80%, a lot of easy miles, time on your feet, building your base.
20% of that, the other part of the run, the filler, will be whether it's integral,
speed work, stride, some of that other thing. A small chunk of time
is under a lot of stress and a different effort, but if you don't have your easy pace down,
that other 20% gets really difficult to hone in and make sure you're hitting your pieces
and efforts right for your 20% of work. That's strides, the hard work, the intervals,
and the pickups. You really have to get at it. Solid time on your feet for a long, long time,
that 80% of your training cycle. All right, thank you for clarifying that because really,
so doing simple math here, I'm not great at math, but let me see if I could do this.
If you are new to running and you're running 10 miles a week out there,
eight of those miles should be easy. Two of those miles should maybe be harder if
you are doing faster running and Coach Lloyd mentioned some different types of faster runs.
We have trainings on those. If you want to get into more detail, or even I would even extend that to
your first time doing a longer run, that might be a little harder for you. That might be the 20%.
The moral of the story is we're spending 80% of the time really mastering this kind of easy run.
Why should we run easy, Coach? We should run easy because we want to come back the next day.
We want to come back and say, wow, that was fun. I enjoyed that. It wasn't horrible. If it's not
pleasurable, you won't come back. You want it to come back. While we're having those pleasurable
easy runs out there, we're building tolerance. We're building muscle tolerance, muscle strength,
the mitochondria, the cells, the capillaries that are bringing oxygen, blood and oxygen to your
muscles are growing. They're getting stronger. The easier we run, the more efficient our body becomes
at turning us into a smooth running machine. For lack of a scientific word there, we become
smooth in effort and our pickups become more organic. That's one of my favorite words to use
when I'm talking to my athletes and runners. Organic, it just helps your body grow stronger.
Your lungs, your heart, your muscles, that's why we do it. That's what happens when we're out there
doing an easy run. They're so important. I love how you mentioned that it keeps us coming back
because we see so many new runners who get into running and they don't master the easy run and
they wind up running at a faster pace and maybe a harder effort. It just sucks. How many times
have you seen? You meet someone who's not a quote unquote runner. They don't run and they're like,
you run? Someone's got to be chasing me. A tiger's got to be chasing me in order for me to run.
It's because the perception and the misconception, I guess, is that running needs to always be hard.
We think about back to running for punishment in school days. If you played a sport, it was like,
hey, you got punished? Team goes for running. You guys are doing laughs. You guys are doing a mile.
Everyone hates it or having to do it as part of the gym physical fitness test. You're trying to
sprint and trying to run super fast and you're like, this is really hard. Why am I doing this?
I think that's so important that you brought up the fact of if we run easy, then we will come
back for seconds, thirds, fourths, five years, 10 years, 15 years and run for longevity.
For most of us adults who are starting to run, this could be a wonderful form of exercise. It could
be a wonderful way to challenge our bodies as we each gracefully. It could be a wonderful way to
have a little competitive spirit. If you missed a little competition, if you did play a sport
at a younger age and you missed just the thriving for a competition of sports. For me, I was a dancer
growing up. It was like performing on stage. It was like, give you that little adrenaline rush.
For me, doing a race is like performing on stage. Give me a little adrenaline rush.
All right, let me see if the training that I've been doing has been working. Let's test the limits
here and try to challenge the boundary. I love that you brought that up because that is something
I didn't even think about. The fact that it keeps us coming back, if you want to do this for longevity,
it is such a key. You mentioned some of the benefits, but if someone is out there right now
and they're not sold yet, they're like, I've heard about this 80-20 thing. I don't understand
doesn't make sense. If I'm trying to get faster, why would I run easier? What are the benefits to
really mastering the easy run? So, so many benefits. We'll talk about a couple of them.
There are so many. I think even as a seasoned runner myself, I keep finding myself, come back,
fresh and spry and ready to go because I listened to the training plan because I followed the easy
run pace. That's a big deal. As you come back the next day, not fatigued. You're rested and
you're recovered. That's the big thing. We're going to have days where we're putting miles on our body
on the pavement. If we run too hard of an effort, we don't have that time between run A on a Monday
and maybe run A on a Wednesday. If we run too hard on Monday, we might need more than one day,
Tuesday to recover. That recovery is so important and the easy run helps our body
come back stronger because we didn't beat it up too much. It gives us time
to digest what we're doing. I just think it's so important to have your runs spaced out properly
and to run in the right effort on those easy runs and you want to come back the next day,
feeling fresh, strong. Stronger every day. It becomes
easy. The easy run becomes easier. Does that make sense?
Yeah. No, it does. From what I'm hearing is that it helps keep us healthy because it really
fills that recovery bucket. Part of those six steps of growing as a runner is recovery. Running
easy will help us with the recovery process. I think about building that foundation of our
running fitness. If you're just starting out, how do we do that? You had talked about this before
about just being able to help your body be more efficient at exchanging oxygen while removing waste.
So when we exercise, we want to be able to take in oxygen through our cardiovascular system,
send it to our muscles so they can perform, so they can run. We want to be able to remove
the waste products like carbon dioxide, lactic acid from our muscles. By running easy, it does
train our cardiovascular system to be more efficient at that whole exchange process.
And I love before you also mentioned at the cellular level. So microscopic stuff that we can't see,
but there are these little things called mitochondria, which are like the powerhouse of the cell.
For some reason, I always remember that from Bio 101. I'm like, are we stuck with me? That really
helped give us energy. And it really helps us be more efficient for running. So by running easy,
we can actually increase the number and the size of those mitochondria. So we're getting these
benefits that we can't see because most of us are really just looking at watches and numbers and
saying, oh, I ran an 11 minute piece. That's disgusting. Or I ran a 12 minute piece.
Like that is gross or I ran 10 something, right? Whatever that number is, you're thinking yourself,
I'm just getting old or this is terrible. My fitness is getting worse, right? I'm just not
meant to be a runner. And we hear that so often and we get fixated on the number, but I always
need to remind my athletes all the time that these are the hidden benefits. This is the stuff that's
going on behind the scenes. And if we're consistent with our training and mastering this easy run,
then we will get more efficient and eventually that turns into getting faster. And eventually,
that turns into running longer distances because we're more efficient at that. And
I think you kind of alluded to the fact of recovery and it keeps us coming back for more.
It keeps us healthy because we've now built up the tolerance and allowed our body to adapt to
the demands of running. So what structures am I talking about? Your muscles. More importantly,
for us 40, 50, 60 year olds, our tendons are tendons start to lose blood flow as we each.
So if we do too much too soon, run too fast, then we get Achilles tendinitis. Then we get
runner's knee. Then we get IT band syndrome, right? Our tissues don't adapt as quickly to those
changing forces. So if you run easy, we allow those tissues and your body to adapt to the demands
of running as well as your bones, right? So you can prevent getting a stress fracture or stress
reaction because you've allowed your bone to now withstand the forces of running without putting
all this force through it by running fast. So I think you bring up a lot of great points.
Those are the big benefits that I think about by kind of mastering this easy run. And a lot of us
say run easy to run fast, right? And it seems like such a misconception, but it's so important
that our runners can master that. I think the long run is part of the long term, the easy run,
sorry, is part of the long run investment. We're investing in ourselves by taking the time to do
those runs easy so we can run long on the long run. So we can run long into life into, you know,
40s, 50s, 80s and beyond. I told you I've got that joke. I'm going to be that little little
bitty at the race with my matching track suit on doing my little thing because I'm investing.
I'm taking the time with the easy run and doing it properly properly for my long-term investment
as a health of me and my running. So I just wish people would invest in the thought process.
The easy run is so important. It really is that secret sauce that'll keep you running faster.
That's the secret is it helps you get faster when you get that easy run down. It really does.
Don't pay attention to the numbers. Effort pace. We'll get there in our conversation, I'm sure,
but you have to make that investment to keep the easy run there. It's so worth it.
All right. So now maybe we got some buy-in, right? Maybe we've some runners that are considering
like, hey, you know what, maybe a Kerpsicholent, Dwayne or starting to wear on me a little bit.
Maybe I might start implementing this. So when should we run easy?
When should we run easy? Well, I'm going to give you a number here. If we run in five days a week,
four of those are going to be run easy. We're going to run easy in the beginning. We're going
to run easy at the end. We're going to run easy in the middle. When should we run easy? In the
beginning of our training plan, we start off even easier than when we finish our training plan
because we've gotten stronger in effort. But we start easy in the beginning because if we start
smart and easy, we can progress to a different kind of easy at the end of the long run,
the training block rather. I like that. So we're really, we kind of talked about before like
80-20, right? But for my new runners, I recommend that they run easy for like literally the first
six months, the first, you know, some people say 500 consistent miles, which is a lot of miles,
right? So someone might not even run 500 miles in a year if they're just starting out. So, you know,
we've got to think about where you are, what your level is, how is your health. But it should
really be that first, think about 500 miles, six months of you starting to run consistently,
should be done at this easy pace. And it really helps build this solid foundation or we call base
training and build this whole aerobic capacity, right? And help build your aerobic fitness.
So again, your cardiovascular system, your lungs, your heart is working at this easier piece. So
you can actually be an endurance athlete, like anyone who is running longer than 400 meters is
an endurance athlete. If you're running a 5k, you're an endurance athlete. You're the body,
your system that you're using for energy is our aerobic system. So how do we train that system
to be more efficient so we can get faster is by training easy and working this aerobic fitness,
this aerobic system. So for you new runners out there, you know, that first 500 miles, six months,
maybe some of it's four months should be all easy runs. And then for those that have been
training for a while, like Coach Chateoya said, you know, you want to think about that 80-20 rule
around 80% of your runs should be easy. Even when we do speed work and we do faster running,
you're always going to sandwich it between easy running to start and easy running to finish.
And I think that's what you're kind of alluding to before is that's when we're going to be running
easy. So again, I know of like, you know, beating the stick here, but you know, most of your running
should be easy. And it shouldn't feel dreadful. It shouldn't feel like running is the worst thing
ever. How do people do this? If you're saying that, then you're not running easy.
I hope you are enjoying this episode and it is providing value for you. I wanted to take a
brief moment to share a story of a real runner like you who is struggling with a common problem
that you may be facing. Here is one of our athletes who got the guidance, support, and accountability
from our healthy runner coaching team to get clarity and structure on the six steps to growing
as a runner with personalized strength, nutrition, and run plans. I hope their story inspires you
that there is hope to either get over your running injury or to continue getting faster or running
longer so you can continue to get in those mental clearing miles and enjoy your running journey
again. Here is their inspiring story. Hi y'all, my name is Anne and I just wanted to share my
story and journey with Spark running. So I had developed shin splints about 12 years ago to the
point of actually almost having stress fractures in both of my legs. So at that time, I did physical
therapy, all that good stuff, but pretty quickly had this label kind of put on me of like I'm just
always gonna have chronic shin splints and that's just it. My sister luckily had worked with Dwayne
a few years ago and had kind of gotten me set up with Spark so I was like following them on social
media. I always got all the emails and I always read them and I would read them be like oh it's
awesome for everyone else but I know that that's not gonna work for me. I have chronic shin splints.
Last fall, I decided you know what's the harm and at least talking to these, this is called Dwayne
here kind of what his thoughts are. Set up a phone call, explored what the program was and
everything and he immediately let me know that like running was for me and just because I have
had you know this experience in the last 10 plus years doesn't mean that it's not for me.
So despite my little bit of reservations, I've always really enjoyed running and I've felt a
little intimidated of like wow this is like a whole running program like this is only for real
runners. It was very wrong. So I ended up signing, I ended up signing up for the 16 week one-on-one
coaching with Dwayne and it was incredible. Not once did I ever feel like self-conscious or
embarrassed by my speed like regardless of where we were in this entire program that he created,
the focus was always on what is my form, what am I doing and am I at a point to be running pain-free.
One of the coolest things about it as well was I actually, I mean North Carolina so I was a little
hesitant to have like like how can I possibly do this program when I'm not even like actually
located in Connecticut. But it worked out just as well. I had the ability to reach out to Dwayne
whenever I had questions and I did. I had a few other, I wouldn't even say injuries but things
that came up along the way and Dwayne always responded to me you know sent me up with resources
that would help me be able to continue to run. If you are considering doing any one of these
running programs, working with a running coach, I just like this is your sign. I can't encourage
you to do it enough. It has truly opened up all these different doors to me to the point of I'm
actually in a half marathon in about eight weeks or so and the ability to be doing this half marathon
pain-free and feeling confident in my abilities to do that is something that I didn't even know
that I was going to be getting outside of doing this program. I hope sharing that story inspired
you and provided you some hope. If you want the one-on-one structure accountability and support
from our healthy runner coaching team of experts, check out the behind the scenes video tour
of our signature coaching program. You just heard about including other stories from runners who are
just like you and were struggling with the same sticking points before they signed up for our program.
Just head to learn.spark healthyrunner.com to learn more and book your strategy call with me today.
Now let's get back into this episode.
Hopefully in these next tips here we're going to really help you be able to find how to run
easy. So yeah I guess when we go there coach how do we run easy? So I like to have some of my new
runners start from a walk to a fast walk to a shuffle to a jog and we keep going and we don't
speed up. We find a spot and we stay there and we realize this isn't horrible. Our breathing
is under control. We get it under control. It stays under control. I think the easy run
you have to stay in control. From your walk you're in control of your breathing, your
control of your muscles to the shuffle. You're in control of your breathing and your muscles.
You pick it up to a jog. You're still in control. Once you jog a little faster and you start to
lose that control then we take it back to your in control of the breathing and
the body, the movement. We're not having big jerky strides. We're smooth and easy. We're not
hunched over. We could feel like we can do this and do this for a long time and it doesn't matter
how fast you are. It matters how much control you have over the breathing, the mind and the effort
that yes, I could do this and I don't want to stop or I may want to stop but I'm not going to.
Especially in the beginning you may think you want to stop a little sooner than you. You do but that
happens to go away and you grow through that as you stay in control of an easy effort.
Just that. I'm in control and I can do this for a lot longer.
Now, Sinh, how do you like to kind of tell your clients of how they feel like they're in control
like talking about kind of effort level wise? What do you like to kind of give them for tips?
So I have a couple metrics that I like to use and it depends on where you are and what your
thoughts are and I always like to use our RPE, the rate of perceived exertion. It's not too crazy.
One, I call it Netflix and Chill. You are never running at Netflix and Chill sitting on the couch.
Ten on that RPE we use one to ten I use is you are being chased by that bear and then you will run
as fast as you can. Your house is on fire. You've got to get away from it. That's a ten. You are
never running at ten. You are never at one. You're right in the middle. Number five, five is like
Goldilocks. The porridge was just right. It's not too hard. It's not too easy. I can maintain this
and once I'm there and I think, oh, I think I can maintain this, I like to do the talk test.
The talk test works fairly well for most people. If you can say 1313 Martin Bird Lane, you can
say your address. You can go over your grocery list and not be really breathy and out of control.
Then we're in the right spot and we're going to stay there and I think it's important to test
what that talk test looks like in the beginning of the run, the middle of the run, and later on in
the run because sometimes we lose it and we lose that five creeps up to a six, creeps up to a seven,
and heart rate, forget I can't tell you bread, milk, eggs, and a box of cookies. I can't say
those things in my grocery list or I take it back to slow and I'm like, bread, milk, avocado, banana,
oh, I got to go get some postage stamps. That's too easy. You got to stay right in that right spot.
So you really have to find what your five looks like. And I can tell you my five on a rate of
perceived exertion looks different from Duane's five, looks different from a brand new runner's five.
It's like a thumbprint. Your effort is unique, which is why you have to find out what your
perceived effort, your easy pace, not a number, not a time in the watch, but your easy effort looks
like. Nice. Yeah. And I like to use that around a five. I'll even go a little bit more conservative
just because I find that most people overshoot. So I'll say four to five. And then I even have some
runners that I tell them with three or four. So again, it is like reading perceived exertion. So
it's subjective, right? It's not objective and everyone's reading is slightly different.
So yeah, anywhere between that four to five on that scale of 10, for those that are really
in tune to their heart rate, you know, this is really what we call zone two or zone three
of your heart rate zones or 70 to 80 percent of like your max heart rate. So if you want to kind
of calculate that and there are definitely limitations to using those metrics, by the way,
especially if you're just using the sensor on your watch, it is not 100% reliable. So unless you are
using a heart rate strap that goes around your chest, then you can hold a little bit more weight
to that data that you're getting during your runs. So just be careful with that. But you know,
and I like to simplify this, honestly, like you had mentioned, literally, especially for
again, novice runners and you know, you haven't or you could be like I mentioned before,
you could be a really experienced runner and you're like totally hitting this plateau.
And you've always been what we call running in the gray zone, where you're not running easy,
but you're not running fast enough to actually get the benefits of like faster interval or
threshold work. And you're in this gray zone for all of your runs. And I would say that again,
that's the most common mistake most runners make. And that's the most common reasons why runners
plateau out, they stop getting PRs and or they just stop improving, where they get injured over time,
because they just keep running and they're not recovering fully from each of their runs like
you had mentioned before. So just trying to keep this around that perceived exertion. And like we,
we, you know, some people call this conversational pace running. So like you mentioned the talk
test, you can maintain a conversation with someone. However, I will say I know some
some great runners and most of them not stereotyping or anything are female that can like hold the
conversation. Hey, my wife is like the first right in this and my mom was amazing at conversations.
You know, you could talk. Oh yeah, we could talk you onto the table.
Said it from someone who has a podcast that has 170 something episodes.
Coach Littor and I were joking before the school like how long were you thinking we're going to go
today? You know, so we always joke about how we say it's going to be like 40, 45 minutes turns
into like an hour and 15 minutes or something. But for me, it is I'm still not mastered like
really truly holding a conversation at my easy pace. I'm like, okay, I'm better at it now because
I've learned to actually breathe from my diaphragm. And but in the beginning, I was terrible because
I was such a chest breather. And I'm using all my accessory muscles so much when I was running.
Like I literally can talk. It was really hard for me to talk even at my easy pace. So I do find
some limitations to that because I've also met other runners and I've had athletes that they
can literally hold a conversation at like their threshold pace. And I'm like,
that's like amazing to me. But it truly is like their threshold pace, their effort level and their
heart rate data that we get. And you know, we have enough like races in the bank to know like
pace wise. And some people can hold a conversation. So, you know, that's kind of what we use.
Generally speaking, again, you could be an outlier where you're like just extremely well at holding
conversations at faster paces. Or you're like me who is terrible at holding a conversation at
your easy pace. So, but that might be a variable that you can use. Just getting an idea of what
your easy effort is. But I guess the big thing to let you say is I don't want to stress people out
and like get people like super focused on their heart rate or super focused on the piece on their
watch. Or super like, does it feel easy to you? Do you feel like you could run further? You could
do more like that's where your easy pace should feel like it shouldn't feel like I cannot run any
longer at all when you're finished. Or there's no way in heck I could run tomorrow because you've
exhausted yourself so much that, you know, then you know, you've done too much that you didn't run
easy enough. All right, do you agree with that? I totally agree with that. And I want to I would
un just interject and throw into that part of your conversation that the easy effort and feel you
have varies from day to day. The easy effort on Monday is totally different than the easy effort on
Tuesday because you were up all night with a sick kid crying and you got up and did your run
Tuesday and you were a little sleepy. It's going to feel a little different. You're five, your easy
pace is totally different on Tuesday than it was on Monday. And you know, you may have two nights
of good solid sleep or you're fueled properly before the run. And now here we are on Thursday
running again and you feel like a million bucks. So it's dynamic just like, just like the days are
of the week. You know, every day is not the same thing. Goodness for that. We don't want that.
But your effort needs to be dialed in every day. Again, it's not like a laborious chore,
but don't beat yourself up. If on Monday, we're running a five easy effort for easy effort.
And now here we are on Wednesday and you think this is horrible. Back it down to whatever Wednesday's
five RPE effort looks like and enjoy the run. You're there to get the miles on your feet,
the time on your on your brain to clear things out. Don't sweat it. Every day is a new day
and it has its own effort level for each day. So there's no stress. You just go out and you do,
you do for that day and that moment. Right. Yeah. No, such a great point. I love that because,
yes, it will vary. And I see it all time like in final search or athlete will comment like,
oh, this run felt like so terrible. It felt so hard for me to do. And then once we get into
questioning a little bit more, we find out that, oh, wait, oh, you had a really stressful day at work.
Oh, you worked in really long hours. Oh, you were under some stress. You had a family member
in the hospital. You've been going through this or you did a lot of traveling for work.
Your sleep has been great this week. Those are the things that once we dig a little deeper,
we really find out why that is. And so I love that you brought up that point that it will definitely
be variable, what that easy feels like on a daily basis on a weekly basis, depending upon where you
are in your training cycle, depending upon where you are in life. Our running, our training does not
happen in isolation. Your body is your body. And it's not only your body physically, but also
mentally. So mental stress is going to manifest into physical stress and it's going to affect
how you perceive your runs, where your easy run pace could vary on a daily basis. So, yes,
thank you for bringing that up. Are there any other factors to consider when we're really finding
our easy run pace that we haven't mentioned? We've got factors. Are you running by yourself?
Are you running with people? That's a big factor on what an easy effort looks like, because if
you're running with newer runners, older runners, or whatever age, they're at different pieces,
and you try to keep up with them, your effort, you're not being honest with yourself if you're
trying to keep up with them, because you're now went on to their perceived effort of a level five.
So it's important to honor yourself in your training and where you are and where you're not going to
stay there forever. So don't let that hang up in your head. But that's something to consider. Are you
running with other people that are not running at your perceived effort, your easy pace effort? And
I think there's something to be said about running with other people and at other pieces. I always
say you're out there and you're ahead of me. There's always somebody ahead of you. There's
always somebody behind you. You run your pace. You're in. Know that you're out there together,
getting sweaty, getting the miles in. And you can come back at the end together and
regroup, but you have to really consider that when you are going out running. And as a novice runner,
you're worried about sometimes being in the back of the pack. That's not a concern that you want
to hold on to because it will hurt you and lead to injury because you're not being
honest with yourself. And if this is something you want to do, again, that long-term investment,
the kids didn't start walking before crawling. They started crawling before they started walking.
So you've got to start and stay where you are and then grow into that position. So when you're
running with other people, be honest with yourself because there's nothing worse than coming back
from a run. I think we've all done it and we've gone out with somebody, I can hang with them. I
got this and dear Lord, I regretted my choices because my recovery took longer or just wasn't
won. It wasn't pleasurable. So that is a huge factor to consider being with other people and
being honest with yourself about that. Yeah. And that's a big deal. I know and I love when
runners connect with other runners, right? Because it creates community, like gives you an accountability
partner, you have support, and it makes the time go by so much quicker, quite frankly,
having a conversation with someone. But I do find that a lot actually is a lot of the runners
I work with. They're running with their friends who is at a different level of fitness than they are,
and they are constantly doing those easy runs too fast. And they're getting out of really what their
easy piece is. So I think you bring up a really good point there. So one of the most common
mistakes I see a lot with the athletes I work with is I look at their pieces and I'm noticing
that they are running too fast. And then when I talk to them and question like, oh yeah, I ran
with this friend, I ran with that friend. And they're really running with someone who's at a
different fitness level and or doesn't understand their specific situation, whether it is they're
getting back into running, first time in a couple years, or they're just coming back from the
team, or they're currently having plantar fasciitis pain, right? IT bands in derpine. And it's a
really important for us to master the easy run and make sure maybe we even do some walking intervals.
And I love how you mentioned that before that we can easily, and I didn't mention this before,
I meant to, do walking intervals as part of our easy runs. And there's no shame in walking.
So don't feel like you can never not walk because you're not a quote unquote runner,
right? Like that is a technique I used with literally 50% of the runners I work with at minimum
to really either get back from running while they have an injury. And we're not stopping them from
running, but we're actually recovering from their injury. And now we're focusing on easy running
and doing walk run intervals. But then also for those runners who are coming back after baby,
right? Coming back after two or three year layoff, they're getting back into running where they're
starting out running. No shame at all in walking in order to keep that easy pace down. And I love
how you mentioned about running with other people and making sure that you're considering
that as a factor. So I thought that was a great point. And kind of what are some tips that
really can help keep us in that easy effort zone while we're running? I have a couple tips.
I like to, whether we're running for minutes or miles depends on what it is. I do
a one mile check in. Every time I hit a mile, I do a check in. How's my breathing? Am I in control?
Check my form? Do I need to slow down? And sometimes I do. You lose it and you go into that
place. So I like to do, you know, whether you every five minutes, every one mile, whatever it is for
you, do a systems check. Am I running with good form? Did I slow it over? Did I go too fast?
Am I breathing? Wow. I didn't realize I picked myself up back in control. I think it's so important
to be in control. A tip to stay in control is pick a good assistant coach. Your assistant coach
is your music sometimes. And that coach could be blaring some heavy BPMs, go, go, go, rah, rah, rah.
But my other head coach, you know, my coach says, I've got to run easy, but I've got some
Eminem or some Jay Z or I got some Metallica going on. And I want to pick it up. That is the worst
assistant coach. You have fire that coach. Hit skip on your music. Find a music source that is not
going to be too pumped and jazzy. It is so easy. I think we've all done it. Your song comes on
your jam and you pick it up and you run. And whoo, that was the fastest mile of the run. But it was
my jam. But now I've lost control of the run. So a tip is use appropriate music appropriately.
Find a podcast, find healthy runner podcast, wink, wink, hand tent. Shameless plug.
To listen to while you're running, to keep you in control and not losing
losing yourself in the BPMs of music. That is a huge tip. I have to remind a lot of people
that your music can be helpful or hurtful, especially when you're new to running because you don't
realize sometimes that you're picking up the pace. So having the right music or no music for a
little while, listen to yourself breathe. That's a big deal. Learn to know who you are and how you
run. Hit silence. Maybe you run half of your time with music half without. Then do a systems check
and say, hmm, I feel better when I have no music. Maybe you do. And you can hear yourself breathing.
You can hear your feet picking up on the pavement or flowing into it. That's a huge tip. I have to
remind again, seasoned runners and novice runners are like, music can hurt you or it can help you
so choose it wisely because you're going to be out there on that easy run. Not running easy.
And then the purpose of the run wasn't met. And you don't want to have, again, that not proper
recovery time. You want to recover properly. So a huge tip. Run with the right music. Run with
the right people, whether it's yourself. And be graceful. I always have to say this to everybody.
Be graceful. A tip. Give yourself grace. Talk to yourself out there like you would talk to your
child, your best friend, your sister, your uncle, your brother. I hope you talk to them nicely,
by the way. You would give them the same cheerleading and inspiration you would while you're out there.
That is a tip. You have to talk to you. The voices in your head are going to talk while you're out
there. This isn't fast enough. I'm going to slow or now you're running too fast. You've got to
give yourself grace and talk to yourself out there on the miles on the road like you would
someone you loved because you should. And you'll find yourself finishing the run in a better place
because you were kind to yourself. That's a huge tip. You have to be kind to yourself. You've got
to keep coming back for more. And you've got to find that many wins. And when you talk
yourself into something, you're more likely to come back and talk to them just like talk
yourself like you would someone else who was out there. I love it.
So have some grace with yourself. Be proud of your effort no matter what the time says on your watch
no matter how fast you ran it. I always like to give some kind of actionable numbers. That's
definitely the wrong word. But some substance to what we talk about with easy because I know so many,
I just hear it so many times that runners are fearful to run in double digit minutes per mile.
Oh geez. People don't want to run like a 10 minute piece or they don't want to run an 11
minute piece. And sometimes people have goals of like I want to be able to run a nine minute piece
for all their runs. And you know do you guys understand that as runners progress and as they
get faster, yes, their body's more efficient and could they run in quote unquote easy run perceived
effort at a faster pace? Yes, because physiologically your body will adapt and that could happen
but did you know that most faster, I'm going to use those air quotes, faster runners, right?
Actually run their easy runs slower as they actually get faster run faster race times.
And I've myself done this. I used to run all my easy runs probably like three or four years ago
before I became a running coach in the nine minute range. Like now if I'm ever in the nine
minute range, I'm probably slowing down because I know the whole purpose of this run is really
recovery run. And it's not serving me any purpose to run it in the nights. And I always like to,
and this is where kind of giving the numbers that I really have word finding difficulties today,
is you know, for example, right, for example, just so you could put some actual numbers to this.
My, I just ran a 10k, my piece for the 10k race, 6.2 miles was a 730 pace. My pace for my half
marathon, so it's been pretty darn consistent these past two years and was at an eight minute
pace, right? All of my easy runs have been 10 to 11. Sometimes I'm even above 11.
Like if it's a really hard day, let's say I had sleep great, let's say I really had hard running
where first long run, getting to, you know, those double digit long runs again, I think in like
11 something, I'm totally cool with it. Like I have no shame whatsoever because I know the value
in, in really allowing my body to recover. I'm still getting that aerobic benefit.
So I share those numbers with you, not because I'm bragging, not because I think I'm faster
anything, right? It's all relative like, yes, I would love to be much faster, trust me. But
just to give you some, some actual numbers, I share more clients because I will get clients whose
goal is to run a nine minute piece for their half marathon or even a 10k and they're running
their easy runs at like a 945 where they're running their easy runs at a 10 minute piece.
And I'm like, wait, wait, hold on. Let me just share this with you, right? Just so you can,
so if you're listening to this and you're saying to yourself like, oh, Michael is to run in 8
minute half marathon or an 30 half marathon. And right now all of your easy runs are around 10 or
even less than 10 in the 9s. Like you're probably not serving yourself best to reap all of the
benefits that Coach LaToya talked about before. So I just share that to kind of give you an example
of kind of, you know, what that looks like in like real numbers terms.
If I have to talk numbers with someone, I, and they have a race that they've done,
I ask them to add at least a minute and 30 to two minutes depending upon where they are
to that pace. And sometimes we have to go even more than that depending on the race and the effort
and there's a whole lot behind that. But it's absolutely
double digits for a lot of people for a lot of the time. And because they run back in those
double digits and we just get lose the issue on the numbers, they run in that effort, they become
faster organically because they honored themselves with that easy pace.
Sounds slow, I said it. It doesn't matter if you're slow. It matters if your effort and your
recovery are right where they need to be to get you where you're going to. And I think that's what
we forget, the big picture. We get so stuck in that easy run or that mile or this block of time.
I was out there for an hour at this pace. It doesn't matter. It's part of the big picture is to keep
you healthy, strong and moving faster towards moving appropriately towards the right pace for
you. And if that has to be double digits, it has to be double digits. I think that people,
I think more people need to hear that because they have this fear that they're
11 minutes is dauntingly slow and you're like, no, I was at 11 myself. What's the big deal?
And I think it gets through that runner's shame. And I hear that when I talk with people,
I just did almost something like an 11. Okay, only 11. That's your 11. And your 11 feels great
for you. Then you have to do that. But there is some sort of, I think stigma out there that if
you're in a double digits, that's not okay. I want you a double digits and I encourage you to stay
there when it's appropriate. And when it's not, leave the double digits, but stay there as long as you
need to. Right. Embrace, embrace the easy run. Embrace running slower. And then here's my one caveat to
this is we want to run slow, but not sloppy. So a slow and sloppy slug fast is not what we're looking
for. So I always make sure that I tell my runners that, yes, we're going to be running slower. We're
going to master. You're actually slowing down your runs. But I want your leg turnover to keep going.
So your cadence will keep getting that leg turnover. So you're not spending a lot of time on the ground,
but you're spending more time, you hit the ground, pop it up, pop it up. So generally speaking,
I do need to do more of a deep dive episode on cadence and what it is, but your steps per minute,
just give you a little brief real quick, as at least I want that getting close to 160
steps per minute. If you're in the 150s, we need to get you close to 160 and we gradually bump it up.
And then, you know, if you're in the low 160s, like try to shoot for mid 160s. If you're at 170,
you're doing phenomenal. So you're doing phenomenal. If you're at 170 steps per minute with your cadence.
So just check in because it's the easy run that we usually will get sloppy and our cadence will
slow down. So we still want to maintain nice, efficient running and good running form, relaxed,
while running at this easy pace. So that's kind of my one caveat to that. And then kind of just
backing up your pointy mid before Latoya is how we get faster is by adding those other three elements
of running. So right, we're just talking about one today, the easy run, but we need to master
the long run. We need to master the tempo or the threshold pace run, and then possibly mastering
the interval run. So those all fit in the puzzle at different elements of your training, depending
on where you are, your fitness, your goals, all of that. And that is the secret sauce to how we
get faster and or run longer. Do your first half marathon. Do your first marathon is by really
incorporating those four runs. But it really starts with what we're talking about today,
is this kind of easy pace. So as we come down the final stretch here, coach,
if you can change one thing about the misconception about easy runs, and I think we've probably already
covered like 10 misconceptions, but if you had a like, what's the most common misconception
about easy runs, you know, what would that be? That if you run easy, you're not really running,
you're not a runner, you're not official. And that's so not true. I wish people realized easy run
is part of a smart plan. The foundation is being laid when you run easy. Slow is
not even in the equation, just you're easy is different than my easy, different doing easy.
You run your easy and you're a runner, you got up, you strap the sneakers on, you open the door
and ran, you're a runner, no matter what your pace is, and own it. Yes, yes, own it. And so guys,
just recapping here, what we really covered today is what is the easy run, why you should run easy.
What are the benefits of running easy? And I think we kind of got into some of those specifics.
When we should be running easy in our training cycle, in our week, and then we've really talked
about how do we execute that? We talked about, you know, what is your perceived effort level?
We've talked a little bit about heart rate, and then we also give you other factors to consider,
as well as some tips for finding that easy pace. So if you want to learn more from Coach LaToya
on some of our previous trainings, then you can simply click the link in the show notes to get
all of Coach LaToya's tips and insight into topics such as race tapering, marathon training for
beginners, or honing in on your mental toughness as a runner. We've done those before Coach
LaToya shared some great, great tips on those topics. So you can check that out in the link,
in the show notes. And you can also learn more about working with Coach LaToya 101 in our signature
coaching program to help you get the structure of exactly what you need to be doing as a runner,
whether it is running easy or structuring out some of those other runs we talked about to really meet
your running and your health goals. So if you want to see if you're a good fit for a healthy runner
coaching program, schedule your strategy call with me today by simply going to learn.sparkhealthyrunner.com
forward slash coaching, or just click the link where you're watching this training, and I'll be happy
to jump on a call with you. And also we have a free download. So this is a value PDF that I put
together on how to grow as a runner. It's kind of the roadmap. Today we talked about the framing of the
house, right? One of the integral runs of the run plan, that's only one, right? So we have others. So
if you want to get that full roadmap, then you can simply go to learn.sparkhealthyrunner.com,
and you can check out our download that you can get to learn the six steps to growing as a runner.
And guys, congratulations by listening to this training on easy running, you took the first step,
right? So now remember, the next thing you need to do as growing as a runner is to implement it.
And if you don't know how to implement it, and you want clarity and focus on exactly what you need
to be doing to implement this into your plan, that's what our high touch point one on one
Spark Healthy Runner Coaching Program does, where we work with you to really implement that. So
again, go to learn.sparkhealthyrunner.com to check out more details. And lastly, remember,
when I said earlier that if you don't implement these principles into your training, you're going
to continue to get frustrated training for a race because you didn't have that fitness, right? Or
you just weren't fast enough, or you got injured. Remember, we need to implement this so that doesn't
happen. And also, we need to share this information with other runners who are struggling to stay
healthy, and they're struggling to get faster so we can change the culture in the running community
that you don't need to run fast in order to get faster, right? I want our community to continue
enjoying lifelong injury-free running, and mastering the easy run is one of those ways to do that.
So thank you in advance for copying the link to wherever you're watching this, listening to this,
and sharing it with a running friend who needs to hear this information. Coachella Toya, as always,
thank you so much for coming on to educate our community about the single most important run
that we do on a weekly basis. I appreciate you, and look at this. We actually got this in over an hour.
And thank you to the listener, whether you're listening to this on the podcast during your run,
hopefully you are enjoying a nice, easy-paced run, and we really helped you reframe how you look at
that easy run. Or if you're watching the video version of this on the Spark Helping Runner YouTube
channel, I appreciate you. If you like this training, then you're surely like the next. If you're
listening on the podcast, you have episode 159 to learn all about how to grow as a runner in six
easy steps. Or if you're watching the video version of this, just click the video I have for you here
within YouTube. As always, let's maintain a strong mind, a strong body, and let's just keep on running.
Until next time. Thank you as always for listening to the Healthy Runner podcast,
where we help you get stronger, run faster, and enjoy lifelong injury-free running. If you found
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Bye.
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