Hot take: I thought 'easy runs' were a waste of time until I actually tried them consistently

I was convinced every run had to be hard to count, pushing pace until I was miserable. What flipped the script was a minor shin splint scare that forced me to dial it back for two weeks. I learned that these truly easy, conversational-paced runs build endurance WITHOUT burnout and make the hard days feel more achievable. Now, scheduling three gentle jogs a week has kept me injury-free and weirdly MORE excited to lace up.

5 comments

5 Comments

anthony3015h ago

My coach back in college forced us to log 20-mile weeks at a snail's pace. Hated it then, but now I see the method to his madness.

sarah_smith644h ago

Even popular apps like Strava push for PRs every run, missing the point of base building. Your shift to easy runs highlights how stepping off the hamster wheel can actually improve performance!

ellis.jesse3h ago

Totally burned myself out a few years back chasing segments (relate hard to @anthony301's coach story now). Forced myself into a month of nothing but easy zone 2 runs, which felt maddening, but my times dropped when I finally added speed back.

masonjohnson8m ago

Man, this hits on something bigger about how we've turned even leisure into pure optimization. We're so conditioned to extract maximum data and progress from every single activity that doing something at its intended, gentle pace feels like failure. That watch-checking anxiety finley mentioned is basically our brains rebelling against not being productive, even during recovery. The real surprise isn't that your times dropped, it's that we need to actively fight an entire culture telling us to go harder, faster, right now.

finley_ramirez6223m ago

Consider the mental discipline required for that month of zone 2. Did you use any tricks to stay slow, or did you just white-knuckle it? I've tried similar phases and always end up checking my watch every five minutes, convinced I'm wasting my time. Hearing that your times dropped afterwards is the only thing that makes it bearable. What was the biggest surprise when you reintroduced speed work?