One of the biggest challenges is getting athletes to slow their runs down in training. So many runners seem to have one speed which they tend to do all their runs at, (nearly always too fast). Getting people to use different gears for different training sessions is one of the hardest tasks I face as a coach.

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I like to divide runs into three different catergories,easy pace,steady pace and fast pace. For example, my easy pace would be 8 minute per mile,steady 7 minutes and fast 5 and 6 minute per mile pace. Following on from this, for rule of thumb, if you can run 80 percent of your weekly mileage at easy/steady pace then over time you will really feel the benefits. Many people tend to love the idea of runnning easy especially when I point out to them that their fitness will increase and they will ultimately race faster! The problem always arises in getting them to actualy do it. As humans there is a tendancy to get a run done as quick as you can or runners simply drop into their habitual pace which they use for just about all of their training.

However, there is a big place in an athletes training programme for tempo and interval sessions. Just try to keep these sessions adding up to a maximum of no more than 20% of your weekly mileage. The 80/20 philosophy is a well practised and proven system that has been successfuly used by top athletes for many many years.

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Why does easy runnning increase fitness?

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Because it helps keeps us fresher and it also enables a runner to maintain a higher weekly mileage volume, (relevant to the athlete) a key ingredient to runnning faster come race day.

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Also slow runnning increases mitochondria, (mitochondria are known as the powerhouses of the cell) they are organelles that act like a digestive system which takes in nutrients, breaks them down, and creates energy rich molecules for the cell. The biochemical processes of the cell are known as cellular respiration in your blood stream. Put simply, mitonchondria produce energy to help us run and the more we have the faster we go!

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80/20 also helps us create a very strong base endurance. This is the foundation of a runners fitness.

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If you would like more information on slower running and advise on how to implement it into your trainning plan you are welcome to contact me for help and advise.