Running Slowly

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Most people are headed into the running offseason. There aren't too many fall races on the schedule other than a few Turkey Trots, and winter isn't the ideal time for racing. Without training for a peak race, now is the perfect time to train slow. There are two types of slow that are helpful for building a base: increasing mileage slow and running slow.

Training slow is great for building a base while avoiding injury.

If you’re starting to increase your mileage after a fall race, be conservative. Don’t return to the mileage you were running before the race right away. I’d recommend running one fewer day per week than you had been before your race and about 50% or fewer miles.

As you increase y3our mileage, make sure you're running slowly. There's really no such thing as running too slowly while you're building a base. I was listening to a podcast with a professional running who has run a 2:34 marathon, and she was doing some of her easy runs at nine minutes a mile pace. If she can run that slowly, I'm guessing many of us likely have room to slow down.

I've made the mistakes of increasing mileage too quickly and running my easy runs too fast several times. I get antsy to return my fitness to where it was before I was on a break. I know from experience too much, too fast, too soon is a recipe for injury, so don’t make the same mistake I have.

Stay healthy.