When we train the majority of our workouts should be easy, but how easy? There is really no straightforward answer as the pace can vary day to day based on a number of factors including:
- Prior day’s workout
- Time of day you workout
- Stress in your life
- Health
- Sleep
For example, I typically try and workout first thing in the morning and when I instead workout later in the day my easy pace is a bit quicker. If I did a hard workout the day before I will also run a bit slower. The point is, we should not be a slave to a particular pace when we run easy. I personally subscribe to the belief that it is better to err on the side of too slow instead of too fast.
How fast do you run your easy runs in comparison to your 5k pace?
My EZ pace is generally between 1.25 and 1.4 X my 5k pace. Definitely depends on many factors so it’s nice to have that range. I’ll often nasal breath to keep my pace down.
The nasal breathing is a good tip. Really forces you to go easy, kind of similar to being able to hold a conversation. I pretty much train solo so I do the nasal breathing technique more often for obvious reasons.