Run Work Live: Are Your Easy Runs Too Fast? & The Last Piece of the Puzzle

By @runnerjmd | February 4, 2025

Happy Tuesday! Here is one running tip, one life hack and one quote to consider this week…

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Running tip

Are your easy runs needlessly quick?

Most runners are shocked the first time they look up their ideal easy run pace at how slow it is.

That is because when it comes to every day easy runs, we get the benefits we are looking for whether it's on the fast or slow side... but we risk overtraining and getting sore legs if it's too quick.

There are a few ways to find your optimal easy pace:

The speed at which you can sustain a conversation
Heartrate between 130 and 150 (lower is better)
By "feeling", like it feels easy.

But the best way to find your easy run pace is to simply look it up using a pace calculator.

For best results, use a recent race or time trial, anything between 3k and 10k will do.

Remember: hard days hard, easy days easy

Life hack

You’ve made so many positive changes in your life, yet somehow, true happiness still feels just one more change away.

But it’s trickier than that. You dial in your bedtime, but your diet slips. You cut screen time, but pick a fight with someone close to you.

When we make positive changes, we run into a sneaky kind of resistance. Just like our bodies, our minds want to revert back to what they know—even if it’s not good for us. Lose 20 pounds too fast, and you’re likely to gain it right back. The same thing happens with happiness: we find joy, only to slide back into overwhelm, anxiety, or irritability.

Change is hard. Even positive change.

There are a few things you need to do to overcome this "upper limit" problem.

First, dig into what's holding you back. Do you believe, deep down, you're not good enough? Are you secretly holding yourself back not to outshine close ones who are stuck in their own struggles? Take out your journal and start digging.

Step 2, train your good feelings muscle. Expend focus and energy in noticing when things feel good. Where does it feel good in your body when a song you like comes on, when you take that first sip of coffee, when you laugh with someone you love.

I mean it: treat this "noticing good feelings" like reps at the gym.

Where to start? Try feeling proud of all the work you’ve already put in to become a better person.

Two book recommendations on this:

The Mountain is You, by Brianna Wiest

The Big Leap, by Gay Hendricks