what??
why on earth would i want to slow down? don’t i want to speed up?
well yes speeding up is good, but in order to get faster and increase those miles without injury, there must be some slow runs in there too!
slowing down isn’t the easiest thing for a lot of runners, sometimes it’s even harder to do than speed work! recovery runs are a very important part to training and they definitely can hurt you if done too fast.
some of my tricks to slowing myself down:
leave your ipod at home
why would you listen to your pump up music when you are trying to go slow? music makes me run faster, so for recovery runs i typically don’t bring it or i make sure to have something slow to listen to. it’s very easy to get into a song or to just not notice you are running faster than you should be when the tunes are blasting.
wear a lot of clothes
when i get hot i tend to slow down, so sometimes i wear an extra layer of clothes so that i am warmer than i want to be and it makes me run a little slower. it’s not my favorite thing in the world to do, but i definitely have done it.
run with a friend or a few
find someone who is slower than you, or someone you want to catch up with so you are talking a lot. make it fun and make sure you keep each other in check about your pace so you don’t speed it up. chat away! as long as you can carry on a conversation easily you know you aren’t pushing it too hard… most of the time.
run with your dog
bring your doggie and let them enjoy the run. i don’t like to push my dogs too hard so i find i run the best recovery runs with them around. they are taking in the surroundings so it makes me do the same.
leave the garmin
some people run slower without their garmin since seeing the slower pace automatically makes them speed up. if you are that person leave it at home on recovery runs and just know the distance!
take the garmin
i am the opposite, i use my garmin and play the slow down game and make myself run slower each mile or make sure i am not going over X pace at anytime. it keeps me in check when i start to speed up and i know for sure that i am not going faster than i should be.
what are some of your tricks for keeping your easy runs easy?
i have been very guilty of this lately and need to remind myself to keep the pace slow when it’s supposed to be slow, especially while i am increasing my mileage. i will definitely be using some of these tricks this week.
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today was my first run of boston training and i was guilty of all of the above (going too fast)… but sometimes you just have to go with it. my legs felt great and i let them run. since i was going for more of a GA (general aerobic) pace, it’s not as bad, but i need to make sure to slow it down on a couple runs this week.
8.0 miles/1:06:19/8:17 avg pace
i tend to just let my legs run. because i know that there will be days when i STRUGGLE to hit my pace. i figure in the end it all evens out….i think i'd be a coaches worst nightmare hahha!
I also did 8 today but had to run on the treadmill because of our blizzard. The treadmill helped me to keep the pace slow.
Great tips.
I am listening to podcasts on my slow runs. I never want to speed up when I listen to those. Also, I have started using heart rate zones, to make sure I don't work too hard on easy days. I also run my easy days on trails, which are much easier on the legs.
Interesting post!! How much slower is a slow run? It seems all my runs during marathon training where at similar pace and your post made me think. I should check this out more
You say "run with someone slower" and yet you've never invited me to run with you?
I would get you to that "slow" goal in no time.
Good luck with your Boston training.
All the best,
Ron
At first I was thinking no! I want to speed up! But it's good to get some good easy runs in there too. it's easy to forget about that.
For a second there I thought you were saying 8:17 was your slow pace, and I thought to myself, "Aaaahh! But that's so fast!!"
This is a timely post. I was actually just thinking today that I need to slow down when I increase the distance. I've got a knee that isn't happy about keeping pace.
great post! i will keep this in mind!
I go by heart rate for easy runs–it never lies : ) happy beginning of your boston training!
Hi Aron- this is Samantha (Sanders) from RHS! I caught wind of your blog and absolutley love it! I started running a few months back and have read through many of your posts for good advice. What an amazing athlete and inspiration you are! Hope all is well…take care
Great ideas here! I hate running too warm, so the extra clothes might work for me.
I also find that if I hit a speed workout really hard, then it's pretty hard to run the recovery run too fast. I guess I'd rather overkill the speedwork and suffer a few days =D
I am so bad at slowing down. Part of it is that I'm glad I can finally run faster. The other part is that I just want to be done so I can get back to my family, go shower before work, etc… Good pointers!
Push a 23 lbs kid in a 22 lbs jogging stroller. Running with a jogging stroller definitely slows me down!
These are great tips!! I've actually been struggling with going too fast lately. I think my body got used to running a certain pace during my last training cycle and now it wants to stick to running that pace all the time – even though I'm not really in the same shape I was then. I really need to make an effort to make my easy runs easier (and slower) right now at the beginning of training and work my way back up. So thank you for the tips!!
i'm actually good at running the paces i should be running. i just dial it in and go with it.
Great post! I love running with friends and gabbing away, it certainly helps slow me down, especially if there are people of varying running abilities
I'm so jealous of your dog runs, that would be so wonderful 
Those are all good tips – personally I find that wearing my garmin helps to slow me down. Because if I don't have my garmin, I'm always guessing how fast I am going, and then I end up going faster because I feel guilty if I am going too slow, haha
I use my Garmin to help slow me down too. It's hard though.
i let people pass me. or i run behind someone who is slower than me and i make myself keep the same distance in b/w us. I stay back about 30-50 feet, i'm not creepy about it, lol. but usually, i have NO problems slowing down!!
I think you've listed all (and then some!) of my tricks for slowing down. I guess another good way to slow down is to make yourself really sore the day before…?
I am definitely guilty of running too fast too often! One of my friends who runs sub-2:50 marathons does some runs at a nine minute pace…crazy. I guess it works, but I yet to actually put it into practice.
I like to listen to a book on tape or a podcast when I want to go slow. Lately, however, I don't need to slow it down. My group of running friends is comprised of all levels and I try to stick with the last person in the group on certain days.
I have a little mantra of sorts that I chant (in my head!) when I start off on my long runs, it’s a bit cheezy but seems to work “slow and steady finishes the race”. I just keep saying it until the legs get used to the pace and then I seem to be fine.