If You Want To Run Faster, Most Of Your Runs Need To Be Slow (Here’s Why)

In most training plans, you’ll see lots of “easy pace” runs. Here in the Badass Lady Gang, we don’t use “easy pace” or “easy run” to describe your conversational-paced runs. We call them conversational pace because running isn’t easy. But the effort level is the same— SLOW, STRONG, AND STEADY.

I know, that sounds counterintuitive. If you want to run faster, you need to run faster...right? During speed play, you will run faster. But for the majority of your runs will be at conversational pace which means SLOW, STRONG, & STEADY. Here’s why:

Conversational-paced runs are all about developing your aerobic system.

Aerobic means with oxygen which is why you can hold a conversation or sing Whitney Houston’s, ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ without feeling like you’re going to pass out when you run conversational pace. If you can’t hold a conversation or semi-comfortably sing ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ at the top of your lungs, you’re going too fast.

Our bodies are incredible machines but there’s a reason the first few weeks of running or training feel really difficult. You don’t have the aerobic system necessary to sustain a longer effort. Which makes sense, right? There’s a reason we train for weeks when working towards a goal. We all know what it’s like to suck wind after a few minutes of running at conversational pace when you are first getting started. There’s a reason for that. Your body can’t utilize that oxygen efficiently yet.

When you run conversational pace, you’re helping your body improve your capacity to transport and efficiently utilize the oxygen you’re sucking in to produce energy. If you can’t efficiently utilize oxygen for energy, your body has to break down muscle to utilize glycogen to make sure you don’t crawl into a ball and pass out. With each breath in, your body is becoming more efficient at transporting that oxygen to your muscles, while simultaneously breathing out waste so that you can continue to run strong. (REMEMBER, SLOW, STRONG, STEADY) 

But how does it work? GREAT QUESTION! Let’s break down the physiological adaptations that happen when we’re running slow, strong, and steady.

Let’s start with capillaries. Capillaries are teeny tiny blood vessels and their job is to deliver oxygen and nutrients to our muscle tissues while shuttling waste products out. They’re kind of like roads. The more roads we have surrounding each muscle fiber, the quicker we can transport oxygen and carbohydrate into our muscles.

When we’re working in an aerobic zone like conversational pace, we’re increasing the number of capillaries per muscle fiber. That means over time, we’ll be able to quickly deliver oxygen to our muscles while simultaneously clearing waste.

Just take a second to really visualize that. Do those early weeks of training where you were huffing and puffing after a minute or two make more sense now? It had nothing to do with you, you just didn’t have the physiological adaptions to enjoy running “easily” yet. It takes time for these adaptations to happen. And you can’t just will it. You have to go out and get those slow, strong, and steady runs in.

Now let’s talk myoglobin. (Are you having flashbacks to science class? Regretting saying, “WHEN WILL I EVER NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MYOGLOBIN” back in middle school science?! If only we could go back in time!) 

So we know that all cells in our bodies need oxygen to survive. Myoglobin is a protein found in your muscles and its main job is to supply oxygen to the cells in your muscles 

We know from experience that even when you’re running slow, strong, and steady, you’re still breathing a little heavier than you would if you were on a leisurely stroll. When you’re working out and oxygen becomes a bit more limited, myoglobin releases oxygen to mitochondria so that it can produce more energy. When our muscle fibers have more myoglobin, we can more efficiently use and transport oxygen when we’re working hard. (Think those long runs, speed play sessions, or races.) Conversational-paced runs help to increase the myoglobin content in our muscle fibers so that we can kickass and take names when we run.

On to mitochondria! Mitochondria are organelles that generate most of the chemical energy needed to power the cell’s biochemical reactions. Chemical energy produced by the mitochondria is stored in a small molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which is considered to be the powerhouse of the cell. During our slow conversational-paced runs, we’re working to increase mitochondrial density so that you can have more energy to run stronger for longer periods of time. 

Now, let’s compare someone who runs three times a week to someone who isn’t relatively active. The runner is going to have higher energy needs so it makes sense that they need a higher density of mitochondria, right? THAT is why we train. Over the course of a few weeks during training, mitochondria will not only get bigger, but they’ll multiply so that your body can produce the energy you need to sustain your activity. (Again, think back to your first few weeks as a new runner. You just didn’t have the mitochondrial density to produce enough ATP to run relatively “easily”.)

I know it’s a lot, and this isn’t even the tip of the iceberg! Running is hard on the body and in order to stay injury-free, the majority of our training runs need to be done at an effort level that doesn’t just help us develop a strong aerobic system, but gives us ample time to recover and adapt post-exercise. If everything we did was done at a spicy pace in an anaerobic zone (meaning without oxygen), we would destroy our bodies. You wouldn’t have enough time to recover between training runs which means you won’t get faster and you’ll probably just get hurt.

Ready for a plot twist? Where you are in your cycle or life stage will also influence how you train. You’ll always want your conversational-paced runs to be slow, but where you are in your life stage or cycle will influence your training as well.

If you’re in your pre-menopausal years, you recover better during your follicular/low-hormone phase. That means you can go harder during your strength sessions and add in an extra quality day. During your luteal/high hormone phase, this is where you want to really make sure that your runs are steady-state and conversational pace because your body has a harder time recovering.

How you train in your pre-menopausal life stage won’t be the same as you’ll train in your peri-menopausal and post-menopausal life stages. Your conversational-paced runs will still be slow, but if you want to run strong into your 50s, 60s, 70s, and if you’re lucky 80s, how you train will need a makeover. Strength work, plyometric work, and high-intensity intervals in addition to really taking your conversational paced runs or rides EASY becomes even more important. You can’t train the same way you did in your 20s and 30s in your peri and post-menopausal years.

Complicated right? We spend a lot of time understanding how to work with your female physiology so that we can train smarter and give our bodies the best chance of recovery. But running is a balancing act. There’s a time and a place to run hard. But the majority of your running should be slow.

All in all, you will run faster if you slow down during your conversational pace runs.

Slow and fast are relative terms. They mean something different to every single runner. The work I want you doing is around the word “slow”. What judgments are there? WHY do you want to run faster? What are the FEELINGS you’re working towards? Who is the type of runner you want to be?

Preventing injuries and working to produce the adaptations you need to be able to safely run and actually enjoy yourself is the goal.

Make sense? SLOW DOWN on your conversational pace days. You’ll have a lot more fun that way.

Running can be complicated! Join the Badass Lady Gang training team or one of our training experiences for affordable coaching to help you run stronger for life.

Kickass and take names!