Easy Schmeezy May 7, 2008
Posted by Joe in 5k, personal.Tags: easy, misnomer
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Wednesday. 3.1 miles in 29:57 (9:39 pace). I wasn’t supposed to run today, but my body feels great so I ran an “easy” 5k. That’s really the wrong word for it.
Runner’s talk of an “easy run” and we mean that we aren’t pushing ourselves as we normally would. I get it. I use the word, but I’d like to stop. It give conveys the wrong idea. As if I can just phone in a run. You know, just go through the motions. Maybe some people can do that, but not this guy. There is nothing easy about running – not for me. All of my running takes real effort. Every run is hard for me. Yeah, some are harder than others; I push myself more during some than others, but easy they are not. Maybe this is because I am still a little overweight, or because I am still new to running. I don’t know. But I can’t think of a better word than “easy” (if you can please help me out!). So forgive me for using a word I don’t really believe in. Today’s easy run was great. A slower pace that felt good. But it was still hard.
‘Vanilla run’?
Well, that might offend this guy, a runner who goes by the name “Vanilla.”
“Bone crushingly hard but let’s call is easy” run. Had a few of those!
I don’t think there is another word. I look at “easy” runs in a different way — just going out, not worrying about my pace and just hitting a generic distance. Like if I plan for 3 miles but go 3.5 or 2.9. The point of an easy run, I think, is for it not to ruin the rest of your day. Instead of saying “easy run,” I usually just say “normal run.” If I run 4 days a week, half of them should be “normal” anyway. The other days, when not getting over an injury, should be some kind of mix of speed or hills. Then of course a lot of runners have a “long” run, which is generally at a slower pace anyway. My advice would be to not get caught up in your pace on every run.
Yeah, I don’t know too many people that can call in a run. I certainly can’t. Although I have to say that my shorter runs or slower runs are certainly easier to do than a temp or long run.