Easy runs can be surprisingly difficult to get right.
Not because running easily is physically difficult, but because many runners struggle to accept that a session can be valuable when it doesn’t feel particularly challenging.
You look at your watch and the pace seems slow. Someone passes you. Your legs feel good, so you decide to speed up. Before long, what was supposed to be a controlled aerobic run has turned into something considerably harder.
Then you finish and think:
“That was a much better workout.”
But was it?
Every run in your marathon programme should have a purpose. If today’s purpose is easy aerobic running, making the session harder doesn’t necessarily make it better.
Sometimes the best thing you can do for your marathon training is deliberately run easier.
Stop Judging an Easy Run by Your Pace
One of the biggest mistakes runners make is deciding whether an easy run was successful by looking at their average pace.
Perhaps you normally run your easy sessions at 5:30min/km, but today you averaged 5:50min/km.
Was it a bad run?
Not necessarily.
Your running pace can change from day to day because your body and your environment change from day to day.
You may be carrying fatigue from yesterday’s training. You might have slept poorly. The route could be hillier. It might be windy or warm. Work and family stress can influence how you feel as well.
That is why I want you to focus on the appropriate effort, rather than forcing yourself to reproduce a particular pace every time you head out the door.
Current coaching guidance similarly emphasises effort rather than obsessing over the number on the watch during easy running. (Runner’s World)
For my athletes, that means keeping an easy aerobic run at Level II.
What Is the Purpose of a Level II Run?
An easy Level II run might not generate the same sense of accomplishment as a tough threshold workout or a big marathon-specific session.
But it is doing important work.
Easy running helps develop the aerobic system that underpins endurance performance. It allows you to accumulate running volume without creating the same fatigue as higher-intensity training, while supporting your ability to recover between harder sessions. (Runner’s World)
That combination is particularly important for marathon runners.
Preparing for 42.2 kilometres requires a substantial amount of aerobic work. You cannot—and should not—make all of that running hard.
Easy running gives us a way to build your endurance while keeping the overall training load manageable.
That is its purpose.
Easy Doesn’t Mean Pointless
There can be a temptation to think of your training week as containing two types of running:
Important workouts and everything else.
Your intervals are important.
Your threshold session is important.
Your long run is important.
Your marathon-pace workout is important.
And the easy runs?
They can feel like filler.
They aren’t.
Research examining the training patterns of more than 119,000 marathon runners found that faster marathoners accumulated more total volume primarily through greater amounts of low-intensity running rather than substantially more moderate- or high-intensity work. (Runner’s World)
That doesn’t mean simply adding more kilometres will automatically make you faster. Training still needs to suit the individual athlete.
But it illustrates an important principle:
Easy running is training.
You don’t need to make it harder to make it worthwhile.
The Problem With Running Your Easy Days Too Hard
There’s a pace that many runners naturally gravitate towards.
It’s not genuinely easy, but it isn’t hard enough to be a proper quality session either.
It feels productive.
You’re breathing harder. Your watch shows a respectable pace. You finish feeling like you’ve done some work.
The trouble is that repeatedly drifting out of your prescribed easy intensity increases the stress of sessions that were supposed to be relatively low stress. That can leave you carrying more fatigue into the workouts where higher intensity is actually required. (Runner’s World)
Imagine you have a quality session tomorrow.
Would you rather arrive at that workout ready to execute it properly?
Or arrive with tired legs because you wanted today’s Level II run to look a little more impressive?
The individual easy run is only one piece of the programme.
We need to think about what it allows you to do next.
Easy Running Helps Make Hard Training Possible
This is one of the reasons I’m happy for an easy run to look unimpressive.
Your training week is not a competition to see how many moderately hard sessions you can squeeze together.
Different sessions have different jobs.
When it is time to run hard, I want you capable of producing the appropriate intensity.
When it is time to run easy, I want you disciplined enough to keep the intensity under control.
That separation allows us to combine training stresses rather than making every run feel roughly the same.
Your easy days help create the space for your hard days to be effective.
Don’t Turn Level II Into Level III
You head out for a Level II run.
The first kilometre feels comfortable.
The second is a little quicker.
You notice your average pace and think you could improve it slightly.
By halfway, you’re no longer running at Level II.
You’ve created a Level III session that wasn’t in the programme.
Level III training isn’t bad.
If I prescribe Level III, there will be a reason for it.
The problem is accidentally turning Level II into Level III because you’re chasing pace.
Your training programme works because different intensities provide different stimuli.
Respecting those differences is part of training properly.
Stop Comparing Your Easy Pace With Other Runners
Easy pace is also individual.
The athlete running past you might be completing a completely different workout.
They might be considerably fitter than you.
They might also be running their easy day far too hard.
You don’t know.
And it doesn’t matter.
Their pace has nothing to do with the purpose of your session.
The same applies when scrolling through Strava and seeing somebody else’s average pace.
You are not training their programme.
Run the session that is appropriate for your training.
A Slower Easy Run Isn’t Evidence You’re Losing Fitness
Marathon runners can become particularly nervous when easy pace slows.
Yesterday 5:40min/km felt comfortable.
Today the same effort produces 6:00min/km.
Suddenly you’re wondering whether you’ve lost fitness.
Don’t make that conclusion from one run.
Look at the context.
If you’re several weeks into marathon training, you may simply be carrying normal training fatigue. Weather, terrain, sleep and general life stress can all influence what a given effort produces on a particular day.
Look for trends across multiple sessions rather than judging your fitness from one easy run.
If your running is repeatedly deteriorating, you’re unusually fatigued, or something doesn’t feel right over several days, that’s worth investigating.
But one slower Level II run?
Keep it in perspective.
Should Easy Runs Always Be the Same?
No.
There is room for variation within a marathon programme.
Some runs may be deliberately progressive. Some long runs might contain marathon-specific work. Strides can be added to otherwise easy sessions. Other workouts will deliberately move through several intensity levels.
Marathon-pace running itself has a useful role when programmed appropriately. (Runner’s World)
But those changes should be intentional.
If your programme says:
45 minutes Level II
then the objective isn’t to gradually transform it into a progression run because you happen to feel good.
Complete the workout you were given.
There will be another day for running harder.
What Should an Easy Run Feel Like?
You shouldn’t need to spend your entire run staring at your watch.
At Level II, you should be running at a controlled, conversational aerobic effort.
You should feel as though you’re training rather than racing.
There may still be hills. Your legs might be tired. And running itself still requires effort.
“Easy” doesn’t necessarily mean effortless.
The important thing is that you’re controlling the intensity.
If you need to slow down to maintain Level II, slow down.
If the appropriate effort produces a quicker pace today, that’s fine too.
Let the pace be the result of the effort rather than making the pace dictate the effort.
Finish Knowing You Could Have Done More
There is something psychologically satisfying about finishing a run exhausted.
It feels like proof that you trained hard.
But exhaustion isn’t the goal of every session.
Sometimes I want you to finish knowing you could have kept running.
That’s not a missed opportunity.
That’s successful execution.
You completed the aerobic work we wanted without adding unnecessary fatigue.
Now you can recover and move on to the next part of the programme.
Marathon Training Rewards Patience
Marathon preparation isn’t about extracting the maximum possible effort from every individual workout.
It’s about putting together weeks and months of appropriate training.
There will be days when I want you working hard.
There will be sessions designed to challenge your threshold, your speed, your marathon-specific endurance and your ability to keep running when you’re fatigued.
Your easy runs don’t need to compete with those workouts.
They have their own purpose.
They help develop your aerobic fitness, add sustainable training volume and allow you to keep training consistently.
So next time your watch tells you that your easy pace is slower than you’d like, don’t automatically speed up.
Ask a better question:
“Am I running at the intensity this session requires?”
If the answer is yes, you’re doing the workout correctly.
Easy running isn’t wasted training. It’s one of the foundations of marathon fitness.
Ready to Run Your Best Marathon?
Knowing how hard—or how easy—to run each session can make a significant difference to the consistency and quality of your marathon preparation.
If you’d like help making sure your training intensities match your goals, book a free, no-obligation 40-minute coaching consultation.
We can discuss your current training, your upcoming marathon and how to structure your programme so that every session—including the easy ones—has a clear purpose.
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