How Do I Run (even) Slower?
4 watchers
Mar 2023
10:41am, 18 Mar 2023
2,018 posts
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Neil_E_There
I'm certainly not the fastest but when feeling tiredness creeping in I think I need to slow down a bit to catch my breath but this invariably never happens and if anything I get quicker until I just stop. Any tips for managing pace within a run would be welcome. |
Mar 2023
10:54am, 18 Mar 2023
28,873 posts
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fetcheveryone
You could try counting your steps as you breathe. If it’s three in, three out, try increasing it to three in and four out - or just have a play with what feels good. Or if you have a HRM, forget about pace, and focus on getting your HR below a certain threshold. |
Mar 2023
11:15am, 18 Mar 2023
9,218 posts
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Surrey Phil
Ever since I got my HRM, I was concerned that I got to Zone 5 after only three miles of an easy long run without much perceived effort. Apart from conscientiously slowing my pace down once my heart rate got into the 180s, I just tell myself "easy, easy" and try to relax.
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Mar 2023
11:35am, 18 Mar 2023
2,461 posts
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paulcook
Physics-wise there's only two ways to get slower (or conversely faster) and they're to either shorten your stride or fewer strides. The easier of the two is probably try shorter strides. Either of these would reduce your pace and tiredness. Alternatively, if I'm bushed I try to find what feels my "forever pace". Quite often it's nowhere near that forever pace, but it reduces my levels of apparent fatigue/tiredness. |
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Mar 2023
12:15pm, 18 Mar 2023
2,019 posts
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Neil_E_There
Thank you all for the tips, I shall experiment with them. Now breathing had been mentioned I used to take a number of deep breaths as I kind of reset that used to help with fatigue over all but I haven't linked to steps before. Something for my next run and I'll proceed from there. |
Mar 2023
2:46pm, 18 Mar 2023
10,859 posts
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Fragile Do Not Bend
Try run/walk e.g. run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute, repeat. Or whatever run/walk ratio suits you.
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Mar 2023
2:55pm, 18 Mar 2023
1,388 posts
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JenHB
I found that having a 'chatty' run with a friend helped when I was training for a marathon.
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Mar 2023
3:11pm, 18 Mar 2023
10,860 posts
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Fragile Do Not Bend
I found that having a 'chatty' run with a friend helped when I was training for a marathon. Yes this, especially if the friend naturally runs more slowly and doesn’t feel concerned they are slowing you down. |
Mar 2023
4:18pm, 18 Mar 2023
2,339 posts
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SailorSteve
^^^^what fetch said. I don’t use a watch to judge pace or effort. I take note of the number of steps I make per breath. I ask myself at regular intervals, “can I run slower?” - particularly on long runs. The answer is almost always “yes” so I reduce my effort, breathing becomes easier, and I relax. When I am running at my “run forever” effort I can get 6-7 steps to a breath. |
Mar 2023
4:26pm, 18 Mar 2023
23,740 posts
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Dave A
Neil_E_There I’ve just stalked a couple of your recent training entries. Your training pace appears to somewhere between your best 10k and HM pace. Probably too fast. Try HR training, there is a thread on here. Or consider really slowing it down, by mate 90 seconds to 2 mins per mile. |
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