The Slow Lane: 6 Unexpected Benefits of Slow Running

Today we're going to talk about the six awesome benefits of running slow . This is a topic and a challenge for many runners . As a running coach , I feel like I'm spending most of my time telling my runners to slow down , and we want to reiterate some of the benefits , the awesome benefits .

If you want to run fast , you got to run slow , and there's some great benefits in doing so . We're going to talk about some of those so you're better prepared and you're not beating yourself up for , like man , did I do anything today ? Did I just not ? I didn't push it as hard .

Tonya , you're doing a lot more than you think and we're going to dive into that topic today and uh , but before we get into that , real quick , make sure you smash that subscribe button so you notify our future episodes . Run Spotify , apple YouTube .

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up how are you doing Good ? We have a few comments coming in . Uh , sherry Wilson , so slow that's me . I see morning . Have a great day . Have a great day y'all , appreciate y'all .

A lot of people think if they're a slow runner , they're not a runner , they won't even call themselves a runner . Um , and so I have recruited people into running slower and to get them to enjoy it , and it just , it's a mind , it's a game changer . It's a game changer .

They look at the people that are running super fast and they think that , oh , I'm just not as good , I'm just not running , I'm just you know , it's all this uh negative self-talk and uh but the the bottom line is there's a lot of great benefits to running slow and , at the end of the day , stop measuring yourself with other people's measuring stick .

Do you , do you boo ? It's all good .

Stop beating yourself up and doing all that stuff because that's just , it's just not necessary , and so it can be incredibly difficult for new runners to understand that anything positive is happening when they're running slow , when they're running , when the running feels easy .

Um , and here's , this is just a a trick in life in general , and this is what I have found . Yes , this is the Do Hard Things podcast and we put ourselves in in uncomfortable positions , but in all reality , like you need to be finding the sweet spot in life . I don't think that life there is suffering in life .

I don't think we have to suffer in life , and that comes a lot with the mindset and being resilient . And we do these hard things put , make ourselves uncomfortable and we learn so we can have less resistance in life . And going back to running , you know 80% of your runs should be incredibly slow and that is really hard for runners .

I was on a running thread the other day and they were like arguing about it , like I just can't believe it . This science doesn't make sense to me . Well , it's science . They've done this amount of research on it . You can run harder than you need to because you're stubborn , and that's you . But it's been proven time and time again .

So we're gonna kind of dive into that . So hopefully we're gonna help bricks and bears . But , yes , it is incredibly counterintuitive . There's a lot of things happening when you're running slow that you can't get when you're running fast . So and we wanted to bunk that so consider pumping the brakes , go slow and give yourself some grace on it .

So what does slow running actually mean ? Well , from a running and scientific perspective , biological perspective , it's any run where your heart rate is at or below about 70% of its max heart rate , mhr and we often call this zone one or two training . There's like zone one through five . And if you're monitoring your zones , it should be zone one or two .

And if you're getting up in that zone three , that's when you're getting up into threshold . That's where you're getting into a different layer of energy and things like that . And Lacey and I were doing our long run on Friday and she was running a little bit faster than I was and I was kind of lagging back . She's like are you okay ?

I'm like , yeah , I'm good , I'm watching my watch and I'm not getting into the orange . I'm staying in zone two and I was running a little bit slower because there's a window there , but I was running a little bit slower than normal . But when you have a heart rate spike like that , that's just saying that your body's tired .

So you got to back it off , but I was very disciplined about doing my long run at that really slow pace because , well , we're gonna talk about that in a minute Benefits of mitochondria , but that's it .

So if you don't have a watch and you don't have a heart rate monitor and I tell all my runners that don't always listen to that or sometimes run without the watch then look at the perceived effort .

On a scale of zero to 10 of perceived effort , you should be somewhere between a four and no more than a six and you should be able to have a full conversation . So if you don't know what that heart rate zone is for you , then the indicator is you should be able to sing a song easily , like just be able to have a full conversation .

That's when you know you're running easy .

I'm like I'm just running slow , like it's all good .

So but the rule of thumb is this if you think that you're running too fast , if one of my runners were to ask me , hey , am I running too fast ? You probably are , so just back it off . And it's so counterintuitive it is so hard for my newer runners to break that .

And you know , running in the army for years , it was like every run had to be long and fast and it's not the most efficient . It's not the most efficient , so all right . So the first benefit is higher latte threshold . So it's very logical to think that the only way to get to run faster is to run fast , but it's the slow .

Running actually increases the density of the mitochondria in your body . Here's where we're getting geeky . You lost me at mitochondria . All right , you got to listen . Folks . Your mitochondria are like your little soldiers inside of you . You're the general and your cells are the troops , and the mitochondria . They're the little organic cells .

They're the ones that are carrying oxygen In your blood cells . They're moving around . They're helping you metabolize lactate , which is a byproduct of glycosis . All right , so it's like oh , what the fuck ? Anytime you start reading this stuff , you're like oh , your eyes start to glaze over what's really happening .

Your body's turning food into fuel , and that's what's happening in these little soldiers . The mitochondria are just doing all the work . When you run slow , you're able to produce more of the mitochondria , which makes this process more efficient . You can only create them when you're running slow , for whatever reason .

I didn't make the rules , I don't know , but you can only make more of them when you're running slow . When it feels like you can't make them . When you're running faster , you can only make them when you're running slow . That's when your body makes more of them , and so it just helps you with fatigue .

It just helps you process your blood cells and oxygenate your body . And when you do have to run fast , you can run faster because you got these little soldiers that are doing your bidding on your behalf , but you can only make them in slow running . So when you're slow running , you are in the business of making mitochondria and letting the body do its thing .

To me , that's what I was talking about . That's your number one priority . When you're slow running , this thing is happening . You don't really realize it . Like I said , it's counterintuitive , but that's what you've got to have .

I don't want to get into a lot of science because I know people's eyes are going to roll in the back of their head when I reach out to stuff . But just know , the mitochondria , that's what you're making .

It basically pushes that wall out further , and that's what we're in the business of building . And so when you run slow you're able to do that . So that's number one . So number two reduce your chances of hitting a wall . We're kind of segue into

that . So runners rely on fast twitch muscle fibers for speed work . But there is fast twitch fibers that are somewhat convertible and they utilize your . I'm trying not to get so geeky here with the science here . The bottom line is you also have slow twitch muscles that enable you to run long and slow . All right .

So you've got fast twitch for fast , you've got slow twitch for slow . And when you are during a long , slow run , when the slow twitch fibers start to tire out , your body recruits some of the fast twitch fibers to help out . So it's like okay , this part's burning out a little bit . We need more fuel for the fire . Bring some more logs right .

And it's like , okay , that's what's happening , so , but you need the logs to do that , and so that's what the mitochondria and all of these extra fibers are doing . It's like having more resources available to you . So when you tire out , you got more coal , like those old locomotives , you throw more coal in the fire , right , yes , that's what we want .

If you don't have that coal to throw in the fire , well , you're going to burn out , right , so that's . But you can only make that when you're running slow . I'm trying to use some analogies that might make sense .

So when your body's running , it primarily relies on glycogen , which is your stored glucose , and you have about 20 minute reserve usually on that before you have to start fueling yourself , and about an hour into a run that's when you really have to start fueling yourself .

It's just like starting to throw logs on the fire and it's like sugar , so it's almost like kindling that burns up really quick , but your proteins and your fats , when you throw it it's like a bigger log . So you're having a log on the like , a like , a big , like burning log on there .

So you only have a limited supply and you know when you completely run out of fuel .

That's when you really , that's when you bonk out , that's when you hit the wall , and so but as a backup , when you're completely out of fuel and I've I've ran a long distance without like having like snacks on me or something like that when you break through that wall , then your body starts to tap into your fat stores and that's known as triglyceride and that's

your fat stores . So but bottom line , when you're running slow , you're training your body to be more efficient with the fat burning and fuel and You're just less likely of hitting the wall when you run slow . Yeah , if any of that made sense . Hopefully , I'm trying to try to do this in a way that doesn't Glacier eyes over . So there's .

There's some sort of some biological things that are happening now . The third thing that I think is incredibly important is like look , people go to run . They often they get bored with running because they're doing the same route , same pace . They don't stick to it and it's because they're just they got bored with it .

Come run with me , we're gonna go , we're gonna run slow , so you're gonna be running like peanut butter turtle running through peanut butter . So expect that we're gonna go slow . So don't go , we're not going for time , but we're going to enjoy ourselves . We're gonna stop and take pictures if we see something pretty , because we would run a route around a lake .

And so I'm like , if you , if it's pretty , we're gonna take pictures . We're just gonna stop and enjoy it , but we're gonna cover the same distance . So if you'll just come with me , I'm going to try to change your mind about running .

And when they came and then we ran and we ran at my pace , at my pace , my enjoyable conversation pace , they're like this is great . We didn't know running could be fun . Yes , enjoy .

This is why I have so much fun , because I go and I enjoy myself and it was just really cool to to watch their perspective change on running and and here they're Hear them talk about it in a positive way , like it was just , it was really cool .

I felt , I felt super honored that they gave me that chance and that it changed the way that they thought about running .

So , and that's that's a challenge . When I talk to veterans too , because it's like all their lives they're just expected to run hard and fast . It's mm-hmm , it's , you know , like One of the things that I think about just getting up at this hour . It's like you know , you got to be a PT , it's o dark , 30 in the morning and you're freezing .

It's like every aspect of it like sucked . But when you can go out on your own and you're not getting yelled at and you can just have fun and you can enjoy the scenery , man , it's a magical thing . It is , and we as humans were designed to do that . Yeah , we were .

And when you can just take the stress out of it and the pressure of I mean , even my runners , like so many Somebody , my runners get so caught up in the data . They're like constantly looking at their watch . Run without your watch and just do your perceived effort and just go enjoy it . You can upload your your data later on Strava .

Whatever your , it doesn't have to be perfect and so enjoy running for what it is . You know , lacey made a great point not too long ago that it really resonated with me . It's like she's like you know , what I love about running is that every individual run is its own experience .

You know , if I go to the gym and sling weight , it's very repetitious , it's very kind of mundane . It can be and I like it . But running there's something that the environment is different , the temperatures are different , the scenery is different . You can modulate the speed , the people . Every individual run is completely different .

Sometimes they suck , sometimes they're great , sometimes they're cold , sometimes they're warm . I mean , they're all unique experiences . But love like run for the enjoyment of running and quit Focusing on the pace so much . Yeah , change it up . There's a great workout called the fart , like it's a Swedish word that run the entire run .

You're supposed to change up the pace fast , slow , just yeah . It just kind of just shake it up a little bit , like confuse your body a little bit because you can get into that worn groove of Daldrum and boredom and pushing too hard where it yes , it absolutely sucks . So for runners that are yo-yoing , that's the number one root cause .

They're pushing themselves too hard . They're running the same freaking route . They don't mix it up , spice it up , y'all . Yeah , absolutely , so , that's it . I mean , that's , that's really it . So the they've done a lot of research on this , the more the you're gonna have more joy with running if you just slow it down and back back it off .

Yeah , so that's it . So , yeah , absolutely . Pressure on yourself . All right , slow running also leads in this number four improve recovery . So , obviously , running a lot , you're gonna have , you're gonna have cumulative Fatigue , which is ultimately going to affect your performance . Yeah , you gotta , you gotta slow it down and get some active recovery in .

But you know , some of these slow runs help you facilitate recovery . Now , when I stack runs , when I have a runner like running like five days a week , there's be it , there'll be three days of running . It'll be a really slow day with some strides to kind of wake up the body . The strides are like little speed ups . Then you have your quality session .

This is your hard run day . This is the design to suck a little bit and then after that , the day after that , you have your tired run lay . Tired legs run nice slow . Your legs are tired from the two back to back runs .

And to kind of design to help you facilitate your body what it would feel like during like a long distance , like when your body is tired , but that helps you , helps you kind of recover . You can definitely overdo it if you're pushing too hard , but it helps you just improve your recovery . So do you do what ? What is your ? How often do you run like ?

What is your typical week ?

I mean , I usually do my long run on the weekend just because that's when I have time to do my long run and I'll get my shorter runs in during the week and I just mix it up with some speed work and you know I run intervals .

Usually anything longer than four to six miles is I'm an interval runner , so I really like the Galloway method and so anything under that I try not to run intervals , just to keep my body trained up , you know .

You actually you run like it'll be , like it could be 30 seconds of walking followed by 60 seconds of running , and you kind of split these intervals up and that's what people will do is they walk for 30 seconds , run for 60 and then kind of , and you can switch the intervals up and a lot of people train a complete marathon or ultra like that .

Oh yeah , I think a lot of people don't realize that ultra runners there's a lot of walking and ultra running , and I prefer ultra runs . Even though you're going beyond the marathon distance , they're far more enjoyable . There's a lot of walking involved .

Right so , but to your point of , you know , decreased risk of injury , that's . That's number five . You know the fast running just puts a lot more strain on your body and the the easier runs can help you , you know , mitigate some of these other injuries because you're not running so hard Like every time you're . You know foot hits the ground .

You're putting nine to 11 times your body weight of pressure on on . You know the whole mechanical aspect of your body , everything , and backing off just kind of helps out with with some of that strain and it's a good opportunity to work on your mechanics . You know this is where you get to work on your cadence .

Cadence is the number of times like your foot hits the ground , and it's hard to do that when you're running fast . This is where you do your drill work is during the slow runs , and so , yeah , there's a lot to be said for that , so just slow it down . Work on work on form .

If you suffer with depression , depression wants to keep you just in bed , like just hold you down , right . Guess what , guess what . A great antidote to that is Moving the body . That's why you got to go to the gym . You got to go run . We were designed as humans to do that . Depression hates a moving target .

So you create a stronger mind-body connection by moving the body , and so alternating between your hard and easy runs will encourage you to tune into your body . Understand the . I mean , there's such a mindfulness aspect to running that I don't get with any other .

I mean I ride my bike , I swim , I lift weights and people will say time and time again there's something different about running that's incredibly meditative . You can really get into your thoughts and I don't know . It's such a great release of tension and stress and I don't know .

I call it my meditation time and during that but I think it might have to do with if I'm not listening to music you've got that steady sound of your feet hitting the ground . And it's just like it kind of almost puts you in a trance . Yeah , maybe put it yeah .

I mean I felt fantastic , yes , and I just no one else was out there just felt at peace . I was really in my head . I'm like man , I'm doing this really difficult thing and I know it's just made for a great day and you can't get that in a lot of other modalities . So yeah , that's it . That's yeah . Snow running , I'm sure , yeah , so those are it .

So don't beat yourself up about running slow . Running slow is a critical component to your training . You shouldn't brace it . Never feel bad about it . There's so many great benefits . It's all about moving the body and you're doing a lot more work than you realize . So knock that shit off . You're beating yourself up about running slow .

A lot of times that long run is going to have just be slow , so you don't need much . You don't need much , so that's it .

So we appreciate your work , that you do , and I tell you what she had a little bit of a setback last week Something I don't want to go into details , but something that would aggravate all of us had happened to her and she took it with absolute grace and it was a very frustrating incident that had happened .

But just appreciate your resilience to that scenario and your ability to bounce back and just your effort , showing up every day , inspiring others . She's become a fan of the podcast as well .

So , jessica , we're going to send you a Do-Heart Things shirt and we just appreciate you being a role model in the work that you do and handling it with grace and just inspiring others through sharing your journey with the Do-Heart Things 28 with us . We appreciate you , that's right .

You just never know what people are going through , and sometimes all it takes is just to make eye contact , make that awkward eye contact with someone and just give them a genuine smile , and you just , you never know , you might brighten up somebody's day More than you can realize , absolutely .

We're without I mean , that's what it seems like . But if you want kindness in the world , you got to put it there . And it starts with you . Yeah , it starts with how you show up and how you engage with other people . So , love on your fellow human and be kind .

Just crack a smile , hold the door open for someone , pick up that trash , put the shopping cart away .

All right , keep doing hard things , we'll see you guys , next episode . See you .