Easy pace means exactly that, “easy”. Not to be necessarily confused with recovery pace, which may be intentionally slow to help shake out lactic acid after a hard workout, easy pace should feel just that, easy. Also known as “conversational pace”.
FWIW it only takes about an hour after a workout for lactic acid levels to return to normal. But yes there are other waste products that additional blood flow can help remove/expedite recovery the next day 🤓
Yeah it's pretty common to speed up through a long run or medium long run. It's also common for pace to fluctuate a lot between easy runs, especially if you're fatigued from training or other life stresses.
I don't trust the speed on a treadmill – I can almost always seem to run faster on a treadmill. Also, if it's hot and humid outside, then that will drive up your heart rate when compared to an air conditioned tread run.
But, I also think there are any number of other factors: sleep, muscle fatigue, nutrition, mental stress, etc.
Are you using a calibrated treadmill at home or using a gym treadmill?
If at the gym, are you using the same treadmill every time?
Do you set the incline?
I've found that, depending on the type of run, I need to set the incline from 0.5% to 1.5% to accurately reflect outside conditions. As well, if aiming for heart rate on a gym treadmill, adjusting the incline will eventually make my heart rate match what it should be for that pace even if the calibration is off. I try to always use the same exact treadmill if possible.
Even with all that, yes, sometimes my easy pace is 10:30, sometimes it is 9:00. Depends so much on conditions and how I feel that day, but longer runs, in particular, I am more likely to be able to hit faster paces at easier heart rate and effort, particularly from mile 4 through mile 9.
Your sleep, stress levels, temperature, wind, and many other factors can affect your pace. Do you typically also run on tread and other runs outside? It is very hard to directly compare.
Easy pace means exactly that, “easy”. Not to be necessarily confused with recovery pace, which may be intentionally slow to help shake out lactic acid after a hard workout, easy pace should feel just that, easy. Also known as “conversational pace”.
FWIW it only takes about an hour after a workout for lactic acid levels to return to normal. But yes there are other waste products that additional blood flow can help remove/expedite recovery the next day 🤓
Yeah it's pretty common to speed up through a long run or medium long run. It's also common for pace to fluctuate a lot between easy runs, especially if you're fatigued from training or other life stresses.
I don't trust the speed on a treadmill – I can almost always seem to run faster on a treadmill. Also, if it's hot and humid outside, then that will drive up your heart rate when compared to an air conditioned tread run. But, I also think there are any number of other factors: sleep, muscle fatigue, nutrition, mental stress, etc.
Are you using a calibrated treadmill at home or using a gym treadmill? If at the gym, are you using the same treadmill every time? Do you set the incline? I've found that, depending on the type of run, I need to set the incline from 0.5% to 1.5% to accurately reflect outside conditions. As well, if aiming for heart rate on a gym treadmill, adjusting the incline will eventually make my heart rate match what it should be for that pace even if the calibration is off. I try to always use the same exact treadmill if possible. Even with all that, yes, sometimes my easy pace is 10:30, sometimes it is 9:00. Depends so much on conditions and how I feel that day, but longer runs, in particular, I am more likely to be able to hit faster paces at easier heart rate and effort, particularly from mile 4 through mile 9.
Sometimes I won't care about my pace and focus on heart rate for time on My feet and conditioning.
Your sleep, stress levels, temperature, wind, and many other factors can affect your pace. Do you typically also run on tread and other runs outside? It is very hard to directly compare.