What gets you quicker at running?

What gets you quicker? Easy Runs or Faster Runs? 

Sounds like a trick question and rightfully so. Going quicker means quicker? 

Not necessarily. Here is a little science. 

Lactic Acid is a big thing that holds people back when it comes to training for longer distances and pushing to get that little bit more out of each run. When your training for certain races or certain speeds you pass from quite an important point. 

When your running a typically easy run your body can remove lactate as fast as you produce it, fantastic. We call this Lactate Threshold 1. 

When you’re running at higher speeds or closer to something like your 10k pace this is where we dip into Lactate Threshold 2. 

This is when you find yourself burning in your quads, breathings a little harder and you just want it to end. 

But why does this matter? 

Your overall goal is the bridge the gap and push those thresholds higher and higher from your original point and your typical markers for these areas. Normally if you have a smart watch is as a Heart rate zone OR a threshold pace. Alternatively it’s what you can maintain for about 45 minutes before you start getting that lactic acid taking over. 

This is where you have that gap in people saying ‘easy runs makes you faster.’  The more you can push back those phases, the better your body is at handling tougher speeds and training sessions. Naturally you will spend some time in the big effort training to make progressions but this is typically split as a 70-30 or 80-20 dynamic. 

A base level of fitness is finding that territory where you can control and manage your heart rate, oxygen and nutrient distribution around the body works well and everything is well oiled. When your running at the start this will definitely feel hard as you may be doing a lot of your runs in a high heart rate zone but it does get easier as time goes on and training progresses.

But if your beginning this is where sometimes people will start with run/walks etc!

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