I’m supposed to complete quite a few of my training workouts at conversation pace – slow enough to talk to a friend. I wondered about the importance of running slowly so much of the time, especially when your overall goal is to train your body for speed and endurance.
I tend to take longer runs (5+ miles) slower, but, in general I run a moderate pace. For me that’s too fast to tell a story mid-stride, but slow enough to notice my surroundings and make an occasional quick joke.
Here’s what I found about conversation pace:
Running at conversational pace (also called base running), has lots of benefits, including: helps create a more efficient running style; helps your muscles to learn to burn fat more efficiently, receive and process oxygen better, and deal better with lactic acid; trains your heart and lungs to become more efficient at absorbing, delivering, and utilizing oxygen.
All of those things sound important to me! Another writer emphasized the fat burning efficiency, and the fact that building a strong base is the key to faster, longer running. She even shared some interesting research about avoiding the moderate pace I usually run.
I love the way I feel on the longer, slower runs. The energy builds throughout the run, and by the end I feel so vibrant. But my uninformed approach was to run a moderate pace, especially on my shorter runs – nearly every run.
I’m curious to see how more conversation pace running will impact my overall ability to burn fat and run strong.
How about you? Do you run slow enough to hold a conversation, or do you go a bit faster?