Want to take it easy? Run a little faster.

Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

If not for the 50 MPH winds this morning, I would have been happy to get outside for my run. It was 49 degrees (and dropping) at 4:00 AM and I was already on the treadmill. After Sunday's full hour run on this machine, I had no problem returning for another round. I got up to speed quickly and followed my normal practice of increasing speed throughout the run, so that I would finish my run about an 8:30 pace.

A week ago Saturday I went out for a run with the intention of running slowly as a way to facilitate recovery. I feared that I'd finish feeling like the easy effort had made no impact. In reality, I had the opposite experience. Running slowly turned out to be harder than running fast.

I've applied that lesson in every run I've done since then. Perhaps the momentum of an efficient stride helps me move along better. The energy created by faster leg turnover certainly seems to fuel my effort. Of course once I'm running at threshold speed it becomes a whole lot harder. But right now, as counter-intuitive as it seems, working a little harder is making for easier running.