EASY RUNS

Heading out the door for an easy run is like heading to the gym to 'get big'; however, runners don't tend to see their 'gains' visually. When someone does weights to gain mass, generally, they lift lighter weights and do more repetitions. It's similar to easy running; you need to do lots of it and at a low intensity. The aim is to create a hypertrophic process within your body to improve your efficiency and enhance your aerobic and muscular capabilities. This way, you can make structural changes to your muscles, making them more efficient at respiring aerobically. You can reduce the distance in which oxygen has to travel from the lungs and blood to be oxygenated. You increase the stroke volume of the heart to increase your aerobic capacity. Finally, you improve your ability to transport oxygen to the muscles. All of which makes you a better runner! 

The reason for doing this at a lower intensity is to complete runs frequently. By running harder, your body needs longer between exercise bouts to recover. In the short term, doing runs a little faster isn't an issue, but long term, if you keep pushing your body like that, it will lead to excessive fatigue and increased susceptibility to illness or injury. In the long term, the best thing to do is to keep your easy days easy and hard days hard. Stay patient; remembering the session tomorrow and the days after are just as important as the session you are currently doing. One key thing to do when you are training is to ask, 'am I able to keep this going for the next 8-10 weeks?' If you feel that the intensity is too high, there is no shame in dropping the pace back a touch. It doesn't mean you are out of shape; it just means you are training hard in your sessions, and your body needs a bit of easy time!