In the pursuit of speed, slow always comes first.
Slow
That is the one word I would use to describe running.
We are instructed to run slow for most of our training sessions.
It is a slow process involving hours and hours of training to get faster.
Every obstacle wants to slow us down, from wind to hills to fatigue.
In the pursuit of speed, slow always comes first.
That is a difficult reality to accept.
Not many runners have the confidence to run slow. We are not sure if we are running at the right 'slowness' and we don't want to be judged as slow, either.
And, this causes us to run much faster than we should be.
Running fast all the time is dangerous... it leads to some amount of injuries due to overuse... which leads to taking time off... which results in never getting much faster.
This idea of running slow has been spoken about countless times before but runners are still training too fast. So, I would even argue that slow is not a strong enough word to describe how slow you should be running.
Sometimes, it is even necessary to train "glacially" slow where it feels like you are barely even needing to breath.
This is especially true when running uphills or into the wind.
As much as I want to see runners go faster, I would actually be a lot happier to see them run slower first because all good things take time.
Here is what "Stryder" Nigel had to say about his time running slowly with Stryd:
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Being brave enough to slow down on hills is the biggest change to my running I’ve noticed in my first month of Stryd.
It’s a bit counter intuitive when people are working overtime to steam past you on the uphills, but when you cruise past and leave them for dust on the flat whilst they spend a minute recovering, it really builds your confidence.
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Many runners are looking for a clip-on motor where they instantly put on a pair of shoes...a device...a watch and instantly run faster.
Stryd may be the exact opposite of that.
You may immediately run slower when you put Stryd on...and that could be a very good thing if you are looking to run faster.
You can get Stryd here: https://store.stryd.com
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