Does Every Run Need to Be Strava-Worthy?
My very simple answer is: no, they do not need to be.
I was definitely late to the Strava-game, but after I joined, I kinda liked it.
Then I didn’t at all. I wasn’t even “stalking” runners, I was just scrolling and seeing runners who I know aren’t faster than me posting runs and workouts that blew mine out of the water.
I wasn’t jealous - I was more questioning what I was doing. Were runners running faster than they normally would or faster than they should just because they knew it would be shared on Strava?
I can’t speak for anyone else except for myself, but I know that my clunkers and my PR’s both show up on the site and I have WAY more duds than I do good runs.
I recently read this article about the 80/20 rule and I’m confident that’s how I approach my training. You’ll want to read it so the rest of this post makes sense.
Okay, and you’re back. Great.
I recently finished reading about Scott Faub’s NYC Marathon training where he went on to a top-10 finish. In his book, he openly complained about having to run his easy runs faster than a 7-minute pace and he’s the same guy who later in the training cycle ran 26.2 miles at 2:12 (~5:00 pace). It’s a small sample size, I know, but you do not have to run fast on your easy days to eventually run fast on race day.
A good reminder is this: easy days are easy so your hard days can be hard. For most elite-level runners, that means Tuesday workout, Friday workout, and a Sunday long run. The rest of their days are slow, conversational, and the purpose is solely to recover. On their easy days, they’re either running by heart rate or purposefully keeping the pace conservative.
Keep in mind that your body adapts to the stress of training when it is recovering. When you are running long (and/or hard), you’re breaking down your body. So if your easy days are also harder than they should be, you’re never allowing your body to adapt and gain any of the fitness you’re throwing at it.
All of this to say that if you aren’t allowing yourself to have some non-Strava worthy runs more often than not, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Slow, less-than-appealing Strava stats should be your primary focus if you really, truly want to nail it on race day.
You don’t need my permission one bit, but I give you permission to run your easy runs as slow as you need them to be so that you feel recovered for your next hard session.
Friday’s Action Plan:
Find your “easiest” easy pace for a week and see how much fresher you feel during long runs and workouts.
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Quote of the Day:
Hard work might not seem exciting, but the results will be amazing.
Connect with me:
Here’s what I’m working on and what I’d love you to check out:
Thanks for following along on the journey! Have something you’d like to add? Have suggestions or comments? Email me: TrainwithMarc@gmail.com
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Marc is a middle school teacher and coach but also works with distance runners online. I help distance runners around the globe by providing support, writing customized training plans, and designing workouts to help them reach their racing goals. I write for my blog every Wednesday morning and newsletter every Friday morning.