Some obvious methods would be to run on softer surface (trail, dirt, track etc), and/or treadmill. Also, increase cadence deliberately when running slower to decrease oscillation.

What's the purpose of running slow?

Where's your HR when you run "normal" v. slow?

Similar issue here - most straightforward way was just to find a friend who runs at that pace and follow them

Run harder on your hard days so that easy feels easy and you'll want easy. Run w people you can talk with on those long easy runs. Keeps you motivated and engaged and not always "thinking" about it.

How much difference is your cadence between easy and hard runs.

Help me understand why you said running 4:50/k pace aerobically is hard?

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Don't lower your cadence significantly, take shorter strides. It feels goofy, but is lower impact

You can't run 100mpw of tempo runs.

More miles run = better performance. If you're looking to really capture the bulk of your running potential, you have to run enough miles in training, and the best, safest way to get there is by running lots of slow miles, later sprinkled with faster work.

If you don't think you'll get faster by running almost all slow miles, work your way up to 90 mile per week of running all slow miles and get back to me on whether you improved or not.

Stand upright and tall. Get your weight forward and over your feet by leaning into the run from your ankles. Land with your foot under your body and moving back. Reduce your stride length. Maintain your cadence. Run on softer surfaces whenever you can.

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Trust me I’m a doctor!
Well, I have a PhD :-)

I'm trying to understand why he thinks running slower is "hard". The answers will show .............it isn't.

Yup this.

Totally agree. The amount of people I talk to about 80/20 running and they look at me blankly..hard to get your head around how running slow makes you go faster, but for yeah as soon as I switched from mostly med - high intensity running to high volume low intensity my times, even for 5km, improved.

I am more trashed from walking around Christmas shopping at a mall than I am a 10 mile run. For this reason, I do not like Christmas shopping. It is very hard on the body. No pink.

You could run 4 min walk one min for long runs. I found it hard to go slower than 830 miles so thats what I do. If I walk one min per mile I am at 830 mile on long runs. Each min of walking adds 30 sec per mile. Don't feel nearly as beat up after long runs as I used to be.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Running slow will become running faster.

Commitment to the process is all it takes. Look up Mafetone and run to your aerobic threshold. At first you will need to walk to control your heart rate at times. Six months later you will be running just as fast as you are today at 10 - 15 bpm lower than it would take you today.

I wouldn't overthink your running form while running "slow". After you build up your base, striders and tempo work will take care of that. That said, don't do anything crazy wrong like over-stride while heal striking, you will get injured even running slow. At aerobic threshold your cadence should still be in the 180 +/- 20 spm range - likely closer to the bottom end.

Good luck!

This was my error in technique. Now goofy feels good!

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I wish my easy runs were at 4.50 per km.... 5:50 feels much more natural

I guess what's happening is I'm putting so much thought and effort into changing cadence/stride that it makes my perceived effort feel higher. (I don't know how to explain that easier runs leave me breathing hard at the end).

Recent efforts (Distance - pace/km - AvHR - Cadence)

15 - 4:18 - 162 - 182
10 - 4:34 - 157 - 184
10 - 4:48 - 152 - 181
10 - 4:26 - 160 - 182
10 - 4:46 - 158 - 180
8 - 4:51 - 162 - 181

I guess what I'm saying is my slower runs change my style to such a great extent that I feel that speeding up is easier.

Some great suggestions for running slower above, thanks.

How old are you?

I'm just trying to get my arms around a slow training run having my HR at 160 bpm.

I'm 52. My avg. HR during the run leg of my last HIM was 161.

35.
My HR is higher at the moment because I've not been cycling.
My last marathon was 154 BPM average.

From my observation when people say this what they are really saying is "it's too embarrassing to put a 'slow' run on Strava. Everyone will think less of me and my ego will be crushed. Every run must be fast so everyone knows how much of a badass I am as a middle age weekend warrior."

That's not an issue for me. I'm happy to put hikes, walks, sprints, long runs, whatever.

It's not vanity, it's literally sore on my knees to change my running style in a way that still makes me feel like I'm running naturally.

As mentioned above, I'll just have to try and embrace the feeling of running "goofy" until that goofiness feels normal.

What is your max Hr?

Hit 195 in my last marathon.

Don't focus on pace, focus on your heart rate. For my long runs, I have a garmin screen that shows HR and cadence. I find I am naturally about 165 cadence. Running slowly and intentionally, my cadence has to pick up otherwise I goofily bound along due to my slower turnover.

I've noticed that forcing a 175-180 spm on myself when doing a longer, slower effort brings my HR relatively higher than I would expect vs my "natural" cadence.

But since I train long runs by HR zone, I am able to self-correct over time. I believe the body has a way of finding equilibrium and I find a cadence/pace that lets me hit the HR I'm targeting. Usually, when I stop thinking about it so much, lol.