rucker wrote:
When I was in high school, I could run mid/high 17s for 5km and my "easy" pace was 7:15-7:30, sometimes into the high 6s. I ran maybe 30mpw. I bumped my mileage up to 45-60 and slowed my easy pace down to ~8min/mi, and got a lot faster. Easy pace isn't a great indicator of fitness, IMO. I know plenty of people who run way too fast on their daily runs, insisting it's easy, and race at a pace barely faster than the easy days. These are 18:30-19:30 5k types who run 7:30/mi on easy days (5k pace + 60-90sec). I know plenty of fast runners (2:30-2:45 marathoners) who run easy days at 7:30-8min pace (marathon pace + 2min).
Had similar experiences. I think HSers across the board are all doing easy runs way too fast. I have a buddy who broke 14 recently for the 5k and I see him doing his regular easy runs at 7:15 pace when in HS he was doing his easy runs closer to 6:50 and running 15:30 for the 5k
In general I wouldn't advise to try to run your easy runs faster. One thing I have found helpful for keeping pace low is running off time for easy runs instead of mileage. This way you are running 45 minutes or 60 minutes or whatever time you have scheduled and it is going to take the same amount of time whether you run 7 minute pace or 8 minute pace