When it comes to running, speed is overrated

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Twenty years ago, I was a pretty speedy runner. Today, not so much. Age and injuries have taken the edge off my speed, a fact readily broadcast through my earbuds thanks to the persistent and brutally honest pacing notifications delivered every kilometre on my favourite running app.  

A wiser woman would turn off the constant stream of notifications, but I’m learning to embrace the benefits of slow running.

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Running coaches often prescribe an 80/20 approach to training: spending 80 per cent of your mileage at an easy, conversational pace and 20 per cent picking up your speed. They claim slow running teaches your body to utilize fat as an energy source, which we have in abundance compared with the limited stores of glycogen that fuels more speedy endeavours. This adaptability translates into the capacity to plod along for longer distances without the need to replenish energy-depleted muscles. In other words, slow running helps you run longer.  

But spending more time pounding the pavement isn’t always the motivation to run slowly. For some it’s a more enjoyable way to sustain their running habit, especially as the years add up. For others it’s a strategy to avoid some of the recurring injuries that often go hand in hand with getting faster versus getting fitter.  

Still, in a culture where stats rule, slow running isn’t always appreciated. For those back-of-the-pack marathoners who shuffle more than sprint, there’s a lack of appreciation for the effort it takes to go the full 42k. But let’s give credit where credit is due: a five-plus hour marathon is an endurance masterpiece and a very different experience than finishing in half that time.  

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John “The Penguin” Bingham was one of the first runners to publicly embrace a lack of speed. A regular columnist with Runners World from 1996 to 2014, he wrote also several books celebrating the joys of a slow and steady pace. He classically signed off his regular column “No Need for Speed,” with a simple “waddle on friends” mantra, emboldening fellow shufflers to settle in at a pace that felt right for them.  Despite, and perhaps because of, his popularity running purists dubbed him the man who ruined running, claiming he contributed to a general slowing down of marathon finishers. An analysis by RunRepeat noted that since 1986 the average global finishing time of the marathon has slowed by over 40 minutes.  

The latest back of the pack cheerleader is Martinus Evans, founder of the Slow AF Run Club, an on-line community of runners who don’t aspire toward speed. Story has it that Evans’ doctor told him he needed to lose weight or die. So, he took his 360-pound frame out running, albeit slowly. It took him seven hours to finish his first marathon. He’s run seven more since, dropped about 60 pounds, wrote a book and coaches back-of-the-packers who look like him. 

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But a true sign of acceptance of slow running is when it becomes the subject of research. A recent article published in Footwear Science examined what they call “low running”, defined by the researchers as “runners without a clear flight phase”, aka shuffling.  

“Many biomechanical running studies have focussed on running at speeds around 12 km per hour,” said the researchers. “However, many recreational runners run at much slower speed.” 

Running too fast or taking on too much speed too soon has been linked to a whole series of running related aches and pains, so the researchers wanted to see whether there’s less impact stress at a more relaxed pace of 7-9.5 km per hour.

To qualify as low running, speed isn’t the only criteria. The ratio of contact time to flight time is called the duty factor. Speedy runners are characterized by short touch downs and longer flight times. Low runners exhibit the opposite, largely the result of pushing off the ground less forcefully than faster runners. The researchers deemed anyone with a duty factor above 50 percent as a low runner.  

Not surprisingly the researchers discovered that for every one percent increase in duty factor, impact forces at the ankle and knee were reduced by 2.24 – 2.35 percent. But not all the news was good. Low running made the hip flexors, the muscles at the front of the hip responsible for swinging the leg forward, take on an extra load. So, for runners who are susceptible to hip flexor injury, a low running style needs a gentle introduction.  

And in case you’re wondering, the researchers determined that running with a duty factor above 50 percent is still considered a vigorous workout. Low running isn’t walking. Far from it. Shufflers are runners, but with a more measured approach to speed.  

Let all this be a reminder that runners come in all shapes, sizes and speeds. So give yourself permission to find a comfortable pace and own it. In the words of John, the Penguin, Bingham, “waddle on friends”.

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