What is 'slow running' practiced by experts and professional athletes who say it's OK to run slowly?
There are many people who started running to make a healthy exercise habit, but ended up giving up because it was too hard and their running shoes were gathering dust. An expert explained the effects of ``slow running,'' where you run at a pace that is slow enough to have a conversation, rather than running at a pace that makes it hard to breathe.
It's okay to run slowly – in fact it has plenty of benefits
◆Professional athletes train at a slow pace
Many people may think, ``Athletes who are active at the forefront of long-distance running must be training at rigorous paces that bring them close to breaking records.''
However, according to Dan Gordon, an exercise physiologist at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK, and others, track and field athlete Eliud Kipchoge, known as the ``absolute champion of the marathon world,'' and world record holder Kelvin Marathon runners like Kiptam spend about 80% of their training time running in heart rate zone 2 .
Zone 2 exercise gets your heart rate up, but at a slow pace that allows you to have a conversation while running. Because this slow-paced training is carried out thoroughly, athletes only spend about 20% of their time training at high intensity, which is close to their actual pace.
◆Benefits of running slowly: Prevention of injuries
The reason why athletes run slowly is related to the amount of stress that training puts on their bodies. Increasing your running speed also increases the strain on your body. And the greater the burden on the body, the greater the risk of injury and illness.
Therefore, athletes reduce the amount of time they spend running at high loads to avoid the risk of being unable to train due to injury or poor physical condition.
◆Benefits of running slowly 2: Building basic physical strength
The benefits of running slowly go beyond simply reducing your risk of injury and illness. One of the basic purposes of training is to solidify the foundation called a ``base,'' and this base is cultivated by slow running in zone 2, where physiological stress is relatively low.
Regarding the importance of the base, Gordon et al. ``Think of a pyramid. The larger the base, the higher the pyramid can be, and the same is true for training. The stronger the base, the higher the pyramid. This allows for high-intensity training.'
Running in Zone 2 does not place much stress on the heart, but the amount of oxygenated blood pumped from the heart to the body is at or near maximum. In other words, even if you increase the intensity of your exercise further, the pumping ability of your heart, which is trained through training, will hardly change.
Experts say that building a solid base and allowing more oxygen to reach your muscles with each heartbeat is essential to running success.
◆Benefits of running slowly: Burning fat and improving your constitution
According to Gordon and colleagues, when you run at a slow pace, your body uses fat stored in your body for energy rather than carbohydrates ingested from meals.
Burning fat is an efficient process because the amount of energy you get from one molecule of fat is much greater than the energy you get from a molecule of carbohydrates. Being able to consume energy efficiently will reduce the accumulation of fatigue and improve performance on race day.
According to
'Performing most of your running at a low intensity may be optimal even for non-athletes,' Gordon et al.
◆Practical method of slow running
The most important thing when practicing slow running is to follow your own pace. Physiologically, Zone 2 exercise is defined as the lactic acid threshold , or the intensity of exercise at which lactic acid, which is produced when exercise burns carbohydrates, begins to accumulate in the blood. However, it is not possible to measure blood lactate levels by drawing blood while running.
A simpler criterion is whether you can hold a conversation while running. If you can speak out loud while running without having to struggle to catch your breath, you're at the right pace. On the other hand, if your breath increases or your legs feel heavy, this is a sign that lactic acid is starting to build up in your muscles.
At the end of the article, Gordon et al. say, ``Slow running has many benefits for both the mind and body.'' After hearing this story, even people who were embarrassed about their slow running pace will be inspired to put on their training shoes again. I think it will make you want to go for a run.'
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in Science, Posted by log1l_ks