Friday Ramble 04/22/22

This week: Knowing when it’s time to let the horses out of the barn, stuck inside of REI with those new watch blues again, and RP community shoutouts. 

We spend a lot of time in this newsletter extolling the virtues of easy running and for good reason. The general training rule of thumb is to keep 80 percent of your runs in the “easy” range. When you think about your weekly volume, that’s a lot of slower-paced miles. 

Whether you measure easy running by pace, heart rate, or some other variable, those easy runs feel controlled, comfortable, and conversational. This, I believe, is the single hardest concept for runners to grasp, which is why we spend so much talking about it. 

However. 

Every once in a while, there comes a point when all the training variables mesh perfectly with your mental vibrations and you decide to crank things up a notch just because you can. These times are rare, much rarer than we’d like to believe. 

Yet, like comets blazing across the sky, these precious moments are full of inspirational magic that linger long within the runner’s soul. You don’t want to pass these opportunities up, yet patience is often the name of the training game because discretion may lead to even bigger possibilities down the line.  

How do you know when the time is right to go with your flow? Consider these three questions before shifting into high gear.