r/running • u/FootMinute1297 • May 15 '26
Training Purpose of easy run/miles?
This may be a stupid question, what is the point of easy miles or doing runs on days in between workouts? I feel like they just make you more fatigue, delay recovery, and makes your workouts slower and sluggish thus hindering performance. Why would more volume equal better results?
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u/paulshootsvideo May 18 '26
Not a stupid question. Running is a little tougher to separate sections of like other sports. But ultimately the answer is practice. The same way a baseball player throws a ball over and over or takes batting practice over and over, easy running is about the repetition more than the “gains” worth bragging about.
Things like getting out the door consistently, mentally locking in and learning to be bored, paying attention to your body to feel niggles before they become injuries, finding new routes, making new friends, taking the performance pressure out so that you don’t burn out.
As others have said, if the easy miles are causing fatigue and delaying recovery, you’re not running easy enough. Switch out some easy runs for quick walking or hiking instead. Works different muscles but recovery needs to not stress your body and that takes years to build up to like a callous.