Run as You Feel, But...

"Run as you feel" is a great mantra. I use it a lot (sometimes to justify my lazy ass slow pace). It tends to keep me injury-free and stress-free. I've now revised my mantra: "Run as you feel, but if you feel good, run faster!" If you are running nice and easy, feeling great, why not pick up the pace? Doesn't have to be a sprint, but slowly pick it up. You'll get an increased training stimulus and likely still feel great at the end of the run. Maybe better than if you stayed at your "comfortable, feel-good" pace. You still need to work yourself into that faster pace. Start slow and easy ("run as you feel"), but eventually you'll feel pretty darn good...then pick up the pace! If you never feel that great, keep at your comfortable easy pace for the whole run.

Easy, eh? Run as you feel, but if you feel good, run faster.

I was looking at running posters the other day and found one that said "Run until you feel your lungs bleeding." That seems a bit extreme. I'll just stick with running a little faster when I feel good. Maybe I'm just soft, but I like to keep my lungs from bleeding.