Mistakes That New Marathon Runners Make: Why Your Easy Runs Are Wrong

WHY YOUR EASY RUNS AREN’T ACTUALLY EASY

Running your easy runs too fast is the single biggest reason recreational marathon runners plateau and get injured. Most of you have never had a real definition of “easy.” You run by feel, you let your pace drift up as your legs warm up, and you hold pace when a hill or a headwind pushes your effort higher. None of that is easy running. What you’re actually doing is training in the grey zone — that no-man’s-land between easy and hard that delivers minimal recovery and minimal adaptation. You finish the run tired enough to compromise your next session, but not hard enough to get faster. It’s the worst of both worlds, and it’s why so many first-time marathoners hit a wall in training long before race day. If you want your hard sessions to actually be hard and your easy days to actually let you recover, you need a real standard for what easy means — not a vibe.

THE 3 WAYS RUNNERS BLOW UP THEIR EASY PACE

There are three specific failure points where easy runs turn into grey-zone runs. First, runners let pace creep as the legs loosen up — you start at a sensible effort, then unconsciously speed up over the middle miles because it “feels good.” Second, runners chase a fixed pace number regardless of conditions, so hills, heat, wind, or fatigue push effort well above easy even though the watch says the same pace as last week. Third, runners treat every run as a chance to prove fitness — ego pace, essentially — where ticking off a session slower than a training partner or a Strava segment feels like a step backward, so they push. Each of these mistakes has the same result: you arrive at your key sessions carrying fatigue you didn’t need to carry, and your body never gets the low-stress aerobic stimulus that easy running is actually designed to provide.

WHAT EASY IS SUPPOSED TO FEEL LIKE

Jack Daniels’ Running Formula is one of the most respected training systems in the sport, and it’s specific about what easy pace should feel like: comfortable, conversational, and clearly below the effort where you’re working hard to hold form. The simplest tool for checking this in real time is the talk test — if you can’t speak in full sentences without gasping, you’re not running easy, full stop. This isn’t about hitting a number on your watch. It’s about effort matching the purpose of the run. Easy days exist to build aerobic capacity, encourage capillary development, and let your body absorb the harder sessions in your week — none of which happens if you’re running at 80% of your hard-day effort. Use the talk test on every easy run until judging effort correctly becomes second nature.

HOW TO FIX YOUR NEXT EASY RUN

Start your next easy run 10-15 seconds per kilometre slower than you think you need to. Check yourself against the talk test in the first kilometre and again at the halfway point — if you can’t hold a conversation, back off immediately rather than “settling in.” On hills, wind, or hot days, let your pace slow and hold your effort steady instead of forcing the same number you’d run on flat, calm conditions. And drop the ego — an easy run that looks slow on Strava but leaves you fresh for tomorrow’s session is doing its job. Get this right consistently and you’ll notice your quality sessions get sharper, your recovery improves, and the plateau that’s been holding your marathon training back starts to shift.

Personalised coaching means your plan adapts every 6 weeks based on what’s actually happening in your training — not what a generic plan assumes your easy pace should be.