Musings on pain, speed, and energy

So – I believe it was in the Laurel Highlands race report that Pat McHenry posted not too long ago that energy and pain were not necessarily related – that is, one could be experiencing discomfort or pain but still have energy and keep running. 

I thought this was a really cool observation, and based on my last couple of runs wanted to throw in another observation – which is, how little speed can sometimes correlate with any or all of the following:  pain, speed, energy, and perceived effort. 

As a shorter distance runner, when I was doing something like 20-30 miles per week, once I started doing lots of races I had the idea that every run had to really maximize effort – with the exception of my long runs, and even those I felt had to be at a certain speed to be considered “good” training runs.  It was only starting last summer when I began seriously increasing my mileage that I started regularly running at the pace my body wanted to run rather than try to make each run as fast as I could make it – with the exception of perhaps 1 workout every week or 2 that was specifically speed focused. 

In general, my runs got slower.  But also, in general, my recovery got significantly better, runs were more enjoyable, and when I try for speed, I can often run faster than I previously could before I built up my base.  All good things. 

So – back to the observation.  In prep for my upcoming 100 miler deflowering, I’ve been putting in big mileage.   And lately, it has often been slow mileage.  For my boat running, if the track distance was really what it said it was, I was running 11+ minute miles when my general slow comfy speed is 10:30/10:40.    These days, any runs where my “comfortable” pace is less than 10:15 I feel are pretty damn zippy for me. 

So – the interesting part is this.  Today’s 9 mile run, my perceived effort was perhaps 2 on a scale of 1-10.  That is, I was intentionally going “slow”, as I’m feeling pretty beat up.  Pain level was probably 5-7 as I have this chronic and constant hip tightness that just was nagging and made me uncomfortable for the entire run.  Energy?  I did not feel like I had much at all.  Pace?  Average of 10:05, with a couple of miles where it was in the 9’s. 

Huh?  Low perceived effort, no energy, high pain…  and decent (for me) speed. 

I have alternatively had other runs that just feel great – no pain, lots of energy, which end up being a bit slower.

I just don’t get how they all work together.  Except – maybe all my heavy mileage and recent hill workouts have just made me faster, and perhaps I’ll go out on a day where I DO have energy and pound out a bunch of 9:30’s.

Reminds me of something one of my running pals said – which is, his fastest marathons were not his hardest marathons.  They were the fastest because those runs were easy to run fast.

Curious to hear other’s experience on how these things do and don’t tie together.