I started distance running about seven and a half years ago, and have only really liked it for about the last six months. You might ask yourself why I would bother, and the answer is that I have enjoyed:

• opportunities to spend time with friends
• increased fitness
• seeing beautiful places like the Zion backcountry, Maroon Bells, and many others that would otherwise take multi-day backpacking trips

However, I rarely enjoyed the physical act of running itself. Through a combination of ignorance and attempting to keep up with fitter friends, I always pushed close to my maximum sustainable effort. (Ironically over longer periods rather than sprints, which might actually have helped) This turns out to be the worst of all possible worlds, causing fatigue without efficiently triggering adaptation.

So, what changed? Simply put, I listened to advice from a friend and slowed down. Rather than listen to the voice that said “you’re not going fast enough”, I trained on heart rate rather than pace¹. It felt almost purposeless at first, but I was encouraged as I saw steady improvement over time. Following this high-volume, low-intensity program for 4 months, I completed my biggest day ever this October - rim to rim to rim at the Grand Canyon for about 52 miles, and still felt like running at the very end.

I don’t think it’s exaggeration to say that this has been life-changing. I’ve gone from seeing running as a means to an end to enjoying it for its own sake. It also doesn’t appear to be a fluke, as others I’ve told have experienced similar results. This gives me hope that it will be an integral part of my life into older age, with clear benefits in health and happiness.

If you’re interested in learning more about the evidence for this approach and implementation details, I recommend reading Training for the Uphill Athlete². Most of all, get out there and run! (but not too fast)