run slow, to run fast. Well, it depends...

Okay, I've teed myself up for a potential bashing with this title, but we're inundated with so much run slow to run fast generic chat online, that I thought it would be worth addressing this from my perspective, aligned a scientific and practical perspective.

We might know someone who has, or maybe it's you, who has bought a new pair of £150 running shoes, joined a local running group, and now your feed is exploding with terms like “Zone 2,” “tempo run,” and “maximise aerobic capacity.” As a beginner you soon end up panic googling: “What the heck is my lactate threshold"?

Relax. You’re not broken. You’re just new. And here’s the real truth:

If you’re a beginner, or someone who has run for a while, but hasn't progressed, or has regressed from time off - you don’t need zones. You need mileage. In this post, I'm diving into why “run slow to run fast” is brilliant advice only for some runners, and why it makes zero sense for others.

The Problem: We’re All Pretending to Be Pro Athletes

You are not an elite athlete. And that’s okay.

It’s like buying a £270 carbon plate shoe to jog-walk your local Parkrun, or run a 2:30 half marathon or 5 hour marathon. Technically, it gets the job done. But also… why?

Elite athletes run slow all the time. But they also train a lot — we’re talking 150 to 200 km per week, often with multiple sessions per day and naps that last longer than their sessions.

When they run slow, it's part of a carefully structured training cycle that includes hard days, threshold work, speed sessions, hill reps, and often, more massages than meals.

Now enter the beginner, who’s running three times a week for 20/30 minutes at a time, and already wondering if they can justify another GPS sports watch or power meter.” Beginners may feel very tired after a run, and that's normal too, it's new - it's meant to feel hard. But beginners are not overtraining due to this, they're under-frequenting.

So What Does “Slow” Even Mean?

“Run slow to run fast” makes perfect sense if you already run a lot, and need to manage fatigue, recovery, and long-term aerobic development.

But if you’re new? You don’t need to worry about running slow — because you already are, relatively speaking of course, (as slow is subjective to the individual) and there are massive gains to come with nothing more than consistency. Whether you are a highly trained athlete moving from another sport that isn't running, or are not aerobically strong - or a couch potato, you are still new and still "relatively" slow . Your body when you start, is literally figuring out how to run without sounding like a dying accordion. And that’s perfect, it's how it's meant to feel. You may be in zone 3 or zone 4, not that it even matters, just stick with it!

Beginner vs Experienced vs Elite: What "Slow" Running Means

Runner Type	Weekly Load	Purpose of Slow Running	Mistake They Often Make
Beginner / stagnator / regressor	0–30 km/week	Build consistency, adapt muscles, create habits	Overthinking heart rate zones instead of just running
Experienced	80–130 km/week	Recovery between harder sessions, aerobic base work	Racing every session because it “feels good”
Elite	150–200 km/week	Stay fresh for key workouts, maximise performance over time	Almost none – they’re basically robots

Controversial Truth: You’re Not Tired, You’re Just Undertrained

If you are a beginner, or remember what its like as a beginner, you know that feeling when you finish a 5K and you’re gasping like you just ran from a bear? That’s not because your lactate threshold is misaligned, or you were in a higher zone than you should have. It’s because you’re new. And new things feel hard.

Elite runners do slow runs not because they can’t go fast, or don't feel like it, but because they need to save the good stuff for actual race specific training. Their "slow" is your race pace or faster. Their race pace is your 100m sprint effort.

If you’re a beginner, running three times a week, your problem isn’t that you’re running too hard, or in the wrong zone — it’s that you’re not running enough to justify an easy “recovery pace.”

Stop Copying Runners With Different Homework

Think of it like this:

• Elite runners = doing a PhD in running

• Experienced runners = finishing their undergraduate degree, maybe preparing for a masters

• Beginners = just learning the alphabet

And beginners are often stressing because they wrote their first sentence and it doesn’t sound like Shakespeare.

What Beginners Should

Actually Focus On

All beginners, or those who have been dabbling at running inconsistently, and seeing no improvements need to:

1. Run, but more regularly. Aim for gradual progress to 3-4-5 times a week. Walk if you must. Just move. At the start, running more will allow you to develop the foundation and some speed gains without even trying to over-analyse it.

2. Ignore zones. Your “Zone 2” is basically “not dying.” Embrace that, just run with what feels manageable and sustainable.

3. Be consistent, not perfect. The graph of progress isn’t a straight line. It's a toddler with crayons and there's no timer on progress.

4. Feel it, don’t measure it. If you can talk a bit while running, you’re golden.

5. Enjoy it. Running doesn’t have to feel like a chore.

   
   

Why Two-Run-a-Week Clubs Are OFTEN Failing Beginners

Many local running clubs offer two weekly sessions, usually structured workouts like intervals or tempo runs. While great for seasoned runners, who blend this around good weekly mileage, this model can be risky for beginners or those returning from injury. It of course isn't the club's fault, but they should be encouraging all beginners to build in work around the club sessions to build strength, endurance and to develop their overall running musco-skeletal system and aerobic engine...

• Running just twice a week doesn’t provide the frequency needed to build strength, efficiency, or injury resilience. Adaptation requires steady, repeated exposure, and progressive overload, not sporadic effort.

  
  

• When training is limited to two club nights, intensity often creeps too high. Add a weekly Parkrun commonly treated as a hard 5K effort, and you now have three demanding runs with no aerobic foundation beneath these sessions to support you.

  
  

• Without a consistent base of easy, steady mileage, these high-effort runs pile up stress without building durability. It’s a fast track to burnout, stagnation, or injury, especially for less experienced runners.

  
  

• True structure isn’t just showing up twice a week. It means progressive training, gradually increasing volume, spreading effort, and allowing recovery. Two hard sessions and a Parkrun, can’t substitute for smart, consistent development. It would inevitably lead to injury or high drop offs as without the base to support this type of running and to aid recovery, it's unsustainable.

  
  

• Many times I've seen athletes I know, come back from a period of injury or time out from running, hit 3 challenging runs a week for a couple of weeks, through club training and parkruns as their way of "coming back" - have no easy running in between - and inevitably end up back on the physio table in less than a month.

wrapping it up

If you're just starting out, or coming back from a long spell on the sidelines, forget the tech. Forget the zones. Forget the people yelling about MAF and VO2. Because before you can run fast, you need to love (or maybe like) just running more. And before you love running, you need to stop trying to be perfect at it. When you develop consistency and you are able to handle your running in a progressive way, then you can start to think about bridging the long gap to becoming more experienced and knowing how to train with the variety and different stimulus you need.

If you're looking for a coach who understands that growth isn’t just about pace, it's about mindset, motivation, and building something sustainable, I'm here to help you run slow, or to just run more sustainably for a while longer, which is - by the way - perfectly fine. Then after some time, we can talk about running slow to run faster.