Does this seem strange... (Read 824 times)

Not entirely strange. Your running mechanics can change at different paces so you might be stressing the knee when you run slower. I have had minor injuries that hurt less the faster I ran. I think it's common.

Your running mechanics can change at different paces so you might be stressing the knee when you run slower.

Very true, my wife is a case in point. She has suffered with IT band problems for the last 6 months. For the last 8 weeks or so she has opted for runs that involve her running at a very high speed for short periods (2-3 minutes) followed by 2 minutes of walking. Since doing these intervals not only has she become a speedy little thing, but her IT band hasn't been bothering her anymore. She is slowly weening her way back to constant running. Since doing these intervals she has increased her easy run pace from about 10:30/mile to around 9:00/mile. A nice little consequence of this injury I suppose. Anyway sorry for the highjacked thread, I just wanted to reiterate that biomechanics change as you slow down and speed up. As one runs faster they are *generally* forced to run in a more biomechanically efficient form.

McMillan's is a great tool, but this is one of those cases where you just have to listen to your body. As a new runner, you will start out with slower times, and this can artificially affect what should be your easy pace. If 11:00 feels better, do that.

Slow running is a very important part of any runners training so be careful about abandoning slow easy pace running. I would even go as far as saying for longevity and continued running success one cannot do without days of slow pace running. The big problem is that slow running can lead to poor running form so you have to be careful to pick your legs up and accentuate your fast running form while slow running just to make sure you are maintaining good and proper form.

One other thought.... the Macmillan is way off for me on just about everything. The training paces are not something I could stay within, and the estimates for my times at other distances based on one distance are not even close to my real times. There was another pace calculator out there... VDOT?... that I found to be more accurate for me in terms of both training pace and accurate projections.

Thanks to all the posters. I think I will run at MY slow pace, around 11:00, since that is what feels right, rather than the Macmillan prescribed slow pace. Honestly, when I tried to run 12:00, I thought I might be going backwards. Of course, that used to be my medium/fast pace when I first started! I think I was just thinking that is what I was supposed to do. I read a bunch of stuff about heart rate training, and it seemed like I should slow down based on that as well. However, I did a run the other day to try and see if I could determine my maximum heart rate, and it was MUCH higher than the crappy 226-your age formula. So, I think that indicates that my slower runs should be around 11:00 as well. Thanks again for all of the responses!