Whether you want to improve your 5k time or simply know what an ‘easy’ run should feel like to you, this quick and simple hack may be the key. 

Every running expert I chat to these days has the same piece of advice for improving running speed and comfort: slow down. Or more accurately, run really slow or run really fast.

You want to run your easy runs easy and your hard runs hard. But even when I try to vary my speeds, Strava tells me that I’m more or less running everything at the same pace – whether that’s a gentle 5k, a tempo run or a longer effort. I just can’t seem to speed up or slow down, and as a result, my running is stalling. Every outing feels rusty and even when I want to push, I can’t.  

To break the impasse, I’ve decided to turn to my trusty old Garmin. To boost my fitness, inspiration and speed, I need a programme that forces me to run at different tempos – and that’s easiest done via my watch. Plenty of other trackers have similar options: Fitbit Premium offers various running programmes, as does Polar. And there are loads of free training plans online too.  

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I’ve set my programme to get me to run a sub-1:45 half marathon by mid-April. It’s suggested four runs a week, most of which are easy efforts, with a few tempo and interval workouts thrown in.

But before I can get started, Garmin demands that I do a ‘baseline’ run.  

What is a baseline run?

“Baselining is the act of seeing where you are/how you perform against a repeatable measure,” explains Anthony Fletcher, co-founder and coach at One Track Club. “You may have a particular route that you run or a track or a treadmill speed that you can use to test yourself.”

Before you can really get working on achieving a particular goal, you need to know where you’re currently at. It’s no good saying that you’ll do a 20-minute 5k by Easter Parkrun if you’re struggling to do a 6-minute kilometre now, for example.

Baseline runs not only help you to assess what your fitness and strength are like now, but they also allow a really simple way of testing your progress as you work to meet that end goal.

That might mean setting a particular speed on the treadmill and every month, coming back to see if you can hold that speed for a few minutes longer. Perhaps it’s running round the park for 10 minutes and seeing if you can go that little bit further each time you test it.

Using these kinds tests, Fletcher believes, can help us to “predict(ish) things like V02 max and race times”.

My tracker suggested the following baseline run:

1. 2 minutes jog/walk warm-up
2. 5 minutes ‘hard’ run
3. 2 minutes jog/walk cool-down 

The idea is that for five minutes, I run strong – and that’s something I can test again and again over the next few months. You don’t even need a tracker to this particular test: if you set a stopwatch and run for five minutes one day, all you have to do is be able to run a few paces further the next time you try it.

I start by jogging down my road onto a flat, long path and as the seconds tick down towards that five-minute hard run, I put on my race playlist. As luck would have it, a pair of male runners scoot past and inadvertently become excellent pacers. All I have to do is keep them in my eyeline for two songs. 

At the end of the run, I look at my stats and see that I’ve run the fastest kilometre for months. It actually feels really good to run faster.

The next day, I log into my Garmin app to check out the programme it put together off the back of my baseline run. I’m surprised – given the speed at which I managed to run the test  – just how slow it’s set my easy runs. In fact, those easy runs are around the same speed as I used to move at when I first got into running. 

When I go out for my first easy 30-minute session, I find it really hard to slow down to the speed it’s asking me to run at. However, I feel really refreshed at the end of the workout and I know that had I wanted to finish with a sprint, I’d have had plenty of energy to do that. The next day, I’m able to tackle a more intense workout.

How to set up your own baseline run

Fletcher says that the easiest baseline run that they use at One Track is the ‘Cooper 12-minute run’. It’s best done on a track or flat, quiet route. Here’s how to do it:

Getting set up

1. Wear a heart rate monitor, have a timer or a countdown on your watch
2. Start with a good warm-up, building to a reasonable pace or intensity
3. When you get up to a comfortable pace, stop and have a five-minute rest

The test

1. Run as far as you can in 12 minutes – aiming to be as evenly paced as possible.
2. After the run is finished, see how far you travelled and – if you have access to these stats – have a look at your average and max heart rate.
3. Repeat periodically to see how training is influencing your performance.

“This test has been well documented as a good predictor of V̇02 max,” Fletcher explains. “The only issue with any test is familiarity. We generally see people needing to do the 12-minute run once or twice before we see what they are truly capable of.” 

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How accurate are baseline runs?

I wanted to do a baseline run to work out what hard, easy and tempo runs should feel like for me if I want to meet my particular goal. Because I had a watch doing the hard stuff (ie planning the programme), that baseline served a particular purpose.

But Fletcher warns that if you’re looking use a baseline run to chart progress, then a one-time test might not give you the intel you need. He says that one baseline test might not be enough because we all respond to tests differently. “For example, Athlete A might do well against Athlete B in the 12-minute run but Athlete B outperforms them in a three-minute run. We all have our strengths and weaknesses,” he tells Stylist. In other words, just because you found a five-minute baseline run really hard, that might not mean you’re unfit or not ready to start training for something longer.

There may be better ways to test speed

Instead, Fletcher says we’re better off thinking about training and intensity zones – listening to our body more rather than trying to hold a certain pace. An easy run should mean working at an intensity of under 5/10, and that matters more than trying to hold a particular speed.

“We’re human, and we are subject to variability outside of our control. Our natural variability in VO2 max can be up to 5% different day to day and that is going to have a large impact on training and being able to hold certain paces.

“If we can learn more about what ‘easy’ should feel like rather than what it should look like then I think people would enjoy running more.”

Images: Getty

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