I’m a casual runner so maybe this is a stupid question, but the more I get into running the more I’m finding it hard to run at any pace other than the one I settled into.
If I run slower or faster, it’s moderated by my stride length, but my feet hit the ground in sync with a 145BPM. If my feet are hitting the ground at anything other than 145BPM it just feels wrong.
I now have a spotify playlist with about a dozen running songs at as close to 145BPM as possible (as little as 2 BPM deviation feels rushed or dragging).
Is this just a mental thing? Is it a bad habit to settle into? Am I alone in this?
It’s probably habitual, since there’s no practical reason I’m aware of that a runner has to be locked into such a specific pace, but as long as you feel comfortable running at that speed, I don’t see why there would be any problem with it.
Walking, jogging and sprinting, each speed is using your muscles differently, so the speed that you’ve settled into is probably just the speed you’ve practiced the most, so it feels the most correct to you, which is fine as long as you feel comfortable at that pace and you aren’t pushing yourself too hard.
I just jog at whatever feels comfortable, I never try to push myself and stress out my body unless I feel like it, which does sometimes happen.
I’ll occasionally feel like sprinting, pitching up the pace or walking and I’ll sprint for a couple blocks or something or walk if I need to work a muscle out or if I’ve just been running for a while and want to break, but I usually just stay at my pace that feels like feel-good exercise and not work.
I guess I’m really just landing on listening to your own body and going with what feels comfortable and healthy.
It’s what I kind of mentally tagged as my “forever pace” - the pace I can go at steadily for an hour or 2 without having to stop for breaks. I can go slower if I force myself to but it takes a conscious effort and pulls me out of the zone. I’m already at a snails pace (at least it feels like it to me).
I only noticed the 145bpm thing by accident when I was suddenly stepping in time to one of my favorite running songs (Antireal by Glitch Mob) and realized it would help me keep at my “forever pace” and from straying into going too fast and then getting winded or gassing out, which I would do when I first started going on runs instead of walks. Then it really helped me get into a zone, and it’s been 145bpm ever since lol.
Cool, it sounds like you figured out what works for you, I wouldn’t change anything beyond that.
Preferring a particular pace doesn’t seem weird at all to me, I definitely know when I’m jogging at my own pace, and am aware if I’m going slower or faster than it, even though I haven’t tracked it down to a BPM.