Glossary

Easy pace

What it is

The pace you could hold for a long time and still talk. Daniels puts it at 59 to 74% of your aerobic capacity, which is a wide band on purpose.

In practice it is a range, not a number.

What it is not

It is not "marathon pace plus 90 seconds". That rule circulates widely and breaks at both ends of the field. Whether a marathon goal is realistic at all is a different five-input question. For a 3-hour marathoner it is roughly right. For a 5-hour marathoner it produces an easy pace slower than walking.

It is also not a pace you must never exceed. A hill or a hot day will push you past it. Effort is what you are holding steady, not the number.

What moves it

• Fitness. As you get faster, easy gets faster too.
• Heat and humidity. Expect to slow 3 to 5% on a hot day at the same effort.
• Terrain. On a climb, easy pace can be two minutes per kilometre slower.
• Fatigue. After a hard week, easy is slower. That is the system working.

When to ignore it

Ignore the pace number entirely when you are new. Use the talk test and walking breaks, and let the pace be whatever it is.

Ignore it on a treadmill, on trails, and in wind. The effort is the target; the pace is just how the effort showed up that day.

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