David Roche is probably my favorite writer on the subject of running. He keeps things real, has a sense of humor I connect with, and has a tremendous amount of running knowledge we can all learn from.

His article titled The Art Of The Easy Shuffle is about a philosophy that has not only helped me personally, but also many of our coaching clients on their running journeys.

Contrary to what some people think about runners (or what some runners even believe), you shouldn’t try to beat records every time you run. Not only is it stressful on your body (and can lead to injuries), it’s stressful on your mind to muster up the motivation to knock out mile after mile, day after day at *insert your hard effort pace here*.

Here’s how David describes shuffling:

“A shuffle is as slow as you need to go to make a run purely easy. Multiple minutes per mile slower than marathon pace is a solid ballpark, but it will vary by the person. Usually, it will be slower relative to race pace for athletes who train higher volumes (like Desisa or Kipyego). For perspective, I have seen athletes who race marathons at close to 5-minutes-per-mile pace do some easy runs at 8-to-10-minute pace, but I probably wouldn’t suggest an athlete who races a marathon at 8-to-10-minute pace do easy runs at 16-to-20-minute pace, when form may start to break down.”

That doesn’t sound too daunting right? And it shouldn’t. Sometimes it’s hard to get out the door for a run. Knowing you don’t have to push it, or even run at a moderate pace, and instead get to shuffle, is all the motivation we need to actually get our running shoes on…and proceed to begin running 🙂

Here’s one of my favorite paragraphs in his article, again, my kind of humor so I’m sorry if it doesn’t resonate with you!

“Shuffles are most beneficial in times of elevated stress. For example, perhaps you suddenly have to homeschool your kids and you realize that what passes for elementary school math nowadays is a mix of hieroglyphics and logic puzzles that may actually be an elaborate practical joke. Or maybe you’re in the midst of a hard training cycle and you need pure recovery with a mix of aerobic support (like Desisa, whose shuffles came between tough workouts).”

I find myself laughing quite a bit reading his articles!!

When I have shuffle days incorporated into my training program, it’s almost like looking forward to a fun vacation. Not that I don’t fully enjoy doing a hard workout, but there’s something about running really easy that is pure bliss – especially when your body needs it!

If you fall into the group that loves to run hard every day, I say good work and keep at if that’s what you love – everyone is different! For others, I invite you to give shuffling a try sometime and see it how goes…it may just lead you to run more often or decrease your injury rate – both sound great to me!