Every workout can be enjoyable if you run within your boundaries. Begin even a few seconds per mile too quickly, and agony awaits: excessive exhaustion, loss of motivation, or even injury. That is why it is critical to understand what pace is best for you. Fortunately, by performing a simple “magic mile” time trial, you can determine the ideal speed for your runs, set reasonable goals, and continue running—enjoyably—forever.
A jog is an enjoyable way for many recreational runners to stay fit and burn calories. However, it turns out that people prefer to settle into the same, comfortable pace on short and long runs — and that speed is the one that reduces their body’s energy expenditure over a given distance.
“I was genuinely startled,” says Jessica Selinger, a biomechanist at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada. “Intuitively, I would have assumed that people run quicker over shorter distances and slower over longer distances.”
Selinger and colleagues merged data from over 4,600 runners who completed 37,201 runs while wearing a fitness tracker called the Lumo Run with lab-based physiology data. The study, published in Current Biology, also demonstrates that running faster or slower than one’s optimum speed consumes more energy.
The study is messier than lab data since it involves a wide range of situations and does not control for factors like fasting before running. There is a speed that for you is going to feel the best. That speed is the one where you’re actually burning fewer calories.
Jessica Selinger
“There is a speed that for you is going to feel the best,” Selinger says. “That speed is the one where you’re actually burning fewer calories.”
The runners ranged in age from 16 to 83, with BMIs ranging from 14.3 to 45.4. However, regardless of the participants’ age, weight, or gender, or whether they ran only a limited range of distances or runs of varied lengths, the same trend appeared in the data repeatedly.
According to Melissa Thompson, a biomechanist at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, who was not involved in the new study, researchers previously believed that running was performance-driven. She claims that the current study is “about preference, not performance.”
According to Selinger, the majority of related research has been conducted in university laboratories, with study subjects who are generally younger and healthier than the general population. The researchers could track many more runs in real-life situations by utilizing wearable gadgets than is possible in a lab. This enabled the researchers to examine a “far bigger cross section of humanity,” she says. Treadmill studies assessing energy use at various speeds with participants representative of those in the fitness tracker data were utilized to establish the most energy-efficient speeds.
The study is messier than lab data since it involves a wide range of situations and does not control for factors like fasting before running. Nonetheless, the sheer volume of real-world runs captured by the wearable devices supports a convincing general rule about how humans run, according to Rodger Kram, a physiologist at the University of Colorado Boulder who was not involved in the study. “I believe the rule is correct.”
The findings do not apply to very long runs when exhaustion sets in, or to race performance by professional athletes or others who intentionally train for speed. And a runner’s optimum pace can fluctuate over time due to factors such as training or age.
There are some fast ways for folks who want to speed up and burn more calories to temporarily overpower their body’s natural inclinations: Listen to lively music or jog beside someone who moves quicker, suggests Selinger. “However, it appears that your choice is to revert to that optimum.”
You’ll get the best results in a race if you aim to keep a consistent pace from start to finish. Here’s how you can practice: Try to run your goal race pace for half to three-quarters of a mile once a week. Check your pace every quarter mile and make any necessary adjustments.
The findings reflect studies of optimal pacing in animals such as horses and wildebeests, as well as how humans tend to walk at a tempo that reduces their individual energy expenditure.
According to coauthor and Stanford University biomechanist Scott Delp, “it seems sense that humans would be designed to run at an optimum speed for minimal energy use.” Consider yourself an early human ancestor out hunting challenging prey. “It could be days before I get my next meal,” he admits. “So I want to expend the least amount of energy getting there.”
