Why you should run slowly: Running slowly is better for you than sprinting all the time.

This is the second installment of Good Fit, a column about exercise. In any case, a mix of both fast and slow workouts increasingly seems to be the best way to make you the best runner you can be, particularly since many of us lace up, as Williams used to, with the misguided idea that running will typically involve some “huffing and puffing.” As for what that mix should be, many running influencers who started popping up on my feed specifically reference a paradigm called “polarized training,” in which 80 percent of one’s workouts are done at a slow pace, and 20 percent at a rather hard pace. “Research exploring a polarized approach in recreational athletes has been limited because it’s actually proven hard to get recreational athletes to do easy runs or rides,” explains an article on Fast Talk Labs, a hub of science-backed training information for coaches that Seiler collaborates with. This is a cute idea of community, but Strava can also become a source of pain: “I’ve interacted with a lot of athletes who are embarrassed to have a slow run uploaded to Strava where everyone can see it,” says Matthew Fitzgerald, the author of 80/20 Running: Run Stronger and Race Faster By Training Slower, which is based on the principles in Seiler’s research. To soothe the competitive feelings that can come up during a slow run, Fitzgerald has a slogan: “slow run Wednesday, fast run race day.” This is hard to do: I have found myself actively haunted by splits I’ve seen friends and family upload to Meta’s various social media properties; on my own jogs I wonder why, if I spend so much time running, I’m not as “skilled” as they are at the sport.