 Speed. It's an essential element when it comes to running. We all like to run fast. We would like to run faster probably. And it's just because when things are moving by quicker it's just somewhat more satisfying. And so I just got back from a run now and my intention for today was to run as easy as possible. I had a hard day of training yesterday so today I needed my run to be super easy, non-taxing, just like a just getting some miles in, just getting some kilometers in without taxing my body too much. So I headed out and I was keeping an eye on my watch, keeping that pace super easy, as slow as I could depending on my heart rate, keeping it below about 70% of my max heart rate at all times. Now I made a realization, a big one. I was heading through the trails, right? Bam, bam, bam, all the different trails around this area. Forest, you know, trees are passing me by, there's all these roots that I have to jump over and you know it's interesting. And then I come down and onto the pavement, onto the road and immediately I'm feeling slow. Like when I was in the forest, when I was on the trail, I was like feeling fast even though I mean I was running pretty slow but I was feeling faster anyway than I was as soon as I got on that pavement. As soon as I got on the road it was like someone just put a flip the switch and I was just like boom, jelly, just like super, super duper slow. Yet my pace was the same or even a little bit faster. So what was going on there? And I realized what's going on. If you imagine sitting in a train looking at the window and then you go through a tunnel and imagine this tunnel is just like there's no themes or nothing like that. It's just like a white tunnel, endless, not endless but long. You look at the window it's very difficult to gauge your speed, right? I mean you're not really able to by looking at the window if there's just a tunnel to say are we going fast? Are we going slow? Then as soon as you get out of the tunnel and you can see all the trees flowing by and all the things passing by, see the landscape go by. Now all of a sudden you can better gauge your speed and you know it's kind of a similar thing that happens when you're out running. When you're in the forest you're passing by so many things. There's so many trees you're passing by. There's so many little rocks and things and stuff on the trail that you're looking at that constantly are passing by. So you feel like you're going faster than you actually are. As soon as you're on the road there's no obstacles it's just a flat road and you're just it's more monotonous and it's just like suddenly you're not able to feel fast anymore and you just realize how slow you're actually going. Well it's all relative anyway. The point of this video, the little takeaway message that I want to give you is run on the trails. I mean especially, I mean if you're fast, if you're really fast then going on the road can be fun for sure. You're just working hard going fast. But road running will always feel slower than trail running because of the principle that I just explained. So if you're a bit of a slower runner or maybe like me I'm still you know not super fast. I'm pretty slow actually in the grand scheme of things and especially on a day like this when I'm keeping it super easy I go pretty slow and so for me not to be frustrated by my slow speed I head out on the trails because there I forget about speed and it's more of a technical thing and it's more of a flow thing. Road running can be a little bit monotonous. I know when I'm on the road running I have a more difficult time keeping it slow and easy simply because slow and easy it just feels so utterly slow and I typically end up running a little bit harder than I should when I'm on the road. Of course if I'm looking to do a threshold session like the threshold session or a VO2 max workout or really hard running the road is really good for that because there's no obstacles and you can just go fast you know same thing with the track so there are times when you want to go on the road. The road is also good if you want to go on a kind of mindless run maybe listen to a podcast and just be like looking straight ahead rather than down no obstacles just easy easy running but if you're looking for an everyday run more or less an easy to moderate run and you're looking to get a little bit of excitement into that run not have that monotonous feeling that you get on the road I suggest you head out on the trail and just experience that flow state and that sort of intense experience that you can only get when you're flowing by all the trees the flowers the rocks the roots on the trails. Thanks for watching comment down below what you think about this topic do you feel the same do you feel like it's do you feel faster when you're on the trails tell me all about it please subscribe if you haven't done so already and maybe share this video with your friends you know if you think it was cool maybe put it on Facebook or something like that I think a lot of people could benefit from this advice you know knowing that running is a lot of fun all kinds of running but if you're a beginner or if you're slow or something or even just if you're fast even going in the forest going on the trails it's just another level of exciting and I think a lot of beginners they they feel running is a little boring because it's just slow and monotonous but they're talking about road running put those people on the trails and I think they would have a completely different experience. Thanks for watching. Bye now.