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Take a Lesson from Kenyans

A few years ago I spent a month in one of Kenya’s running hotbeds. Every run I did there with Kenyans began at a glorified stumble. On the first few, I couldn’t believe how slowly we were going. And this was with some of the best runners in the world—two of the guys I did several runs with have broken 13:00 for 5K, and many of the high school students I ran with have represented Kenya in international competitions.

Inevitably, the pace quickened. But it did so organically, not because someone checked her watch a mile into the run and said, “We’re running too slow, we better pick it up.” Over the first 15 or so minutes, I could tell we were running faster, but my effort level was the same. (We were running at 8,000 feet of elevation, and I live by the ocean in Maine, so I was acutely aware throughout my trip of the effects of altitude on my perceived effort.) By the last third of the run, we would be out and out moving, with the last few minutes at close to a race level of effort.

I’m certainly not saying to finish every run at a sprint. But these runs in Kenya were a revelation: There was never a point in the run where you could say, “Ah, now it’s suddenly gotten harder.” Day after day, some of the best runners in the world let their bodies tell them when it was time to go slow and when it was time to indulge in faster running.

: Joel Wolpert