Several years ago, a training partner of mine lost some motivation and went from running 70 to 80 miles a week to half that. After a couple years at the lower mileage, he got inspired to return to his former mileage. When he got back to his old mileage, we were out for a run one day when he voiced a great truism: In some ways, he said, it’s easier to run more than less.
What he meant is that as you get fitter, each individual run becomes less taxing. As you get fitter, your normal workaday runs feel more like they happen on their own, and you’re just along for the ride.
You pass through certain thresholds of fitness as you start running more. What used to be a big deal, maybe a 10-mile run, becomes more like a normal day. The miles just sort of start accumulating on their own. If you run significantly less than usual for even a few days, you start to feel off, you start to lose the overarching rhythm to your running, and your body becomes eager to get back to what has become its higher-mileage set point.
If you’ve never experienced the feeling of being so fit that it’s easier to run more than less, let me assure you it’s worth working for.