Tempo and Efficiency

During today's run I realized the key to a more successful run is the tempo or speed. It can't be too slow or I feel like it's dragging and I'm out of my natural rhythm or cadence. If I travel along too quickly of course then my lungs burn. I monitored my heart rate with my monitor and it averaged 158 at a pace of 8.16 min miles. I consider this pace to be respectable and it was much easier then slower paces over 8.45 min miles and certainly anything over 9 min miles. I recall when training for my first marathon during my studies it talked about how even the most elite athletes respect marathon times of over 5 hours because the strength it requires to keep moving that long. It acknowledged the mental and physical toll it takes on the person and how it taps the deepest parts of the human energy reserves. Elite athletes finish in half that time. Anyway the point here is that too slow diminishes the quality of my run physically and mentally. Too fast and it gets away from me and consumes too much O2. So, lesson for now, find your special pace. It will fluctuate based on conditions but the flow is right there waiting for you to step up into your person comfort zone just beyond easy and just out of the reach of exhaustion.