Easy training is meant to feel restorative.

In this solo episode, I explore a feeling many runners carry quietly: guilt when training feels easy. The sense that if a run doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t quite count. That we haven’t earned it.

We unpack where that belief comes from, how endurance culture and comparison shape our relationship with effort, and why ease can feel undeserved even when we know it’s essential.

I also share personal reflections from my time training in Chamonix as a full-time athlete, and a moment on an easy run that turned into something else entirely, driven by ego and the need to prove commitment.

This episode isn’t about justifying easy days.

Why easy training can feel emotionally uncomfortable

How guilt creeps into rest and recovery

The influence of comparison and endurance culture

When effort becomes a measure of self-worth

Reframing easy training as a skill, not a weakness

If this episode resonates, take a moment on your next easy run to notice what comes up. Sometimes the most important work isn’t visible.

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I also write regularly on Substack, sharing longer-form reflections on running, training, and the wider ultra life:

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