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Comment by freestyle24147 | Hacker News Reader

You'll have to define easy. If you go faster, that means you're outputting more wattage per second. You may get there faster, but you've used up the new capacity that your body has developed so you're back to what are likely similar levels of discomfort.

By your definition, Usain Bolt running the fastest 100m time ever set by a human is having an easier time than me because I do it slower.

What most people mean by easier is that it "feels" easier: this would be accomplished by aiming to take the same amount of time even in the face of capacity increasing.

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> If you go faster, that means you're outputting more wattage per second.

It's not just a comparison of fast versus slow, it's also heavy versus lighter body weight. You can move faster at lower weights while spending the same amount of energy as someone moving more weight slowly.

The net result is that it's easier to run a fixed distance when you're in shape. The same energy output makes you move faster, making the run shorter in time duration, meaning you actually spend less energy.

Further, getting in better shape often coincides with improvements in metabolic efficiency, so you get further benefits.

Usain Bolt has exceptionally improved musculature and metabolism for sprinting over the standard person, so his maximum energy output results in an exceptional speed.

At that point, we aren't talking about equivalent energy outputs anymore, which means it isn't relevant to the "easier" qualifier.

Of course it's objectively easier, particularly if you hold some variables constant (distance or pace) relative to weight.

The wrinkle is that most runners run to a pain point. Over time, I went from neverrunning to running decent mileage per week, and my runs hurt _more_ now than they did when I started because I run to a pain point. I run further, faster, and more frequently and I have a higher pain tolerance, so it hurts more while I run and the recovery is rougher.

So my runs are at least as hard, but yes, I'd absolutely destroy the version of me that thought three miles was an accomplishment by any objective metric.

Thanks, this is what I was trying to articulate with my original comment. I've never heard of a runner who gets a little faster and decides "oh ok, I'll just take it easier now". You don't get fitter by training with respect to yesterday's fitness.

One thing that I think is important to note is that a lot of people in this position aren't going to be wanting to become Runners with a capital R - they're going to be looking for the minimal effective dose to be healthy. Some, of course, will catch the bug and enjoy it enough and start to push themselves, but there are a lot of people who just go find some recommended weekly amount from the american cardiovascular society or something they heard on a podcast and set that as their goal and have no desire to move past it.

force = mass * acceleration

work = force * displacement

work = mass * acceleration * displacement

lower mass, less work.

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