As a novice in running, I was wondering why I saw my performance plateau.

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I thought I was training smart—consistent, pushing myself just enough—but my running plateaued. I thought I had my body and rhythm figured out. So why didn't I seem to get fitter?

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Lactate threshold testing revealed that I ran “hard” too often and my “easy” days weren’t nearly easy enough for me.

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What?! Weren't you supposed to feel kinda sorta out of breath the whole time? Isn't that the whole point of running? Turns out, that's probably the most inefficient way to train.

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I went down a rabbit hole of researching the science here…Visually delightful explainers have fueled my enthusiasm and curiosity for science. I think making information intuitive, impactful, and beautiful, is not only entertaining - but necessary.

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In the spirit of digesting what I learned to encourage the running-curious and running-enthusiast, here is my take. I’m no artist (yet), but it was a fun thing to make.

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Happy mitochondria-growing*, dear friends!! DONT BE AFRAID TO GO EASY!

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*mitochondrias reside in your Sponge and enumerate as you gain aerobic fitness 😛