Among endurance athletes, I'm probably the last in line to come to this blinding revelation, and on Valentines Day of all days!
The story starts with me going to the gym during my lunch break, ready to log some miles on the treadmill, and realizing that I didn't have my inhaler for my asthma. Cold weather seems to heighten the tightness, and going inside to work out doesn't seem to make much difference.
Add to the mix some dead lifts and squats as a warm-up (and to fully engage all fat-burning senses) and I could have been in trouble.
Instead, I decided to keep my heart rate in the aerobic capacity zone and get a solid workout in despite the shortcomings I brought to the table.
It was a little awkward to go slower than I'm used to going, but watching over my heart-rate, trying to keep it in a certain range actually freed me up to monitor and tweak my body mechanics, and once I settled into a zone, I could actually increase the cadence without increasing my heart-rate. Still not as fast as normal, but it suddenly made sense to me why people train this way. Listening to your body, rather than always forcing your preconceived will on it lends to going harder and faster with less effort. Getting to this stage will take time, but as a friend just said, only races have finish lines. In other words, there are no finish lines in training. We workout and tweak our workouts to become more effective, more efficient, more durable. And nothing, except maybe Kevlar, makes you more durable than a healthy heart.
Try it, if you haven't already, and let me know how you feel.
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