I have good days and bad days when it comes to my (almost) daily runs. Some days I feel like I can conquer the world and other days I have difficulty even getting out the front door to make it happen. I have a strategy on those "weaker" days though and it seems to work for me and i think it can for other people.
In many ways I feel as though tracker apps, particularly things like Garmin watches can actually ruin rather than enhance a run because it can actually make you feel bad about how "bad" you are doing compared to your personal bests and what your watch is demanding of you. Most days I use this as motivation to pick up the pace, but as most runners have experienced, some days I just don't have it in me and it is at these times that I leave my Garmin at home so it can stop pestering me about how I am not moving "fast enough."
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There are a lot of studies and articles out there (such as this one) that explain that not only are "easy running days" acceptable, but they are actually beneficial to overall running gains.
Let's face it: We can't all beat our personal best every single day, especially when you get to be a bit older like I am. My knees and back hurt the moment after and the morning after a hard run, and my natural lazy side that we are all victim to every now and then, makes me feel compelled to not go at all when I remember the rigors of the day previous.
For most people who run on a daily basis, running isn't actually difficult unless you are trying to improve your pace... If you just get out there and get into a rhythm and simply go for it and don't pay any attention to pace or distance and maybe just take in the scenery, you are still benefitting yourself a lot more than you would be if you were at home on the sofa watching Netflix.
Take yesterday for example: It was truly difficult for me to get motivated to run at all after work but then a message came in from a friend about how "his run sucked" and I was thinking to myself that mine is going to suck worse if I don't even do one, so I walked out the door with my phone and went for a rather weak but still relevant 5k or so.
I paid no attention to my pace or my distance but just hit the bricks and did more of a jogging sight-seeing tour than any sort of training. I never looked at my phone for my pace or distance and I took a totally different route than I normally would to mix things up a bit and also to not be judging myself for how far I was going. I had no idea how far I had gone when I eventually ended back at my house.
By the time I was done I finally looked at my Strava stats and saw (unsurprisingly) that I was a full minute over my usual average pace and nearly 2 minutes off my personal best.... and this is just fine.
I say that because my alternative was to sit on the sofa and do nothing and as they say "the only bad workout is the one you didn't do." Had it not been for my friend sending me that message I might not have gone out at all, but because of him, I went for a "stroll" rather than for a "run."
Herein lies the truth behind becoming a better runner: Not every day has to be a competition between you and yourself - sometimes you just need to get out there and run. I am more of a "no rest day" kind of guy when it comes to running but that doesn't mean that i have to be pushing the limits every single time I walk out that door.
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Even if you are not pushing it, you are still keeping your body improving and who knows? Maybe later on down the line your "easy day" run will be the same as your personal best! There's no reason that it couldn't be because just doing something rather than sitting down is going to be beneficial for you.
I have only been running regularly for about a year and a half and I have to say that these "easy days" are actually something I look forward to and on rare occasions I actually find myself doing just as well on what I planned on being my light runs as I would normally do. Sometimes it is better to not be able to see the clock and just see what happened after it is all over. You never know what could happen but one thing is for sure, you definitely are not going to do well at the finish line if you never start!