That allowed the scientists to look at a “much broader cross section of humanity,” she says.

By using wearable devices, the researchers could track many more runs, across more real-life conditions than is possible in a lab. Most related research, Selinger says, has been done in university laboratories, with study subjects who are generally younger and healthier than the general population.

This new research, she says, is “talking about preference, not performance.” Researchers have thought that running was performance-driven, says Melissa Thompson, a biomechanist at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., who was not involved in the new study. But no matter participants’ age, weight or sex - or whether they ran only a narrow range of distances or runs of varying lengths - the same pattern showed up in the data repeatedly. The runners ranged in age from 16 to 83, and had body mass indices spanning from 14.3 to 45.4. “That speed is the one where you’re actually burning fewer calories.” “There is a speed that for you is going to feel the best,” Selinger says.

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