The question is will I burn more calories by running three miles at my top speed or slowing it down to a light jog assuming that I have to run the three miles.

 

The reason being is I have been told that to gain weight with my body type I should be doing very little cardio at all. Especially considering I won't have any problem passing the run on the PT test anyway. But some people have neglected to do individual PT so we are being forced to run as a squad twice a week rather than go to the gym on our own.

Well for starters you couldn't run 3 miles at your top speed, the lactic acid build up would be too much, however I will presume you mean the fastest you could run 3 miles.

 

It is a good question, I would say that you would burn more calories doing it slower, however you would probably burn more fat doing it slower, whereas you would burn more sugars and glycogen doing it faster.

 

It really depends what the purpose of the exercise is, that is of course if it has one and it isn't for its own sake.

 

It you are planning on doing a marathon then it would be better to do it slowly but if you were planning to sprint the 100meters, the faster would most likely be preferable.

 

Doing it faster would increase your overall cardiovascular system better however might not be so sustainable to do everyday where as the jogging would be, so each style has their own advantages.