RunningAHEAD - Topic: Anyone in the same boat?

stargirl2060

posted: 12/1/2012 at 8:29 PM

My boat is barely staying afloat. (I didn't mean to make that rhyme!) My best 3 mile run has been 34:36 (my first 3.1 was in the high 47s in August.) This winter, my first winter running, (I started at the end of June not being able to run a minute,) I'm just going to be running 4 miles, 6 times a week. I want to eventually make it 5 miles a day. My 4 mile training runs can take anywhere from the 53 minute range (only did that once) to just over an hour. I don't want to call it running. It is painfully slooooooow. When I speed up, my mind tells me that I can't do it and I subconsciously slow down. Anyone else with me here?

top_cheddar

Thats rad

posted: 12/1/2012 at 8:32 PM

I used to be in the same boat. Just remember, getting your base miles in is important, but if you don't push yourself, you're never going to get better. As my dad told me before I went out into double-overhead surf, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained".

FlippyNoodle

Not a dude

posted: 12/1/2012 at 8:38 PM
modified: 12/1/2012 at 8:38 PM

Keep working at it. You will get faster. Maybe so you can train yourself not to be scared of going a little faster, you might add in some fartleks on one of your runs each week. Fartleks are where you speed up a bit for awhile and then slow back down to your easy pace. They aren't structured like intervals and there are no rules as to how much to decrease your pace or anything like that. It will get your body slowly adjusted to running a little faster and might help your mental blocks on that too. Good luck!!

sugnim

posted: 12/1/2012 at 8:46 PM

It'll happen. Try to focus on the improvements you've already made. For example, you said you started running in June; that means you are already 100% faster and stronger than you were at this time last year. And, in the 6 months that you've been running, you've managed to improve your 5k time by over 10 minutes! Those are huge accomplishments, and you are doing great. Don't be discouraged, not at all. Be proud of your accomplishments, and try to look forward to the challenges ahead.

Half of running is a mental game. Your mind isn't telling you anything; you ARE your mind, and you can tell yourself anything you want to. Try playing a game of fartlek when you run. Say, I will run fast until I get to that tree, then I can slow down. After you do that, return to a comfortable pace & congratulate yourself on the speed you just ran at. Run a while more, and then play the same game again. You will get faster.

spaniel

Feeling the growl again

posted: 12/1/2012 at 8:54 PM

Quote from stargirl2060 on 12/1/2012 at 8:29 PM:

My boat is barely staying afloat. (I didn't mean to make that rhyme!) My best 3 mile run has been 34:36 (my first 3.1 was in the high 47s in August.) This winter, my first winter running, (I started at the end of June not being able to run a minute,) I'm just going to be running 4 miles, 6 times a week. I want to eventually make it 5 miles a day. My 4 mile training runs can take anywhere from the 53 minute range (only did that once) to just over an hour. I don't want to call it running. It is painfully slooooooow. When I speed up, my mind tells me that I can't do it and I subconsciously slow down. Anyone else with me here?

Are you pushing yourself according to the clock every run?

"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

wcrunner2

Are we there, yet?

posted: 12/1/2012 at 9:11 PM

Quote from stargirl2060 on 12/1/2012 at 8:29 PM:

My boat is barely staying afloat....I'm just going to be running 4 miles, 6 times a week.

I think I'd feel the same way if I ran the same distance, pace, and route every day. I like variety.

2024 Races:

03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles

05/11 - D3 50K
05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour

06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.

Arimathea

Tessa

posted: 12/1/2012 at 9:53 PM

Change up! Run a different route. Go at varying times of the day. See if you can run with someone -- neighbour, coworker (at lunch), local running club. If you are on the TM, you poor thing, then vary speed and grade. If not on the TM, challenge yourself to run faster for short periods and then slow down to recover. And maybe sign up for a race in the spring so you have a goal to work towards.

stargirl2060

posted: 12/1/2012 at 9:54 PM

I like to go faster, 'cause then I feel faster. It feels better to beat my time, physically and mentally. But that doesn't happen too often. I am also a person of routine. I like to do the same things at the same times every day. When spring comes I will add in speed work and tempo runs but for now I'm just building base.

stargirl2060

posted: 12/1/2012 at 9:58 PM

I'm still young and in school (as in, middle school). I run outside at some ungodly hour when it's still dark (6:00). Ungodly for someone who needs sleep. I don't have time after school and I've run with my brother a few times but he can walk and keep up with me. Everyone else is so much faster. Lunch isn't an option because A: I'm not allowed to leave school and B: we only have a 1/2 hour.

MarinaD

Fanilow

posted: 12/1/2012 at 11:34 PM

This is my third year running. Now, I am much, and I do mean much, older than you but my times are similar. Even after 3 years. However, it has only been this year that I have really gotten serious and run a lot more miles, which has masse a huge difference in my times. You have made a great deal of improvement in a short amount of time. You cut 13 minutes off your 5k time in a matter of weeks. I haven't improved that much in three years. My point is to just keep at it. Add more miles when you can and throw in some speedwork when you are ready. You will naturally get faster. when you're mind says no, answer it "yes I can" or "what do you know" or "just another minute" and then do another and another...when you are doing speedwork. Start small and work your way up.

2014 goals

Well, there's always next year.

Anyone in the same boat? (Read 428 times)