Forums >Running 101>Couple Beginner Questions
First, let me start off by giving you some background information...
37 year old Male
5'11"
235 lbs
I have been running Sun,Wed,Fri and doing mostly body weight Mon, Tues, Thur, and Sat at a kickboxing gym. I also walk for roughly an hour every day. The days I run, I do so first thing in the morning, before breakfast, and walk for a hour at night. Days I go to the gym, I walk in the morning and go to the gym at night.
I started running around the beginning of Sept, for the first time since High school, by following the Fitness C25k app. Everything was going good for the first few weeks, but then I hit a snag. Up to this point, I had been running 12min/mile, but I seemed to hit a wall running about 20-25 min straight. So I started googling, found this forum (huge help btw), and found out that running slower is better. I already felt pretty bad about my slow speed, but I swallowed my pride and dropped it down to 13:20 min/mile. After this, I was able to complete the full C25K app, but anything over about 30 mins straight is a struggle. So after I finished my C25K app, I felt kinda bummed that even though I finished the app I never hit the 5k mark. So, I decided to run a couple weeks at 35 min runs 3x a week to try and push myself past the 3 mile per run mark. First week went great. I nailed all 3 runs and felt pretty good about life. The last run that week I was actually a little surprised that the timer went off that soon and felt like I could go further. But the second week, was awful. I was struggling to run 25 mins straight. The whole week seemed like I was back at the beginning of the C25K app. Now I am starting the 3rd week and right off the bat I had to walk for 2-3 mins at about the 17 min mark, and ended up just walking the last 5 mins of the 35 min run. Very discouraging to say the least...
So here are my questions..
First, is it typical for a new runner to be that inconsistent in their runs? I felt pretty good until last week. Now I feel like im getting worse instead of better. Am I overdoing it for a beginner? Should I slow down my easy runs even more? which brings me to my next question.
Second, at what point is slow, too slow? At 13:20, I already feel like im barely going faster than a walk, but Im struggling at the 25 min+ mark. Last time I hit this wall, going slower really seemed to help. Im just not sure how much slower I can go and still even loosely call it a jog.
Third, I tend to get side pain a lot. I figure its just me getting a stitch from being out of shape since its seems to be random on which side hurts, but it makes it really difficult to run like that. What seems to be a good way to deal with those? Is there anything preventative to stop them?
Anyways, Thanks for reading the wall of text and I appreciate any help that I get.
First, is it typical for a new runner to be that inconsistent in their runs?
Yes. You are building muscle strength and efficiency, which is a slow process.
Am I overdoing it for a beginner? Should I slow down my easy runs even more?
Not necessarily. There are a lot of factors in how any particular run goes. However, the best piece of advice I received on running was to slow down -- if I'm starting to get winded or uncomfortable on what should be an easy run. Once you have a solid base, a few months from now, you might do intervals, or try racing, and that does not apply.
See comment above, but also, it is still OK to do a run/walk workout.
That typically happens to me if I'm trying to go too fast, and am breathing rapid shallow breaths. You can try raising the arm opposite to the side pain, and curve it over your head toward the side that hurts. If that doesn't work, slow down or walk. As you fitness improves this will happen a lot less.
If you haven't already, I recommend getting a physical from your doctor and let him or her know you have started a running program. Just to be safe, very unlikely anything is wrong (and I'm a bit hypocritical here, haven't had a check-up in years).
That said, run/walk is a great way to achieve a slower overall pace and still run at a pace that feels natural.
You could be overdoing it. How hard are you pushing your 1 hour walks? Have you been progressing the gym training? If you are working pretty hard with the walk and the gym training you are well over 10 hours/week of at least somewhat intense training which is a lot for someone just starting out. If progressing the run training is your main goal, then cutback a bit on the gym and walking.
Finally, if weight loss is one of your goals, if you're successful you'll see a big difference in your running.
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Paul makes a good point about your cumulative time spent exercising. Make sure you are eating enough. I know if I'm undrhydrated or hungry, it can easily make a run that much tougher.
Something else I'll toss out is that if you have been running outside, you may see a hit in your running as the weather gets colder. You didn't mention where you are. When it suddenly dropped and got colder here, my running was a bit harder. I am slower in the cold and have to adjust to poor footing with ice and snow underfoot.
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@robin from maine - Maybe Ill put the apps aside for a few weeks and give the run/walk method a go. Im just super paranoid about not progressing, or even worse, losing progress that I have already made.
@paul2432 - I walk at a pretty casual pace. Usually around 2.5 mph with a 3-5% incline. The gym I go to is a kickboxing cardio/body weight gym. Kinda hard to describe, but its a lot of non stop body weight exercises mixed with kick boxing and I usually do that for around an hour. The gym does keep my heart rate up, but nothing like running does, or as consistently up as running does.
@CanadianMeg - I think im eating too much at this point. Still not dropping any weight/BF% with all this exercise. I really need to work on cleaning up my diet first and foremost. Since I run first thing in the morning, I do tend to run on an empty stomach. Maybe ill try eating a small piece of fruit or something a little bit before the run.
Thanks for all the replies. It gives me something to try and ideas to plan with. I do like plans...
try alternating hard days with easy days. Do not always try to be breaking new ground. If you are running three days a week. one day try to run longer than the other day, and in your case do that your 30 minute run, but don't push the pace - make the focus duration/distance. Think endurance building on that day. Then when you run again two days later, make that the run a little faster day. Maybe just 22 minutes or so, but see if you can run it about 30 seconds per mile faster. Then, on the third run day of the week just go it and run at a comfortable pace for a couple of miles or more if you're feeling it. If that is still too much, then just alternate each hard effort with a recovery run.
You also have to consider that your other workouts are fatiguing and are going to make a greater need for recovery.
And keep it fun. If you find that you just like to go out and push for the whole time as long as you can, then hey, that may not be the best way to improve your running, but it's what you like to do, and for many runners, that's their way.
SMART Approach
First, let me start off by giving you some background information... 37 year old Male 5'11" 235 lbs I have been running Sun,Wed,Fri and doing mostly body weight Mon, Tues, Thur, and Sat at a kickboxing gym. I also walk for roughly an hour every day. The days I run, I do so first thing in the morning, before breakfast, and walk for a hour at night. Days I go to the gym, I walk in the morning and go to the gym at night. I started running around the beginning of Sept, for the first time since High school....
I started running around the beginning of Sept, for the first time since High school....
It takes time so you have to be patient. It may take 6 months before you are running fit. Your body is simply adjusting to pounding and being out of running shape. Walk/run for next several weeks and don't feel bad about it. Jog 2-3 min walk 30 sec. Jog 5 min walk 1 min etc to get through your work outs. I would also walk 5 min before you start jogging. You are doing great, be patient.
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