Running for Beginners- Sorry for Lame Questions

[Ryan Ottem]

Hi, I have been reading old posts and doing some research on your discussion board. I have a couple of questions but maybe it's best for me to give a little background first. I'm 29, 6', 200lbs (I just lost 30lbs and my goal is to be 165lbs). I played sports my entire life and played baseball in college. I then took some time off and decided to get involved in triathlons in 2005 after a couple years of just having fun I've decided to create some majors goals for myself, but for me to reach these goals I need to become a much better runner. So here are my questions. I've been running steadily at 3 days a week for the last 2 months, and just upping that to 4 days a week last week. I'm really slow though, embarrassingly slow. I average between 11:00-11:40 miles with a heart rate in the mid 160's.

Does anybody have a similar experience and is now able to run much much faster? Is this just me being impatient and looking for results right away, will I get faster as time goes? With being as slow as I am now could I possibly run in the 6-7 minute mile range?

Sorry for the lameness but I am a strong swimmer and cyclist so it's very frustrated for me to run so slow since I have always been an athlete. Thanks for any advice or just storied for motivation.

[Jeffrey McClellan]

I think that the key for you is consistency.  Make sure you consistently eat healthy, and excercise daily, and the weight will come off slowly.  As the weight comes off you will get faster simply because you don't have the extra pounds slowing you down.  However I will stress that you need to do this slowly, slowly slowly.  Don't expect results this week, or month, but eventually the running will come.  Even if the weight never comes off, I still think that you will get faster, but as I already said it will come slowly.

Also, if you want to be a faster runner you need to run as much as possible.  Keep the mileage low so that you don't get hurt, and don't try to be a superhero and run hard every day, but try to run 6 days a week in addition to the swimming and biking.  Also, I know that many people are not fans of this, but consider taking walking breaks while you run, but run slightly faster than normal.  If on occasion you run between 10:00-11:00 pace for a few minutes and then take a walking break, you might learn to become more comfortable at that pace while still keeping the stress on your body low enough that you do not risk injury.  Lots of debate on the benefits of that one, and honestly I have never tried it, but it may be worth a try.

[dave rockness]

Ryan, I'm 40-years-old, played college baseball and was much more into weightlifting than running until 3 years ago November.  Ran my first road race (7 miles) in just over an hour and my first marathon in 4:12.  Within a year of consistent running (age 37/38) was able to lose 30lbs (212 down to 182), my 5k around 20min, and my marathon to 3:10.  Started 3-4 days per/week and went from 20 mile weeks in November to 70 mile weeks the following June (crept up from 20 to 25 to 30 to 35- very gradually). 

For me it was consistency, healthy diet, knowing when to cut back and pick up mileage, learning the hard way, educating myself (reading/blog), and listening to my body.  I don't think your slower pace (11/11:30 per/mile) is that unusual.  Eat healthy, gradually increase mileage, and times should go down naturally.  After a year or two, there will be others on this blog to help with new concepts such as interval training or speedwork.  Good luck!

[Jose Jimenez]

I will echo what Dave and Jeff mentioned above.  I started running semi-seriously at the age of 36 almost three years ago.  I weighed 181 and my pace was 10:30.  About two years ago I decided to get serious and I trained for my first marathon at TOU 2008 where I achieved a 4:34.  I just qualified for Boston at St. George with a time of 3:11 (see report at http://jj.fastrunningblog.com).  I am also now 34 pounds lighter.  In my opinion the thing that will make the biggest difference in reaching your running goals is increasing your number of weekly miles while avoiding injury.  Weekly running volume is huge for improving performance.  Like Dave said I would not worry too much about speedwork, tempo or intervals until you have gradually built up your base of weekly miles to at least 40 to 50 miles a week.  However, you need to do this slowly or you will suffer.  I also agree that you should run 6 days a week.  Once you are at that level then you can come back to the blog/forums where you will find awesome advice on how to torch your training.  My guess is that by then you will probably already be running comfortably in the low 9's to high 8's if not better.  Good luck.

[Colby]

There isn't much that I can say, that hasn't already been said, but just to lend another confirmation...make sure you take it slow. Increasing your mileage, pace, and even days that you run needs to be done slow. I have a little experience coaches soldiers on deployment who are not in any kind of running shape. For them I make then run for at least 30 min every other day at a very slow, comfortable pace. Then on the off days, they are on an elliptical machine or bike for at least 30 min. They do this for about 2-3 weeks before they start running 4-6 days a week. It generally helps them start getting into cardio shape while not becoming succeptable to impact injuries. Once they start running 4-6 days a week it is still at a very slow, comfortable pace. Then they will gradually start increasing mileage with only one long run a week, generally Saturdays. We base their long runs off of what they are doing every day, usually somewhere between 25-50% longer that what they are doing on an average day. For this you just have to listen to your body. Hope this helps.