[roxymonoxide]

Hey everyone!

I'm new to this forum but only too familiar with dieting . I started training a month ago for a half marathon at the end of September. I found a good training schedule online and i'm up to jogging 8 miles in one go but i'm so slow! i run at about 5 mph and I was really proud of myself but i've just read somewhere online that some fitness guru says that you may aswell walk if you run at that pace! Also, i don't find that the jogging is getting any easier, it's just as hard now as it was 5 weeks ago.

Does anyone else have the same issues with jogging?

Thanks for the help!

Roxy

[tuende]

The training schedule I used for my half marathon (from Runner's World) had some speed work incorporated into it and that helped me pick up the pace. It mostly involved working in intervals of faster speeds- I think they were about 30 sec at first and ended up at about 2 minutes. I did these intervals during 2 of my 4 runs each week. I'm don't really know a ton about it- I just did what the schedule said- but I'm sure other posters (or google) can give you a better idea.

Also, that 'guru' is full of ****. Keep doing your thing!

[MariaMaria]

Twelve minute miles are just slightly behind middle-of-the-pack for women. It's not that slow. Screw the guru (who I'm guessing is male).

The general rule of thumb is not to increase speed and distance at the same time--if you're still working up to half-mary distance, you might not want to introduce speed work as well.

[Annita]

I second everyone that screw that guru.
besides, walking 5 mph isn't the same with jogging 5 mph. I've been walking 5mph (for at least an hour) but couldn't even run 5 mph for a minute before my c25k training.
Just keep doing your thing.

[mamamorgan]

I say screw the guru too. I run at about the same pace too. Right now, I am working on distance and in time I will work on speed. When I was MUCH younger, I could run a mile in 7 minutes and I was proud of that. At the moment, I am working up to even get to a mile. ANY achievement that you make is huge so screw everyone else.

[mkroyer]

is this your first half marathon? if so, dont worry about speed.... worry about covering the distance

the kind of speed training you would need to do for such a long distance involves Lactic Acid Threshold Training, 1mile repeats, 1 mile hill repeats, that sort of thing

Are you a "newish" runner?
Also, DROPPING WEIGHT is a GUARANTEED improvement in speed... something to the effecet of 5 seconds per mile faster for every couple pound sof fat ( i really cant remember the exact numbers.. they arent HUGE but over the long un they add up).
Doing "short" sprints is really only going to improve your VO2Max, which will not help with an endurance race...a 5K? absolutely.... At no point during the half should you be even CLOSE to going anaerobic.

Running form and efficiency is another thing to look at to improve speed. If you heel strike, chances are your foot is literally on the ground longer with every step (even though we are talking micro-seconds)... its very inefficent and WILL slow you down overall...significantly, not to mention takes much more effort and energy.


If you want to get faster at this point in your training, i have 2 suggestions:
1) go do a 5K, a race maybe, and PUSH YOURSELF PAST YOUR COMFORT ZONE the entire race...... MAKE YOURSELF run a 10 minute mile, or even a 9 minute mile..... you just *might* break through a mental barrier and realize you can go faster, its just thats it s outside of your comfort zone... for now. Eventuallly that uncomfortably fast will become comfortable. it will also boost your confidence. This is how i went from a 9 ish minute mile/ avg, to 7:15's, on 10K or less.

2) on your mid-length runs (prob 5-7 miles as your training progresses?) GGo ahead and incorporate 1 mile or 1 kilometer repeats in the your runs.. a repeat isnt a sprint...its an interval done at goal race pace. For you, you might try a kilometer at a 10 minutes mile, thean a kilometer at your normal pace (this is your recovery-- no stop in between), then repeat. Maybe its an 11 minute mile for you. It should be "uncomfortable" towards the end, but by NO MEANS should you be gasping, and dying... focus on lighter, quicker foot turnover during these repeats... not pounding harder, if that makes sense


Good luck

[roxymonoxide]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for the encouragement, you're right that guru is full of crap and I WILL run this half marathon no problem!

mkroyer, I really like your idea of running a 5K at my maximum speed, maybe it is a mental barrier at this stage and I need to push myself past it to get a bit faster.

The main point is that I'm giving it a go and I can jog distances, just at a slow-ish pace, but I guess that doesnt matter too much, as they say it's a marathon not a race!

Thanks again everyone!

[MariaMaria]

Originally Posted by mkroyer

If you heel strike

Spot-on advice, but I'd add that it takes time to switch from heel-strike to forefoot-strike, and the changeover kind of sucks and isn't compatible with building distance for a race.