So I've been beating myself up this summer because I feel like I haven't been getting faster at all. I looked up my time from a race last year, and actually, I've taken two minutes off my 5K pace. It's still a slow pace, but two minutes faster is pretty good, and I've got to realize that I'm not trying to compete with anybody else but myself. The difficult part is now I'm running at about an 11 mph pace, but I can't sustain it longer than a little over 2 miles and after that I enter this run/walk thing for the next mile. So then I get bummed about that because when I run a 5K race, I want to run it all, not walk part of it.

Ennay, sounds pretty darn good for post-illness! Did it get really steamy up there today? I ran today by the river and it felt like I was in the deep South. That will be fun if you can meet up in Portland. I'd love to watch the race, but will be out of town. Maybe next year.

Lisa, hope your ankle feels better. Do you put any kind of support on it when you run?

Cakses, I've been running for over a year now, and still huff and puff. Probably not what you want to hear, but even huffing and puffing, it does get easier and you will be able to huff and puff your way through a 5K, no problem.

I don't put any kind of support on my ankle but now I'm thinking I probably should... I'll probably talk to the athletic trainer at school about it.

Maybe you're just meant to run a 5K at a 12 minute pace? Or 11:30? If I start out at an 11-minute pace, I'm huffing and puffing by the 3rd mile too. I have to start slowly and ease into it. Honestly, now that I'm used to longer runs, I can see that the first 3 miles are the hardest part. The other day, I felt MUCH better in mile 11 than I did in mile 2 on my 13-mile run. Short runs don't allow you to get into a groove - I use them to work on speed, but they're far more difficult than long, easy runs.

Also, I've gotten used to sort of forcing myself to do a VERY slow jog instead of a walk when I need a recovery in the middle of a run.

I had quite possibly the worst run of my life yesterday, and I've had some bad ones. It was 90F+ and humid, and I was pushing DD in the jogger. Ugh. Run is probably not the right word. I went 15 minutes out, 20 minutes back on one of the local multiuse paths.

The only good thing was that I got out there.

Signed up for a tri in October to help get myself going. Biking is actually going very well, and I got back in the pool for the first time since May (!) so it's looking good. I'm also doing my anniversary 5K next month--first race I ever ran back in 2003. Feel sort of like myself again.

Anne

PS: You C25Kers who are worried about your speed would have run circles around this old-timer (can I really say that now??) yesterday. Just run! You are doing great!

I did 4 miles this morning at about a 10:30 pace, which was fantastic for me. Part of the reason I went that fast was because I had to go to work and I knew I was going to be late!! But I was determined to fit 4 miles in, so I did it anyway and only ended up being about 5 minutes late!

Okay, reading your posts was the boost I needed. I've been putting off my run for a couple hours now and I've just got to do it! I'm only in week one of the C25K so it's still daunting. But thanks for all your stories! I'll get there!

Ann

Annk it will get easier, heck some days it's still hard for me and I am in week 8 - you just have to keep on plugging along! You'll do great though!

All you C25K speed demons out there, slow down

I agree with Lisa's advice, at such an early stage in your running career, you should focus more on building distance than your timing. I seem to remember reading somewhere that you shouldn't even think about doing speed work until you've been running for a year at least. I know it can be tough when you have people zipping by you on the running path, but you should really be working on logging miles, and the speed will come naturally.

As for me, even though I've increased in speed considerably from where I started without really working on it, I am still a total snail, particularly at long distances, and I could care less. Far in the back of my mind, my goal for the marathon is to maybe finish in 5 hours - but that is way way behind just finishing it (and finishing still feeling relatively strong, and of course, injury free) as goals.

And Ennay, I'd love to get a chance to say hello in person! I'll be the one in running shoes

I woke up late this morning so had to cut my run to only a mile. However, I still got out there and did it. It was so tempting to just skip today or "say" I'll do it tonight...knowing that I truly wouldn't.

Quick question...when do you add distance? Do you wait until the distance you're currently running feels easy? Or does that ever happen? hahah I'm still pretty whipped after my runs but thought maybe I should still be thinking about increasing my distance....?

I'd say wait until you don't feel completely whipped by the end of your run to add more on. Some days I feel like I can manage an extra 5 minutes, so I do that. Other days it's a struggle just to get through the run I planned.

Speaking of which, had a terrible run last night. Got hot and humid again, yuk! Had to walk off a side stitch in the middle. I hate bad runs, I wish they could all be good ones.

I had a fantastic run this evening! I've been struggling with my long runs recently, but this evening I felt good and it was nice and sunny (I suspect for one of the last times this year, grumble...) so I decided to head out early, skip running club and just do my own thing. I had a vague idea that I might try to intercept the club run mid way round, but I basically set off and made up my route as I went along. The aim was just to run while I felt comfortable running. My initial aim was for something over about 14 miles - and I ended up doing 17!!! I've done longer runs, but never on a Wednesday after work before. The last couple of miles were tough, but mainly because i was running into a headwind and hadn't taken any water or energy tablets with me (I don't normally need them for anything up to 14, so just took money so I could stop and buy something if I needed it, which I didn't really). I'm so proud of myself.

The only downside is that I seem to have discovered a new form of chafing. I think the keys and money I had in my back zip pocket must have been jiggling about a bit much, I've got chafing in the small of my back!

Two this morning. Hot, humid and yucky. Plus I was exhausted.

But I'm glad I went.

Anne

me too!


Had my last pre Hood-to-Coast run this morning...a brisk3 miler with some pickups in the middle.

One of our runners got injured so we have to run extra...I can not believe I volunteered to run another long segment to free up a short one for someone who has to run 4 legs. I just volunteered to run a 7 a 7 and an 8miler in an 18 hour period.

Helen - Chafing, will it never stop finding new ways to make runners miserable? Good job on what sounds like a great run.

ennay - Good luck with that extra run! If my math is right that's 22 miles, why not just take up an extra 4 miler and make it a marathon?

Thankfully it stopped raining long enough for me to do 3.5 mi in just under 35 min this morning. I couldn't figure out why I was so slow, then I realized I had altered my route slightly and added around .25 miles. That explains the extra couple minutes, duh.

Rain has been crazy here, lots of flooding. Plus 2 people were killed by lightning at a bus stop yesterday afternoon, yikes!

Yuck! Lightning! That stuff scares me!

I ran 2 this morning...LONNNNGNGG HOTTTTT MUGGGGGY 2. I kept setting markers telling myself "when I get to that point I'll walk" but each time I just set a new marker. It worked and I ran the entire way. But it was miserable. I can't wait for cooler weather! I might actually like to run, then!