Runners - AIBU to wonder when it will get easier?

[Joolsy]

Myself and DD (13) have been doing a parkrun every week for the past few months. I'm really pleased with the progress we've made so far - neither of us have ever done much running before but we've managed the 5k each week and improved on our overall time by 6 minutes up to now.

However, I can't pretend I enjoy it. I love the atmosphere and the great feeling I get after but while we're doing it it is the most torturous 30-odd minutes of my life. After the first 2 laps out of 3 I feel like I could die (ok slight exaggeration!). When will it start to get easier and when will I enjoy it more?? Have I jumped the gun by taking this on when I hadn't run much before, even though I am (or I thought I was) reasonably fit? I usually do Davina/Jillian Michaels DVDs at home

It won't get much easier very quickly unless you start running more than once a week. 5k every 7 days isn't going to improve you much at all. Sorry.

It doesn't get easier. See I was under this illusion too when I was part of a running club years ago. I regularly used to run 5-6 miles 5 times a week. I was bloody fit. But it never felt easy! I admire you for doing a park run though, I'm now trying to get back in to running (and failing)

It gets easier but it doesn't necessarily mean you'll enjoy it more. I run regularly and I still hate it I've been waiting to start enjoying it for a few years now.

I agree with joey, you need to add extra runs until you will find it easier.

Even then, to improve you're going to have to do some runs that aren't fun. I struggle with those as I have no mental grit, but I am getting better and can now enjoy an "easy" run.

Do you only run at parkrun? I run a lot and really enjoy the feeling I get, both during and after, but that is doing it at a comfortable pace with no pressure. It's my quiet 'headspace' time and really recharges me mentally.
I do parkrun most weeks but don't always enjoy it like I do other runs. I think it's because I always want to get a good time (for me!) and put pressure on myself to run faster than I usually would. And I know what you mean about feeling as if you are going to die 2/3 way round!
I've been running for years now so if I'm a bit demotivated I can get myself out the door by knowing that I will feel better after but it did take quite a few months for that positive feedback to kick in, before that it was hard going.
Maybe worth trying some comfortably paced runs just for the sake of it away from parkrun and see if that helps?

By the way, I don't think parkrun ever actually gets easier , you just run it faster as you get better at running! Well done for cutting a whole 6 mins off your time, that is a great achievement!

You could try adding in one run a week where you mix sprinting with walking or slow jogging - try sprinting as fast as you can between landmarks like trees or park benches - then walk or jog until you have recovered and do another one etc. It's the sprint intervals that will help to improve your running pace overall and your overall fitness, so your weekly 5k should start to feel easier - or so i've been told!! Or do them up a small hill, walk to the bottom and do it again until you can't do any more. Also one longer slower run a week to build up your endurance can help. Adding those 2 sessions in each week helped me when I was training to run a 10k, many years ago….!

I run about 4 miles 3 times a week and I hate it. I dread it every time. The actual running, although not enjoyable, is not as bad as the dread beforehand. Before having DS I improved my fitness enough to do 2 half marathons and I hated it then too. BUT the feeling I have afterwards, my weight loss and general improvement in my mental health, is worth it.

Oh I hate it when I'm doing it. Always have. But I love love love the feeling afterwards not to mention the effect on my mental health and appearance.

5km became easier once I had run a half marathon. It took me a year to go couch to hm, and three years later I now run between 20 and 30km a week, with a long run of at least 12km. It's only at this point that I think "Oh I'll nip out for a 5km".

And I'm still a big(ish) lass and 46 years old. I enter 10km races quite regularly as well as 10 milers and hm. My secret is that I don't give a shit about how fast I am. I just run. If i can run the distance without stopping I'm figuring I'm doing good. My 5km is around 32 mins, my 10km around 1 hour 10, my h8m around 2 hours 20. I don't push myself to breaking point, i aim for a run I can keep at. And on longer runs, chat at!

Anyone running is winning.

I should add that I do big runs with my dog cross country. And sometimes with friends. I plot 6 plus miles cross country that ends at a pub. They meet me and my dog with a fresh change of clothing and we drink, they drive me back! My kids sometimes run too. Best ever parent chat time. They are either in front or behind me. Helps enormously with teens and talking.

If you were doing it at the same pace that you were when you started, it would feel easier. It's because you constantly push yourself when running that it never feels easier (oh yes, and you have to do it more than once a week!).

Join a club would be the best advice I can offer. And if you hate it, stop. Life is way too short to spend time doing something you don't have to if you don't enjoy it. I like running sometimes, I hate running others but the overall feeling is one of enjoyment. It has to be - it's a hobby for goodness sake!

Club running is brilliant and yes agree you really need to be going 3 times per week to make a difference, well done though on your parkrun every week!

I think I'm with Flippety on this one. Sometimes I go out and find I'm enjoying myself and it feels easy and I trot a bit faster feeling like 'YES I've cracked this!' and then the next time I go out I'm struggling along, panting like a walrus, barely above a brisk walking pace and it's fucking hard and I hate it and I feel depressed at how shit I am.

There is never any (apparent) rhyme or reason to it. I've just accepted that sometimes running is ok and mostly it's hard. I did C25K about 6 months ago and thought it would get easier, but I don't think it does. I've settled for doing 20 - 35 mins a couple/3 times a week and just going with the flow. I don't push myself or try for better times.

Have you tried doing the c25k? I am currently on week 4 and I am loving it. It's hard but I am enjoying it.
I am doing the program 3x a week.

As a previous poster said - it doesn't get easier, you're trying to run it as fast as you can, so you will always use the same effort, you'll just run faster! Maybe try some longer, slower runs midweek as well - that kind of running is more enjoyable. Park runs are more of a race. Different kind of fun.

This is probably not what you want to hear.......I asked the same question about ten years ago, of a lady I know. At the time she was late 40's (I was late 20's) and she was running 5K in 19 minutes. She ran the London marathon in under 4 hrs, 3hrs 45 I think. Her answer? It doesn't get easier, you can just do it/put up with it for longer.

I think you just grow accustomed to the pain.

I thought this myself at parkrun the other week - why is it still such hard work? But then realised I'd knocked over 5 mins off my time in 3 weeks, so although I was getting faster I was putting in just as much effort. If I ran it at the speed I first did it I'm sure it would feel easier but if I'm always giving 100% it's always going to feel hard, just with a faster time.