Are some people just slow runners?

[hideandsqueak]

Started running (again) about 6 months ago and now I'm doing 5k three times a week and enjoy it. All good except I am so slow it is embarrassing. I have to go out after dark as otherwise small children on those push scooters overtake me.

I am not naturally athletic. Am I just destined to be a slow runner? I was told as I got fitter and stronger i would naturally get faster but I just seen to be staying at the same pace. Is there any hope or any suggestions?

Oh wow I'm quite impressed with myself - my fastest 5k time of 25.03 puts me in the top 11 to 20% of female runners in the UK :D

However I am a lapsed runner, and I have hardly run since I was pregnant with my 4 year old ds... :(

I've always been a plodder, though I did get quicker when I put in the effort with consistent training and regular speedwork sessions. At my peak I could finish a 5K in a little under 30 minutes, and my half-mara PB is 2:17. After a long break I'm way off that now! I hope to get back to where I was and think I should be able to... I know I'll never come close to the times posted by my naturally fast (and 7 years older) running pal, but that's OK, I'm just glad to be running again.

I don't think I have very good speed perception. I don't usually time my runs, just go for a break from the stresses of work and home, the pleasure of being outside and the endorphins (and to counteract the fact I'm quite so fat and fond of chocolate). But I've done a couple of park runs recently and did the first one in 30:42, was slightly disappointed not to have gone under 30, tried really hard this weekend, thought I was going faster and actually did 31:42. So I think to get faster I'd have to run with a Garmin and pay more attention to what certain speeds feel like. But I'm not sure whether I can actually be bothered with all that, when part of the point of it for me is clearing my head and de-stressing. So OP - if you're happy running the speed you do, don't feel you have to get faster. If you do want to get faster, aren't there some graduate NHS couch to 5k podcasts aimed at building speed?

I passed a runner going the opposite way to me last week who had the most amazing running style. Light footed, high knees, it was a joy to watch. He was moving quick too but it seemed effortless.

I think that's the key to really speedy running, efficient running style. I don't have it!

Oddly I run quicker on hilly routes though. My pace doesn't slow uphill but I get faster downhill so end up quicker. Plus I enjoy it more.

I think key is if you enjoy your running, you are doing well. Anything else is a bonus. I love the peace and solitude of running in the hills on my own. My pace doesn't change my enjoyment level. In an ideal world I'd rather resemble a gazelle when running than a baby elephant but it's not going to happen.

"people tend to lean genetically towards either sprinting or longer distances (something to do with make up of fast/slow twitch muscle fibres). You can't be good at both"

This is true. But it doesn't mean that you can't run your distances fast. All olympic standard marathon runners are very definitely built for distance….but none of them do it slowly.

If you are happy to run slowly, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Some people want to get faster, some people just want to get out and enjoy the fresh air, clear their head and get some exercise and not think about pace at all. And that's fine. But I still don't think there's such a thing as saying you can't get faster because you're naturally slow - everyone can get faster if they train specifically to do so.

I confess I get a tad annoyed when people say that I'm 'naturally' fast or 'naturally' sporty. I'm not. If I look back at the first timed run from the Garmin I got last Christmas, before I started interval training, I did 5km in just under 32 minutes. In September I did a half marathon in 1:45. I trained bloody hard to get to that point, and I pushed myself hard enough that I couldn't walk down the stairs without looking like a drunk penguin for 3 days afterwards. I'm certainly not saying that everyone should approach their running like that, just that speed is at least as much about how you choose to run and to train, as your natural ability.

the slow twitch/fast twitch muscle types respire aerobically and anaerobically respectively.

Obviously elite marathon runners are working aerobically, they are able to run fast compared to average marathoners because they are bio mechanically, metabolically and physiologically very efficient.
However they are not running at the speed of an elite level sprinter whose fast twitch fibres will be respiring anaerobically.

even running slowly is metabolically more demanding than most other forms of (cardiovascular) exercise.
I suppose one reason we feel we should get faster is because the ability to run faster tends to correlate with an increase in cardiovascular efficiency and we feel that we should constantly make improvements?

However, everyone has an upper limit of fitness.
V02 max will only increase up to a certain point no matter how hard or intelligently you train, the closer you get to that point the harder it becomes to make further improvements.

Also the ability of your heart to beat fast declines (irrespective of fitness) as you get older and with it the ability of your cardiovascular system to deliver oxygen to your working muscles