Is anyone else really fit but terrible at running?

[onemississippi]

I've never mastered the art of running and it's driving me mad! I'm not naturally athletic but always been fit and active - as a child I swam, cycled, played badminton and tennis. As an adult I've done martial arts to a competitive level and been a member of a gym for years.

I'm 42 now and do Insanity cardio three times a week, pilates twice, yoga once, weights twice a week plus a body conditioning class so I know my fitness levels are fine. I'm not overweight (5'6" and 64kg) and eat healthily but due to being thick-limbed and prone to cellulite (thanks Mother ) I find that running really helps slim and tone my thighs. I can manage 15 minutes on the treadmill at 5.8mph at a 1% incline but it kills me! I've been doing it for two months now, three times a week but it's not getting any easier - I've got past the stage of wanting to throw up but it's as if my body is screaming at me to stop. I barely break out into a sweat and recover quickly but my body just can't seem to cope with the run itself.

Why is this, are some people just not built to run? I enjoy and cope well with the HIIT and strength training but I feel as if my muscles don't get enough oxygen when I run.

I can honestly say that running on a treadmill compared to running outside is excrutiating. I can also say that running is only better after 15 minutes. The first 15 minutes whether you can run 5 miles, 10 or a marathon are always horrible until your muscles and lungs are warmed up. It physiologically takes a minimum of 10 minutes for your lungs and heart to adapt to the oxygen requirements/breathing pattern of running. Try going outside you might find it far more distracting and easier to have a route that you know where you can pick off marker points and know that if, say its circular that you have to complete or else you will just have to run as far back the other way. Jog walk if you need to but i think you'll be less worried about time and distance and incline etc and can motivate yourself with 'Just run one more lamp post and I can stop' or 'to that tree' and then I can walk etc. Mind games...

Well, you know what Chris Boardman says. If after you finish you don't feel like throwing up then you weren't working hard enough.

I sympathise. On sports day the Apple shaped lady under 5' tall can outsprint me and I'm probably a lot fitter over all.

Still, I kind of agree with all PleasePYSO said. Takes a long spell to get conditioned to running. I'd ditch the incline on the treadmill and pace yourself to how you feel. I'm about to go for a 35 minute run (in the real outdoor world) which is 3.25 miles so about same pace as OP, but I have to stop to open/close the gates (or tie my laces or have a wee), so not as relentless.

I dunno about Insanity cardio or body conditioning but the others aren't aerobic exercise, are they?

yes yes yes! I've tried running sporadically throughout my life and always end up giving it up after a month or two. I'm quite fit at the moment, and just started doing the couch to 5k app, I'm one week in, and I'm finding it really hard! which considering I'm doing the sessions designed for people who are at rock bottom fitness is a bit worrying. So I have no advice unfortunately, but definitely agree that some people seem to be built for running more than others. I'm exactly the same height and weight as you incidentally. my brother is doing the London Marathon in a few weeks and I asked him how long it takes before everything stops hurting, expecting him to say a month or two. He said 6 months! But that once you are running fit you can run like you are walking - you can breath normally, and your lungs and muscles don't hurt like hell.

running is more energy demanding than most other cardio, even quite slow running, speaking of which you could try running more slowly, your cardiovascular system may adapt more easily if you work at a level which is slightly challenging rather than at an intensity which makes you feel over challenged.

But yeah, running is just really really hard at first
I also find outdoor running easier to sustain.
It can take months and you have to keep just plugging away but you should eventually find that you can comfortably run for an hour or so if thats what you want of course

I can't run ! Or walk up steep hills - but I can do a hour of zumba and be ready for more!!!

Thanks for the replies and advice!

I can't run outdoors as my knees are a bit dodgy (years of doing Muay Thai on a hard floor); I find the spring of the treadmill is just about manageable. I don't actually want to become a runner, just find it frustrating that I'm not finding it any easier after two months.

Ragged Insanity cardio is a 40 minute HIIT class, it's very intense and you log your progress every fortnight so I know my CV system is constantly improving. I think as tootsietoo says, some people just aren't designed for running. I'm very strong and flexible, have excellent core strength and build muscle very easily but unfortunately will never be a sylph-like runner!

tootsietoo hope you continue with your CT5K, you have a good coach with your brother

what about alternating running on the treadmill with walking uphill, say 10 minutes of each...when I do that I find my heart rate is broadly similar for each activity

Yep, I'm no where near as fit as you but I'm a 3 gym classes a week plus swim kind of fit.

I am hideous at running, it's soooooo bloody hard and i am utterly rubbish at it. I'm currently doing the C25k app, it's horrific!

I've decided as a curvy shape (even at my smallest I have a weeny waist, huge ass and thighs) I'm probably not built for running.

I bloody well am going to run a full 5k without walking, I will. It'll just be an awful, heaving, sweaty time in the build up.

I'm the same.

Can cycle and walk for literally miles and barely be tired.

Running, and swimming too, absolutely exhaust me. I have no talent for them whatsoever.

Thanks suzanne but that sounds like too much hard work - I'm just chuffed when I can stand upright on the treadmill without falling off

I do this 15 minute run before I do my classes so it's not essential; just trying to stave off 'middle aged spread' and cellulite

Kitty you sound determined

Treadmills are awful. Try outside, you might find it much easier (I do).

everybody wanna be a good runner
but don't nobody wanna run no heavy ass high mileage schedule*

*Ronnie Coleman (ish)

Same height & weight as you also doing Insanity, body pump & 2-3 times a week 30km + on my road bike but Christ alive running kills me too! Must be something to do with heavy thighs & cellulite as I'm prone too but glad to hear running helps so will persevere. I definitely agree they outdoors is far better than a treadmill & the first 10/15 minutes being the hardest.

Sometimes I think you also get stuck in a rut doing the same routine & not progressing. I've been doing the same two 5km routes for the past month, they never seem to get any easier & some days I find them bloody tough going but today I went out with a (running fanatic) friend and did my longest ever run of 8km. And survived

I'd love to run outside but my knees are kind of fucked; I've tried it and ended up on ibuprofen. I went to a dr 15 years ago and he told me to stop exercising

I think I just have to accept I'm built for power, not speed! Phoebe, I think heavy thighs are the issue here - all the people I know who are good runners are apples, not pears.

yes. what's worse is that other runners have told me I have a runners body and are surprised when I say the most I've ever done is parkrun.

heavy thighs here too. thin but always had more than my fair share of muscle.

I shouldn't complain though. I can hold my own in every activity I try, yoga, dance, martial arts. pity the fitness doesn't seem to cross over to being really good at running .

Try off road / trail running? Softer underfoot and easier on the knees. Lovely to be in pine forests with springy needles underfoot

I used to be similar. Could do lots of fitness activities and a few times attempted C25k and always struggled and could never get past Week 4. Was also officially obese so not a runner's build either.
Had my iron levels checked and they were very low. Once I was taking iron tablets and started running outside it began to change. I was very slow at first and took months to actually complete my first 5k and that took about 36 mins
I've dieted and lost 3 stone but still overweight and nowhere near slim. But I can run 5k in about 28 mins and regularly run for an hour non stop. The first 10 mins of every run are the worst and then it all settles down - breathing relaxes etc.

Definitely try running outside. I'm almost 50 btw. If I can do it ...

Also second others opinions that the first 15 mins of any run is the hardest part. I cannot run on a treadmill for more than 10 mins but can manage over an hour outside - it is just so much more interesting and more things to divert your attention.

OP - I am in awe of how much exercise you manage to cram into your week! How do you do it?

I am a laize faire runner, but agree outdoor in easier/better than in.

Thanks Lego but I live in a hot country by the coast and I'd have to drive for two hours to be near cool pine forests

I get what you are all saying. UpFitNow, that's impressive!

Margo - I do two classes a night at my gym, one yoga or pilates followed by a cardio (Insanity). I only do five days and give myself two days off for recovery. I have no children or responsibility so the gym is easy for me when I finish work.

Don't yell at me.. your height-weight is perfect for Judo & fine for swimming, but it's relatively heavy for a runner. There are a lot of keen runners at my work & they are fairly scrawny, at your height, under 60 kg easily. If you carry 6 kg more than them, that doesn't make the running easier.

I read something somewhere about how we learn to breathe well and our bodies learn to work efficiently for the sports we do lots of. I'm terrible at running anyway, but I'm especially terrible because I've never done a lot of running. You'll get better if you persist, though. I know he's Super Mr. Discredited, but Look at Lance Armstrong's physique before and after the cancer. He changed totally & not because of drugs but because of massive weight loss followed by reconditioning to just one sport.

Do you have access to a local beach? I found running on the wet sand easier on joints (plus the tide has levelled the sand out so you don't turn your ankle in little divits/uneven sand)

Forgot to say the added bonus of the sights sounds and smell of the sea is a brilliant distraction to the monotony of running (I'm not a natural runner either and get really thick calves when I do )

I never said that, SilverBlur, I just pointed out an aspect of why the running might be hard for OP. Just because something is difficult doesn't mean we shouldn't try to do it. I go running in spite of being terrible at it. And I don't even have an extra 6 kg to blame.