Could any runners offer me tips?

[CP2701]

So, I completed the couch to 5k. I like to think of myself as relatively fit, I play netball numerous times a week. Running is obviously completely different though!

I am determined to become good at it but I am just not improving. I still can't complete a 5k in a decent time, it is painfully slow. My heart rate, according to my watch, is about half in zone 4 for a run and half in zone 5. I sometimes think in order to improve, I need to slow down even further but I just don't know if that's humanly possible for me! It feels so painful as it is (taking me just 12 to 13 minutes to run a mile).

I'm not sure what I should try next. I try to do a couple of shorter, easy runs a week and One longer one.

Please give me some tips as I feel so rubbish at this! I like running fast so at the minute, it seems so boring! 😂

My running improved enormously when I started doing weights. Really strengthened the muscles supporting my knees. Made me faster, fitter and pain free.

They do say that a mad sprint up a hill X 3 is much better for you than a long plod. I love a long plod though!

Hill training, doing weights and strength, and running intervals as well as long, slow runs will all improve speed.

If your heart rate is high then slow down! You should be able to talk while running, and not feel out of breath.

For what it's worth, I'd class myself as a slow runner. It's taken me years to accept that! Sometimes it's just genetics/body type.

While most of yiur running should be slow and easy, it's good to mix it up, makye 20% more intense work. Strength training is really good for you too. Make sure you're getting rest and eating well to fuel your run and recovery.

We live in a hilly (mountainous) area and my DH dragged me running up hills. It was hideous, but really enabled me to speed up on the flats!

I am the same. I don't think my heat rate should be as high as it is throughout the run 160-180 but if I slow down I would be walking. I love it but it is disheartening.

Strength and speedwork. It doesn't have to be complex, just introduce one run a week where you do something like:

• 1k warm up, 2k faster but not 100%, 2k fast as you can to finish
• Alternate fast and slow kms
• intervals where you repeatedly do 1 minute hard, 1 minute recovery (walk or very slow jog)
• run up a steepish hill hard for 45 seconds/1 minute, then jog/walk down to recover (and repeat)

@CP2701 are your heart rate zones set correctly?
There us a formula that calculates the boundaries for your zones asked on your resting rate and maximum rate.
Do the runs feel easy to you or are you always put of breath and blue in the face af the end?
Zone 5 is typically what you'd go into if you were doing speed work.

I'll try and find the link...

Heart rate zone calculator

Hi

Yeah seem to be correct. I feel pretty out of breath but not that I'm gonna keel over or anything! 😂

I will try some interval training and see if that helps.

If I slow down to a pace that I am able to talk, would I eventually see an improvement? I just feel like slowing down would be counter productive.

I’m in a similar boat to you I think (so definitely not an expert dispensing super tips!). I’m doing an online slow running course at the mo where I have to keep my heart rate low (180 minus my age minus another 5 for being overweight). It’s super hard to do - if I walk I’m below the zone but as soon as I run I go above it.

I did 5k this morning and was super slow and didn’t feel like I was pushing myself at all and my heart rate was at peak the whole time. I need to do a sort of shuffle with lots of walk breaks to keep my heart rate down. According to the theory I’m building my heart health and I should get quicker once I get fitter.

i didn’t think I was especially unfit up until now - was doing Hiit and weights and stuff. I’ll right at the beginning but happy to come back and let you know if it works.

Fast walking is really good for running fitness. As is hill walking. Pushing the pace, breathing hard and putting effort in but less strain on your joints and good for your muscles, heart and lungs.

Running is hard and it will take time to develop cardio fitness that allows you to run at a conversational pace. You'll get there though, mix it up and keep at it.

I took a week off running 5km and went back to sprint walk sprint walk (just walking with the dog).

I ran my first 5km in a week this morning and was amazed. On km3 I checked my heartbeat and it wasn't anywhere near the top zone. My time was 2.5 mins faster than it has been for years.

I'm no athlete btw, I am also v slow, but I will now constantly mix it up as it obviously has some benefits!

My heart rate goes into high but only just. Its about 168 at the absolute max. But I want to feel more comfortable obviously. I find the heat awful as well so going to try and run at nights. I'll do a walk, sprint, walk for alternative minutes tomorrow and see how that goes!

I also get nowhere near enough sleep due to my toddler which also doesn't help 😴

I'm slow too and no expert. I run slowly and steadily, strength train, and do a weekly bootcamp (includes sprints, burpees etc - I can't motivate myself to do that stuff on my own). I find if I run slowly, get out 2/3 times a week, my speed and distance gradually build up (have to reset after spells of bad weather or covid or whatever) and so far no injuries or problems - and I enjoy it. I'd not worry about your speed on most runs until your HR is lower - and try some strength and speed work separately, as suggested.

Tbh, at the level you're running at, if ignore HR completely and go by feel. Most wrist HR monitors are pretty inaccurate, and even if accurate, monitoring your HR is massively overkill for a recreational runner doing about 5km who wants to get a bit faster. You simply don't need to worry about the numbers.

On a steady run, go at a speed where you can talk. On a faster section of speedwork, you shouldn't be able to talk and should be pushing at maybe 7 or 8 out of 10 in effort terms. On a very short sprint interval, that would be pushed up to 9 or 10 out of 10.

^ I'd ignore HR completely...

(For context, I'm a long term runner who's done many ultras, and podiumed in competitive races. My working HR when running is always surprisingly high, and for the most part I ignore it. I mainly measure my pace, and how I feel in terms of effort.)

It's also worth noting, as we're all women here, that you will find it easier to run faster/slower, and your HR will differ, at different points in your menstrual cycle. Which is why measuring yourself by perceived effort is more useful.

Honestly, never beat yourself up about a run you perceive to be "too slow" - they happen to all of us.

I found it was about a year into regular running when my HR really calmed down. If you feel comfortable, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

For a C25k graduate, I'd gradually extend one run for stamina and start to build in a shorter run with speed intervals or hills for power. There are C25k+ podcasts and there is a 27min Speed (intervals) track.

I'm on C25k due to injury at present so while fit enough, I need to be careful about my muscles and tendons, so I'm aiming to double up one C25k session each week to increase milage when I get to the continuous runs.

I'm not sure how helpful apps and devices are. You get too hung up on results and fed up if they're not as good as you think they should be..

I think the main thing is to try and enjoy running. Perhaps you can vary your route and the time of day that you go out. There's a river valley near me that I particularly enjoy running along. Also a good lake in a park. Sometimes I'll do a hillier stretch of road and sometimes stick to the flat. My own personal aim is for stamina rather than speed.

I also do leg stretches as I have rather tight calf muscles, and I suspect the tightness can stop me from feeling as easy and fluid as I do when I am running my best.

I would definitely like to run further in the future but 5k just seems like such a struggle as it is, that I don't feel I'll ever get there. Even at a pace that I feel is pretty slow, I am maxed out on effort getting to that 5k.

I don't feel particularly unfit, I'm not overweight and I carry no injuries. But running I just can't seem to improve at. I'd love to develop more stamina but I've been doing it a while and it just doesn't seem to happen for me.

Maybe I'm just not built for running??

I'm quite slow ( 37 mins for 5 k) but I'm in a club and we quite often do intervals or fartlek - just pick a tree or lampost and sprint to it, then do a recovery jog/walk to another tree, then sprint to next one. Really pushing yourself for short bursts helps. I don't use any kind of monitor.

You're probably knackered!

I'm 49 and apart from one occasion when I accidentally ran further than I thought, I've never managed much more than 5km and never particularly fast

I don't think I'm built for running. But it's good exercise, helps keep the weight off and I like being outside. Once I took the pressure off myself to do a certain time, I started enjoying it more.

Don't be too hard on yourself. You're not getting a lot of sleep and the fact that you are running at all is amazing (I didn't when I had small kids!). Just keep going and if it gets too difficult go back to walk run for a bit or mix it up with shorter faster runs and maybe longer slower ones?

Agree with the pp who said to stop worrying about heart rate and just run to feel. For a slow and steady 5k, worrying about HR won't do you any favours- instead you should be running so it feels comfortably hard; by which I mean you could just about hold a conversation. At the end you should feel tired, but not collapsing to the ground or throwing up tired (as you might at the end of a marathon!)

Also, it sounds obvious, but you need to run faster to run faster. Putting one speed session in a week will make a huge amount of difference; even if it's just informal fartleks (ie sprint one lamppost, jog three, repeat for 30 mins with a 5 min warm up and cool down). If you run slowly all the time, you'll struggle to speed up - in my own experience, I always get slow over 5k when I'm marathon training (well I do these days, anyway - my first couple of marathons helped me get faster but only because it was the first time I'd run serious mileage), but if I'm doing targeted speed work I get my edge back.

Other things that will help are strength work, to get those glutes firing, and hill reps. Oh - and mileage. You say you're doing two short runs a week and one longer run, but if that long one is your 5k then you're only doing 5-10 miles a week? I'd suggest making one run longer (4, 5, 6 miles, building up slowly) then do one 5k (parkrun?) and one speed or hill session a week.

I find 5k a tough distance to race over, but since completing c25k I've got my time down to 20 mins if I'm racing, or 24-25 mins as a steady effort.