Running/jogging - harder/worse than when I started?!

Lpeterson189

Any tips or advice for this novice runner? I've picked up doing a "run" (and I use this term loosely, its like a shuffling jog) every other day, and walking in-between days. 2 weeks or so ago, I was able to run at least for a half-mile straight, if not a mile....now I can barely run a quarter! I am doing slow and steady, if I get winded or strained I slow even more. But I cant seem to build up my endurance. I have a 5k Oct. 9th I want to be the best I can be for that.
Began at about 11-13 min mile, now I am lucky if I hit 15 min mile.
Any tips to build endurance?
Thanks!

niblue

The only tip I can give is that you need to try and slow down to a pace that you can maintain. When I started C25K I was trying to do the running bits far too quickly and it was only when I slowed myself down to around a 11 - 12 minute mile pace that I was able to sustain running for a decent length of time. I find a GPS watch with a heart rate monitor very useful for pace management - I know what HR I can maintain so use the watch to help me keep to that.

DoubleG2

Welcome to the runner's club! First, congratulations on taking the first steps on your fitness journey. You are doing more than 80% of your friends and neighbors! I would not worry about pace, or distance, or time. I always advise newbie runners to begin here:

http://www.c25k.com/

Couch to 5K is a gentle introduction to running that gives enough structure to help you establish a base-level of fitness.

So you signed up for your first 5K and that is great. Early Fall races are awesome! But, you really should level set your expectations and consider a run/walk approach. If you really want to try to run it, your pace should be slow enough for you to have a conversation with a partner. If you can't, you're running too fast. Good luck and happy running!

hill8570

If your diary is accurate, I'd say you're undereating. If the muscles don't have any glycogen to work with, they're not going to work very well.

Lpeterson189

hill8570 wrote: »

If your diary is accurate, I'd say you're undereating. If the muscles don't have any glycogen to work with, they're not going to work very well.

Thanks for the advice - I always have wondered what I need to eat, what specific foods/food groups are good for this? What would you suggest?

nowine4me

Build distance before speed and make sure you have enough fuel in the tank. For me, and 150 cal protein drink pre-run does the trick.

BasicGreatGuy

Has the weather changed recently? Running in higher temps with humidity can take a toll on you, if you aren't used to it.

It is also possible, that your body is not recovering fully from all the activity (running +walking + whatever else).

hill8570

Lpeterson189 wrote: »

hill8570 wrote: »

If your diary is accurate, I'd say you're undereating. If the muscles don't have any glycogen to work with, they're not going to work very well.

Thanks for the advice - I always have wondered what I need to eat, what specific foods/food groups are good for this? What would you suggest?

Carbs tend to be the best for getting fuel to the muscles.

I'd recommend eating at maintenance (or a bit above) for a day or two to build up your glycogen reserves, then go out the next day and see how your run goes. If your performance improves significantly, you're on the right track, so then it becomes a matter of finding your best balance between weight loss and running performance.

lporter229

BasicGreatGuy wrote: »

Has the weather changed recently? Running in higher temps with humidity can take a toll on you, if you aren't used to it.

It is also possible, that your body is not recovering fully from all the activity (running +walking + whatever else).

This. The difference between running in low temps with low humidity vs. higher temps or higher humidity is HUGE.

I also agree about the recovery and the fueling. If you are at a huge deficit, it's just not going to happen. It's like trying to run a car with no gas in the tank.

NorthCascades

Sounds like you're not allowing enough time for recovery.

Lpeterson189

hill8570 wrote: »

Lpeterson189 wrote: »

hill8570 wrote: »

If your diary is accurate, I'd say you're undereating. If the muscles don't have any glycogen to work with, they're not going to work very well.

Thanks for the advice - I always have wondered what I need to eat, what specific foods/food groups are good for this? What would you suggest?

Carbs tend to be the best for getting fuel to the muscles.

I'd recommend eating at maintenance (or a bit above) for a day or two to build up your glycogen reserves, then go out the next day and see how your run goes. If your performance improves significantly, you're on the right track, so then it becomes a matter of finding your best balance between weight loss and running performance.

Thanks! Though at the same time I'm also trying to lose weight and I feel like I need to "cut" carbs. Guess its hard for me to find the happy balance.
Can you give me some thoughts on which foods are good/bad for the running part, while I can still lose weight, and portions? What is glycogen? I'm such a newbie!

Lpeterson189

lporter229 wrote: »

BasicGreatGuy wrote: »

Has the weather changed recently? Running in higher temps with humidity can take a toll on you, if you aren't used to it.

It is also possible, that your body is not recovering fully from all the activity (running +walking + whatever else).

This. The difference between running in low temps with low humidity vs. higher temps or higher humidity is HUGE.

I also agree about the recovery and the fueling. If you are at a huge deficit, it's just not going to happen. It's like trying to run a car with no gas in the tank.

Hi! Yes, it had been warm and muggy here (Indian Summer I guess), but when I run in the mornings it isnt _too_ bad, like 70-75 degrees.

Lpeterson189

NorthCascades wrote: »

Sounds like you're not allowing enough time for recovery.

Thanks! What do you mean by this - recovery after the run, like stretching? Or recovery between runs?

BasicGreatGuy

Lpeterson189 wrote: »

hill8570 wrote: »

Lpeterson189 wrote: »

hill8570 wrote: »

If your diary is accurate, I'd say you're undereating. If the muscles don't have any glycogen to work with, they're not going to work very well.

Thanks for the advice - I always have wondered what I need to eat, what specific foods/food groups are good for this? What would you suggest?

Carbs tend to be the best for getting fuel to the muscles.

I'd recommend eating at maintenance (or a bit above) for a day or two to build up your glycogen reserves, then go out the next day and see how your run goes. If your performance improves significantly, you're on the right track, so then it becomes a matter of finding your best balance between weight loss and running performance.

Thanks! Though at the same time I'm also trying to lose weight and I feel like I need to "cut" carbs. Guess its hard for me to find the happy balance.
Can you give me some thoughts on which foods are good/bad for the running part, while I can still lose weight, and portions? What is glycogen? I'm such a newbie!

Carbs (in and of themselves) are not bad. While some carbs are better for our body's usage than others, it is not a good idea to deprive the body of a fuel source that it naturally uses on a day to day basis. Without carbs, you would have a hard time carrying out regular day to day activities, not to mention exercise such as running. I don't know why so many people think that cutting carbs is the way to lose weight. Carbs are one of the main fuels that our body uses to carry out activity. The other is fat. Unless one has taught the body how to use fat as the primary fuel source during exercise, 'hitting the runner's wall' will occur, especially if one has been depriving the body of carbs.

Glycogen

Docbanana2002

BasicGreatGuy wrote: »

Hi! Yes, it had been warm and muggy here (Indian Summer I guess), but when I run in the mornings it isnt _too_ bad, like 70-75 degrees.

It has been my experience that just a small temp change makes a difference in my running especially in summertime. 30 degrees vs. 50 makes a difference in pre-run comfort level but my running performance not so much. 60 vs. 80... yikes, huge difference. High 50s is perfect, low 60s will start to slow me down a little, high 60s even more, over 70 it gets hard.... 80s is just a long slow miserable sludge where I repeat over and over "I will be running like the wind in October! Just hold on! This is making you stronger! Prepare to someday run like the wind!!"

BasicGreatGuy

Docbanana2002 wrote: »

Lpeterson189 wrote: »

Hi! Yes, it had been warm and muggy here (Indian Summer I guess), but when I run in the mornings it isnt _too_ bad, like 70-75 degrees.

It has been my experience that just a small temp change makes a difference in my running especially in summertime. 30 degrees vs. 50 makes a difference in pre-run comfort level but my running performance not so much. 60 vs. 80... yikes, huge difference. High 50s is perfect, low 60s will start to slow me down a little, high 60s even more, over 70 it gets hard.... 80s is just a long slow miserable sludge where I repeat over and over "I will be running like the wind in October! Just hold on! This is making you stronger! Prepare to someday run like the wind!!"

I agree. Small temp changes can make a big difference depending on the individual and his or her training background.

cwolfman13

Lpeterson189 wrote: »

hill8570 wrote: »

Lpeterson189 wrote: »

hill8570 wrote: »

If your diary is accurate, I'd say you're undereating. If the muscles don't have any glycogen to work with, they're not going to work very well.

Thanks for the advice - I always have wondered what I need to eat, what specific foods/food groups are good for this? What would you suggest?

Carbs tend to be the best for getting fuel to the muscles.

I'd recommend eating at maintenance (or a bit above) for a day or two to build up your glycogen reserves, then go out the next day and see how your run goes. If your performance improves significantly, you're on the right track, so then it becomes a matter of finding your best balance between weight loss and running performance.

Thanks! Though at the same time I'm also trying to lose weight and I feel like I need to "cut" carbs. Guess its hard for me to find the happy balance.
Can you give me some thoughts on which foods are good/bad for the running part, while I can still lose weight, and portions? What is glycogen? I'm such a newbie!

It's not at all necessary to low carb to lose weight...and if you do, you're going to have performance issues. Also, underfeeding is going to be an issue...as was said, you should probably bump to maintenance for a couple of days and then find the right balance between weight loss and a reasonable calorie deficit and performance...your performance is always going to suffer somewhat when you're cutting calories, but huge cuts in calories are going to make you about worthless...calories are a unit of energy....if you're not giving your body energy how do you expect it to perform...it's like running a car on fumes.

NorthCascades

Lpeterson189 wrote: »

NorthCascades wrote: »

Sounds like you're not allowing enough time for recovery.

Thanks! What do you mean by this - recovery after the run, like stretching? Or recovery between runs?

I don't know if stretching actually helps or not. And I'm a lot more of a cyclist than a runner.

What you described sounds like how I feel on days when I've been pushing hard for days, and go into a workout all fatigued. A rest day always does wonders for me when this happens.

The carbs people are talking about might be part of it to, you're definitely using them to run. We're not doctors, we haven't seen you run or anything, we're all just doing our best, trying to be helpful by sharing our own experiences. You have to take all of this with a grain of sand and experiment some to figure out what's right for you.

Lpeterson189

Thanks for all the good ideas and suggestions, everyone! I'll definitely take all this into consideration this coming week and see how I feel. Will check back in with an update!

MeanderingMammal

Lpeterson189 wrote: »

hill8570 wrote: »

If your diary is accurate, I'd say you're undereating. If the muscles don't have any glycogen to work with, they're not going to work very well.

Thanks for the advice - I always have wondered what I need to eat, what specific foods/food groups are good for this? What would you suggest?

Eat to your calorie goal, you're not replenishing what you expend and you appear to be consistently below target.

I'd agree with the points upthread about not needing to cut carbs, that's woo, but you don't need to be worrying so much about what to eat, as you'r just not eating enough.

Running is something that's very affected by energy levels.

MadDogManor

I don't have advice, but I want to say I did c25k twice, once on the treadmill then again outside. I felt great. Then I did a 5k and "ran" the whole thing, in 47 minutes -_- I was a bit bummed, but my goal was not to walk it, so I made my goal. Since then I've quit running. Guess I never got the bug. Good luck to you.