Endurance Help

iwannabinnarnia

I'm working with a personal trainer trying to improve my endurance to run for longer amounts of time. I've had two sessions so far and am not noticing much difference. The routine we do is 2 minutes on treadmill, then 2 minutes on elliptical then 2 minutes on stationary bike. The first session my treadmill speed was 5. The second session we went up to 5.5. We did 5 rounds I think, total of 30 minutes each session. I am trying to push myself on non training nights. Last night I went in with the intent of running/jogging for a full 5 minutes at least at a 5 speed. I was not able to maintain. My face gets really red, I can barely breathe, and my heart rate (if the treadmill heart rate thingy is accurate) was 175. (I have tachycardia so I am also wondering if this is even safe for me)...I averaged a 14:38 mile according to the treadmill last night. Friday my trainer is going to push me to a speed of 6. And increase the tension on the elliptical and stationary bike. Is there any thing else I can be doing to help my endurance?

davemunger

Is your trainer a runner? It doesn't sound like it to me. If you want to improve endurance, the first thing you need to do is slow down and run for longer periods of time. You can take walk breaks occasionally if you find that you can't keep on running. Right now, you don't have enough endurance to worry about increasing the speed at which you are running.

Doing these steady, slow runs, you can build up the number of miles you run per week. After you build up to a reasonable mileage base -- perhaps around 20-25 mpw -- then you can start working on speed. There is more to it than that but to me it sounds like you really just need to work on increasing mileage.

I don't know about tachycardia and running though. I would check with a doctor before doing the kind of interval training your trainer is doing.

iwannabinnarnia

No, I do not believe he is a runner as he is always asking me questions about the 5ks and such. So is his training 'hurting' me then? He expects me to be able to run for a full 30 minutes on the tread mill at my last session which will be June 5th. What is a good speed on the treadmill to 'run' to help my endurance? Even at a 5 I find myself getting quite winded after a couple minutes. I did my last two 5 ks with a mix of jogging/walking... more speed walking than jogging, but finished the flying pig 5k with an average pace of 14:32. I'm usually able to get in a mile or two on the treadmill total each time I get on it... how many miles should I work toward per treadmill session then?

davemunger

Hmmm... yes, well, a 5 mph pace on the treadmill is a 12:00 mile, so it makes sense that you would get short of breath fairly quickly.

If you slow down to 4 mph are you still more comfortable running than walking? If if works for you to run at that pace, I'd give it a shot. That is slower than your 5k pace so you should be able to sustain it for 20-30 minutes. But if you feel like you'd rather be walking at that pace, then you may still need to do run-walking until you have enough endurance to do a sustained run.

Once you can run for 20 minutes without a walk break, you can gradually increase the distance you run (not the pace!) until you can run 3 miles without stopping. This will take a while, probably several months. I'd build up until your long run (once a week) is 60 minutes and your other runs are 30-40 minutes. This will probably take another couple months. When you can do sustained runs for these distances, then you will be ready to start gradually increasing your pace.

I did do some googling about tachycardia and it looks to me like you will want to consult a doctor before you do any of this, including your current training program. Here's one link that explains what is going on:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/429634-can-you-exercise-with-tachycardia/

PaytraB

I agree with Dave. In order to improve endurance, you've got to slow down and run longer at an easier pace/intensity for you. When you're panting for breath, cannot speak a short sentence and your heart rate is that high, you're going too fast. Slow down.

As for the tachycardia, it's best to consult your doctor to find out if running is a sport for you to pursue and under what conditions.

iwannabinnarnia

Thank you for all the advice and for the livestrong link. I am going to speak with my trainer tonight about this. And I have a call in to my doctor to be seen and cleared with the Tachycardia. I did a 'test' on my home treadmill last night.. managed a 5 minute jog at a speed of 4.5. Got winded and a slight pant, but could still speak 'normal'. So I think this might be a good speed for me to start at. I can easily walk a speed of 4 for 30 minutes or longer.. 4 is the speed that I'd been 'home training' myself at for probably a year now. Just nervous about how the trainer will take it... I don't want him to think I"m wimping out or anything.