Running Speed

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  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,890 Member
    FWIW, here is my story

    Jan '13: Started C25K. Total non-runner before this (I did the elliptical, tae bo, stuff like that before running). Did a LOT of my running at 4.2-4.8 mph. Struggled even to hit 5 mph. And I did all but maybe one run of C25K on the treadmill so I wasn't even dealing with hills or anything.

    May '13: Ran my first 5K. Goal was to finish in under 45 minutes. finished in 36:05! (A good friend/experienced runner ran with me to pace me. I think she knew I'd be able to do better than training pace on race day.) After that and seeing I could do it, on training runs I generally ran at least 5 mph and gradually increased from there.

    Nov '13: Ran my second 5K. Finished in 29:29.
    Dec '13: Ran my third 5K. Finished in 29:20.

    Haven't run a 5K race since then but I recently ran my first 10K (finished in 1:03:42, which is slower than I was hoping for but it was a tough course and super humid so I wasn't terribly disappointed). Next goal is to run a 5K in 28 minutes. :) A year ago I never would have thought I could run much faster than 5.0 mph or much longer than 3 miles!
  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,890 Member
    You should not worry about speed at this point. Simply running more and regularly will increase your speed!

    Some wise people told me the exact same thing 1 year ago... And it worked. Proof: 13 months ago I ran 3 miles straight for the first time at 13 min/mi. Last week I ran my first marathon (26.2 miles) at 8:45 min/mi.

    Have some faith in the process :)

    Oh wow! That is an AWESOME timing! Great job.

    Dang, that is amazing.
  • meltoine
    meltoine Posts: 46 Member
    I am working with a HRM. That's actually how I'm able to run at all. I was barely able to run 1/4 mile before. Once I got my HRM I realized that I was going too fast, leading me to have to stop. Hence my running so slowly now. At 4.5 MPH on the treadmill I'm at the top of my target heart rate range, but the other day I was able to keep it up for 15 mins, just over 1 mile.

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