Endurance running

misao1994

So, for the past month I've slowly been upping my cardio by jogging. I started at 2 minutes of straight jogging and have increased my time by 15 seconds every day for 5 days, two days off. Right now I'm at 8 minutes and I feel stuck at this time. Like, I'm not able to keep going. My feet/shoulder ache(I run on concrete on the streets btw). I got new insoles, but are there any tips/tricks to increase time and get a better work out? I would really like to be at 20 minutes by september!

creature275

if your shoudlers ache Im assuming its from a lack of a warm up do more than just stretch try doing some stretching then some sit-ups and pushups or jumping jacks, your body should feel good and warm by the time you start running. if your feet hurt you might have the wrong shoes. also try some interval training to break the plateau. if you run out of breath easily I like to go to a pool and swim underwater as long as possible, come up, take a breath, go back under and repeat until you just cant go any longer.

SteveTries

I would advise a Couch to 5K programme.

I've not yet met anyone for whom these don't work. My wife had great success with hers and just did her first race this past weekend. You'll be running for 30 mins by september no problem.

Sore shoulder? Next time you run pay attention to whether your shoulders are nice and relaxed or all bunched up and tense. If the latter, relax them and shake your arms out then resume normal, relaxed arm movement. Be sure to check that you are still relaxed every few mins.

You don't say what time of foot pain. Could be many causes from worn out shoes, to wrong type, to poor motion. I was struggling badly with pain on the side of my foot. Turned out to be the material in my socks. £5 on a pair of running socks and problem solved.

Do some googling about foot pronation, try and figure out which type you are and if your shoes are giving the correct suppor.

misao1994

Thanks so much for all the advice! I definitely think my shoulders ache because I'm not stretching before I go out! I got new insoles for my running shoes because I found out the outside sides of my feet were aching from the lack of support and pressure from the concrete! It was like an intense ache on the sides of my feet, sometimes one at a time, sometimes both, but the insoles I got for pavement have pretty much cured that!

lmarshel

Part of the trick to running is to really push yourself. You don't mention if you're continuing a workout after your 8 minute run, but I would suggest at that point you walk briskly until you feel recovered and then take off again. Set up a routine where your overall workout is 30-45 minutes combined running and walking. Then try to incrementally increase your running time every week or so. You might also want to alternate your running days with some other type of cardio. I personally can't run every single day. After a few days in a row, I have a lot of pain in my hip. But I alternate with the elliptical at a pretty high intensity. I find that keeps my "wind" up for running.

And my last bit of advice is when you come to the point where you think you just can't run any further, push yourself for another 20 or 30 seconds. The trick is conditioning. So you have to progress.

Best of luck to you.