Why can't I run??

melissarina

I'm up to week 4 of C25K too, and I really struggle with the 5 minute runs. My trainer tells me to take deep breaths in through my nose, and breathe out through my mouth, but I never feel like I get enough air in. I also have asthma, so when I feel like I'm not getting enough air I tend to panic (unnecessarily). I think part of it is in my mind, but I think I'll try slowing my running down (at the gym, my trainer is always increasing the speed on the treadmill, so maybe that isn't helping).

I hope you get the hang of it

Superchas

If you can not talk as you run then you are not doing it right.
This will find the right pace for you as well.
Running is a head game for me so need plenty of distractions to stop me thinking about why I should not stop. Music is only solution for me.
I had dropped 100lbs before bought running shoes and 125lbs before I used them.
There is a pain barrier to endure with running that I do not get on gym cardio equipment so have tended to use these for major exercise as I am a wimp with 50 year old joints.
Anyway can now run 5 miles or so if feeling like change in exercise so keep at it.
Left right left right at your own pace
Good luck

cupboard_stalker

If you can walk for five minutes, then you can run for 5 mins! You could power walk for five mins and put in more effort than a slow jog at a "slower-than-walking" pace. It sounds like you are just running too fast and that is too easy to do on a treadmill.

The second bit of advice if you are doing C25k is to repeat the week you are on, you could catch up nearer the end if you are training for a specific race/date. Fitness isn't a linear progression, just like weight loss - you will have plateaus. Sometimes your body is full of energy and sometimes it's tired and a bit depleted, some days just feel harder for the same effort.

I'd also say get outside to run, you would be amazed at the difference it makes to how hard it feels. When you are outside you have so much more to look at and it distracts you from an internal consciousness where all you can feel is the discomfort . Add some great views, or a natural scenery and pow! - a super stressbusting enjoyable experience where time flies and you don't want to turn round to head home!

I wasn't a natural runner either to start with, it was hard but thats cause i ran at one pace which was too fast. I now love it and hate missing a run even in minus degrees! Stick with it, the more you do it the better it gets

Carmella9

The thing is, running is completely different to any other exercise i,e strength, cycling, elliptical etc, it takes a lot of endurance and if you have never run that simply just has to be built up, if you cant get past 4 mins then try getting to 4 mins 10 sec, week 1 , 4 mins 20 secs week two etc!
It just takes time and determination, you cant rush something like running if your respiratory system is completely new to it.
When I started i could'nt run for more than 10 minutes now i can run upto 7.5 km without stopping yet by this point my lungs feel like they are about to give up !

My best advise is to breath in through your nose and out through your mouth, it makes a MASSIVE difference to how your lungs feel!

I also agree with the posts that say 'start of slow' you would be surprise at the amount of people that run at too quick of a pace on a treadmill in comparison to the pace they would run outside!

jamesandalexsmum

i have been running since last june. i have to listen to music so i don't hear my self puffing and panting as i know i would stop if i could hear it. i find the music a great distraction - might be a suggestion?

Ryanmariem

Not sure if any of you are having the same problem I used to have. But all through high school I could walk seemingly forever, however when it came to running I could barely go a block before I was winded and had sharp pains towards the bottom of my ribcage. It wasn't until after high school and a lot of determination of wanting to run more that I started doing my research. The pain hurt so bad at times I started assuming that maybe it was a hernia or something, however it was never always on the same side. I had tried to "run through the pain" one night only to end up laying on the side of the road curled up in the fetal position near passing out. Mind you I don't think i was out of shape or anything, I was 6' 1" 160lbs, a person that looked prime for running really. So anyways doing some research I came across the term "Runners Stitch". After reading into this it seamed to describe exactly what I was experiencing.

What I discovered was this. Before I never paid much attention to my breathing and often the faster I tried running the faster and shorter my breaths became trying to "keep up". As it turns out this bad breathing leads to straining the lung diaphragm located at the bottom of your lungs.

With this new knowledge I started experimenting with my breathing after just a few weeks I was actually able to run until my legs felt like rubber! Talk about one very happy nite, I could barely stand but was grinning from ear to ear.

My tips would include the following. Take quality breaths, not necessarily a lot of breaths. Instead of breathing faster, focus on breathing deeper. And probably the most important, be sure to COMPLETELY EXHALE every breath. Start with a super slow jog to practice your breathing and slowly work up your jogging speed day by day or week by week. Everyone progresses differently, no need to rush it. Hopefully this will help someone out there. I remember how frustrated I was when I'd be winded or "in lung pain" long before ever feeling a burn in my legs.

Thanks for this advice, I would have that same problem in MS & HS, I could do the sprint running but not the long distance. Of course it did not help that I use to smoke and as result I now have athletic asthma and chronic bronchitis.... I have been off of asthma meds since I was 17 and have not had any problems, I can do brisk walks (more like speed walking) w/out a problem... however the last two years I have gotten out of shape again and so I am back to square one... I love to bike ride but last summer could not go far before I had to stop and felt like I had been jogging back in MS/HS... I do not jog for other reasons as I have had two dislocated knees and have had to go into physical therapy once in my late teens and then again in my early twenties. They adviced me to stick to low impact excercise for my knees... no jogging, not even sprint running. So I hike and walk, and ride bike... now I just have to retrain myself to breath correctly why I am bike riding. Those side pains are the worst, sometimes it felt like I had a broken/cracked rib... which unfortanely have had before, ouch!

KANGOOJUMPS

YOU CAN'
do not give up,,
i was never a runner
i always roller bladed but JUST COULD NOT RUN
and i was a smoker.
WELL I CAN RUN NOW
took some time
but it is my fav now!

Dibbsa

I'm getting back into running after a short lay off and weight gain(!) - I've trained for and run a few marathons and remember the first time I ran on a treadmill (quite a few years ago), I went from a few minutes to a marathon within a year. I've now been running for nearly 20 years (wow - how many miles have I covered).

I'm now back up to about 6km (4.5m) and improving and I can tell you that no matter the distance I run, the first 15/20 minutes of ANY run I do is the hardest - I feel that your body just resists and then gives up and you settle into a rhythm. People find running boring, I find it very cathartic, although my knees are not great now. Carrying a little less weight is good and I always have my music on. It's been challenging also the last month or so as it's been quite cold.

A little tip I gave somebody a long time ago was to coordinate your breathing with your footfalls - so breathe in on one foot fall and breathe out on the other footfall. If you are finding it hard, just slow down a little bit - slow and steady wins the race, unless you are an aspiring Usain Bolt! Good luck and I hope you get there to reap the benefits of a relatively cheap form of exercise.

gillianav

I had the same problem for years. In the end, I slowed right down to jogging at not much more than walking pace, and now I'm fine. It is about learnig to pace yourself. I've been overtaken on the street by people walking fast, but I don't care, at least I'm running! Good luck!

BerryH

You're almost certainly trying to run too fast. Try again outside as it's easier to find a that suits you, or use a treadmill setting that's only just over a fast walk.

Berry's first rule of running:
When you start out, it’s HARD! Even if you think you’re fit, running is so different to anything else you’ve done before you will get out of breath quickly. Stick with it. Can’t manage a minute? Go slow. Still can’t? GO SLOWER!

More ideas here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/BerryH/view/20-things-i-wish-i-d-known-about-running-when-i-started-103936

Good luck and do come back and let us know how you egt in!

becnaffine

Hi everyone.
First off a big thank you to everyones advice.
I took two main things on board today. I reduced my pace and REALLY focused on taking deep long breaths for the whole run.
I am pleased to say it worked beautifully and I blitzed week 4 of C25K.
Week 4 is 2X3min and 2X5min runs.
Well of course today the program shut down on me halfway through so I lost a bit of focus.
I didn't give up though.
I managed to do 1X3min, 2X5min and 1X7min runs!!! I couldn't believe it!
This is after not being able to get past 4 mins and even then I was gasping for breath and flopping about all over the place
Thanks again everyone, you are awesome
Bec

CJ_Holmes

Getting a hear rate monitor really helped me to run. I found that it really helped me to slow down and learn to pace. I was going way too fast. The pace I could actually sustain for more than a minute barely felt like running at first, it was so slow. I can run pretty fast now, and the HRM still keeps me at a good pace!

squirrelzzrule22

Make sure your pace is the slowest you can tolerate. If you are walking at say 3.5 miles per hour then to start set the treadmill to 4.0 and just trot along. Once that gets comfortable you can build up!!

Edit- whoops saw your recent reply. Sounds like you nailed it! Congrats!

aminer31

try slowing down and focus on deep breaths

Anelda

I find the biggest issue with increasing endurance is breath management. Most people are upper chest breathers and this causes fatigue. Then this spirals into your breaths becoming increasingly more shallow and inefficient and you tire that much faster

You need to learn to pull your breath from your diaphragm and into your belly. It seems unnatural at first, but it helps immensely. Yoga is a huge help in learning how to breathe properly.

Eventually, you'll get better and you'll be able to go faster and your heart will be that much more efficient in moving the necessary oxygen around your body.

lsu_kb

I'd also say get outside to run, you would be amazed at the difference it makes to how hard it feels. When you are outside you have so much more to look at and it distracts you from an internal consciousness where all you can feel is the discomfort . Add some great views, or a natural scenery and pow! - a super stressbusting enjoyable experience where time flies and you don't want to turn round to head home!

I wasn't a natural runner either to start with, it was hard but thats cause i ran at one pace which was too fast. I now love it and hate missing a run even in minus degrees! Stick with it, the more you do it the better it gets

Agreed 100%! I started the C25k program at the beginning of the year and an epic two week monsoon drove me indoors for a few runs and I ended up with two swollen and painful knees from running on the treadmill. I also noticed that my calves and the other muscles in my legs were screaming when I'd run on the treadmill, but not while outside.

I did also start off running too fast as well. It is perfectly ok to do what I call the jog-walk-bounce-hybrid. I'm on week 5 and my jog is SOOOOOO slow, but I just ran 8 minutes today. Sometimes I really have to focus on my breathing because I'll start to get out of breath, that's when you should slow down and really focus on "In and out, in and out, in and out"

lsu_kb

Hi everyone.
First off a big thank you to everyones advice.
I took two main things on board today. I reduced my pace and REALLY focused on taking deep long breaths for the whole run.
I am pleased to say it worked beautifully and I blitzed week 4 of C25K.
Week 4 is 2X3min and 2X5min runs.
Well of course today the program shut down on me halfway through so I lost a bit of focus.
I didn't give up though.
I managed to do 1X3min, 2X5min and 1X7min runs!!! I couldn't believe it!
This is after not being able to get past 4 mins and even then I was gasping for breath and flopping about all over the place
Thanks again everyone, you are awesome
Bec

Congrats!!! Week 4 was probably my favorite so far.

SilverPanther86

Hi everyone.
First off a big thank you to everyones advice.
I took two main things on board today. I reduced my pace and REALLY focused on taking deep long breaths for the whole run.
I am pleased to say it worked beautifully and I blitzed week 4 of C25K.
Week 4 is 2X3min and 2X5min runs.
Well of course today the program shut down on me halfway through so I lost a bit of focus.
I didn't give up though.
I managed to do 1X3min, 2X5min and 1X7min runs!!! I couldn't believe it!
This is after not being able to get past 4 mins and even then I was gasping for breath and flopping about all over the place
Thanks again everyone, you are awesome
Bec

Congrats! Always a great feeling to get past those hurdles that plague us!

SilverPanther86

Not sure if any of you are having the same problem I used to have. But all through high school I could walk seemingly forever, however when it came to running I could barely go a block before I was winded and had sharp pains towards the bottom of my ribcage. It wasn't until after high school and a lot of determination of wanting to run more that I started doing my research. The pain hurt so bad at times I started assuming that maybe it was a hernia or something, however it was never always on the same side. I had tried to "run through the pain" one night only to end up laying on the side of the road curled up in the fetal position near passing out. Mind you I don't think i was out of shape or anything, I was 6' 1" 160lbs, a person that looked prime for running really. So anyways doing some research I came across the term "Runners Stitch". After reading into this it seamed to describe exactly what I was experiencing.

What I discovered was this. Before I never paid much attention to my breathing and often the faster I tried running the faster and shorter my breaths became trying to "keep up". As it turns out this bad breathing leads to straining the lung diaphragm located at the bottom of your lungs.

With this new knowledge I started experimenting with my breathing after just a few weeks I was actually able to run until my legs felt like rubber! Talk about one very happy nite, I could barely stand but was grinning from ear to ear.

My tips would include the following. Take quality breaths, not necessarily a lot of breaths. Instead of breathing faster, focus on breathing deeper. And probably the most important, be sure to COMPLETELY EXHALE every breath. Start with a super slow jog to practice your breathing and slowly work up your jogging speed day by day or week by week. Everyone progresses differently, no need to rush it. Hopefully this will help someone out there. I remember how frustrated I was when I'd be winded or "in lung pain" long before ever feeling a burn in my legs.

Thanks for this advice, I would have that same problem in MS & HS, I could do the sprint running but not the long distance. Of course it did not help that I use to smoke and as result I now have athletic asthma and chronic bronchitis.... I have been off of asthma meds since I was 17 and have not had any problems, I can do brisk walks (more like speed walking) w/out a problem... however the last two years I have gotten out of shape again and so I am back to square one... I love to bike ride but last summer could not go far before I had to stop and felt like I had been jogging back in MS/HS... I do not jog for other reasons as I have had two dislocated knees and have had to go into physical therapy once in my late teens and then again in my early twenties. They adviced me to stick to low impact excercise for my knees... no jogging, not even sprint running. So I hike and walk, and ride bike... now I just have to retrain myself to breath correctly why I am bike riding. Those side pains are the worst, sometimes it felt like I had a broken/cracked rib... which unfortanely have had before, ouch!

Good to hear someone got some helpful advice from it! As someone else mentioned as well, if you get the sharp pains then putting pressure on it with a few of your fingers can help reduce it some, but in my experience it was never a cure. More of a band-aid to help you out while you get your breathing back in check. Also as other have mentioned in through the nose and out through the mouth, I relate it to pretty much exactly like blowing up a balloon. You're basically blowing through your lips as though your blowing up an imaginary balloon. Biggest thing by far is making sure you COMPLETELY exhale before taking in another breath because its not until the very end of the exhale that your lung diaphragm is actually at rest. So if you fail to get all that air out then your not letting that diaphragm get any sort of rest and are just straining it causing it to give you those sharp pains. Anyways good luck! Keep us updated!

Mr_Excitement

Hi everyone.
First off a big thank you to everyones advice.
I took two main things on board today. I reduced my pace and REALLY focused on taking deep long breaths for the whole run.
I am pleased to say it worked beautifully and I blitzed week 4 of C25K.
Week 4 is 2X3min and 2X5min runs.
Well of course today the program shut down on me halfway through so I lost a bit of focus.
I didn't give up though.
I managed to do 1X3min, 2X5min and 1X7min runs!!! I couldn't believe it!
This is after not being able to get past 4 mins and even then I was gasping for breath and flopping about all over the place
Thanks again everyone, you are awesome
Bec

Awesome-- I'm glad to hear it.