Is a 12 minute mile too slow?

WinnerVictorious

It's only too slow if you're being chased by someone doing 11.

/thread

rockieschick

I love running any speed but I truly enjoy doing a 12 mile pace. I really find a that way I truly enjoy it more. But again Im not that fast either!

lachesissss

No - 12 minutes is not too slow! My suggestion would be to see the C25k program through to its completion, then assess your speed at the end of it so you have a benchmark over the distance. Then, if you want to continue running, pick a training program, like a Hal Higdon or Runner's World program for a 5k (or 10k) and follow that program. These have speed and tempo workouts built into them and will help you increase your pace no matter what distance you want to cover. Right now you're building your base and it's important to complete the distance rather than be fast at the distance at this stage of the game. I also advocate listening to your body, to avoid injury and to challenge yourself as you do your C25k. If you feel like you can push a bit harder during your session/ intervals, do it. If you feel like you need to go slower, do it. It will help you get more comfortable with your body, how it moves, and what slow vs. fast feels like relative to you. Good Luck!

bostonwolf

Although I would also like to lose a few pounds, my main reason for joining MFP was to get fit. I began by doing workout DVDs and about 8 weeks ago I started running. I've been doing the Couch to 5k programme and it's going quite well - I'm actually enjoying running, which I never ever thought would happen!

My problem is that my pace is SO SLOW. I actually didn't realise how slow until I spoke to three coworkers today. They have been running for much longer than me, but were saying that they run between an 8-9 minute mile. I was too embarrassed to admit that I run a 12 minute mile on average!

I just wanted to get some advice from some more experienced runners. Is a 12 minute mile too slow for a beginner? At what point should I start trying to speed up? Is there anyone out there who started off like me and is now running at a 'fast' speed?

I'm 27 and have a normal BMI, so I have no real excuses (other than the fact I genuinely was a bit of a couch potato before I started). Thanks in advance!

That's my standard time right now. It will get faster as I lose weight and train more, but it gets the job done and burns calories. That's all i need right now.

Cruz2Fit

I started running consistently in January and am running 13 half marathons in 2013. This thread proves what I've learned this year... The running community is an excellent group of supportive people.

jadams1650

When I first started I ran a 12minute pace, and couldn't do that for more than 300 yards. 18 months later I was running 10 K in 39 minutes. Stick eith it and the pace will come.

pucenavel

You are infinitely faster than the people who stayed on the couch.

pucenavel

Correction:

It's only too slow if you're being chased by a BEAR doing 11.

JennieKillough

Don't you worry about your speed. That is not a bad time. You can improve upon that if you want. What's important is to go at a speed that's sustainable. Push yourself within reason. Competition is fine but when it starts to hurt you mentally, back off and gather your thoughts. Know why you are running. Do it for your own reasons! You can do it

stealthSLOTH

no pace is too slow - you are just 'competing' against yourself! :flowerforyou:

Angellaree

Heck no! A 12 minute mile is better than not running at all. Don't stress out by comparing your pace to others. Just keep running if you enjoy it, speed will come.

SkinnySoon78

What a great forum, and all the replies are helpful.

My (in-shape) boyfriend was recently SO horrified when I confessed that I'm not at a 7-minute mile. He said, mockingly, "what, are you at 12 or something?" I'm at 10. And he can shove it.

kimmyj74

It's only too slow if you're being chased by a BEAR doing 11.

[/quote]

Hilarious!!!!

But seriously, my average pace is 11.5 and I like it that way!! When I try to go faster, I get out of breath, can't enjoy the scenery etc. I've been running about 3 years and still at this pace, but hey, Faster then those slow bears, LOL. (And my friends on the couch or sidelines)

Cannon_G

I started running back in April of 2012. I weighed in at 306 lbs and decided to use the Galloway easy 5k app to lose weight. I was in terrible shape with bad knees and a bad back. I had reached a point where I had to stop making excuses and just drop the weight. I was so afraid of having a medical emergency on a run that I would run laps around my local fire department. I figured if I had a medical emergency it would be easy to get help. Thankfully I never had an issue. The Galloway program is a run/walk/run interval program. At the beginning I was clocking 16 minute miles. Slowly my times improved. By the time I finished the 8 week program I was at 11-12 per mile. I moved on to the 10k app and my times improved. When I finished the 10k app I was down to 9-10 per mile. Then I moved on to the half marathon app. In January I ran my first half at the disney world half. I trained for a 2:15 and was able to push myself on race day to a 1:56.44. I was a little burned out on running so I spent the late winter and spring cross training and spinning. My first 5k in the spring I was able to run a 22:04. In the race I ran my fastest mile ever at 6:19. The following week I ran my first 10k of the spring and finished with a 47:04. I also now weigh 200lbs. The running and cross training helped me lose my excess weight. Now even with my improved speed over the last year I still question if I am a good runner. I am starting to come to the realization that happiness doesn't come in the form of a number but rather how you feel after an awesome run.

The biggest help for me with improving my time was training with a heart rate monitor. I use the Polar RCX5 GPS and swear by it. I log all my runs and workouts and can see the breakdown of my run.

aimeekrn

When I first started the process of regaining my fitness, I couldn't even run an entire mile...I'd walk at least half of it and it pretty much took me the better part of 18-20 minutes just to go a mile.

I can now do a full 3 miles non-stop and my pace is around 12.5 minutes for those three miles. Personally, I'm feeling pretty good about it, though, when I was in the Marines I ran a sub 8 minute mile...so that's what I'm ultimately shooting for, it'll just take awhile to re-gain my fitness.

Just enjoy and let the endurance and speed come to you, it'll just happen on it's own if you keep at it and keep pushing yourself.

Thank you for this. If it didnt help anyone else, it helped me!

Binkie1955

No. it's my training pace for the regular week. keeps you in shape, avoids injury, gives the heart a good workout. you can talk to your friends next to you cuz it's easy to breathe. you'll lose weight.

KANGOOJUMPS

giddy up!

weightlossforbrian

a 5 day mile is better than no mile at all.

aimeekrn

I started running back in April of 2012. I weighed in at 306 lbs and decided to use the Galloway easy 5k app to lose weight. I was in terrible shape with bad knees and a bad back. I had reached a point where I had to stop making excuses and just drop the weight. I was so afraid of having a medical emergency on a run that I would run laps around my local fire department. I figured if I had a medical emergency it would be easy to get help. Thankfully I never had an issue. The Galloway program is a run/walk/run interval program. At the beginning I was clocking 16 minute miles. Slowly my times improved. By the time I finished the 8 week program I was at 11-12 per mile. I moved on to the 10k app and my times improved. When I finished the 10k app I was down to 9-10 per mile. Then I moved on to the half marathon app. In January I ran my first half at the disney world half. I trained for a 2:15 and was able to push myself on race day to a 1:56.44. I was a little burned out on running so I spent the late winter and spring cross training and spinning. My first 5k in the spring I was able to run a 22:04. In the race I ran my fastest mile ever at 6:19. The following week I ran my first 10k of the spring and finished with a 47:04. I also now weigh 200lbs. The running and cross training helped me lose my excess weight. Now even with my improved speed over the last year I still question if I am a good runner. I am starting to come to the realization that happiness doesn't come in the form of a number but rather how you feel after an awesome run.

The biggest help for me with improving my time was training with a heart rate monitor. I use the Polar RCX5 GPS and swear by it. I log all my runs and workouts and can see the breakdown of my run.
[/quote

What an improvement. Thats really awesome. Im going to come back here and read this when I hate myself for being so slow.

SusanB148

We are all made differently, so some of us will naturally be better runners than others. There's nothing at all wrong with doing 12 minute miles.

drojen

I hope not. I don't even run that fast! I'm about 14-15 minute mile and I'm ok with that - usually. It's hard not to compare yourself to others but try not to. I would be thrilled to run a 12 min mile, LOL. Each time I go out, I just try to beat the time before - even if it's only by a few seconds. I've completed the C25K and am now doing 3 runs a week - one "easy" run of anywhere from 3-5 k, an interval run (on the treadmill, so I know what speed I'm going) and a "long" run which I'm increasing the time by 1 minute each week and usually, since I'm increasing the time, the distance is increasing little by little as well, but I go at least 5K. I'm not training for anything specific so I'm just running for the enjoyment of it right now.

MightyDomo

Nope not at all, I was running a 13.5 minute mile when I started so you are already doing better than I was! Now just over two years later and a lot of inability to run from an ankle fracture and patella femoral syndrome of the fall/winter I am running a 10 minute mile.

You will get better over time, just keep it up and you will notice your times getting better and better.

WhitneySheree88

We all start somewhere I do 14 minute miles, was doing 20 (I was very out of shape, I know this!) you're doing great, keep it up!

duckiec

Glad I thought to look this up, because I was feeling pretty bummed that 12min/mi seemed awfully darn slow. Ok, so before that, who knows what I was running... because I never did. I remember fighting hard to finish the mile in under, I think, 10 min for that Presidential fitness test they made you do in school, and I never worked out then and remember struggling, but doing it, so it was a rude awakening that now, I'm finally getting in shape, and I'm not even close to that! Well, at least I have a starting point, and hopefully my friends will be patient with me at our mud/obstacle 5k coming up.

But, I should embrace the accomplishments, and now I have something to focus on improving. Right? (Trying to sell it to myself here. ).

Joreanasaurous

I run a 12 minute mile. I don't care if that's slower that a herd of turtles crawling through molasses. I ran it. That makes me a runner so I'm pleased with that slow run. Lol.

Targonis

I know this is an older thread, but I am sure I am not the only one who ran across this thread while doing a search. I started working on losing weight back at the beginning of May of this year(2013), and progressed from walking twice a day, 1.2 miles each to the point where I can now run 6.2 miles straight. Now, one thing that is very very helpful when it comes to the subject of what speed is best is to get a heart rate monitor. The heart rate monitor will let you easily see how hard your heart is working, and THAT is what will let you know if you are pushing too hard or too little.

First, if your heart rate is HIGH, then that will limit how long your body will be willing to keep going, almost more than anything else. For myself, if my heart rate is upward of 165 beats per minute, I KNOW I can't sustain that for more than maybe one mile. A 151-155bpm rate on the other hand will let me go for 6.2 miles. At that point though, I feel it in my ankles, and it will take a few more weeks before I want to run any further than that. My normal run, sticking to that rule of 151-155bpm has me doing around an 11 minute, 45 second mile, which translates to roughly a 5.2 mile per hour average speed. When I do a 5K run now, I am aiming for a 10 minute, 20 second mile on my next run, and I generally do the 5K(3.1 miles) in around 33-34 minutes.

So, that is the thing to look at for each person, how fast is your heart beating for the speed you are running. Those who are in GREAT shape have the advantage that their heart doesn't have to work as hard when they are running, so they can run faster while their body is working just as hard. For those new to running, myself included, our bodies are not nearly as efficient when it comes to running, so we do what we can, and over time, it will increase. I have noticed over the past several weeks that my heart rate IS slowly starting to go down while running at these speeds, and as it goes down, it allows me to increase my pace SLIGHTLY. If you don't have a heart rate monitor, you won't see the effect of heart rate on how well you feel on a run.

I STRONGLY suggest a decent watch based heart rate monitor for EVERYONE, and I wish I had bought mine earlier in my journey toward losing weight and getting into better shape. I picked up a Polar RS300X for $90, and while I do wish it had more features, as a beginner monitor, it does the job well enough for the moment. Each person is different, you will need to figure out what your actual maximum heart rate is over time, but you WILL see that if you watch your heart rate, and just aim to keep your heart rate down, you can go longer distances, and if you increase your pace, you will find yourself unable to go very far. You will still need to listen to your body to avoid hurting your ankles, shins, and knees, but using heart rate instead of TIME as my guide on a run, it has allowed me to go from BARELY able to do a 3.1 mile run to now barely able to do a 6.2 mile run in only one month.

So, if you need to stick with a 12 minute mile to keep your heart in the zone to let you run longer distances, then stick with it. I will also point out that your height and weight have a huge amount to do with speeds. Those who are taller will have longer legs generally, and that will let them run faster for the same amount of physical effort. Those who need to lose weight are hauling all that extra weight with them as they run, and that also mean you are doing a LOT of extra work. I've managed to drop 28 pounds since May 1st, and that has a lot to do with the improvements I have seen in my ability to run. I still want to drop another 36 pounds, so I have a lot of room for improvement.

arrseegee

I know this is an older thread, but I am sure I am not the only one who ran across this thread while doing a search. I started working on losing weight back at the beginning of May of this year(2013), and progressed from walking twice a day, 1.2 miles each to the point where I can now run 6.2 miles straight. Now, one thing that is very very helpful when it comes to the subject of what speed is best is to get a heart rate monitor. The heart rate monitor will let you easily see how hard your heart is working, and THAT is what will let you know if you are pushing too hard or too little.

First, if your heart rate is HIGH, then that will limit how long your body will be willing to keep going, almost more than anything else. For myself, if my heart rate is upward of 165 beats per minute, I KNOW I can't sustain that for more than maybe one mile. A 151-155bpm rate on the other hand will let me go for 6.2 miles. At that point though, I feel it in my ankles, and it will take a few more weeks before I want to run any further than that. My normal run, sticking to that rule of 151-155bpm has me doing around an 11 minute, 45 second mile, which translates to roughly a 5.2 mile per hour average speed. When I do a 5K run now, I am aiming for a 10 minute, 20 second mile on my next run, and I generally do the 5K(3.1 miles) in around 33-34 minutes.

So, that is the thing to look at for each person, how fast is your heart beating for the speed you are running. Those who are in GREAT shape have the advantage that their heart doesn't have to work as hard when they are running, so they can run faster while their body is working just as hard. For those new to running, myself included, our bodies are not nearly as efficient when it comes to running, so we do what we can, and over time, it will increase. I have noticed over the past several weeks that my heart rate IS slowly starting to go down while running at these speeds, and as it goes down, it allows me to increase my pace SLIGHTLY. If you don't have a heart rate monitor, you won't see the effect of heart rate on how well you feel on a run.

I STRONGLY suggest a decent watch based heart rate monitor for EVERYONE, and I wish I had bought mine earlier in my journey toward losing weight and getting into better shape. I picked up a Polar RS300X for $90, and while I do wish it had more features, as a beginner monitor, it does the job well enough for the moment. Each person is different, you will need to figure out what your actual maximum heart rate is over time, but you WILL see that if you watch your heart rate, and just aim to keep your heart rate down, you can go longer distances, and if you increase your pace, you will find yourself unable to go very far. You will still need to listen to your body to avoid hurting your ankles, shins, and knees, but using heart rate instead of TIME as my guide on a run, it has allowed me to go from BARELY able to do a 3.1 mile run to now barely able to do a 6.2 mile run in only one month.

So, if you need to stick with a 12 minute mile to keep your heart in the zone to let you run longer distances, then stick with it. I will also point out that your height and weight have a huge amount to do with speeds. Those who are taller will have longer legs generally, and that will let them run faster for the same amount of physical effort. Those who need to lose weight are hauling all that extra weight with them as they run, and that also mean you are doing a LOT of extra work. I've managed to drop 28 pounds since May 1st, and that has a lot to do with the improvements I have seen in my ability to run. I still want to drop another 36 pounds, so I have a lot of room for improvement.

Fantastic post, thanks!

garfreed

I ran today for the first time in a long time. I ran an hour. 5 miles. It was a terrific work out. I think a 12 minute mile is just fine for a beginner. I'm no expert, but for myself, the duration of a run is more important than speed.

CatKin76

I just ran 1.07 mile in 12 minutes and 17 seconds and I'm damn proud of it for my first run in over 20 years !!! It's set a mark now and hopefully each run I do may improve a little more but I'm doing this to get fitter and improve my life, not to win any race !! :-)

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