Question about soreness

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kdot1983
kdot1983 Posts: 4
in Fitness and Exercise
Perhaps it's a silly question.

Background: I was in the Army for 4 years, and the motto was pretty much "if you aren't puking at the end of your workout, you didn't try hard enough". I've been out a long time though, and honestly, I became lazy and I try to separate what I learned in the army, from what I do now, because when I was in the Army, I seemed to always have knee problems and shin splints that turned into stress fractures.

I have been trying not to push myself TOO hard this time around. I gained a lot of weight in 2007, went back and forth with running/working out/eating right, never really lose more than 20lbs and kept it off. During this time, I went through the mental thing where I HAD to run daily to lose weight. This is what I put into my head. Probably why I failed so many times. I injured myself because I pushed myself too hard, I told myself 2 miles is the minimum run I should ever ever do.

A couple years ago though, I started just eating right and not working out. I didn't want to fall into the unhealthy obsession again. So, initially, I lost about 55lbs. I put back on about 15lbs, no biggie, still in weight range. But, I decided I could handle working out again.

So, around this past summer, I started running again and I got to where I could run about 5-6 miles at a 12 minute pace. But, I never felt sore. I felt like I wasn't working hard enough, and that I could definitely improve my time.

And that's where the problem started. So, my new years resolution was to improve pace. Right now, I can run about a mile in 9:18, but only ONE mile. I usually slow down and run two more miles at a 10 minute pace. 3 miles has been what I've been doing lately, I exchanged mileage for speed. I do not feel sore when running. I don't feel like I'm pushing myself that hard.

But, when I'm done, I'm so incredibly sore. And I know being sore happens. But I am sore every single work out, to the point where I feel like I can barely move. I usually put two days in between my run days now. Why am I so sore? Am I doing something wrong? Is there a better way to do this? Or is this an okay method and I'll eventually stop being so sore? Am I taking too much time off between running?

I don't want to injure myself. I don't want to quit. Sorry this is so long, and sorry if there is a really obvious answer that I'm missing. I feel like this should come natural to me.

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  • chard_muncher
    chard_muncher Posts: 75 Member
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    Just like you're suggesting, you're doing the wrong thing. Your focus should be on mileage (actually: time), not speed. You need to build up your aerobic base and efficiency before you worry about anything like tempo runs. You've got to run slow to run fast.

    The general advice is to run at a "conversational" speed. Defined: the fastest speed you can achieve while still being able to hold a conversation without catching your breath constantly.

    At the end of such base training runs, you often won't be tired or sore. But I guarantee that if you work on building your base for a few months you will see solid improvement (in speed as well as endurance) and your chance of injury is significantly lower than any kind of high intensity training.

    So relax, take it slow. If you're serious about running there will be a time to push hard in the future. But for now you should focus solely on medium to long distance runs at an easy pace.

    Also, if you're interested in a heart monitor it might help you. Look around online for some information on "zone 2" training and heart rate monitors.

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