Feeling discouraged about running

Being fat is not a barrier to running. I and legions of other fat runners are proof of that.

Certainly not. However, being overweight just adds to the risk of injury while getting into running shape. Your experience was positive, you might have uniquely resilient joints--others may not, I'm just urging caution, not recommending that she stop. A 17 minute mile is not running, but the only way to get there is to work at it. I just don't want her to push too hard to meet an April goal and potentially sustain an injury through overexertion. I've been running since the 1970's, I think I know a little bit about the subject.

Who says a 17-minute mile isn't running?

I'm not buying that from anybody but CarsonRuns or the Daves.

I participated in my first marathon at 245 pounds. I'm 224 and finished a 5k in 45 minutes. What I usually do is run as much as I can and then power walk the rest. Make sure to listen to good music since that can really pump you up!

Good luck!

So I decided that I was going to run a 5k this April. April 5th to be exact. Mind you I'm pretty overweight and I haven't run since middle school probably 16 years ago but I wanted to challenge myself and I'd lost 40lbs recently. I've been using the 5k runner plan and am on week 7 this week and have been consistently running 3 days a week. My struggle is that I feel I'm working very hard but that I cannot break 17 minute miles and by the end of my time running I'm worn out. Any suggestions for increasing my time? Or am I being too hard on myself?

I've been running for a number of years, up to and including half marathons and hopefully will be doing my first full marathon this fall, and one thing that I have always felt to be true is that you can only focus on one aspect of running at at time. If you are trying to build up your endurance to run a longer time you can't think about speed. If you want to get faster, you have to start by doing shorter distances.

My recommendation if you want to be faster for your 5k (which I am sure you are going to rock!) is to dedicate one of your weekly runs to doing intervals. On a treadmill or outside, it doesn't matter. But let's say your goal that day is to run for 30 minutes. Try running hard for 2 minutes and then walking for 1 and repeat that for the entire time. Next week, try 3 minutes and 2 minutes. Or whatever works for you. I like doing this on the treadmill so I can set my "fast" pace to higher values as I improve (it's a great motivation when I think about where I started!)

I hope this helps! Don't sweat the speed too much. Just finishing your first race is a HUGE accomplishment!

Being fat is not a barrier to running. I and legions of other fat runners are proof of that.

Certainly not. However, being overweight just adds to the risk of injury while getting into running shape. Your experience was positive, you might have uniquely resilient joints--others may not, I'm just urging caution, not recommending that she stop. A 17 minute mile is not running, but the only way to get there is to work at it. I just don't want her to push too hard to meet an April goal and potentially sustain an injury through overexertion. I've been running since the 1970's, I think I know a little bit about the subject.

So is a 14 minute mile considered running? Or would that simply be jogging? Just curious at what point it becomes running.

To the OP, keep training like you are, it is working for you. For your first race aim to finish. After that you have something to work towards. I just went from a 44 minute 5K in January to a 39 minute 5K this past weekend. I finished C25K last year and have been sporadic with my training through the very snowy Michigan winter. If you have to walk some of your 5K there's no shame in that.

This is all about progression. Doing today what you couldn't do yesterday, attempting tomorrow more than you did today.

I would also argue that there is nothing wrong with your pace. As your body adjusts and your muscles strengthen and become more efficient, your speed will improve - or it may not. I started out running an 11:30 mile doing 5ks at 220 lbs and thought that was slow. Then I trained for a half marathon and my pace dropped to 12:30, but then went back up over time (after 10 half marathons) to 10:30 at 166 lbs... but now that I'm running marathons, it's dropped to 11:30-12:30 again. If your pace is right for your body, it's right for your body. Don't be discouraged and don't let anyone tell you that you're not running... if you're not walking, you're running (unless of course you're skipping or crawling or cartwheeling - then you're probably not running. )

I think given the amount of time you're been working on it, you're right on track to achieve great things as a runner. Just keep plugging away and training SMART and you'll get to where you want to go.

I'm on week 2 of the C25K, which is a 9 week programme. I've never run before, well not since school, anyway. It's great that you are doing it at all, and you are still 5 weeks in front of me. Good luck, and we are all behind you.

I forgot to add earlier. If you need some support you are more than welcome to send a friend request. I will encourage the best I can.

Don't worry about your time! You will get faster as you go along. Also, a lot of people find that being surrounded by other people at the even causes them to go faster than on their own.

Congrats on all you've accomplished so far! I can't even get TO week 7!

Don't worry about your time! You will get faster as you go along. Also, a lot of people find that being surrounded by other people at the even causes them to go faster than on their own.

Congrats on all you've accomplished so far! I can't even get TO week 7!

Slow down.