You guys aren't kidding when you say to go slower!

Winchesterfied
Winchesterfied Posts: 18 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm currently on week 4 of C25K and I think one of my biggest problems during this program was thinking that I was too slow and pushing too hard to go faster. I track my runs through the Nike Running app on my phone and when I go back to a day last week when I had that style of pushing too hard in the beginning my fastest pace was 13'22 and my slowest was 54'23, covering 2.13 miles in about 40 minutes. I readjusted myself this week and today my fastest pace was 13'41 and my slowest was 24'44, covering 2.34 miles in about 44 minutes. There's clearly a HUGE difference in my slowest pace of the run and I'm very happy about that! Of course, I'm still pretty slow(snails could probably pass me lol!) but I feel like the whole point is to be able to run for a period of time or distance and focus on speed later on. Now that I pace myself differently I find myself a bit more comfortable by the end and I'm not gasping for air or dying for water.
Definitely one of the best pieces of advice I've seen about running. Go slow! There's no shame in working your way up to speed. Everyone has to start somewhere.

Replies

  • brandiuntz
    brandiuntz Posts: 2,717 Member
    Lesson 1 of running! Speed comes with more miles. The more you run, the faster you will get. Keep up the good work!:flowerforyou:
  • TAsunder
    TAsunder Posts: 423 Member
    I am glad you are learning that it is ok to slow down, but I'm unclear on your math. Those are almost identical overall paces. I would guess that the 54' pace was an error or when you stopped briefly. That is an extremely slow walking pace even.

    When I did c25k, I basically wound up at the end running for 40+ minutes, but the pace I was going was only marginally faster than my pace for a brisk walk. But I was still running... so don't be surprised if you see the same :)
  • Winchesterfied
    Winchesterfied Posts: 18 Member
    On the app it shows the route I take and colors it according to speed. When I look at it the red(slowest) parts looks to be within most of my running intervals, probably the last bits of it. Again, I would always start fast and end up slugging along by the end of the interval so I do think I really was that slow lol! Also I run outdoors and my route is quite hilly, so that contributes to my pace as well.

    Great job on running for 40+! I will probably only get a bit faster for now but the fact that I'm trying at all is what matters
  • Winchesterfied
    Winchesterfied Posts: 18 Member
    Thank you!

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