How do people run so much

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13

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  • ironhajee
    ironhajee Posts: 384 Member
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    It's all about pacing yourself ;)
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    Build up slowly - following an established plan will give you a better chance of success than winging it. Run slowly - you should be able to hold a conversation the whole time. Make sure you take days off so your body has time to adapt to the new demands you're putting on it. Running really punishes the legs. Your bones and tendons need to get stronger or you risk injury and that takes a good bit longer than the cardiovascular adaptations.

    Other than that, patience and practice. Losing weight if you're above goal weight will definitely make things easier as you go, too.
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,952 Member
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    Agreed with C25K! And don't be afraid to repeat weeks if you need to. A lot of people do, I did for sure. Just because it's a "13 week" program (or whatever it is lol) doesn't mean you have to do it in 13 weeks. You just need to be consistent and avoid skipping the workout sessions. Things get easier as you lose weight too.
  • AdrianChr92
    AdrianChr92 Posts: 567 Member
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    How do people run so much?

    Easy

    If want to run 10 km I run 15-20 till 10 becomes a walk in a park.

    Joking aside I'm not really a fan of the C25K program. It's too long for my taste. Anyone who isn't morbidly obese (in that case you probably shouldn't run) can run 1 km. Problem is people do it too fast and they get out of breath.

    I ran 3 km first time and went too fast. It was hell and I couldn't walk for days. Then I did a lot of reading during my chair bound days and formulated a plan. Suddenly I had a long run and 2 easy runs in my week. Easy runs were 3 k (easy pace, conversational) and the long run was 3.5 km, increasing it by 500 meters every week. Running easy worked wonders. I got to 5k in a month. I have been increasing my distances ever since.

    Currently I do a 15 km long run (increasing by 1 km every week, decreasing it by 5 every 4 weeks), 2 easy runs (around 5-10 km, one is usually recovery run from long run ) and a speed work (progression run, tempo, a fast 5k etc)


  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,445 Member
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    I'm glad no one ever told me about the 'toxic 10' nonsense. I may have believed them....

    Before you start your run have a plan. Know what it is you want to accomplish and do it. If you have a longer run planned, start slow and stay slow. If it is shorter, don't worry so much about pace and just enjoy it.

  • pomegranatecloud
    pomegranatecloud Posts: 812 Member
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    khpsrt wrote: »
    I have seen people's feed who run for 60 mins daily . I can hardly go on for 60 seconds . I have been trying for a while . I sometimes run 60 sec then take 30 sec break then run again for 60 . Any suggestion how I can improve and run better

    First of all, slow down. Almost all new runners run way too fast when starting. Overtime, increase your running time, decrease your walking time, and increase the amount of walk/run repeats until you're running further and longer without walking breaks. It gets much easier with time, and you'll be surprised at how quickly you're able to run 1 mile, 3 miles, 6 miles, etc.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
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    The most I run is a few seconds to cross the street when the light is turning. Maybe about 2x per week.
  • SexyGamerGal
    SexyGamerGal Posts: 75 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Figure out your pace even if you are slow as a turtle as I am. I could barely run 30 secs. Now 5 weeks later I run 2 minutes at a time and am heading to week 3 my next run. I use Couch 2 5k by zen labs so the app talks to me everytime I need to run etc. It really does help. I had to repeat week 1 and a little of week 2 but I did because I listened to my body and not what you believe you are suppose to do and it helped massively. I also walked when it said run if I felt my legs hurt to bad or I would injure myself. I only moved onto the next week when I could do 3 days of runs all runs and no pain or walks.
  • xLyric
    xLyric Posts: 840 Member
    edited March 2016
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    How do people run so much?

    Easy

    If want to run 10 km I run 15-20 till 10 becomes a walk in a park.

    Joking aside I'm not really a fan of the C25K program. It's too long for my taste. Anyone who isn't morbidly obese (in that case you probably shouldn't run) can run 1 km. Problem is people do it too fast and they get out of breath.

    I ran 3 km first time and went too fast. It was hell and I couldn't walk for days. Then I did a lot of reading during my chair bound days and formulated a plan. Suddenly I had a long run and 2 easy runs in my week. Easy runs were 3 k (easy pace, conversational) and the long run was 3.5 km, increasing it by 500 meters every week. Running easy worked wonders. I got to 5k in a month. I have been increasing my distances ever since.

    Currently I do a 15 km long run (increasing by 1 km every week, decreasing it by 5 every 4 weeks), 2 easy runs (around 5-10 km, one is usually recovery run from long run ) and a speed work (progression run, tempo, a fast 5k etc)


    That's hilarious. I'm not morbidly obese, but when I started C25K I could barely do the 1 minute increments, and I was going super slow. My stick-thin sister was the same. You don't have to be morbidly obese to be super out of shape. Being skinny doesn't give you a magic running ticket. I'm happy for you that C25K was too easy for you, that's great, but that doesn't mean everyone else is the same.
  • SmartAlec03211988
    SmartAlec03211988 Posts: 1,896 Member
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    Slow and steady wins the race.

    My first time out I couldn't even do 1/4 of a mile. Now I can hit the pavement and do about 15 miles before I really feel like death. My longest was 21 miles and that's only because I hit a wall and had to throw in the towel. But it took a solid year of practice to get there.
  • filovirus76
    filovirus76 Posts: 156 Member
    edited March 2016
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    dewd2 wrote: »
    I'm glad no one ever told me about the 'toxic 10' nonsense. I may have believed them....

    Before you start your run have a plan. Know what it is you want to accomplish and do it. If you have a longer run planned, start slow and stay slow. If it is shorter, don't worry so much about pace and just enjoy it.

    I thought everyone knew the first mile never counts.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    you build up to it, like with any exercise.

    i only do about a half hour, but for me, its supplemental and not my primary form of exercise. its just an extra i do when i feel like it or need to get out of my house ;)
  • joey4014
    joey4014 Posts: 159 Member
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    One foot infront of the other.
  • Selkie_Runner
    Selkie_Runner Posts: 41 Member
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    khpsrt wrote: »
    I have seen people's feed who run for 60 mins daily . I can hardly go on for 60 seconds . I have been trying for a while . I sometimes run 60 sec then take 30 sec break then run again for 60 . Any suggestion how I can improve and run better
    I run around 100km a week. It's not going to happen overnight. When a started a couple of years back I couldn't run 5 steps. Take your time slowly increase your distances and time running and your get there. Also the best advice I ever got was to run slow. You should be able to hold a conversation. It doesn't matter if you're slower than a walking pace to start your speed will naturally increase as you get fitter. The best way to be a better runner is to run. SO run consistently and regularly and build your distance at a steady but sustainable pace. Good luck
  • DMicheleC
    DMicheleC Posts: 171 Member
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    C25K is excellent to start you off and like most others have said go really slow and sort your speed out later. Make sure you get really good shoes and have your gait checked so you are running in the correct shoes. When I started the C25K as I got to running for 20 minutes at a time, i had incredible pain in my hips. I was told to go and have my gait checked, which I did and got some new shoes. No more hip pain and now I can run for 30 / 40 minutes three times a week. Good luck.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    msf74 wrote: »
    khpsrt wrote: »
    I get all breathless in first few mins and have low stamina I guess

    I'd echo the advice of getting a decent plan in place.

    I would also like to add that I have run distances up to a HM and the first few minutes of every run, to this day, are always sucky. This is because you use your anaerobic system for a little while before your aerobic system kicks in and things feel more "comfortable".

    I think this quite natural process puts a lot of people off because they think the first few minutes of exertion reflects what it will feel like for the entire run and they feel it will be too hard, they can never improve and so on.

    ^^Agree with this. Some people call it the Toxic 10 - first 10 mins of a run that feel like hell, but after that things settle down. It's very, very rare for me to feel great running right off the bat.

    someone wrote once "the first mile is a lie"

    LOL- that is so true.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    khpsrt wrote: »
    I get all breathless in first few mins and have low stamina I guess

    Slow down, then slow down some more.

    If you can only run for a minute or two (slowly) that's fine.......try something like run (slowly) 1 min and walk 9 for 3 intervals (total 30 min as your minimum goal), then next week run 2 minutes and walk 8, the week after 3 min running with 7 minutes walking etc etc etc until you can run 10 minutes straight as a conversational pace.

    At that point you'll have a decision to make. You can continue using a run/walk method (lots of runners do this - google Galloway method) or try for continuous running - completely your choice.

    Take your time building up time / distances. The objective is to have fun and remain injury free (most running injuries are too much, too soon, too fast).
  • yesimpson
    yesimpson Posts: 1,372 Member
    edited March 2016
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    When I first started, I couldn't jog continuously for a minute. It might even have been less. I started by doing jog/walk intervals on a treadmill, gradually reducing the proportion of time spent walking. When I first transitioned to running outside it was SO SLOW it was like pushing an elephant through treacle. With time and persistence you gradually increase it. Walk when you feel you are really struggling, and jog again when you recover.

    Now I can run a half marathon in just over 2 hours, which I'm not claiming is fast, but from where I've come from I'm really pleased with it!

    Running speed/endurance is built gradually over time with consistent effort. Very few people are blessed to be naturally fast or to have the stamina to run for an hour once in a blue moon!
  • Commander_Keen
    Commander_Keen Posts: 1,179 Member
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    khpsrt wrote: »
    I have seen people's feed who run for 60 mins daily . I can hardly go on for 60 seconds . I have been trying for a while . I sometimes run 60 sec then take 30 sec break then run again for 60 . Any suggestion how I can improve and run better

    1st thing is to define running.. somebody once told me that running is just a bit faster then a walking pace.
    Your doing a great job,
    Week 1 - Run 1min w/ a 2 min break
    Week 2 - Run 1.10min w/ a 2 min break
    Week 3 - Run 1.2min
    Week 4 - Run 1.3min
    anyway, you get the idea.

    I didn't like couch to 5K
    Reason - because it went from 3 - 5min in one week,
    Then it went from 5 - 7min in another week..

    But really, you just need to push your self with small obtainable goals.
    Also, if you use a treadmill set the incline to 3% as I was told it would mimic running outside.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    khpsrt wrote: »
    I have seen people's feed who run for 60 mins daily . I can hardly go on for 60 seconds . I have been trying for a while . I sometimes run 60 sec then take 30 sec break then run again for 60 . Any suggestion how I can improve and run better

    You work your way up and you practice...nobody goes from sitting on the couch to running for 60 minutes overnight. Building your fitness takes time.