Runners- need advice, losing motivation

My first 5k without training which I mostly walked I did back in April in 44min, and found that I really enjoyed it, so I ended up doing couch to 5k, and was only up to 2.5 mile runs on the treadmill, and ran another 5k in 36min flat... since that run, I decided that I despise the treadmill and switched to running outside, I got injured a lot I think just with how rough it is outside compared to the treadmill and made the decision to only run 2x a week, instead of 3 times a week... my speed didn't get any faster but to avoid injury, I take walk breaks, 1min walk after each mile, and instead of 2.5miles on the treadmill, I run 4 miles only twice a week outside, and I have stayed injury free...
Well I just ran a 5k today and although I'm still at the same slow pace, I assumed since my mileage went from 2.5 to 4 miles on my runs that I would do better... nope!!!
Today I finished 2.5min SLOWER than my 5k in August! There was even less hills this time! The only thing I can think is that it was 93% humidity... how could I go back?! My last 5k I didn't take a walk break until my body forced me to right at the 3mile mark, and this race I planned on 1 walk break halfway through, but after that break I just couldn't stop taking walk breaks!
Does anyone have suggestions on how I can work on bettering myself but remaining injury free? What if I added doing the bike at the gym to increase cadence? Or do I risk adding a 3rd day a week of running? I just don't know what went wrong, I feel like that walk break was stupid and i shouldn't have planned for one because then I took more and more walk breaks after that... I love running but I love seeing improvement too!
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Replies

  • Lizzypb88
    Lizzypb88 Posts: 367 Member
    edited October 2017
    ***here are my times
    April- 44:47
    August- 36:00
    Today- 38:37

    Training pace- 13:15 to 13:45min miles... I go slow and I have slowed down a few months ago
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
    i'm not even a runner . . . get wrecked every time i have tried to be one. but fwiw, i think people are going to find it really hard to make concrete suggestions for you, unless they know something about what kind of 'injury' is involved.
  • Lizzypb88
    Lizzypb88 Posts: 367 Member
    i'm not even a runner . . . get wrecked every time i have tried to be one. but fwiw, i think people are going to find it really hard to make concrete suggestions for you, unless they know something about what kind of 'injury' is involved.

    Good point- I get numb toes/feet if I over-do it, and if it gets to the point where I have numbness after running, I don't resume until any numbness has gone away
  • Zac1644
    Zac1644 Posts: 1,173 Member
    I know this is probably going to sound stupid but do you tie your shoes too tightly??

    Also have you been properly fitted at a running store? You'd be amazed at what getting fitted will do for you
  • ashley52601
    ashley52601 Posts: 42 Member
    I can't answer your question but just wanted to share that after I was able to run 3 miles(or so) at a time, walk breaks did more harm than good. Obviously this is just my experience but once I take that break, my legs get heavy, I get slower, etc. Could absolutely be mental but maybe there's a scientific answer like lactic acid build up or something? Who knows, but once I was able to, I would just run straight through unless I was really dying.
  • emilyvictoria7
    emilyvictoria7 Posts: 102 Member
    So I personally have a similar pace in my running. I started C25K and ran my first 5K on August 26. I'm currently training for a 10K on November 4 so I'm running 3 days per week - Tuesday (5K), Thursday (3.5K), Sunday (increasing from 5.5K to 10K the weekend of my run - this Sunday I run 7.5K).

    My pace in my first 5K was 38:16 which I was really happy with because I didn't have to stop running at all. When I ran 6.5K last weekend I had completed 5K of the total in 36:02. My speed increased slightly, partly because of the music I was listening to. I use some playlist on Apple Music "pop" workouts or something.

    I have a friend who suggested two things, one is adding sprints to your exercise routine, and the second is adding cross training. I'm currently doing Hal Higdon's plan which includes 2-3 days of cross training already so that I don't really know if it's working however I have yet to add the sprints because I'm okay with my pace.

    What I've been suggested is two things, repeated plain sprints. So 20s sprint as fast as possible, then 40s walking. A minimum of 10, but ideally as many as you feel you can do. The other is sprinting up hills, so again sprint up the hill, walk down, sprint up, a minimum of 5 times. If you try this, let me know how it works!

    My final comment is to be kind to yourself on the slower days. I find that I actually make both my best distance and my best times running one long run per week. On my 5K days, I tend to give myself a break and my pace is slower however it helps me maintain and push for longer on my long days. I also run a really fast 3.5K now, but my form often slips and this past week I actually fell and gave my arms a good scraping. So there are lots of different ways to look at it, all have pros and cons.

    Feel free to add me for running motivation as well :smile: Good luck!!
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    I want to post this I'm not sure if this helps or if any of you experienced this, I can go forever on a treadmill but on actual ground and pavement I get better results and I can't go long on pavement. I can actually push myself on pavement.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    I stick with it better if I have a race to prepare for.
  • msdemeanor70
    msdemeanor70 Posts: 66 Member
    I agree with the rest that numbness is likely due to too tight laces. I struggled with the same issue for quite a while before I figured it out. As for the time - some days are faster than others. Temperature, humidity, dinner or activity the night before, heavy breakfast, sniffles - all can affect your run times. As for PLANNED walking breaks - IMO - just don't do it. Walk if you have to, but don't plan on it. I feel like you likely unconsciously anticipate walking (which typically comes at the END of a run) rather than focusing on running. Your body probably felt like it was supposed to be done and that's why you had to continue to take walk breaks.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,668 Member
    You might need wide shoes for your running, rather than regular ones. Or you may be tying them too tight.

    Humidity does have a big effect on speed. When it cools off, you re likely to be faster.

    Running more is the best way to get faster. I would add a day. It's hard to improve on only two days a week of running.
  • scorpio516
    scorpio516 Posts: 955 Member
    Lizzypb88 wrote: »
    ***here are my times
    April- 44:47
    August- 36:00
    Today- 38:37

    Training pace- 13:15 to 13:45min miles... I go slow and I have slowed down a few months ago

    If your training pace is your race pace, you are training too fast
  • Lizzypb88
    Lizzypb88 Posts: 367 Member
    edited October 2017
    Zac1644 wrote: »
    I know this is probably going to sound stupid but do you tie your shoes too tightly??

    Also have you been properly fitted at a running store? You'd be amazed at what getting fitted will do for you
    I agree with the rest that numbness is likely due to too tight laces. I struggled with the same issue for quite a while before I figured it out. As for the time - some days are faster than others. Temperature, humidity, dinner or activity the night before, heavy breakfast, sniffles - all can affect your run times. As for PLANNED walking breaks - IMO - just don't do it. Walk if you have to, but don't plan on it. I feel like you likely unconsciously anticipate walking (which typically comes at the END of a run) rather than focusing on running. Your body probably felt like it was supposed to be done and that's why you had to continue to take walk breaks.

    Honestly it's not tight laces-- I have been to my dr, and a sports PT, and no one can figure out what causes my numbness, I even ran on the treadmill at the PT office and couldn't make it happen.. went back to the runners shoe store and spent another $100 bucks on shoes that are wide fit AND half size bigger, and now numbness doesn't set in as often or as quick... then I got thorlos socks which are much thicker running socks, and that helped me go even more without numbness! My laces are so loose that I slip my shoes out without any effort and my shoes are borderline too big, but the new thick socks help them fit a bit better... again no one knows what causes it, but even when I switched back to the treadmill for a few weeks- relief!! It legit ONLY happens when I run outside, never on the treadmill! I just can't waste more money on more PT who couldn't figure it out or my chiro or my primary dr... I am technically obese and i can only assume it's my heavy body not liking the asphalt
    ... or maybe it's a combo of larger shoes/wide shoes/loose laces/walk breaks and maybe my body is slowly adjusting to it? I can run 1.5 miles without numbness, it starts to set in around then, so I walk at 1.5mi in, then every mile after that
  • Lizzypb88
    Lizzypb88 Posts: 367 Member
    You might need wide shoes for your running, rather than regular ones. Or you may be tying them too tight.

    Humidity does have a big effect on speed. When it cools off, you re likely to be faster.

    Running more is the best way to get faster. I would add a day. It's hard to improve on only two days a week of running.

    How would u recommend I add a day? For example if I run 4 miles 2x a week, if I add another day, how many miles should I go that day, so that I increase it slowly without injury?
  • Lizzypb88
    Lizzypb88 Posts: 367 Member
    So I personally have a similar pace in my running. I started C25K and ran my first 5K on August 26. I'm currently training for a 10K on November 4 so I'm running 3 days per week - Tuesday (5K), Thursday (3.5K), Sunday (increasing from 5.5K to 10K the weekend of my run - this Sunday I run 7.5K).

    My pace in my first 5K was 38:16 which I was really happy with because I didn't have to stop running at all. When I ran 6.5K last weekend I had completed 5K of the total in 36:02. My speed increased slightly, partly because of the music I was listening to. I use some playlist on Apple Music "pop" workouts or something.

    I have a friend who suggested two things, one is adding sprints to your exercise routine, and the second is adding cross training. I'm currently doing Hal Higdon's plan which includes 2-3 days of cross training already so that I don't really know if it's working however I have yet to add the sprints because I'm okay with my pace.

    What I've been suggested is two things, repeated plain sprints. So 20s sprint as fast as possible, then 40s walking. A minimum of 10, but ideally as many as you feel you can do. The other is sprinting up hills, so again sprint up the hill, walk down, sprint up, a minimum of 5 times. If you try this, let me know how it works!

    My final comment is to be kind to yourself on the slower days. I find that I actually make both my best distance and my best times running one long run per week. On my 5K days, I tend to give myself a break and my pace is slower however it helps me maintain and push for longer on my long days. I also run a really fast 3.5K now, but my form often slips and this past week I actually fell and gave my arms a good scraping. So there are lots of different ways to look at it, all have pros and cons.

    Feel free to add me for running motivation as well :smile: Good luck!!

    This helps me understand more- I was legit in tears when I finished my previous race at 36min flat, I crashed and cried because I pushed myself too hard, so maybe I just couldn't beat it if I pushed so hard before... but it sounds like you can relate from having done C25K
  • Lizzypb88
    Lizzypb88 Posts: 367 Member
    edited October 2017
    scorpio516 wrote: »
    Lizzypb88 wrote: »
    ***here are my times
    April- 44:47
    August- 36:00
    Today- 38:37

    Training pace- 13:15 to 13:45min miles... I go slow and I have slowed down a few months ago

    If your training pace is your race pace, you are training too fast

    I read somewhere that race pace should be 2min/mile faster than training pace, so I set my garmin watch to 11:15min mile, since i do 13:30 on average?

    Some days my garmin says I did 13:15, and on bad days it's like 13:45ish, my training pace 5k time is always around a 42min 5k. but that is a pace I'm comfortable at, I slowed down considerably when I started going farther. I did great the first mile of the race at 11:15min mile, then could not keep that pace up at all! ... 2nd mile was 12min mile and last mile of the race was a 14min mile, equaling the 38:37 5k total....
    are you saying that my racing pace is too fast compared to my training pace? Not sure if I got that right!
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    Everyone has good days and less good days. Not every time will be a PB. AND YES, 93% humidity will majorly affect you!
  • Lizzypb88
    Lizzypb88 Posts: 367 Member
    Lizzypb88 wrote: »
    You might need wide shoes for your running, rather than regular ones. Or you may be tying them too tight.

    Humidity does have a big effect on speed. When it cools off, you re likely to be faster.

    Running more is the best way to get faster. I would add a day. It's hard to improve on only two days a week of running.

    How would u recommend I add a day? For example if I run 4 miles 2x a week, if I add another day, how many miles should I go that day, so that I increase it slowly without injury?

    Currently you are running 8 miles/week. Start with 3, 3, 2 to get used to running 3 days. In a week, add a half mile to one of your runs. The next week, add another half mile to a run. When you are up to 10/mpw, add a mile to a run, or .5 to two runs. Keep the increase gradual and keep your pace slow and easy.

    Thank you, very helpful!!
  • SchweddyGirl
    SchweddyGirl Posts: 244 Member
    I agree with spiriteagle99's comments on getting up to a 3 day a week schedule. I would, however, suggest that you sandwich your shorter run between your longer runs...so 3, 2, 3. This way, you are still doing your 3 day week but giving your body ample time to rest.