Improving my running

[Robmarriott]

Since the start of the year I've been trying to run again, in an attempt to shed some weight and gain some fitness and it's started to highlight some issues.

I don't seem to suffer with muscle pain yet, I run out of breath long before that's an issue and have to slow to a walk to recover so that needs some improvement, not sure if there's some breathing exercises I can do maybe?

The biggest issue I have over longer distances is terrible pain in my shins, I run more on my toes than rolling from heel to toe each step and I've tried to combat this by forcing myself to change my technique but as soon as I stop thinking about it, I revert to the toe run... When I did a 10k run a few years ago it took me 2 days to not be in pain from that, what can I do there?

and finally, I live in a village which is quite hilly, it is possible to cover a lot of distance without having to endure the hills too much but I can also choose a route with a lot of height loss and gain, which is going to be better for an improvement? It's all on pavement until the weather and light improves a bit, I'm not a fan of getting muddy in the dark!

My goal is to be able to run/jog 10k without walking by September, I can currently do about half a mile before I have to slow down so I've got some way to go, any tips for how to get there would be great.

[Robmarriott]

I had my gait analysed a while ago (doubt it would have changed?) and bought trainers to suit, which I was advised at the time to buy bigger than normal so that’s not a problem. It’s definitely shin pain, absolute agony when I ran distance before! I’m not exactly light so it could just be a consequence of the weight impacting my legs? I can survive the pain though, it’s not ideal but it won’t stop me, the shortness of breath is more of a concern.

[Robmarriott]

I haven’t increased my mileage at all yet, doing a 2 mile route the same each time to see if there’s a time improvement over the same ground for now.

[Robmarriott]

Just to clarify, I’m not running the full two miles at the moment, my route is two miles but I’m probably only running a mile of that in total, I’m walking the rest to get my breath back.

The shin splints haven’t happened this time but they did before when I was doing bigger distances so I’m looking to preempt it, rather than cure it afterwards.

Sorry for being unclear!

[Robmarriott]

C0ffin D0dger said:

Eventually thought I should try for a 10k, another program / app took me to 10k over nine weeks and I ran my first 10k event.

What was your time?

[Robmarriott]

gregs656 said:

OP - do you stretch at all, and when?

I stretch before and after but again, the real problem is the breathing rather than anything else.

I’ll try taking it a bit steadier for now.

[Robmarriott]

My average pace is between 13.5 and 14 minutes per mile so I don’t think it’s a pace issue, just fitness (although I appreciate they go hand in hand). Even at my best pace a few years back it was only 12 minutes a mile.

[Robmarriott]

The main issue is I get out of breath, not hugely but enough to make me slow down.

The shin splint thing is a secondary problem, it only seems to happen after a few miles so it hasn’t been troubling me this time round.

I’m 32, 113kg (which is why I’m running!), used to smoke but haven’t for 12 years and no meds.

I’ll stress that it’s not major breathlessness like wheezy, asthma style but I don’t seem to be able to get into a pattern of breathing correctly to be able to sustain a steady speed.

I’m also VERY aware of over working myself as I am very overweight and obviously that means extra strain on my heart and so on, I also have a horrendous fear of vomiting which definitely stops me from pushing myself too hard. I’ll always err on the side of caution so I’m not sick from over exertion.

If I could get my breathing to the point where it was steady and comfortable, I’d be fine, I just can’t seem to do that at the moment.

[Robmarriott]

C0ffin D0dger said:

Robmarriott said:

C0ffin D0dger said:

Eventually thought I should try for a 10k, another program / app took me to 10k over nine weeks and I ran my first 10k event.

What was your time?

For that first 10k it was just under the hour, 59 minutes something, which I was well pleased with. Same event a year on and I took 5 minutes of the previous time (~54 minutes / 10k)

Nice, my first (and only) took me 1hr 19 so my aim this time would be closer to an hour, if not under.

[Robmarriott]

Mothersruin said:

Do you have a a heart rate monitor?

I do not.

[Robmarriott]

expensivegarms said:

If you're struggling with regulating your breathing while running, try slowing down a touch and concentrating on 'breath in through the nose and out through the mouth'. Saying the words in your head helps get into a rhythm too. Aware that this makes me sound like a mentalist, but for some reason I had to really think about it, hence slowing down until I'd got used to it!

I'll give that a go tonight and see if it helps

[Robmarriott]

Griff Boy said:

As someone who has come down from 142kg to 87kg in the last year, I can 100% sympathise with your issue, I started running (if you can call it that!) in feb last year, mostly on a treadmill on a 1min run, 1 min walk system, then I moved to 2min run, 1min walk etc etc and gradually built up my endurance, and fitness and lost weight too! I now do 4 sessions a week at the gym, and can confortably run 10km in approx 55mins, 1.5miles in 10:20 and 5km in 26:20, so it can be done! Just take it easy, don’t injure yourself pushing too hard at the start, as the weight c9mes off it’ll get easier on the joints. Get a heart rate monitor / pace watch as they help enormously, a Fitbit is great, cheap, easy to use and keeps an ongoing record of your runs, or try using Strava? Both work well.

It’s completely possible, just takes patience and dedication, and of course a good diet to help! Lol
I’ve just signed up for my first ever 10km race in June, and trust me if you had seen me a year ago you’d never believe it possible, and I was 41/2 stone heavier than you!

Thanks for the reply, it's good to see someone who has done similar and reaped the benefits from it!

Good luck with your 10k too

[Robmarriott]

On final reply for now, I'm not sure I can slow down any further, I'm already jogging at what is basically fast walking pace, if I go any slower I'll be walking, which seems completely counter intuitive, walking fast is easy, jogging slowly isn't but there's not really any middle ground so I'm in limbo with it really.

[Robmarriott]

I’ll have a look for one then, it sounds like it’ll help.

Went our tonight (which was faintly idiotic as it was -2.5 degrees!) jogged pretty much as slow as I possibly could and actually thought about what I was doing with my breathing and I ended up being faster overall because I didn’t have to walk as much!

Obviously I’m not ignoring the other tips from people but it’s difficult to try them all in one go.

I’m happy with the improvement even if it was only minor on paper, it felt considerably better than before so thanks to everyone who suggested slowing down and breathing better!

[Robmarriott]

WestyCarl said:

Or....if you can't speak in full sentences you're going too fast, take a walking break until you can.

Difficult to judge this one without sounding like an escaped mental patient as I run alone

[Robmarriott]

Little update for anyone who might be interested;

I’ve been thinking more about my breathing and seen a massive improvement in the distance I can push before having to slow down from a slow jog to a swift walk, in my last 4 runs I’ve knocked 30 seconds per mile off my time without actually running any faster.

I’m still not pushing myself to go faster by increasing my cadence but I’m getting much closer to being able to do the same route without slowing down, tonight (in the snow) I managed to cover almost a mile before having to walk.

When I can do the whole 2 miles I’ll add anothe mile to the route before increasing my speed I think.

Thanks again for the tips, they seem to have helped a lot so far.

[Robmarriott]

Knocked 53 seconds off my /mile time from Friday to Monday without running over the weekend, thought it was a fluke, maybe a tailwind or my whole route had become downhill but I went again yesterday and backed it up with a time within a couple of seconds of it.

No idea why, think I might be taking bigger strides so I'm covering more ground between breaths. Either way I'm impressed with my progress so far.

Still a long way to go, I'm still only at 12.30/mile but I started on 14.05/mile so it's a good improvement already.

[Robmarriott]

I had the same problem, couldn’t run for nearly two weeks because I couldn’t breathe without coughing!

It set me back with my times too, I lost about 20 seconds a mile when I started again but it soon came back down.

Although, last night I was 15 seconds slower than the night before per mile. Huge disappointment really, every other day I’ve been quicker but last night I just could not do it.

Going for a run on on Saturday with my brother, who runs in the 9s per mile. Not looking forward to it!

[Robmarriott]

Can someone just confirm this is fairly typical for me?

My runs this year have been;

14.04
14.01
13.52
(2 weeks with a cold)
14.04
14.01
13.48
13.37
13.30
12.37 (!)
12.40
12.18
12.10
12.05
12.18
12.10
11.59/mile

So the general trend is downwards with the odd day where I’m a couple of seconds slower...

Then today, after yesterday’s 11.59, I did a 12.42 and could not go any faster, my legs are killing me and I found it impossible to get into a rhythm.

Is it normal to have days where you’re so much slower? I’ve had a couple of slower runs but never by quite that margin, todays time is slower than I have been for two weeks.

Feeing a bit dejected now.

[Robmarriott]

Back down to 11:51 last night after a few days off (with a couple of bike rides) so it was obviously just a bit of a blip.

Planning to try for 5k at some point this week to see what my time is, my route lends itself to doing so as I run in a figure of eight, each half of which is about a mile.

I'm still not able to jog the full 2 miles without walking though so I don't know if I should do that first or go for a little more distance.