Am I too slow???

slowrun

Ok - I'm a newbie to running. I've been training for the Achill half marathon and progressively building up my miles each week, with some short runs and other sports in between. At this stage I think i'll be ok with the distance. I'm hoping to do 10-11 miles this week and then a short run or two during the following week and ready for the run on the 4th.
However I'm very slow. It takes me just under 35 mins to do 3 miles and it took me 1hr 50 mins to do 9 miles. Considering when I started, I couldn't run 2 miles without stopping, I'm pretty pleased with myself. But I do feel sometimes when I get tired that i'm barely more than walking (although the last 2-3 miles of my 9 mile run, I felt like I was flying along).
But i'm wondering - Is this too slow? I'm kind of worried that some people will be walking faster than me!

Running Bing

slowrun wrote: »

Ok - I'm a newbie to running. I've been training for the Achill half marathon and progressively building up my miles each week, with some short runs and other sports in between. At this stage I think i'll be ok with the distance. I'm hoping to do 10-11 miles this week and then a short run or two during the following week and ready for the run on the 4th.
However I'm very slow. It takes me just under 35 mins to do 3 miles and it took me 1hr 50 mins to do 9 miles. Considering when I started, I couldn't run 2 miles without stopping, I'm pretty pleased with myself. But I do feel sometimes when I get tired that i'm barely more than walking (although the last 2-3 miles of my 9 mile run, I felt like I was flying along).
But i'm wondering - Is this too slow? I'm kind of worried that some people will be walking faster than me!

No such thing as "too slow"!

I think you should just be going at a nice conversational pace until your consistently running 25-30 miles per week and then you can start thinking about improving speed.

I started running exactly one year ago and I was very slow to start with (and Im young and I thought relatively fit). But I just focused first on building the mileage and the last few months Ive been focusing on getting faster and I feel Im really improving.


So dont worry about speed too much now. Just enjoy the running and eventually the speed will sort itself out.

meathcountysec

slowrun wrote: »

Ok - I'm a newbie to running. I've been training for the Achill half marathon and progressively building up my miles each week, with some short runs and other sports in between. At this stage I think i'll be ok with the distance. I'm hoping to do 10-11 miles this week and then a short run or two during the following week and ready for the run on the 4th.
However I'm very slow. It takes me just under 35 mins to do 3 miles and it took me 1hr 50 mins to do 9 miles. Considering when I started, I couldn't run 2 miles without stopping, I'm pretty pleased with myself. But I do feel sometimes when I get tired that i'm barely more than walking (although the last 2-3 miles of my 9 mile run, I felt like I was flying along).
But i'm wondering - Is this too slow? I'm kind of worried that some people will be walking faster than me!

You've every right to be pleased with yourself. You're doing it the right way by building slowly. Less chance of injury. As for your speed, you'd give me a run for my money:eek:

Stick with it and you (we'll:D) get faster over time...

Keep up the good work and good luck in Achill. I wouldn't even think of doing a half at the moment. 10k far enough for me:p.

RoyMcC

+1 Don't compare yourself to anyone else. There will always be slower and faster runners. You're taking exactly the right approach. Far too many new runners run too quickly at first and quickly get disillusioned when they don't seem to improve.

As Running Bing says enjoy your running and improvement will come gradually.

ecoli

A general rule of running is focus on the strength to be able to finish the race after that speed will come itself so dont worry about that just give it a go and the best of luck with it

shels4ever

Defo not too slow your doing everything right, going from 2 miles to nine miles is great going, keep with it and don't worry about the pace , enjoy yourself

You will get faster with time don't worry about that.

rainbow kirby

shels4ever wrote: »

Defo not too slow your doing everything right, going from 2 miles to nine miles is great going, keep with it and don't worry about the pace , enjoy yourself

You will get faster with time don't worry about that.

+1 to everything shels just said. I was even slower than you when I started running last year - my first runs were at about 12.30/mile pace. Give it time, and enjoy Achill.

slowrun

Great thanks for that!
Went for one run with my hubbie who's super-speedy and a natural runner. Probably not the best idea - have really been feeling slow since!
Now I'm just going to keep the head down and aim to finish (which really was my aim at the beginning of all this anyway)
Thanks again

ecoli

slowrun wrote: »

Great thanks for that!
Went for one run with my hubbie who's super-speedy and a natural runner. Probably not the best idea - have really been feeling slow since!
Now I'm just going to keep the head down and aim to finish (which really was my aim at the beginning of all this anyway)
Thanks again

i have been running 12 yrs and yet to step up to the half but when i dothe first time will be happy to finish. At the end of the day your first time at any distance should be a goal of finishing after that you have a marker from which to improve on so as long as you enjoy it then it will have been a success