Advice for a 46 yr old total beginner!

youtube!

Hi there!

I am what you would term pretty unfit, I never really have been even as a kid but I always enjoyed participating anyway. I play bit of tennis (badly) and go for an odd 30k cycle.

A few weeks ago i decided to take my health a bit more seriously when i noticed the scales at just under15stones. I am 5.11.

Anyway I have been very strict with my diet and have gotten down to 14.4 which is still a good stone abovwe what i want to be but I am getting there slowly.

As part of my over all approach i decided to try out the c25k programme and i am now on week 5.

I went into amphibian king and got properly measured for a good pair of trainers before i started so all good there.

My main problem seems to be that I am just horribly slow! it takes me 49mins to complete the 5k and quite honestly most people could walk as fast as I run!

Up to now I have been training 3 times a week on off road trails which are fairly flat still but very uneven and stony if that makes any sense so today for the first time I hit the pavements and I was shocked at just how much easier it was compared to the stoney ground i had been running on before
and got my time down to 45 mins which is still terribly poor.

Sometimes I notice that I am totally out of breath but my legs are fine,then another day it the opposite! I dont understand why thats the case to be honest.

I would love to enter a 5k race but am a bit embarrased as to just how poor a runner I am so I would like to get faster!

Dont get me wrong I am just loving the training and how well I feel health wise now but any advice would be appreciated!

RoyMcC

How are you running 5k at only Week 5 on the C25K programme It's a proven programme but you have to follow it to gain the benefits of gradual acclimatisation and improvement.

It seems to me you're expecting too much too soon. Learn to run that 5k comfortably. Then if you like, start working on the speed side of things which you ought not to be worried about at this stage. This will involve running shorter distances at a slightly faster lick, but it can wait until you're ready.

Good luck.

youtube!

Thanx for your reply Roy, I should have pointed out that I am not actually running the whole time its like 5min warm up 8min run 5 min walking another 8 min run and then 5 min cool down, the whole thing takes 31 mins but in that time I am only covering just over 3k according to a distance app I use on the smart phone, what i generally do is go a little further and longer doing a bit of fast walking and running to make up the 5 k. Maybe though you are correct in that I am going too hard at it.

RoyMcC

Ah right, that's good then. I'd say that most beginners that complete the 5k at Week 9/10 do so in the high 30s running non-stop for the first time.

Seems to me you're doing fine then. Once you run 5k (or 30 mins) non-stop you'll have a good idea of what your pace is and you can start setting yourself new targets.

youtube!

RoyMcC wrote: »

Ah right, that's good then. I'd say that most beginners that complete the 5k at Week 9/10 do so in the high 30s running non-stop for the first time.

Seems to me you're doing fine then. Once you run 5k (or 30 mins) non-stop you'll have a good idea of what your pace is and you can start setting yourself new targets.

See this the bit that scares me! By running non stop for 30 mins and getting the 5k,the assumption is a 10kmh pace! Is it the case that as I train more that the speed will naturally come?

RoyMcC

youtube! wrote: »

See this the bit that scares me! By running non stop for 30 mins and getting the 5k,the assumption is a 10kmh pace! Is it the case that as I train more that the speed will naturally come?

Sorry, that wasn't meant to read 5k = 30mins. It's just that each of those marks is a sort of a milestone. You'll run your 5k in (say) 38mins and that's Part 1 dealt with - then you move on with a good base.

RayCun

There's a couch to 5k thread here you might be interested in

youtube!

RayCun wrote: »

There's a couch to 5k thread here you might be interested in

Ah nice one! Cheers :pac:

TFBubendorfer

youtube! wrote: »

Is it the case that as I train more that the speed will naturally come?

Yes. Absolutely.

murpho999

Take it from me as someone who was out of breath running to the toilet.

In January, I took up running to lose weight.

I didn't care at all about speed, paid no attention to it.

Just focussed on going as far as I can.

Small steps first, run for a few minutes then walk then run again.

Took me 6 weeks to get to 3 km run but kept at it.

Can now run 5k around 25 mins, first time I did it non stop it was 35.

Have ran two 10k races, last time was 53 mins. No athlete speed but I'm happy with it.

You will get faster, it will happen but it takes time as your body (and your mind) are adjusting to years of inactivity and it doesn't happen overnight.

Well done, on taking it up, enjoy it, don't get wrapped up on times etc and it will all just happen.

As will your weight, I've lost over 13kgs (Over 2 Stone) and still going.

youtube!

murpho999 wrote: »

Take it from me as someone who was out of breath running to the toilet.

In January, I took up running to lose weight.

I didn't care at all about speed, paid no attention to it.

Just focussed on going as far as I can.

Small steps first, run for a few minutes then walk then run again.

Took me 6 weeks to get to 3 km run but kept at it.

Can now run 5k around 25 mins, first time I did it non stop it was 35.

Have ran two 10k races, last time was 53 mins. No athlete speed but I'm happy with it.

You will get faster, it will happen but it takes time as your body (and your mind) are adjusting to years of inactivity and it doesn't happen overnight.

Well done, on taking it up, enjoy it, don't get wrapped up on times etc and it will all just happen.

As will your weight, I've lost over 13kgs (Over 2 Stone) and still going.

Inspiring stuff Murph:pac:

rom

http://www.steveway.co.uk/?page_id=2