My legs are so weak!

[ooerr]

Hey,

I just got back from week 8 run 3. I normally run in the evenings, but I wanted to get today's run out of the way, so I got up, had breakfast, waited for a couple of hours, did some stretches and off I went.

Now, my cardiovascular fitness has improved massively; I could barely jog for 3 minutes without getting out of breath before I started C25K. I think with this it was just a matter of getting the ball rolling - I'm only 19 and not overweight, I just never exercised before!

However, I've noticed on the longer runs that my legs feel fatigued after only a few minutes; if it weren't for this, the 28 minutes would be no problem, but it's my tired out legs which make it hard. I always stretch and warm up, but it still happens a few minutes in! Obviously I don't want massive, beefed up legs, but any tips to make them a bit stronger? thanks!

[greenlegs Graduate]

Keep on running! My legs feel like that on most runs around 7 to ten minutes in - I think it's just something that happens. Now I know it happens I can say to myself 'Uh oh, legs feel rubbish - normal - keep going'. Not very pleasant, but it does generally wear off a bit - can't say it gets easy after that, but it does definitely get less hard.

Maybe you set off a bit faster than your legs want - lots of people do (including me) - if I make myself go slower they seem to cope better, but I find most times I just have to put up with it!