Well I was feeling good and positive about being able to run 5K. That was until surfing online I read that my 4mph pace is classed as a walk and that I am only running when I get to 5-6 mph. I knew my average 14mins/mile was slow but was feeling OK about it till now.
Now I feel like I must be the slowest person ever. Are people looking at me laughing and thinking how slow? I must look a right fool in my gear, bright red, puffing and only doing 4 mph. I started the c25K in June. Thought I'd be faster than a walk! Feels like I've made no progress. I know in reality I have as I couldn't do this 6 months ago but still, walking pace!!!! Should I go back to Week 1 and start again but faster?
Sorry for the moan, I'm trying my best but feels like I'm rubbish.
Written by
Sezza2u
Graduate
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Sezza, I run/plod around same speed...12/13 mins/mile and I wish I too, could go faster but have come to the conclusion that at least I am doing something...it may not be pretty, it may not ( ever) be fast but it's better than nothing....I think one day...one day, I may end up faster but if I do, I do.....
Hubby started running with me and is way faster, leaves me behind....
Aw Sezza ! ((( ))) Please don't feel down, no matter how slow you think you are going , you are still getting out there and giving your health and general well being a massive boost .
I have accepted I will never be fast, some people are just naturally speedy and some improve their speed as they go along , but honestly I really wouldn't worry about it. If I want to compare myself with someone , I compare myself with the person I was 18 months ago before I started running . If I had been told then, that now I would be running 5ks/10ks and doing parkruns , I would've never believed it .
There will be lots of tips on the t'internet about increasing your pace if that's what you want to look into , but please don't be disheartened at your progress so far .
I started in Feb, and am slowing but surely getting faster.
Think I've probably read similar articles to you and been affronted at the thought that it's "allegedly" walking pace.
Allegedly ... Hmmmm In the real world, I've never yet been overtaken by someone walking. I pass people who are walking. During the summer, I was in Edinburgh, and ran in a busy park. I overtook the walkers, who were either out for a stroll or dashing from A to B. So, I'm not sure who exactly is walking at 4 mph.
I'd suggest for someone "on the couch" generally, that 4mph would be their mega mega mega brisk walk pace. i.e. you're still out-doing the majority ... So, smug on !!
Anyway, I use Runkeeper, and I can see that my pace is slowing improving. I can hit regularly around (but not all the time) 7:30 a kilometre, down from between 8:30 and 9:00 a kilometre .
You have made progress and you have reached your goal...!
Just focus on what you have achieved, how far you have come. Do not even think about folk looking at you or making judgements. You know what you can do, you are out there doing it...remember.. positive action combined with positive thinking results in success.
You just go girl!
And that comes from someone who has yet to graduate.. I do Week 9 run 2 tomorrow...
And my nickname for myself... is... The Grey Snail!
Well, I'm at least as slow as you and was worried that I was too slow when doing the 20 minute run in week 5. Everyone reassured me that speed doesn't matter and so long as you're doing a running action, you're officially a runner!! I know I'm never going to break records and I'll probably always be bringing up the rear of any 5K (if I ever get to that standard) but I'll still be healthier and fitter than most people my age and size. So keep plodding and be proud of your achievements!! x
Try this as an exercise - walk for 10 minutes to warm up. then walk as FAST as you can for 10 minutes - and then start to jog at a sustainable pace . You will see that you are in fact running at a faster pace than your fastest walk. And more importantly, your heart rate will have jumped up around 20 BPM above what it is when walking at your fastest pace. This latter fact is the main reason for me as to why I "jog" rather than walk --I am exercising (by jogging/running) for the health benefits it gives me - not to break any speed records!!
What everyone else said ^^^. I remember posting a couple of years ago when I was in week 5 and feeling a bit downhearted after checking the stats on map my run. I soon perked up and realised how much better I felt both physically and mentally and tried to not get too hung up on distance and times etc. Speed will come if that's what you want. In the meantime be proud of what you have achieved. You are doing really well, just stick with it! x
I haven't met a runner yet who doesn't want to run faster. Don't go back to week one, there is no need. You can increase your speed in other ways. you've done the hard bit, try a park run, you'll probably find you runner a littler faster running with others.
Look! Just forget about speed! and carry on doing what you doing, you will get faster in time. Stop looking at stats for now, and stop beating yourself up over it! Your doing great!
So... until you read some article somewhere online you were quite happy with your pace, and then because an internet pundit made an arbitrary ruling about what they consider correct pace you are now rubbish and everyone is laughing at you?
There is a facebook group I am on which is predominantly weightlifters and bodybuilders, and an hotly debated topic on there is what multiple of your own body weight do you need to be able to deadlift in order to be able to consider yourself 'A Lifter'. Original concensus was 1.5 times your own bodyweight, but that figure is roundly scorned by the 2 x bodyweight contingent (there are also those who insist 3x times bodyweight, although they are a minority.) bear in mind these are people who weigh upwards of 17 stone. That is a lot of weight.
I, after quite a lot of practice, can lift just about my bodyweight, although I am several stone lighter so it's not nearly as much. My one rep max would be met with hoots of derision, and by their definitions I have absolutely no right to even say I lift.
But, y'know, that thing I do with the barbell... raising it up from the floor... that is actually lifting. Maybe not to the standards of the serious dudes, but its still the same gravity pulling that damn iron down and still the same movement required, so yes, I am lifting. Just as if you go out with your trainers on and put one foot in front of the other with knees bending, what you are doing is running, and you are a runner, whether you are running at 4mph or 14.
There will always be some article online that tells you you are wrong. There are countless websites that will tell you you must forefoot strike or nose breath or run this or that interval or wear minimal trainers or super cushioned trainers or no trainers.
Take what is useful, discard the rest, as Bruce Lee once said.
I graduated around 11 weeks ago and according to that measure, I am only just jogging LOL! I don't usually think in miles per hour but I note my speed is slowly improving but not deliberately,mint is just that my fitness is better. I am more interested in running time or distance - at 52, I won't be representing England in the Olympics. It is just a miracle I can run for 30 minutes, do 5k and that I do run three times every week. My heart and lungs have a six pack, be proud and keep going
Surely running is just having both feet off the ground ? - as opposed to walking where at least one remains. If you are doing that, you are running
For me, Rignold has said it all. Be proud of what you have achieved xx
I think this little quote might help too. Note that it is called a trot rather than a walk and the use of the word gruelling ...
"It was the pace set by the demanding army general Lucian Truscott, who pushed his troops to march at 4mph to increase the distance they covered during the Second World War.
The gruelling "Truscott Trot", which upped the speed from the normal 2.5mph, became famous for creating some of the fittest and strongest soldiers in the war."
Some people, like me, are just slow. Every now and then I get a fit of the green eyed monster and try to up my pace. I can go faster in shorter bursts, but for a sustained run I will always be slow compared to people on here. Despite being 5'7", I've got quite short legs, and I can go much faster if I up the bpm and take weeny steps, but I am never going to do anything close to a 30 minute 5k. More like 40! But at least I'm getting out there, which unless you are going to compete in a proper race, is what it's all about. I am going for health benefits rather than speed. (I do still get jealous though!).
Upon reading your post, I logged in to my "Map My Run" and changed all my settings from KM's to miles (Just got hand of KM's and now someone mentions miles.......Aarrgh!! xx) Anyway, it seems that it takes me 16 mins to run 1 mile- not sure how fast that is in mph, but I would not be surprised if I was overtaken by a few snails!
However, *I'm* happy, as all the time I'm out there, I'm improving all the time- I set myself little goals each time, like running an extra 100m each time and have just got up to 4KM and I'll be running my first 5km Virtual Run at the weekend.
I must confess to running the back roads, as I get huffy puffy red too, but if anyone wants to stop and have a laugh, I know that I could out pace them over 40 minutes every time.
During the summer, I used to run on the wide footpath by the river. Popular withe me and popular with Boston Parkrun as well. First time I saw all these "proper runners" hurtling towards me, I nearly gave up....however, not ONE of the laughed or anything, in fact they all gave a cheery wave and offered encouragement. The point being, those who run- *know* and they will NEVER laugh. Those who you think may laugh couldn't run a bath.
Keep in there, running (and it IS running) is fab. And NO!! Don't go back to week one, why do that? xx
I'm a complete novice but it seems to me that 'running' involves pushing your whole body weight into the air before landing on the other foot, so it must take much more energy than walking, however fast. Thus what has been said about the raising of the heart rate.
As a corollary to this, I am just back from a run. It is my running 'off-season' at the moment so Iam not actively training - or rather I am actively training other things - but am determined to do a 5 or 10k 4 times a week to keep my cardio endurance up.
I had done a fairly heavy hour of calisthenics and kettbells earlier this morning so was not feeling much like it, but, y'know, gotta keep doing it, and the dog needed the exercise.
As soon as I got out there I realised that the combination of legs that felt like I still had kettlebells strapped to them and some uncomfortable chafing from still being in damp gym clothes rather than running shorts meant I could not run in any way like I normally run. But I could still put one foot in front of the other, bendning my knees and getting both feet off the ground. So that's what i did. and I took in the beautiful scenery, and I breathed deeply of the fresh air, and I stopped every km to make chafing adjustments, and got the job done - 10k in the bank. Possibly the slowest 10k I have done - took me almost twice as long as my PB, and anyone who saw me would defintely have laughed as my gait must have looked very peculiar indeed (think John Wayne), but 10k is still 10k and I still ran it. I still burned those calories, the dog still got her exercise and i still enjoyed myself (as much as one can under those circumstances).
And now I am home again with a big pot of coffee and a bigger pot of Sudocreme.
Someone said the same thing to me when I was on week 6, "that's not running that's not even walking pace"... funny how the crap put downs really stick when I've had so many lovely comments... I've got a bit faster, but I never thought I would win races, my shtick is stamina, I can keep going...I've never overtaken another runner, a few walkers maybe... but do I enjoy my running? What do you think?
Just back from a week 8 run that turned into a week 9 as I kept going for 30 minutes. In that 30 minutes, I only covered 2.8 km which apparently converts to around 3.8mph so I'm definitely slightly slower than you. But it was still a run and I'm very proud of myself! We might get a bit faster with time but, if we don't, we'll still be so much healthier than we were before we started this!! x
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xxx 
Ideas for slowing down the pace?
Getting out. Speeding up.
Struggling with pace!
Hayfever getting me down
Getting tired when I step the pace up. 
