Running in Kenya Finished week 7- 2.1 miles

[traveltoomuch]

Finally got hold of a pedometer. It only marks miles, so now I know I ran for 25 minutes and went 2.1 miles. By my calculations that is not very good - only a bit faster than a brisk 4 miles an hour walk. You guys who have graduated, did you get faster automatically or do you have to push the pace eventually? However, 3 months ago I couldn't run for 5 minutes, let alone 25 so this does work!

[Deryn61 Graduate]

There is a saying that if you want to run faster you have to run further!

You are doing really well. Honestly, dont worry about going faster just yet.

Most advice I have read (websites/Runners World mag) say just keep adding 10% to one of your runs each week (after you graduate!) to build stamina. If you then also incorporate intervals (this is where you run at your easy pace t o warm up then run at full pelt for shortish bursts, as many times as you can) once a week this helps.

You may find that when you need to you can go faster - parkruns are good for proving this. I am slow and was taking about 43 mins to do 5k then I did a parkrun in 38 mins much to my surprise.

[traveltoomuch Graduate]

Thank you! That makes sense. No parks or park runs here I'm afraid, but I will be running with friends next week in the countryside.

[Runningwoman Graduate]

Just back from Wk8 Rn1 - 28 minutes and I only ran 3.16km (mapped it on 'mapmyrun.com'). Knee pain not at all good and felt like I was hobbling along. I'm going to take more rest before the next run. But I'm following Laura's advice and not worrying about speed - it really is a question of stamina building, isnt it. Deryn61's experience is very encouraging - I'm sure we'll improve with time. Keep going, good luck on week 8!