Or walking!
I’ve been running three miles, three days a week (m-w-f) for about eight weeks now, but today was the first time I did my entire course without stopping or slowing to a walk. Prior to today I typically made two short stops during my morning run: 1) after the 3/4 of a mile which I treated as a warm up before doing a timed mile and 2) after the timed mile when I really did need a break (best mile time for me is 7:30)
Today I decided to eliminate the breaks and the timed mile and see how I’d do. I did the whole run in 26:30. I have no idea if that’s a good time, for someone who’s been running for 8 weeks or not but it’s one hell of an improvement over the 35 minutes or so this run took when I first started. So I’m happy
This was dropping like a rock so I thought I’d come in here and say that I care-- congratulations. I’m at a similar spot myself-- starting out and a bit pudgy and doing around 2 1/2-3 miles with a similar warm-up stop (if I don’t my calves start to feel like snare drums. . . in a bad way). My goal is 3 miles 4 or 5 times each week. It’s really tough starting out, but I can recall when I couldn’t run more than 1/4 mile and then it would hurt the next day.
Be pleased with what you have accomplished. If you want to increase or race, great! But don’t feel obligated to. And whatever you do, don’t push yourself too hard too quickly. That’s the surest route to injury.
Also consider why you are running. If it is for overall fitness instead of competition, you might benefit as much by running at a slower pace for a longer time.
That is great to hear. I’m recovering from a knee surgery, and as of lsat week am finally able to run 1 mile without stopping. Those milestones feel great when you reach them.
And yes, I used to race in 5k’s, and it’s a really big acheivement to complete one. If you are at 3 miles now, it’s really not any farther.
In April I celebrated my 5th year of running. So I recently was reminiscing about my first 5K - at that point I wasn’t able to run 3 miles without stopping to walk. Now it’s no issue.
Wow thanks for all the support guys, I was starting to think no one really cared! Extra special thanks to capybara for rescuing this thread from oblivian!
Not sure if I’m quite ready for a race right now. I have enough problems keeping my speed down to an endurable level when I’m just up against myself, I’d probably cripple myself if I was trying to outrun someone else! I think I’ll add that fourth mile either next week or the week after, just as soon as I’ve settled into a comfortable pace doing the three miles straight through.
A little background: Before moving down here to Houston a few months ago I had been into cycling (road and mountian) big time, so my legs were already built up and I was used to aerobic exercise when I started running. As a result my joints are what’s holding me back the most right now, since this is the first high impact exercise I’ve had since… my freshman year in HS, ten years ago. That’s why I want to be careful about finding a good pace and not getting into to racing or really long runs just yet - I’m afraid of hurting myself if I don’t give my knees and hips plenty of time to catch up with the rest of me.
It’s funny, I started running as a stop-gap to keep myself in shape until I’d had I a chance to get involved with the biking scene here in Houston but I’ve really grown to enjoy it by itself. It’s satisfying in a very different way than cycling is.
That’s really cool that you’ve gotten to running three miles non-stop in under half an hour. Doing that is goal I’d like to achieve eventually. Unfortunately, the best I can do right now is three miles non-stop at fast walk in about 50 to 55 minutes. Congratulations.
Hey man don’t be hard on yourself, we all gotta start somewhere, if you’re walking those three miles now, you’ll be able to run them soon enough, stick with it. Maybe we’ll end up doing a 5K together in the near future!
Actually, TheFunkySpaceCowboy, I’m quite thrilled that I can walk three miles in under an hour. I’d be even more thrilled if it worked as a pick-up line, but I’m content with the whole “benefits of exercising thing.” I started doing it off and on last summer when I moved into an apartment near Memorial Park. Hopefully, I’ll be back at an apartment near there again in a few weeks. In the meantime, I’m stuck on my parents’ treadmill.
As far as the biking scene goes, all I know is that Houston has some bikes trails. Unfortunately, a lot of them either run in the city’s busiest streets or through the not-so-nice parts of town. Memorial Park has some decent mountain bike trails I hear. Plus, a standard bike trail is under construction, too. The western portion is just about complete (over by the arboretum).
