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i have been exercising maybe 4-5 days out of the week most part its at the gym and sometime outside. but since its been so pretty outside i've been going outside more. my question is i am not a longdistance runner, i can only run maybe one block or i atleast try to go for two but because my body gets so tired, i do alot of walking instead of running.. is there any advice you all can give me?
Keep doing what you are doing. Many people do a running/walking combination to start out. The trick is to slowly increase your distance and also increase the time spent running/decrease the time spent walking. Be patient and persistent and eventually you'll be doing all running and no walking.
And feel free to call yourself a runner...you are running aren't you?
You don't have to run if you don't want to. Walking is a perfectly acceptable and effective form of exercise.
Just keep up with the run/walk combo, increasing your running time by seconds at a time if that's all you can do. When I was in Girl Scouts, we learned the "walk 20/run 20" method of getting to building stamina (initially, we learned this in the event we had to evacuate the camp to escape a forest fire, but the method is effective no matter what ... ). You can adapt that to your own needs and abilities -- for instance, walk one block/run one block -- until you can run two/walk two, etc.
thank you both for the advice, and yes i been doing both running/walking its just more walking that i would like.. i'm trying to get better fit. i would like to do a marathon during the summer time but if walking is all i can do that is that is fine with me... again thank you..
I agree with the others who say to start out with running/walking. My personal preference is to always do a set amount of distance every time regardless of how much time it takes. Eventually, speed and endurance will come.
If you are really serious about running a marathon I would suggest running with a local club. You may be able to find one on www.meetup.com. They will have great ideas on training programs and should help you reach your goal.
Please listen to my advice: do not even THINK about running a marathon in the summer, you are not remotely ready. You need a base of running 30 miles a week for a year before you can even build on that to run a marathon. If you try for one in the summer, you will inevitably get injured and/or suffer. You're not going to walk one either, the vast majority of marathons have a 5 or 6 hour cut off and then you will be left stranded on the course.
I know whereof I speak: I've completed 48 marathons since I was 17. You can't even run a block right now (and this is not a criticism). You are not ready to run a 10K, much less a marathon.
i have been exercising maybe 4-5 days out of the week most part its at the gym and sometime outside. but since its been so pretty outside i've been going outside more. my question is i am not a longdistance runner, i can only run maybe one block or i atleast try to go for two but because my body gets so tired, i do alot of walking instead of running.. is there any advice you all can give me?
Here's the best advice you'll get if you want to increase your running:
At first, don't even worry about running; walk as much as you want, then gradually increase your walk/to/run ration as your endurance improves. For a fledgeling runner, there is absolutely nothing wrong with walking during your jogs. And remember that the whole idea of cardio exercise is to keep your heartrate up for as long a time as you can. So if mixing-in some walking with running keeps you out there plugging away longer, than so be it. It's better for you to do a one-hour walk/job than it is to do a 20 minute run. (Better on your cardio fitness and your joints!)
Your body will respond better if you start-out easy. Don't fall into the trap that many beginning runners do: feeling guilty about walking and thus over-doing the running until they--or their knees, feet, or back--say "to hell with this crap!"
And as far as the marathon thing? To quote my old pal Tony Soprano: fuhgeddaboutit!" Shoot for a 10K instead. Then think about maybe a half-marathon in the fall. Maybe. So....easy does it! Remember the old tortoise and hare story!
Best of luck to ya...and congrats on taking the effort to start a practice that will greatly improve your quality of life.
I also echo not jumping into a marathon this summer, shoot for 5k, 10k, 15k, half marathon and then once you have a solid base for at least a year go up to a full marathon. I had the same issue as you 2 years ago, I couldn't run more than a few minutes and then I would walk. You could do a run/walk combo-no shame in that but if you want to run longer, try slowing down. Alot of people make the mistake of running too fast for their fitness. Run at a pace where you can easily hold a conversation, even though it might seem soooo slow, that is how you will build your running endurance. Google Hal Hidgeon, he has some good free beginner running plans. I used a couch to 5k plan to get to 3.2 miles, and then his beginner half marathon plan to get through my first half marathon. Good luck and stick with it! I HATED running when I first started but now I run almost every day outside regardless of temps or weather.
Another voice here recommending that you don't plan to run a marathon this summer. Maybe next summer. Maybe. Depending on how your progress goes. I don't usually repeat advice others have given, but this bears repeating several times so it really sinks in. You run the risk of injuries that are only going to delay your progress in the long run if you push for too much too soon.
An old rule of thumb for making progress with running is that you should not increase your mileage by more than ten percent each week. That's the largest increase you should do, and you may need to increase mileage at an even slower rate if you feel too much as if you're over-training at a ten-percent increase each week. Even at ten percent per week, this does not add up to getting from where you are now to running a marathon this summer.
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again thank you..
