Greetings all. I'm a tad discouraged/confused with the whole running deal. I've always been a horrible runner. I have trained my legs for strength very successfully in the past, but I've never been able to run for endurance.

I was told to slow down my runs and run much longer distances, just at a slower pace. I currently can run around 5 miles an hour for 7-8 miles, and although sweaty and a bit tired, it isn't terribly hard at all and I usually end up sprinting the last half mile or so. Any time I try to run a fast two miles, however, I feel absolutely exhausted from the beginning and it's torture the whole way through, and my times stink (16 minutes if I'm lucky).

I'm not sure if I should stick with my current strategy, or if I need to take a new approach. I've seen a couple of posts where people say to focus on time and not distance. Does that mean focus on the total amount of time you run or your speed given a certain distance? I've never in my life been able to run as far as I can now and I thought for sure my speeds for shorter distances would increase, which they have not.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Since you cover 7-8 miles comfortably (although slow for Indoc standards), endurance doesn't seem to be a problem. You should benefit from some speed work. Continue your LSD runs 2-3 x wk. and add 1 interval day and 1 tempo day. Intervals example: 1/4 mile at fast pace followed by 1/4 mile jog to recover, REPEAT for 4-8 x. Tempo ex: run 5-10 min at a warm up pace followed by 10-15 min at a med-hard pace followed by a slower warm down of 10-15 min. These are just basic examples. Get ahold of a good running book ( check this site's offers) and develop a program that works for your particular strengths/weakness'/ needs. Remember to warm up and stretch before and after Workouts and drink plenty of water. Get plenty of rest between Workouts. Consistency is key for run training. there are plenty of examples of good running Workouts on this site, do a search. Hope it helps...

The time/distance thing means that it is better to say "I am going to go run for 45 minutes" than to say "I am going to run 6 miles. Speed comes mostly from other things so your LSD runs should be about training your body to be able to sustain an elevated energy level via fat oxidation over a certain period of time. As you improve you simply cover more distance in your 45 minutes.

It looks to me that endurance is your problem. Running 12 min miles is only slightly faster than walking. Find a coach to give your running a tune-up. Don't run more than 3x a week for a while. I'm guessing you haven't been running for very long, so you're pretty prone for RSI.

Any sort of hard running will probably improve your times. What works for me is the track and a stopwatch. After a warmup I decide what my lap times will be. Then I step it out. My first lap is always my slowest and my last my fastest.

Follow that w/ rigorous puking and lying in the grass.

RD

Yes, I've only been running for a few months. The pace I've been running on my long runs is the only way I can last that long (plus because it doesn't drop below 100F here until right around dark, and there's no lights and lots of mean things that like to bite you). Today was my first "interval" run. I jogged about 3/4 of a mile warm up, then for two miles I would sprint (well, not all out, but run pretty stinkin fast) for one minute, then jog for one. Don't know if that is the right way to do it, but I could feel it pretty good.

At one time in the past, I spent a good four months running 2 miles every other day. I always tried to run faster, but it would take everything I had to run it in 16 minutes and not pass out (literally) when I was finished. After the first month when I hit my 16 minute mark, my time never improved over the next 3 months. Hopefully interval training will be the key.

Oh ya, whenever I feel upset to my stomache, I just tell myself that I'm not hardcore until I've puked everywhere and got back up and started running again <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

Running LSD trains your body to process oxygen and lactic acid more efficiently. Intervals at a pace faster than race pace but shorter than race distance will improve your times. However, before you start speedwork you need to do some hill intervals to condition your muscles for the rigors. My biggest piece of advice is to be conservative because if you are too aggressive your body will rebell and then you'll loose even more training time.

My friends and I have been running for 2 months now and we are running 4 miles in 32min when ever we go out and run. Should we increase our distance in hopes of developing more energy lasting muscle now, or should we try to get our time down to indoc eval times. We still have 5 more months of running time before its time for BMT.

When I did cross country and track, it seems that we always put miles on our feet (6-7 miles a day) before we started to work on speed. Should I follow that example? thanks

I'd start racking up the miles b/c you will loose alot of fitness at basic unless things have changed. Keep your pace within 2 minutes of your target pace while you are increasing the mileage no more than 10% per weak. Take a rest week every 3 or 4 weeks by halfing your previous weeks mileage. I've been absent from the forms but if you've read enough TE has recommended jumping rope to help retain some conditioning when you can't run.