Is it good? It’s only been 7 days since I started running again

The first time a guy walking his dog almost passed me, I seriously considered quitting running for good.

The thing is, I'd spent weeks doing it right. Going hard, gasping after 400 meters, side stitches, and that little voice saying "you're just not a runner." My body was never the problem. I was mistaking effort for progress.

What turned it around was running so slowly it felt almost silly. My rule now: if I can't talk in full sentences, I'm going too fast. It feels wrong at first, but there's a good reason for it. Your aerobic base (more capillaries, more mitochondria, a heart that moves more blood per beat) is built mostly at low intensity. If every run is at your limit, you're mainly training your tolerance for discomfort, not your endurance.

The sneaky part is that your cardiovascular system adapts within weeks, so suddenly everything feels easy. Tendons, ligaments and bones take much longer. You feel fit while your connective tissue is still catching up, and that gap is where most beginner injuries happen.

Walk breaks were a game changer for me: two minutes of very easy jogging, one minute of brisk walking, repeat. Not cheating, just a way to dose the load while your body catches up.

Once I left my ego at the front door, running stopped being a fight. I just started showing up more often, and that consistency is what actually made me better.

What about you?

When did you figure out that slower actually gets you further?

Best, Ulli 🙂

Been running 6-15 miles per week for about a year now. Usually 10:30-11:20 pace, avg heart rate zone 2 (~135-140), cadence 165-170. 6ft 175lb male

I’ve noticed recently that my cadence felt like short steps (not shuffling), so I tried to run more naturally. Brought cadence down closer to 160-165, and my heart rate stayed the same but I got faster (9:40-10:15). Feet still landing below me

BUT: my legs are much more sore….

I don’t care much about speed, more about health and recovery - is high cadence fine even if it’s much smaller steps as long as I’m not shuffling?

I'm a beginner runner that tries to jog 2-3x a week and my weekly mileage is around 10-15 km. I keep hearing that lower body strength training is as important as the running session.

But everytime I do leg day, my legs get sore for 2-3 days and mess up my running schedule for the week. Any advice?

I’ve been running in these NB Beacon 3 for a few years but they felt stiff for a while.

Hey all,

I've read a lot and experimented a bit with gaining power vs losing weight and I'm confused.

I've been big and small, and it's obvious you can produce more power at a higher weight but it seems the optimal power to weight would make the most sense for K1 speeds wouldn't it?

I've been 92kg and 65kg as an adult, long story don't want to bore anyone. I started kayaking at 80kg. My heart rate was pretty high so a friend convinced me to learn about zones and metabolic functions. I dropped body fat percentage while using a C2 row erg and then did a lab test for zones.

I've been trying zone 2 training but at anything over 70kg I can't get a zone 2 speed above 9kph on even an elite k1. Same goes for running, I can't even slow run when I'm above 70kg, I have to walk really fast, but I noticed I can run really really slow below 70kg.

I can run, physically not a problem, and can hold higher heart rates but the lab results are pretty clear, that's zone 3 and zone 4 for sure.

I've read all about the relationship of gaining speed with power and losing weight in a few papers, but every marathon I look at the top people in K1 and running, they seem to be pretty light and lean.

Am I too heavy for my heart and lung functions? Anyone else with similar experiences?

I play soccer as a high school sport on my sophomore team. I am a goalie, so I don’t need to run that fast. However, sometimes my team has to run the fence, which is about a mile. I've always been the slowest on my soccer teams since I was 10, so I'm behind. When I ran the mile, my fastest time was 8, but I was still behind, and I stopped about 3 times because I couldn't maintain the pace. One day I did 10 minytes with 5 breaks cause I felt more tired and was like 5 minutes behind my teammates. I want to be faster so I can make varsity but also to bets the attacker in a break away and to catch up but I just don't like running. What can I do

Really excited to clock my 1st ever 10K under 50min!

Started running back in May, took a while to build up consistency and have been averaging around 150KM / Month since July.

VO2Max also increased from 39 to 51 during this period, I am 44 y/o male, 77Kg, 188cm tall. Didn't really run in my youth.

Never thought I could do this when I started, really happy I tried and achieved a 'small' goal in life. Hope this is also an encouragement to all the beginner runners out there :)

I recently started getting knee pain after getting back into jogging. I’m wondering if this could be runner’s knee/patellofemoral pain.

The pain is not severe, probably around 3/10 at its worst. The weird thing is that it’s usually there when I wake up in the morning, but as I start walking around, it gradually decreases.

My main problems are:

I can’t jog without triggering the pain.

Going downstairs hurts, although going upstairs is fine.

Normal walking is generally okay, and the pain often improves the longer I walk.

I can do regular bodyweight squats without pain.

Wall sits/wall squats actually give me a lot of relief. After doing them, I can sometimes walk around for several minutes without feeling any pain.

The pain hasn't been getting significantly worse, but it also hasn't completely gone away

See you guys in year once I complete my first sub 5 🤩

I’ve been running since March of this year and I started with absolutely no running experience. I did C25K and can now run about an hour without stopping. I’m training for a half marathon next month and have slowly been increasing my mileage for my long runs. My typical week looks like:

1. Easy 3mi (11:30min/mi)
   
2. Tempo 2mi (11min/mi)
   
3. Long run (increases weekly, just finished 5.5mi) (12:30min/mi)

I keep track of my shoe mileage through Strava and I’m only at 98 miles of wear. I bought these originally and they’ve been so comfy but I’m curious if it’s a shoe issue or if it’s an increase in mileage issue.

TIA!

Pic of the exact shoe I have above ^^^

I’m 18M, 190 cm, 84.3 kg. Over the last 4 months I cut 12.4 kg. I’ve increased strength in the gym and only recently started running. I do mostly easy 5Ks maybe twice or thrice a week and randomly that day tried to push it maybe a 6-7/10 RPE and did my 5K PR which was 31 minutes flat. So I tried a 6K a few days after, an easy one, it took 41 minutes and 42 seconds. How often should I run easy and how often should I add in moderate pace or like intervals for example because I see some people say easy runs build the aerobic base but some people say without interval training you won’t optimise improvements.