I’m going to get it right this time and I’m going to finish!!!!

18-minute mile IS walking pace, not gonna bs you. so since your walking speed is faster than your running, make like a senior citizen and walk your workouts for a week. walk as fast as you can. then start running slowly . . . you should be up to 15-minute splits by then. use the same distances as you did with the walking workouts. then work on your form . . . upright posture, straight forward/back arm swing, medium size strides w/ cadence 130-150/min. do not increase frequency of workouts nor distances (thus not weekly mileage) for a month. you should be up to 10-minute splits by the end of that 30 days. then start running longer, running faster on shorter workouts, switching things up. seems like you just need some time to get comfy with your body.

just to relate (NOT to brag) i trained for just 2 months and ran a 2:56 marathon. i realized that to make the progress i want, i need to learn about myself. so right now i’m doing nothing but slower, longer workouts, 140 avg HR and nothing that gets my heart over 160.

one thing that you must realize is that faster runners have put in rhousands of miles and hours over the course of years to get where they are. young speed-demons started young. don’t worry about comparing yourself to anyone. that senior citizen may have been running for 70 years. you can’t buy nor rush that kind of experience. patience, grasshopper slow and steady wins the race. there’s just no way around it.

I understand your frustration….

What got me running was doing intervals from the begining. If your interested let me know and I will find the link that gave me a beginners running program that basically gets you up to running/jogging 30 minutes straight. I am a novice and have missed some runs so I am up to 11 minutes on the jog interval.

When you start the first one is jog one minute, power walk two. (I thought I was going to die when jogging for one minute when I started.) Then as the program progresses, so do you. I am up to 11 minute jog intervals and 2 minute power walk intervals. This has worked great for me because my average mile is about 14 min. 30 sec. doing this.

I stick to the intervals and have been gradually increasing the distance since I am doing a 1/2 marathon. Somedays, when I have increased the distance I had to switch up the intervals the last 1/2 mile or so because I just couldn’t make it a full 11 minutes.

I am 25 and know people can power walk faster than my jog some days, but you’ll get there. And it will feel great in a few weeks when you can jog longer and longer. The Ironman Triathlon watch by timex has been great for this ($35.00 at Walmart) because I just have to listen for the beep and know it is time to switch the interval to walk or jog.

Anyway, let me know if your interested in that training program and I will get you the link, I don’t have it handy now or I would paste it here.

Good luck and remember one of the worst things you can do, as I have learned, is to miss runs. It will really set you back.

indeed i am intense . . . running is my meditation, and i spend all my time either running or thinking about it. i think i come across as callous many times, so i thank you for not taking my comments the wrong way.

it is certainly possible. i think you would be able to run 1 mile in 8 minutes by august. a 5K . . . that depends whether we’re talking the beginning or end of august (6 or 10 weeks). also, i think you should focus on losing weight. putting 190 lbs on your legs at 8:00 pace isn’t healthy for your joints, in my opinion. i think that putting in 4 good workouts/wk of about 4 miles each, with good hydration, stretching, and diet will give you a good base with which to pursue your goal.

if you have a 5K race you’re aiming for in Aug, then you can short-change your training for it. focus on that 3.1 distance . . . don’t go longer than 5 miles @ 10:00 pace (when you’re ready for it). another important point is the warmup . . . even after you start doing solid runs, warm up with a 10-minute walk, starting slow and finishing brisk then breaking into a jog. warmups signal your body to get ready for activity by activating into your glycolytic processes. the more thorough your warmups, the faster your body will adjust. this in turn makes you faster on the front end of your runs without creating an energy deficit. and that teaches your body to tap your glycogen faster . . . and so on and so forth. running is about repetition, the most fundamental unit of which is left-right-left-right. no matter if you’re walking or running, you’re always making forward progess.

I thought I’d drop in and give you a little bit of another perspective.

First of all… I’ll say, if you want to run faster, then you can do it. You need to take your desire to run faster and develop a plan that works for you to get there. You can totally do it.

I used to think I would hate running, and I started out running 14-15 min miles. After working at it for a couple months I realized I could run much faster, and the minutes started falling off my run splits. When I am at top fitness, I can easily run my 10 mile mid-distance runs at around 7:00/miles.

The secret to running faster is… to RUN FASTER.

I know that might sound obvious… but… it really is that simple.

The advice that Lindsey and TJ are giving you, essentially amount to that simple concept.

You need to train your body to run faster.

It might be that 18min/miles is really your current top pace. But maybe you just think that’s your pace.

Doing interval work like Lindsey is suggesting will give you a structured way to run faster. As I understand TJ’s advice, it sounds like a good way to take your existing workouts and move your body toward the proper form to run faster. These are both great suggestions.

Anyway, good luck, and keep us posted!

I don’t have enough experience to give you the kind of advice that other folks are offering, but I can vouch for being patient with yourself. When I started running in March, the best mile I could squeeze out is 10:15, and that had walking breaks all over the place. Now I’m getting close to 9 minutes, and seldom take walk breaks. I’m no Olympian, just always trying to improve. Oh, and at my last 5k…a kid blew by me like nothing. He was about the same size as my five year old! It stings the pride a bit….yup, it does….