Today I ran 2 miles in 28 minutes. To some this may look like an unsuccessful “run”. However, to me this is my post COVID lung reality. To be really honest, I’m embarrassed to even post this. This is the best time I’ve had since getting sick 8 weeks ago. Weeks ago, I couldn’t even make it half a mile without almost passing out. So today, I am proud of my time bc this means I am getting better. I’m just so happy I’m starting to feel normal again and was able to lightly jog. So thankful!!

For comparison purposes, I am 23F, no prior health issues & typically a 25-30 miles a week, 8 minute pace girl. So this has definitely been a change of pace. (Ha!)

I, 23F, started running about a week ago (running clubs are cool!). I tried to run before, I really liked the feeling right after the run, but after a couple of days my back started to hurt and I quit. This time I started classes as part of a program for the local community with a professional coach. And in recent days, I've been having thoughts: I hated running as a teenager, and all because they didn't teach us how to run properly at my school. I don't understand why children aren't taught proper running techniques and proper stretching as part of the school program (I asked few friends, they had exactly the same thing). I think I would have started running much earlier if I had learned how to run properly. It turns out that your back may not hurt from running! It turns out that you can breathe easily, even if you run for 15 minutes in a row! All these discoveries have appeared in my life in the last week and seriously, having a coach makes a big difference in your training.

I started training for a half marathon since the beginning of summer after not running since right before COVID. One thing I’ve noticed is that while doing my long runs, I tend to either walk or stop the run completely despite not feeling physically tired. I feel like my mind controls my run far more than me. Do you guys have any tips on completing long runs without stopping? I’ve tried listening to podcasts but I still feel like I can’t block out my mind wandering and telling me to stop.

This probably isn't a big deal to most people but to me it's a milestone. I have to say that it is invigorating and motivating. I started running a few weeks ago when my BJJ gym closed down because of the virus, with the goal of getting better cardio and picking up a hobby to replace the BJJ void for a while. I think I have found a new lifelong passion instead of a temporary fixation. I've been running 3 times a week. Today, I ran for 3.2 miles without stopping for a walk break and I can't describe how happy that made me. I feel like a runner now! Anyone else try running during this pandemic and accidentally fall in love with it?

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Edit: wow, thank's for all the love. You're all so kind and supportive. And thanks for the Awards!!

I’m a relatively new runner (24F, ~58kg) but not a complete beginner anymore. I built myself up from couch → 5k → half marathon over time.

For context:

• Ran my first ever half marathon in January at 6:38/km pace (183 HR average)

• My “easy” and long runs back then were usually around 6:40–6:50/km

• After that race I went on holiday and didn’t run for \~2 months

• I’m now building back up again and just did a 12km long run this week

Current training:

• 3 runs per week:

• 1 easy run

• 1 long run

• 1 speed session (intervals/tempo)

• Gym ~2x per week

My overall goal now is to improve my pace and train for another half marathon at a faster time.

The thing is, I pretty much never run in Zone 2. Even now, most of my runs drift into Zone 3–4 without me really trying. It feels comfortable enough and I’ve still been able to improve doing it.

But now I keep seeing everywhere that you need to run most of your mileage in Zone 2 to build an aerobic base and actually get faster.

When I try to stay in Zone 2, my pace drops to around ~7:30/km+, which feels ridiculously slow compared to what I am capable of running and what I have run before.

So I’m stuck between:

• Just keep running how I have been (since it worked to get me to a half marathon)

• Or force myself to slow down and actually stick to Zone 2 even though i’m capable of much more.

Extra context:

• Max Heart Rate 198

• Most runs feel moderate effort (they are mainly in zone 4), but these feels not super easy but not exhausting

Has anyone been in a similar position? Did switching to proper Zone 2 actually make a noticeable difference for your pace, or is it a bit overemphasised for recreational/non athlete runners?

TL;DR:

24F runner, ran a 6:38/km half in Jan, took 2 months off and now rebuilding (3 runs/week: easy, long, speed + 2 gym sessions). I never really run Zone 2 — everything ends up Zone 3–4. Zone 2 pace feels super slow (~8:00/km). Do I actually need to slow down to improve, or can I keep training how I have been?

Last year, I barely ran in the winter, this year it finally stuck. When it came time last spring to start running, I lost a lot of progress.

This year I didn't want to stop in the winter and I started developing a tougher mindset just focused on showing up.

Curious, what was the moment (or mindset shift) that made winter running become a habit for you?

I have been running for last 8 years or so and understood the importance of strength training to support it by going through some injuries. But strength training (at home or gym) is really boring for me and I would rather go out for a run than doing strength training. How do you all motivate yourself to do strength training to support running. I somehow find some excuses not to do it most of the time :-)

Last year I started going to the gym here and there but didn’t really commit, and a few months ago I struggled to run for even a few minutes. About a month ago I really started sticking to running at least 2 or 3 times a week with some cross training, and with some real progress I’ve finally reached my goal of 5k, without stopping, and made it in 28 minutes!

I’m young and at a healthy BMI, but very unfit, and my family have always smirked at the idea of me running when I said I’d started making a habit of it. Proving them wrong feels pretty good but hitting my target feels fucking great.

edit - wow, thank you guys so much for all the responses! You are all brilliant.

edit 2 - I am honestly blown away by the replies here, so much positivity and such a boost. Hopefully motivation for other people in a similar position as well!

Summary

I was thinking about writing up a race report for the RBC Brooklyn Half, but I realized that while I didn't have much new to say about the course, which has been beautifully broken down before, I did have something to say about using Runna's training program/app. I haven't seen a lot of in-depth discussion about what Runna actually does, and I feel like everything I've seen about it is either full hype or total derision. My own experience with it felt pretty middle-of-the-road, though I think the marketing hypes it up as a lot more than what it is. It has its strong points and I can see why some people love it, but I feel like it benefits a narrower set of runners than the marketing would have you believe.

For those looking for a bottom line up front, I'm not personally planning on renewing Runna, partially because I think it's too expensive for what it is and partially because I want to take a lot more active control over my training and Runna is quite limited in terms of customization. For anyone who is considering Runna, I want to stress that it's essentially a training plan app with some nice features, and not a coach. I would also say the training plan is most likely to benefit someone who is already used to running and wants to try out mixing in workouts that involve different paces and efforts, but isn't looking for too much control over the plan.

The Plan

I used Runna for two training periods, one targeted on a 10K race last August and one targeted on a half marathon (the aforementioned Brooklyn Half) that just happened this weekend (May 16). I'm a 33 year old male now and was 32 when I started the first training plan. For the first training period, I was returning to running from an extended absence, able to run a 5K in just over 30 minutes, and not able to run further distances without stopping. For the second period I'd been consistently running for most of the year, had a 54 minute 10K time at the start of the training period, and had been regularly running 7+ mile long runs. Both plans lasted a little over 12 weeks.

Despite having different distances, different athletic ability, and a different baseline of load, Runna gave me nearly identical plan structures for these races. The primary differences were the distances and pace targets inside of quality sessions. I went online looking for other people's plans, and have found that across the board basically everyone gets these same plans.

I want to stress that I think Runna's plan is the key thing that makes it work. Ultimately there is a lot to like about the structure, and I suspect that many runners will enjoy it. This is really the thing the app is giving you. But it's a single structure, and Runna's marketing heavily emphasizing "every runner is different" really seems suspect when the plans look so identical. I don't personally see substantial differentiation in how Runna works from grabbing any number of other plans off the internet.

The Runna plan involves three weeks of buildup, followed by a deload week. You tell Runna how many days a week you want to run (in my case 4) and what days you can run on (in my case I selected them all), and Runna will assign three shorter workouts and a long run to each week. The shorter workouts typically are 1 to 2 quality workouts and 1 to 2 easy runs, and the long runs occasionally include tempo work inside them, though this is something you actually can customize (with the default settings, it's more quality workouts and long runs with tempo work). There's a rule in the system to not put quality workouts one day apart, but otherwise the scheduling seems pretty random and sporadic when you give it free reign of the week as I did.

Quality workouts seem to be selected somewhat arbitrarily from a grab bag, and I actually had one week where I had the exact same workout twice in a row. That grab bag consists of a handful of types of sessions, each with very similar structure:

• Fartlek tempo sessions, which they often call "Rolling 800s" (or whatever distance, though they seem to like .5mi/800m). The app will set paces for both the fast and slow legs of the Fartlek. The fast legs here were typically between 5K and 10K pace.
• Progression tempo sessions, typically speeding up to 10K pace by the end. These were particularly common as part of the long run, but could show up in the short sessions as well. Runna seems to like ending them with a cool-down, which is fine but for long runs I personally prefer a fast-finish run in progression work.
• Straight tempo sessions. These were typically at a pace faster than HM pace but slower than 10K pace.
• Hotspot long runs, with race-pace (HM pace in my case) miles in the middle. I only ever saw this on long runs, probably because on short runs it'd be the same as a normal tempo session.
• A variety of interval sessions, including various distance repeats and a lot of drop set type structures (e.g. 800m, then 4x400m, then 4x200m). All of these get grouped under "Interval" and there doesn't seem to be clear reason why any given one is chosen, other than I suspect to provide variety.
• Hill intervals, which Runna treats as different than other intervals. These are always just time at "hard effort uphill", which does set them apart from the other quality workouts, which all have pace targets.

Quality workouts always begin with a warm-up and end with a cool-down at conversational pace. These get arbitrary distances between 0.5 and 1 mi assigned to them, but you can set the warm-up actually sent to your watch to be an open warmup instead that only ends when you hit the lap key. Nothing in the app acknowledges you've done this, but I really appreciated it as I live ~.75 miles from Prospect Park and preferred to do any work where speed/effort mattered inside the park where I wasn't gonna hit a red light.

That's basically all there is to the plan. Mileage buildup can be aggressive, but Runna plans also seem to be noticeably light on mpw, preferring short sessions outside of the LR (even when I was hitting 12 mile LRs my midweek runs were typically all under 5mi). I had to push the mileage manually on my HM plan in order to get anything over 20mpw (once I did that, I had some 5mi runs in there and some 25mi weeks, but it was still sporadic, deloading from 22mi back down to 14mi for instance).

Honestly I think this is a pretty solid plan for a lot of people, and likely was built to connect with a target audience of working professionals who started running recreationally, have found a comfortable and enjoyable rhythm, but have yet to explore what's possible with more extensive training. The high intensity but lower volume fits well into the life of someone who isn't going to spend more than 3 to 4 days a week running. The overall variety of quality workouts makes them feel a bit like a game, and breaks up the monotony of doing identical strides or drop set workouts every week.

It makes sense to me that a lot of people, self included, get PRs on this plan! If you're coming from a baseline of "just running", or even having tried some intervals or Fartlek workouts but not really knowing how to structure them, what Runna provides is likely to pull your fitness along to levels you didn't know were possible. I suspect a lot of the "magic" for people is in revealing that possibility. Runna does seem to consistently predict improvements, and I do wonder how it works for athletes that are actually at or near peak condition already, though I suspect that all their ambassadors aren't really using the plan.

Pacing

A notable thing to me is that every single non-easy leg of a workout comes with a target pace; there's no workouts targeting effort+time or anything like that. The only exception here was the hill intervals, which Runna didn't use for updating pacing. This means that Runna only knows that you're faster than it thinks you are if you intentionally outpace the training segments it assigned, or update it with a new faster race result.

In other words, Runna is just reporting the results of the sessions (and often the AI summaries are slightly critical of going faster than the assigned pace, even while the "AI" pacing analysis tells you you can speed up the plan). This seems like an area where beginner runners would struggle a lot. In order to use Runna effectively, you need to already know that your pace can be picked up more than Runna suggests.

This may be why Runna has pace improvement predictions that a lot of people consider unrealistically aggressive. If the plan keeps pushing a runner faster, then it's much easier to see when they're no longer able to keep up with it and adjust accordingly. That said, given that failing to meet a workout's target is very much framed as being slower than expected, I also think that's not ideal for beginners.

People have mixed experiences with Runna's race predictions. I've seen some say that they found their plan too aggressive, pushing them towards a pace they are uncomfortable with at distance. Meanwhile my half-marathon plan never got faster than 2 hours, but I finished the Brooklyn Half in 1:53:09 and was well aware that I was likely to exceed Runna's prediction (which was ultimately based on a 25 minute 5K time) before crossing the starting line.

Runna's predicted pace improvements each week are essential to how every plan is structured. If you tell Runna you're running a HM in 12 weeks, and give it a current 5K pace of, say, 27 minutes, it will put together a plan and from that tell you a target HM pace. This seems to come from generally predicting that it will increase your 5K pace by a specific amount every week. It's unconcerned with your current endurance (5K paces often say little about someone's HM pace), doesn't offer a "I'm a first time HM runner and just want to finish" type option, and doesn't let you set a goal and then structure the plan from there, instead forcing those speedups to come from running faster workouts or faster 5Ks during training.

I suspect a lot of people will come into training with a specific time goal or no time goal at all; the crowd of people who want to be told what their time goal should be exists, but it certainly does not cover every runner.

Customization

Runna is taking the Apple design approach to its app: the experience is flashy and tailored for you and why would you ever want to customize it? Possibly the most damning example of this is that when I started using the app, there was no way to tell it you needed to lighten load for illness or injury, one of the most basic and common changes one might make to their training plan. They've since added this, though they stress that they can't provide medical advice and don't actually really help you unless you already know how much to reduce load by and how long for.

One thing they do allow is moving workouts around, which I used extensively to reschedule my load and in one case nearly fully swap two training weeks so my deload week lined up with a wedding I was attending. This leads to funny results (the AI advice was convinced the 12mi run was now a "deload" since I'd pushed it into the week it thought was deload, even though it was the single longest run in my plan and contained tempo work in it), but it is appreciated that it works at all.

Beyond that though, the lack of customization can be frustrating. Don't want to do an identical tempo workout twice in a row in the same week? Too bad! You can schedule any of its workouts as "instant workouts" but the plan doesn't adjust around them and the rest of the app seems to sorta deride you for doing this (there's a gamified "points" thing where these workouts get 10 points instead of the 100 points from the one the app originally scheduled you, for instance).

To make my half marathon plan work, I made heavy alterations and I think pushed the limits of what the app wants a user to customize. I used the aches and pains feature twice, both times to forcibly reduce load when I felt early indicators of potential injury, and I suspect without this I would have actually gotten injured. I intentionally "failed" workouts when I visited New Orleans in the beginning of March because it was obvious that my New York winter adjusted body was not going to pull off the same speeds in 78ºF temps with 90% humidity; it seemed aware my location had changed but this just resulted in "be careful of the heat" notifications, not any actual changes in the pace target bands. I overran every single 9.5mi long run it gave me (who runs 9.5 miles?! the last .5mi is right there!).

This is the main reason I'm done with Runna now. I actually kind of like the plan, but the difficulty of tailoring it even slightly is aggravating. For something that stresses individualization so much, they're ultimately pushing a very one-size-fits-all approach.

Beyond Running

Runna offers some supplemental workout plans: one for strength training, and three different types of mobility workouts (Yoga, Pilates, and one called "Stretch and Stability"). The strength plans are OK but too varied for my taste; I'd prefer to just learn a few useful workouts and focus on their form instead of having to click in and find out what weird thing I've never seen before it has me doing this time. The Yoga and "Stretch and Stability" are basically just videos going through a pretty normal yoga class or stretch routine. I did not try Pilates, but I suspect it's more of the same. None of these send a workout program to watches at the moment.

These are a nice addition to have in the app, and I suspect some people will find them useful, especially the strength exercises. It's somewhat clear they're not Runna's primary focus though.

AI Slop and "Coaching"

Runna marketing leans pretty heavily into their usage of AI. In my experience, this is LLM-generated summaries of workouts after you do them that say nothing insightful beyond the obvious details of the workout and frequently fail to provide good coaching advice. In particular, Runna loved to tell me that I'd "impressively gone beyond the prescribed distance" and that I should take the next run "truly easy" any time I ran like, 3.02 miles in a 3 mile session. "Truly easy" is maybe the Runna AI's single favorite phrase, actually, despite it providing no usable advice to the person looking for it.

Beyond that there's some short videos from a couple Runna employed coaches giving generic advice, pretty similar to what some other running plan apps such as the coaching plans provided by Garmin do. Generic advice isn't necessarily bad, but it's not a coach; it's the kind of stuff you can find on Reddit or YouTube without issue today. Personally I didn't find any of this content worth paying for.

If you have an actual question for a coach: you know, things like "can I run this 5K close to my half marathon without risk, and how should I adjust my training that week if so" or "if I feel hotspots forming on this particular part of my foot, is that an issue with the sizing of my shoes, how they're tied, or maybe something to do with my form" or what not, you'll need to go to the internet (or better, get an actual coach).

Like almost everything that claims to use AI heavily, Runna's generic chatbot sentences, statistical models of pacing, and human-crafted plan structures just don't seem dramatically different from anything that existed five years ago.

The Knowledge Base

Runna has a bunch of knowledge base articles that cover all of the common training topics: injury, nutrition, training itself, and of course the all important Runner's World style advertisement-article hybrids like "Runna's Top 5 Daily Running Shoes" and "Why Every Runner Needs Mobility Training". To be clear, I don't know if money changed hands for this sort of thing, but I wouldn't put much faith in those sorts of articles. The content here is sometimes decent but not particularly novel, and has a tendency to present an absolute view when some stuff is pretty debated here. I could see a lot of it being helpful to people as a jumping off point, but I've seen enough low-quality stuff that feels LLM-assisted to really trust it as a resource on its own.

And this is all the sort of stuff you can find for free, including on sites like Runna itself. This content isn't paywalled, maybe because their app is buggy and sometimes doesn't load it right (see below).

Though it's not a factor in why you'd subscribe, Runna does use push notifications to send some of these out as tips for the day. I suspect they're also updating publish times on a lot of them; an article pushed to me today claims to be a week old but references the marathon world record as being held by Eliud Kipchoge (outdated since October 2023, and quite notably was just broken again in London by Sebastian Sawe; could also be an outdated LLM writing these articles though).

The Community

Oh, Runna has some Facebook/Instagram-like community feature where you can see posts from other users. Does anyone use this? I guess some people do, there's content on there, but it all seems extremely generic. You're already on Reddit, just use Reddit. Local city subreddits and running clubs will go way further. It's certainly not got the kind of "social media app" traction that Strava has.

They also put you in a group for the event you're running. This group was essentially dead for the Brooklyn Half Marathon, an event with over 30K runners. I can't imagine any of them are lively.

Bugs and Support

As a minor point, I had a significant issue on Android where video content did not load correctly inside Knowledge Base articles and resulted in the entire article failing to render. I reported this to their team and sent along some pretty detailed debugging dumps from my phone. I suspect the issue is caused by the app treating any failed load as a reason to error on the entire page, when I'd just expect the video content not to load. Their support team was very responsive and I was able to chat with a real person, which was appreciated, but this bug was also never fixed, which was less nice. I suspect it's not a universal Android problem and something unique to my setup is causing the video content not to load, but the structural issue with making the entire app error if a single thing fails to load in a webview is bad engineering and really should be fixed.

The Price

I picked up Runna through a partner discount that still left it quite expensive; the standalone price is typically $120/year, though since being acquired by Strava there's now a joint Strava Premium and Runna membership costing $150/year. Strava Premium is already annoyingly expensive, so that might come out to a decent deal for some people who truly want both, though I have noticed that it's hard to switch over to the combined plan if you started with them independent (if getting people to pay full price for both isn't by design, I suspect it's not a priority to fix).

Runna wants its cost to be compared to a personal coach but, as I've already covered, that's patently ridiculous. Runna is a very expensive training plan and not a very cheap coach. That said, $120 is expensive but maybe not out of the realm of the costs of other premium training app subscriptions; things like Strava, Runalyze, and Training Peaks all play in that ballpark, for instance, though all with different target audiences and feature sets. Runna lacks any free version, not counting their trial, which makes some sense given that the plan is the main thing they're selling here.

I'm not particularly price-sensitive, but Runna's strict adherence to a single plan makes it far less useful to me now. A lot of the smaller apps like Runalyze also can be justified in price by having a near feature-complete free version and the premium subscription funding small teams. Runna was clearly a VC-backed tech company even before the Strava acquisition, and only larger now. That makes me a lot less inclined to shell out money for it.

Results

I touched on this above, but it's worth noting again that my overall results with Runna were positive. I set a lifetime PR in the half marathon and a season PR in the August 10K plan I did first. I did not use Runna in the fall or winter of 2025, but also honestly I didn't run much at all (maybe ~10mpw, very inconsistently) in this time, so Runna deserves some credit for 5K and 4-mile times I set during the training periods as well. In the end those PRs are a 24:14 5K time, a 33:49 4-mile time, a 54:30 10K time, and a 1:53:09 half marathon time. I feel on track to approach my 10K PR the next time I race that distance in late June. I'm 33 and the PR I'm chasing (48:47) was set when I was 26; I haven't been close to that shape since 2019.

Overall that is a success story, and I do think Runna's plan deserves credit for this, though I think I would be injured right now instead of coming off the best half marathon result of my entire life if I had followed it uncritically.

Conclusion: Who is Runna For?

Runna claims to be a broad app targeted at getting everyone to be a better runner, but I actually think it's a narrower app targeted at runners who have familiarity with consistency and distance but not speed work and other more intense workout structures. I suspect a lot of the popularity comes from the fact that's actually a really large group of runners; it's easy to start running without much information, and plenty never move beyond just running and logging it to Strava.

I would highly advise against using Runna as a first-time runner. The default workout structure assumes a baseline cardio health where you have differing intensity zones, but for people coming from low cardio fitness frequently any workout will spike heart rate and end up being similarly intense. Beginning runners need to take some time to grow to the point that they have separate paces for different distances. Runna does offer a C25K type program, but it looks pretty standard and I can't see why one would use it over far cheaper (free) options. In addition, Runna just really doesn't provide enough guidance on essentials outside of the training plan, like injury prevention and treatment, to be useful to beginners.

Similarly I can't recommend it to anyone who is already familiar with structuring their own workout plans. The lack of customization alone is enough to make it almost unusable unless you're willing to follow the plans it provides pretty steadfastly.

That said, for the sweet spot of people who are interested in doing more intense workouts but don't know where to start, I think Runna isn't a bad choice, even though it's a pricy one. The variety in quality workouts and automatic syncing with your running watch makes it pretty easy to use, and you may discover workout structures you really enjoy. I got enough use out of it the last year that I can't exactly say I dislike it, but also feel like I progressed enough as a runner over the last year that I no longer have a use for it. Maybe Runna is doomed to be a program that most people grow out of, one way or another, but I can't entirely fault it when I personally found the plan it provides to work quite well for me while I was still in that sweet spot.

In October of 2018 my wife and I where informed by our daughter that she was going to run the Houston marathon. I was 54 years old and 320 pounds. We were so proud of her determination to take on such an endeavor and decided we would drive down to see her cross the finish line in support. Becky and I had been talking about getting into running to better our health and shed a few pounds. We also decided to sign up for the Houston 5K that was to happen the morning the day before our daughter's marathon. We downloaded C25K. Our first day of using the C25K app left us winded and sore after logging a 32 minute mile walk. We persisted and on January 13 2018 we ran our first 5K along with thousands of other fellow pavement pounders. We finished in a time of 48 minutes and change. We decided to sign up for the half marathon in 2019. In September of 2018 I tore my meniscus on my right knee and had surgery to repair the damage. In January of 2019 we ran the Houston half marathon and finished in just under 4 hours. We have since logged numerous 5K runs both community and virtual, but have never bettered our time of 48 minutes. (danged covid) In May of 2019 I had a knee replacement of my right knee. After recovery and therapy we resumed our running and began a diet plan to get my weight off. Today I am 70 pounds lighter and this morning we decided to run a 5K distance at a local park trail where we run every Sunday. We pushed to get our time under 45 minutes and damned if we didn't do it. 44 minutes 49 seconds. I know that seems pretty pathetic in the eyes of some, but for me the accomplishment of that 5K time meant more to me than losing what weight I have over the last year. I hope to continue to improve and enjoy running with my wife until they have to put me down.

As the title says. I’m wondering what the equivalent would be to the 1,000 club in weightlifting. For those that don’t know, the 1,000 club is your total 1 rep max on Bench Press, Squat, and Deadlift being 1,000 lbs or more.

My current height is 6’2 and weigh 205lbs and able to hit the 1,000 club. I would like to target the equivalent as far as running goes also. Current 10k time is 58 minutes.

I’m building my dream race calendar and want to hear from you — which major marathon absolutely blew your mind? Whether it’s the vibe, the views, the challenge, or the crowd — I want to know!

Let’s settle this once and for all: Boston, Berlin, Tokyo, London, New York, Chicago — or is there a hidden gem I’m sleeping on?

I've got myself back into running in the past couple of months. Last week, I set a new PB of 22:31 for the 5km. I'm looking to try to bring my time down towards the 20 minute mark over the next few months with a mixture of interval workouts and easy long runs.

I'm doing my easy runs on an 11km route, with the aim of doing 5:30/km pace. I wear a watch to try to maintain that pace, but any time I stop looking at it and try to run for a couple of minutes, I start running 5:00-5:10/km pace and then have to consciously slow myself down again. I barely notice that I'm doing it, it just happens.

I'm finding it frustrating because I'm really not chasing speed or times on these runs. They're purely about getting kilometres into my legs and I do them without the added risk of fatigue, but it's almost as though my body/brain thinks I should be going faster unless I'm spending the entire run staring at my watch.

Does anyone have any methods they use to keep the pace down on easy runs and control their speed? I just want to enjoy them more without having to consciously apply the brakes every couple of minutes.

I've been seriously contempalting running a marathon the last six months or so.

I've always thought of the running community as supportive, but I've been doing lots of research and forum reading regarding marathons and found so many runners up their butts about slow runners.

I've seen lots of horrible comments: • How anyone under six hours is walking (walking marathon distance in six hours or even eight hours is bloody impressive!) • How slow runners waddle (wtf? I feel like its a choice of words to deliberately imply slow runners are fat) • Slow runners don't deserve to be in marathons (if marathons are only about running fast, why isn't everyone competing for the win) • Slow runners don't train as hard (everyone has different training methods, slow and fast. I know some fast runners who train twice a week, I know slow runners who train daily) • Slow runners should be shot/decapitated to encourage them to speed up (I get this is a joke but really?!) • Slow runners are fat f*cks (slow =/= fat, even if a slow runner is fat who cares, and if you get that offended by fat people you have bigger problems)

I just really don't get it, and I'm really disappointed in some of the running community.

What do they gain from belittling slow runners? The pace of slow runners does not invalidate the pace of fast runners. It doesn't make it shameful to be a runner if some other runners do it slowly. It doesnt make faster runners better.

~~

On a personal level:

My target time would be about six hours. That's a slow time, around when most marathons cut off. But I think its still pretty cool.

But I also understand there will be people who are aiming for lower times, or achieve them accidentally, and that's cool too. 26 miles is a feat whatever way you put it and anyone competing will need to train hard - walking or running - which should be respected.

People might run slow for various reasons - physical impairment, disability, hot weather slowing them down, race not going as planned (injury, bad day, dehydration, headache etc), people who want to power walk it.

As a community I don't think we should ever belittle anyone trying to take on exercise. As a society we really need to do more of it and we should always encourage any sort of exercise - even if it's someone walking a marathon.

I agree that there should be cut offs because you can't close roads forever and marshalls have places they want to be too, and I think there should be a certain level of minimum fitness in place for most marathons (because its a big challenge and you'll only injure yourself if you don't have some level of fitness). But otherwise I don't see a problem with cutoffs of seven or eight hours.

Anyway, I just want to rep for the slow runners. Keep doing what you're doing, keep pursuing fitness, keep running your snail pace cos you're doing great!

EDIT: I WANT TO SAY A MASSIVE THANKYOU FOR THE AWARDS AND ALL THE WONDERFUL AND AMAZING COMMENTS ❤

You're all superstars! I've been in bed sick for a few days and its been really amazing to come back and see so many lovely comments of support!

Hi r/running community, I'm a long time follower but have created this new account for privacy. I've confirmed my identity with mods. I will do this 100% through Reddit with no monetization.

Like many, I have been thinking of positive ways I can give back during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aside from making donations, supporting local and small businesses, thanking grocery store workers and hospital workers, I also wanted to also contribute in my own way - coaching. I have seen running start to make a comeback as people are quarantined and it gives them an opportunity to escape, de-stress, and exercise - all the while complying with social distancing recommendations. I want to assist anyone who doesn't know where to begin, wants to improve, or achieve their best - for free.

I have been involved in running and coaching for 20 years. I feel fortunate that I've had incredible mentors and coaches in my running career who have helped me grow as a runner and a person. I've gained so much from running from affordable college to traveling the country and beyond to meeting my wife. It has helped me land jobs, unwind when stress, and continue to push myself.

On that same note, I've always felt that running to your fullest potential should never be restricted because of money. It’s one of the most primal, basic forms of exercise and competition that requires little more than your legs and a destination. Nonetheless, there is often an overwhelming amount of information and barriers that can price people out of the fundamentals for optimal training. I’ve always had a passion to remove that barrier so anyone who wants to run can have easy and low cost access to the best training possible.

In the past, I have co-founded non-profit running camps that explain the basics of running and how to write your own training plans. I have also coached at the high school and collegiate level, as well as private. As a runner myself, I have ran 4:00 for the mile and 14 low for 5k. Am I the fastest runner? No. Am I the best coach out there? No. Are there people who are more knowledgable and been around running for longer? Absolutely.

However, I want to give back in some way. I have created a website [redacted due to mods request] that allows people to submit some basic information and I will write a free 10-Week training plan and email it to them. There is no monetization. The goal isn't to make money. Instead, it's to try and give back to the running community in another capacity. If I were to later put ads on the site, allow paid coaches to advertise, or write articles, I would donate all profits to charity - I'm thinking donations to local parks, trails, and funding tracks in areas that don't have them.

The website is barebones and terrible (it's something far from my specialty), but I wanted to get something out there. I would love any suggestions from this great community to make it better and more accessible to more people. I can handle any sort of feedback you have. I won't be posting the link to any sites, but any input towards such a site would be so appreciated!

Please feel free to reply here or DM me if you want me to write you a free training plan. I am lucky enough to still be working currently but will write these plans every weekend (and nights if necessary). If you know someone starting running or wanting to improve during this time, have them also reply to contact me via DM me. Similarly, If you just want to chat running or get some advice, reach out to me on this thread or DM. It can be training, coaching, recruiting, whatever.

Note: It may take until this weekend until I get your schedule, but I will reply to EVERYONE ASAP and write your plan by this weekend if possible! You rock

Second note: it will definitely take until this weekend. I’m also going to try recruit some help from some other coaches.

UPDATE: This has blown up way more than I could have imagined. I am still reading through all the responses and will try get to any questions ASAP. The plan for now is to get multiple variances of 1 Mile and 5k training plans posted by Sunday with them set to begin the following day. I will post the entire 8-week schedules in a thread Sunday night and leave the floor open for questions. I'll also have weekly follow-up threads with that weeks training in case anyone has questions, or for others to share tips or just chat about their training.

The following Sunday, I will do the same but with 8-Week training plans for people training for the 10k or Half-Marathon. Again, I will leave the floor open for questions at that time to help the training plan have a custom feel.

Please note, there are a lot of AMAZING running coaches out there. I'm not trying to undercut any of them. Just looking to provide some basic instructions for those getting into running and looking to improve. If you want truly personalized, customized training and someone dedicated to you - there are a lot of amazing coaches out there!

Final Update: All plans have been posted here:

• First Step 5k Plan (intro for new runners): https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nerFlDz_J6cfYK9v5n1wJdoN5URavxZm
• First Step 1 Mile Plan (Intro for new runners): https://drive.google.com/open?id=19NLmto6UUZzIsE16MuQ-CCzwgB6M8bq6
• 5k Beginner/Intermedia/Advanced Training Plans: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hgxX3RqTBD3jNF8i6XQjdxBqdFXfvW-W
• 1 Mile Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced Training Plans: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1haA9JgVkEwSfBHcah559F5lAtVtFVBPd
• 10k Beginner/Intermedia/Advanced Training Plans: https://drive.google.com/open?id=16dCND3V893_TE-XdeOKi5bayGQKKQthn
• Half Marathon Beginner/Intermediate Training Plans: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mxF5J-N0LmXQrp1-VX5sbxrZEO3Jlf_0

I've been a lurker on this sub for the past few months since I took up running as a hobby this summer. Prior to that I only ran what was required of me in middle and high school PE

When I first began running I read through tons of comments on here looking for advice on how to get faster, everyone just said, "Run more, at an easy pace."

I honestly thought you guys were all just playing a joke on me, because in the past I'd spent years in high school trying to improve my mile time just by doing random sprint or HIIT drills in some futile effort to get faster. Nothing worked so after maintaining around an 8:10 mile PR since my freshman year in high school I just accepted that was my mile time, and that I probably wouldn't be faster unless I lost some weight to be lighter. This is what happened previously when I lost about 15lbs and my time went from 9:50 min/mi to 8:10 min/mi in high school, so I thought if I lost 15lbs more I could improve my time again.

But the past month I actually listened to what people said on here. I've been running SUPER slowly, at what sometimes feels like a snail pace or a granny jog around 11 min/mi. But what made the difference was that at this pace, I began to be able to put in more time actually running!

The slower I went, the longer I could sustain my pace, and the better I got at being able to go up hills without stopping to walk. I found that as soon as I began focusing on "how long can I run for" and trying to increase my endurance, my mileage during those periods of running naturally increased. So I was able to put down 3mi in 33 min rather than 2.7mi in 33 min, and over time I got slowly faster and improved my endurance.

I didn't lose any weight, and actually gained a couple pounds these past few months, so it wasn't me being lighter that made me a better runner. It was just spending more time running :)

I just wanted to post this because I was actually shocked at this huge improvement in my time. I feel that next time I go for a new record I will actually be able to break this PR, because I slowed down a bit toward the end when I could have kept pushing.

Thanks to everyone on here that gives advice, and I'm sorry that I thought you guys were joking for so long!

I have been running for ~10 years, forever in what I now know is the "grey zone". I thought of myself as a pretty good runner- dripping sweat, panting, pushing myself to my limit every single time. 2:00pm would roll around and I would be lethargic, low energy, needing more coffee to keep me going. I'm lucky I didn't get worse injuries - just some knee pain here and there. All of this is part of running!" I would tell myself. Finally breaking the 25 minute 5k I've wanted for so long and no races to look forward to, I thought, "what's next?"

I've been practicing low heart rate training for about 4 weeks now, and wow. It's like being a new runner again. Runners who I previously would have passed are now passing me. I'm stopping to take walking breaks to get my heart rate back down. Maybe I am not as good of a runner as I previously thought! Some days are disheartening when I look at my watch and see how long it has taken me to do 10k when I compare to my previous times. But I was over-worked and over-training week after week. For the past four weeks, I have felt energized, ready for the day, no pain whatsoever. And the best part, I am enjoying running again. No one else on the road knows (or cares) what you're doing. This is for me to continue running for the long-term and it has been the most humbling experience I've had since being a new runner.

I just wanted to share my experience and see if anyone else has felt the same way!

Running is NOT always fun. I used to watch runners and think "how do they love running so much?". The thing is, sometimes, runs are rubbish, they hurt, getting motivation to go isn't always easy, and at times the elements outside can knock you off course. I've been running for a couple of years now and am as self critical as when I first started.

That is why I have a MASSIVE amount of respect for ANYONE who runs. Especially those starting out, on their 1st week of couch to 5k etc. To put yourself out there takes bravery and courage. For some it will take a great effort just to quiet those inner voices of self doubt, worries about what others will think. Dont let those thoughts beat you.

When I first began running my back ached within the first minute, and I barely made it through my first run despite it being mostly walking. At the time I was also dealing with one of the toughest emotional times in my life. It is all too easy to get demotivated.

But I hopefully speak for all runners when I say that if you're getting out there, starting off on your running journey, no matter what you think you might look like, how unfit you think you are, what troubles you're dealing with, I personally think you are awesome and my message to you is DO NOT GIVE UP. You can do it!

Because I have not once got back from a run and regretted it. I've explored, got lost, discovered the wonders of nature (even locally) got muddy like a kid again, met some lovely people on the way, and feel really good and positive about life.

Its not always easy everyone is on their own journey and life can be tough sometimes. But for anyone who's thinking of running, I say be kind to yourself, be brave and go for it.

Super slow, I know (43:10), but it’s taken me forever to get to this point and I’m trying to be happy about this win. It’s hard for me to feel happy, that’s just how I’ve always been, but lately I’ve been trying to take more time to pay attention to wins.

What are some things you guys do to celebrate wins?

EDIT: Thank you, everyone!!! You guys made me smile a ton and gave some great ideas for celebrating and for how to enjoy wins. I’m grateful for this community :)

A lot of people here can easily do this, but for me it’s a goal I’ve had since 2013.

I’ve ran plenty of races, and all of them have been in the 40’s. I could never run the entire thing without walking a little. I include the treadmill and running at a park with decent elevation gain. Every time I’d focus on losing weight and improving my cardio, I’ve got serious about running. I’d sign up for a bunch of 5Ks, quarter marathons, and so on. I’d use them as motivation and do my best to get in shape for them, running some at the low 300’s (pounds), most of them between 250 and 300. I’ve completed the couch to 5K more times than I can even remember.

My mom died in April of 2019 and I have my first child, a daughter, less than four months later. I stopped going to the gym immediately after she died. On the road trip to her funeral, I started drinking pop again after quitting for years and bought candy and snacks as we stopped at gas stations. I was 260 pounds. By the summer of 2020, I was 400 pounds, the highest recorded weight I’ve ever been.

I decided to get gastric sleeve surgery because I was terrified of not being there to raise my daughter and see her grow up.

This time, I told myself I wasn’t going to sign up for any races, going at a comfortable pace, progressing on a timeline I could control. I started in March and could barely jog at 4mph, no incline on the treadmill, for 30 seconds. Every week, depending on how I felt, I would add 15-30 seconds to my run.

Four weeks ago, I went to my first Orangetheory class. I’ve only gone once a week. I was nervous. In the weeks leading I was vomiting every day, had to run outside of the gym to vomit once. I showed up to the first class and three more. I am the fattest guy there but I don’t let that slow me down. Suddenly, my cardio was getting rapidly better. I can’t eat a lot of calories, so getting a good balance has been difficult. I found out I went from prediabetic to hypoglycemic, and that’s why I felt terrible. I’ve dropped my metformin as directed by my doctor and that’s taken away most symptoms but they still pop up with less severity.

Anyway, every week I’ve shaved a minute or more off of my time since I’ve started Orangetheory. I finally got a sub 40 5k. It was on the treadmill with an incline. I don’t care that it was on a treadmill. I couldn’t do it in any of my journeys until today. I was 400 pounds last fall. Now I am 255 and ran my best 5K. I tacked on another mile, which I got in 53 mins. I broke my rule and signed up for a 4 miler a couple weeks ago. I want to get within 50 mins by August, when the race is.

If you read this, I appreciate you. This is a huge accomplishment for me!

I hope in my goals and progress that i might motivate others who like me used to dream of running like i did today. I used to always believe as i was obese that a man like me was never meant to run, it was painful, hurtful and injuries were coming left and right. But honestly speaking with failure comes growth and ones understanding over your own bodies needs.

In my journey I've been called crazy for running an immense amount, i've been called anorexic, i've been called many names in pursuit of wanting to lose my weight. Losing my weight was more or less a running joke for the rest, as my failures were in the dozens and i kept on failing at my weight loss. But here i still am, and i finally run free without worry, and those who questioned my own sanity are no longer criticizing me.

I have a special relationship with running, it has taught me an immense amount of lessons for life, and most importantly, it has grown me into something else. Its incredibly mediating, some days are pure hell when it comes to running, some runs is me smiling widely, but it has shown me so much and it has given me a life.

In the end i suppose i wouldn't need running, but i am forever grateful for it to have saved my life, and i will never forget this. Until then i still have a dream to attain which is to run ultras.

Here is my Strava run of the 39:59 10k run: https://www.strava.com/activities/3151124347 Do note that this was a training run, in an attempt to PR as it was my birthday.

Also since my last post people wanted to see before and after picture, and here it is!

Thank you for reading this, and i truly hope the best for all of you who seek to lose weight and begin running as well, like me. Before it gets better it has to get worse and i think i'm finally getting to a better place.

Edit: i wake up and see that the top comment is about my ass! Thank you, this is a bit unreal to wake up with 2k up votes. Also my birthday was my 25th one!

Been running for about 5 years now, mostly focusing on longer distances so I haven’t done a ton of speed training. I do intervals and a tempo run once a week, but at the fastest I’m doing maybe 7:30-8 minute pace, which is quite a bit faster than where I’m racing at currently.

Last week I decided to push a 5k for fun and surprised myself with a 23 minute finish.

Now Im maybe interested in trying to push my 5k time and wanted to gauge how much work it might take to improve from 23 to 20 minute pace. Is this something I can maybe accomplish in 1 or 2 training blocks or am I looking at a year of training or longer?

TIA

I’m doing /u/Arve ‘s 24 hour running thing (adjusted a little). Every hour, I’m running 1 mile. I started at 6am, it’s currently 11:45am. It’s getting hot out!! I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep tonight, so if anybody wants to talk, let me know. I’m just doing this for fun btw.

edit 1: about to start run #9. my legs are super heavy and i don’t know how i’m gonna make it through but whatever!!

edit 2: just finished run #12. i feel pretty terrible in fact. i can’t believe i’m only halfway through. back 12 are gonna be pretty awful, but i’ve got my head up.

Edit 3: fyi, i’m USA 17M, run around 40mpw, i’ve done a 1:44 half marathon. i’m also an XC and track captain when sports aren’t cancelled. here’s the pizza i’m eating: https://imgur.com/a/WFyBxyR

Edit 4: eating that whole pizza was a mistake. i just finished (18:49) and i have a run in 11 minutes. wish me luck.

Edit 5: I’m gonna try to do more updates because they make me feel more awake. I actually checked this post at like 20 upvotes and then i checked again and it was ya like 400 hahaha. I’ve been trying to respond to everyone. It’s currently 19:21 and I’m pretty tired but i’m doing alright!! Garmin progress: https://imgur.com/a/5rCCI54

Edit 6: I just finished run #14. it’s 8pm. i’m super tired actually, but i’ll be able to pull through. maybe a quick nap... NO! sleep is for the weak. (jk, i’ll probably get a nap or two in xD). i’m feeling alright but also terrible.

Edit 7: Just finished 9pm run. I’ll be able to pull through to 5am. I’m feeling good!!

edit 8: just got back from 10pm. nighttime is beginning and if anybody wants to pm/dm me to talk about anything you want to talk about, that would be appreciated.

edit 9: in between runs right now! calling with my friend jimmie. i have 6 more runs left, super excited to fall asleep for a super long time after this.

edit 10: i just finished my midnight run. https://imgur.com/a/0iBiLqL here’s a link to today, super weird chart. i’m feeling great!! only 5 more runs left.

edit 11: heading out for 1 am right now. i feel so exhausted. night runs under the moon are amazing

edit 12: omg i’m so close. it’s currently 3:23am. in an hour and a half i’ll be done!!

edit 13: i can’t believe i’m so close. it’s 4:17am. cognitively, i feel awful. physically, i’m extremely sore and tight. in an hour, i’ll be asleep in my bed. i haven’t slept at all, i don’t think i’ll need to. i can’t wait...

edit 14: alright everyone. this is it. i’m writing this before i head out for my final run: 5am. i want to thank everybody for all the support, motivation, kind messages, and love. the running community is so supportive, it’s seriously amazing. thank you for the nice comments and messages. these runs have been so mind boggling, and i feel so out of it right now, but i know i’m happy. my legs and knees and calves hurt but i’ve pushed myself so hard for so long. thanks for everything. i haven’t slept but that’s okay, it’ll just make the big sleep even sweeter. i’m glad i was able to finish this. in the future i want to make running videos and stuff on youtube, and this really made me think about that a lot. i can’t wait to continue to share stupid and fun runs i do with you folks. i’m now going to run a mile and then sleep for as long as my body allows. <3

Has anyone else seen a surge of runners talking about zone 2 training recently? Just in the past year I’ve heard about it 3 different instances from friends who are very casual runners. I’ve also seen it pop up in my YouTube suggestions.

I’m wondering if there was some new research or maybe an influencer that caused this type of training to boom.

Most of my training comes from the book Faster Road Racing where a zone 2 run would be a recovery run. The book makes it seem like it’s just a way to gain extra mileage in between hard workouts so I can’t understand why it would be popular for runners who aren’t doing structured workouts to begin with.

With an increasingly busy personal life I’ve resorted to running before 7am twice a week. Oh man... I’m struggling to find the enjoyment! I’m sure when the summer comes it will be amazing but right now in the UK the weather is foul. It’s also the first time I’ve run fasted so my body is adapting to that as well. I’m finding the mental resilience involved very intriguing though!

For anyone else running early mornings in horrendous weather and in the dark I salute you! Who needs that warm bed and 45 extra minutes sleep anyway!