Runners, Bikers and Athletes enter...

[achtungpv]

Your ceiling could be your lack of enjoyment of the activity.

For example, I despise riding my bike on pavement. I can barely make the 3 mile veloway loop without wanting to quit from exhaustion. However, I really love mountain biking and can do 10-12 miles even though the physical effort is much greater mile-for-mile. Riding on the road just bores me to death and I think it correlates directly to my inability to ride any significant distance on pavement.

[hoffdano]

I agree running for time may be more useful for a while than running for a particular distance.

You might consider training with a heart rate monitor. It can help you pace your effort using science instead of just guessing. Lactic acid buildup is a sign that your muscles have exhausted the energy stores (~glycogen) needed to make them function and you are exercising at a pace that your body cannot replenish them. Hence - you need to slow down until you develop the fitness you need to run at that pace.

[Trainwreck20]

I was told by a running buddy that the lactic acid build up in the muscles is what makes you feel fatigue earlier than normal and that's the "ceiling" that I'm hitting. is that true?

Now you are getting more technical and might try the fitness forum for a real answer (or at least a real accurate answer ). But my understanding is that lactic acid 'buildup' is an anerobic effect - your body is not getting enough oxgen to supply the muscles, and lactic acid is a by-product of the muscles operating at a deficit. As your aerobic conditioning improves, you have less and less acid buildup during a run (or any exercise).

In my experience, the two major obstacles to running the miracle mile is muscle condition and aerobic condition. One of those two will be the limiting factor. You have to work on both to continue to improve toward a goal. If your muscles are in great shape, it won't do squat if you can feed them O2, and if your aerobic conditioning is great, it won't do you any good unless you have toned the correct muscle groups (which are quite a bit different from the cycling muscles, as I understand it).

Edit: Hoffdano is probably more accurate than me, btw, just saw that post .

[woodinvilleguy]

If it is boredom for running that settles in, you could do group runs put on be run-tex. For me I need something to keep my mind off of running, pacing for me outdoors is difficult but with others around it is easier.

Now, for a bike, I can and have maintained my pace for up to 14 hours straight without others around. So I just can't explain the difference.

[mark311]

I agree that running for a set amount of time is better when starting out. Don't even worry about actual distance. Even when I was running cross-country in High School, we would always start out each year by just jogging for 25 minutes the first day and 30 minutes the rest of the week.

If you're on a trail, try running out 10 minutes and then running back 10 minutes back to your starting point. Also start off by running slow enough to where you can carry on a conversation with someone. A running buddy would also make it 100 times easier.

[atxcio]

For me, it was about setting a distance and running the whole way, like Trainwreck discribes. 1.5 miles is a good start for a beginner, then 5k (3.1). It didn't matter how slow I had to go, just as long as I ran (not walked) the entire distance.

Another tip I got, that I don't see much anymore (this was a long time ago).. was to breathe only through your nose during these types of initial runs. If it got too difficult with breathing just through your nose, then slow down some more until it wasn't. Doesn't matter how slow you had to go as long as you kept running.

The idea was that when you first start out running, you get winded after some distance and feel a very strong urge to stop. Part of that is because you go into "labored breathing" where you use your mouth and sometimes shrug your shoulders... and along with labored breathing comes the strong urge to stop. So, keep the breathing steady and the urge will not hit. Then, you can work on increasing your speed/time to where you want it to be. Worked for me.

I'd also recommend the classes at RunTex... they have beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. I think they are still free. Running with other people is always motivational.

[OneJackson]

I envy you guys!!!!

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by OneJackson

I envy you guys!!!!

I dislike running, swimming, weightlifting and cycling. I find the repetition incredibly boring and have never been able to keep them up over a period longer than a few weeks . I like competitive team sports that have tactics/strategy and will play just about any sport to complete exhaustion. As Ive gotten older Ive had to change my sports up a bit.

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

I agree running for time may be more useful for a while than running for a particular distance.

You might consider training with a heart rate monitor. It can help you pace your effort using science instead of just guessing. Lactic acid buildup is a sign that your muscles have exhausted the energy stores (~glycogen) needed to make them function and you are exercising at a pace that your body cannot replenish them. Hence - you need to slow down until you develop the fitness you need to run at that pace.

I found distances over 2 miles difficult until I started using a heart rate monitor and found out I was at too high of a threshold. I was running 8-8:30 mile and gassed after 2 miles. Using the monitor I stay between 145-160 (which worked out to about a 10 minute mile) and I can go 3.5-4 miles easily. I went on line and found my low and high end for heart rate calculated on my resting heart rate instead of the inaccurate age related guide. I also listen to NPR when I run, keeping my mind "busy" makes the run easier. For you it may be downloading a good group of songs into your MP3. Just be careful the beat doesn't work against you and have you running faster; that happened on a run when I listened to AC/DC Back in Black.
This time of year I'm building a base-mileage. I'm not looking to work on my speed or do intervals. That will happen in the spring.
Good luck and just keep doing it.

[texastrigirl]

Get yourself to Runtex and sign up for one of their beginning running groups. Austin is such a great city for running races and triathlons of all distances. Good luck!