Male. A few months ago I started jogging. Always been a lifter and hated cardio but thought I should work on my cardiovascular health too.
But the issue is that I started my timing with like a 4 minute walk before jogging 8 intervals of 1.5 minute followed by 1.5 minute rest. Then after the 8 intervals, I’d walk probably 5 minutes to cool off So because of that I was getting like 16 minutes per mile.
Then I increased it to 2 minute runs followed by 1.5 minute walk and that dropped it down to around 14.5-14.9 minutes per mile. Still walking afterwards
Then last month I started lowering my walking time and got it down to around 12 minute per mile. Still walking afterwards.
Then last 2 weeks I started doing no walk at all or rather not include it in my timing. I went 11:57 per mile. Then last week, it was 11:04 per mile. ( these are not decimals. Actual time. The previous numbers were decimals).
Today it was 10:35 per mile but I thought I was gonna die. I started doing 2 minute jogs with 1 minute and 15-20 second rests. I know that’s not toooooo much less than 1.5 minutes but my thought is that 15 seconds less per interval for 8 is 2 minutes saved. Not sure if that’s normal or if I’m pushing myself too hard too quickly.
@hightechredneck 4.5 years ago I was 43 5'8" 30% body fat and about 220 or so and couldn't run a mile. Today I am 48, 155 and 10% body fat and can run 15km in an hour on my typical runs. How far you want to take it is dependent on your goals and what you want to do. Your diet will make the biggest difference in how fast you can run in my experience or at least give you the body that makes running fast easy. For me running didn't get really easy until I hit about 15% body fat. But I was also in my mid 40s so that could be a factor. As I am older I just had to be leaner to get to a place where the running got easier.
But in my experience cardio is lost quickly and gained quickly. For example last winter I didn't do a hard run for 4 months from Dec - April as a test. I held my weight the same with diet control. And then April 1st I started back again and was back to my running times from 4 months ago in 3 weeks. So as long as you keep your body weight the cardio comes back quickly even if you have to stop for awhile.
@hightechredneck Keep at it. Run/walk is a great way to build up your endurance. Give it another month and you'll be running miles steady.
As your miles increase, cardio will out pace the soft tissue. Expect some sort of discomfort coming up soon. Yoga/bodyweight work outs will help get you through it.
