Lifelong athlete. 37yr old male. College baseball player. Have been lifting weights for 15 years. Very consistent with my diet, in fact I have my diet dialed in and track calories eat nothing but whole foods.
I've been running for over a year, off and on due to calf and achilles injuries but mostly on. I am on week 10 of a 20-week half marathon plan.
If you look at me, I look very fit. People assume I am very fit because I have decent muscle mass and I'm pretty lean (around 10-11%bf right now). But I really struggle running. I just ran a 7-miler for my long run and it killed me. A freaking 12:53 pace, started at 5am and finished around 6:30am. I am deliberately running in zone 2 to build my endurance base using my Garmin watch and chest strap. I couldn't have run any faster if I wanted to. Running so slow but my average heart rate was 149bpm. All of my other health factors are very good. 48bpm resting heart rate. 7-8 hours of sleep a night. Weight lifting 3 days a week. Running 3 days a week. All blood work in January was great.
Before I focused on my endurance I got my mile time down to 7:33 at around 80-90% effort. I just feel like I should have a better base by now and even though building the mileage takes time I feel like I'm way too slow for how long I've been running.
Am I doing something wrong? Any advice or feedback for me?
I'm not a good runner either but a few things helped me.
Increasing my cadence.
Slightly leaning my body forward.
Doing exercises that train my legs to move a certain way during a stride. Basically working on my running form.
Thanks for the tips. I average around 160-180spm. I do a lot of barbell squats and lunges but I'm not sure if that actually makes my hip flexors tighter decreasing my stride performance?
I'm sure there are a lot of other exercises but here's one video that shows some. I just searched "exercises to improve running form".
https://youtu.be/_kGESn8ArrU?si=1-HVX-dAtKuyMsEo
Edit: I believe that's already a good cadence.
Hey, I just ran my first marathon and am recovering. I had some knee pain so I thought it might be helpful to switch my form.
I’ve been trying to lean forward and land mid-foot with a faster cadence than previously.
It’s been super tiring and I find myself very fatigued. Do you think it’s a case of needing to get used to new muscle groups being worked or that I need to do more supplemental strength training?
Thanks!
It definitely takes time. I switched from heel striking to mid foot in my early 20s and it took a year to get a steady cadence for distance running. Sprinting took even longer. Take it slow. Getting used to adjusting your speed yet maintaining the same cadence your legs require (~180spm) can be tricky, but I find it much more efficient.
One thing that helped is making sure all my shoes are zero drop. Walking around all day every day using similar muscles to running really helped build my feet and ankle muscles up.
I have not had a joint related leg injury in the 10 years since I switched. Rolled ankles are a thing of the past. My body instinctively reacts quickly enough to prevent the sprain.