I ran for 5 minutes and felt like death attacked me
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Anonymous
| I am being somewhat dramatic yet somewhat serious. I am 30, never worked out before and thought to myself, after two kids, I need to take the dust off the treadmill in the basement and use it. Well, I ran for 5 mins and my chest started hurting, my legs couldn't keep up, and I'm catching my breath. Wtf! I did not know I was that bad. I am 130 lbs and 5'2. I could lose about 10 lbs but I am not obese. How do you runners do this? How do I work up to being able to run on the treadmill for 30 mins and feel like my heart is still in my chest? Do I just push through it? Do I increase speed? Time? |
Anonymous
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I guess you need to take it SLOW, and slowly ramp up.
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Anonymous
| Read about couch to 5k programs. |
Anonymous
| If you hate running there is no need to do it. Walking on an incline or other things can get you just as much benefit. I hate running and have always assumed I'm just not built for it. At 34, turns out I have a slew of back and hip alignment issues, so perhaps there was something to that. Walking and elliptical for me! |
Anonymous
+1 start with faster walking on an incline and move up from there. Don't start out torturing yourself, you'll end up giving up the workouts because who the heck wants to feel like they're dying every time they work out. |
Anonymous
OP here. I thought running gets the blood flowing and heart pumping? I do not mind running and want to do it but I guess like others said, take it slow. I guess I am just shocked with how bad of a shape I am in. |
Anonymous
I'm not a runner but enjoy a lot of other kinds of exercise. Even when I'm in great shape, running makes me feel like microwaved garbage. Don't be hard on yourself, just start slow and work from there. |
Anonymous
| I don't like to run and I'm not a runner. I have been doing light jogging daily for 15 minutes before work and 15 minutes before dinner, plus walking and counting steps for weight loss and I've been losing weight. Not my intention but just doing all that jogging has increased my cardiac endurance and I've been running slowly and not feeling tired. So start off slow. |
Anonymous
| I really hate the treadmill. I find running outside to be a lot easier. My advice would be to go for a run outside, without a watch, so you don't worry about how fast/slow you're running. You should be running at a pace where you could carry on a conversation if it had to. You don't need to be gasping for airnornrunning any certain pace to get benefits. If you have to run a 14:00 mile, then that's your starting point. There is no shame in that. |
Anonymous
It's not the only cardiovascular exercise out there, is what we're saying. Walking quickly will get your heart pumping as well if you're out of shape! Walk a trail. Then jog slowly, with walking breaks. Then you'll be able to jog without stopping. A typical beginner mistake is starting off too fast. I hate jogging, so I walk and I jump-rope. Jumping rope is an intense cardio work-out, but it's more interesting than jogging! |
Anonymous
| You need to start with a run-walk progression. E.g., walk 5 minutes, then alternate 1 minute running with 2 minutes walking. Then as you get more comfortable, adjust the portion running: 1:10 jogging, 1:50 walking, etc. ou can search for "run-walk" and get specific programs, but the details aren't that important: Just adjust the times so that the runs are slightly challenging but not too uncomfortable. Basically, listen to your body. |
Anonymous
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OP, running is great, but those of us who are runners have mostly been doing it for a long time, i.e., we worked up to it. Couch to 5K or alternating run-walk programs are great.
If you don't exercise regularly, you won't be in good shape. If you don't do aerobic exercise regularly, you won't have much aerobic capacity; if you don't strength train regularly, you won't be very strong. Weight matters some, of course, but I'm amazed at how many people equate fitness with being relatively slim or of average weight. |
Anonymous
Yes to this, a million times! I had the same experience you did, felt like death on my first try, then downloaded the app, and it really worked. In a month I was running 5K with no problems. As others have pointed out, it starts with run/walk progressions and slowly ramps up. Do it! |
Anonymous
| Slow down, focus on breathing, don't go all out from the get go. |
Anonymous
| OP here. Thanks all. I will be downloading that app. Never heard of it before. I will admit that because I am average weight, I assumed I would be slightly better off when I got around to working out. I was wrong. Thanks to the jump rope idea too! Running is boring to me and I tend to focus on the time so something like jumping rope is awesome to distract me. Any other ideas? |