So yesterday I managed to plod round for 45 minutes without stopping which was pretty cool. I am slightly concerned with my speed though. I seem to be jogging at just over 4 mph which is brisk walking pace really. Today I tried to go a bit quicker and I was knackered after 20 mins. Is speed something that just comes on naturally as I lose weight or do you have to specifically work at it?
Speed and distance are two different things. First thing to work on is the stamina for distance, and that seems to be what you're doing anyway. To increase your pace, there are number of ways of doing this. One is by doing fartleks (giggle giggle) - and that's also helpful if you play a sport such as football, rugby, hockey, etc., where it's stop-start.
Basically, the only way to run longer distances is to run longer distances; and the only way to improve your speed, is to run faster when you're training.
There's a saying in running - "It's not the race it's the pace that does you." You see it often in all sorts of runs, from 5K up to marathons. People feel fresh at the start and run at a pace that they can't sustain for the whole distance. What happens then is that they end up running a slower time overall. The best way to run is with a negative split - which means you run the first half slower than the second. It takes discipline though, as it's very tempting to run too quickly when you're feeling fresh at the start.
I kinda expected my weight to drop quite quickly jogging for 30 mins 5 times a week but it was just staying the same. Then I read about
www.fitday.com on the 2+2 health and fitness forum and I realised I was just eating too much crap still. You can put your weight and height in and it tells you how many calories you need to stay the same weight and then you put in what food you eat and it gives you loads on info about what calories, vitamins, protein etc etc you have eaten.
Like you've said, it's still a simple case of calories in < calories used, will lead to weight loss. When I'm well into my training, I eat like a horse. But I still try to maintain a low-fat diet, but I eat a lot of carbs and protein. Eggs are great after a run (or any exercise), but only if you dispose of the yolk and just eat the white.
It looks like I can just sit at the computer and burn up 3000 calories a day, it's a bit shocking to think how much I must have been eating to get so heavy. I think I'm gonna stick at 2000 a day and with the jogging as well hopefully I'll be following in Colchester Slim's footsteps in no time
Kev is an inspiration to everyone. Wonder when he's planning on running his first 10K?
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