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?
Totally not judging. I was a new runner once too. Running is very specific activity, were the majority of improvements come simply from just running more. However, running more is a very slow process, you can't go from 0 miles, to 10 miles, and expect them to be fast. While you are fit, you aren't running fit, it's like being fit and not being lift heavy fit. Your plan is a get to the finish plan, which is good for ramping and getting to the finish line, but isn't really going to build speed, but that will come if you continue to work at it. Don't get discouraged, the improvement when you start are often the the biggest jumps you have. Good luck
Thanks for all the support. I'm going to finish this plan running in zone 2, like I have be sticking to the last 4 weeks. Once I can run 13.1 miles nonstop, I'll find a new plan that helps build speed. I am on week 13, so next weekend is my first 10 mile run. Last week's 9 miles was already the longest I've ever ran. It's interesting because I've been adding a fartlek on the first run of the week, and when I do I can tell I'm on the verge of straining my left calf (always my left). So, I keep my Fatlek tame, too, and aim for 1 minute at an 8:30-9:30 mile pace, and then 1 min recovery jog, anywhere from 15-20 times which gets me anywhere from 4-5 miles. I'll make sure I dont do anything more than that this plan.