slow runners pity party
BY: turtlegirl on 2011-10-04 7:46 AM

I'm a slow runner.   Even when injuries can be held at bay and I get consistent work, I'm still a slow runner.  Nothing like being 3rd off the bike and then having 10 women pass me on the run...its been this way pretty much for 12 years.

So I'd like to throw a pity party for all of us that are the turtles of the world.  We can do well in triathlons if we get a good enough head start on the swim and bike, and the hares blow up on the run. (the few times I've podiumed, thats been how!).

No real reason to write this, other than just to say, I'm here for you.  And misery loves company!

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: Goosedog on 2011-10-04 7:48 AM

So you're like consistently top 15 and podiumed a few times?  No pity for you!

 

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: Iowaman on 2011-10-04 8:00 AM

X2  YEAH THAT MUST BE ROUGH

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H.O.P.E.
Hold on, pain ends!

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: turtlegirl on 2011-10-04 8:01 AM

nope.  I'm a ten minute miler.  When I went to a track workout, they called out the training groups by times.  When they got to 10 minutes, they called us "the slowpoke group".  Nothing like being in the last group...

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: chasethedog365 on 2011-10-04 8:06 AM

We should start a slow runners club!

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: tuwood on 2011-10-04 8:10 AM

Just remember, your slow is somebody else's fast.  My wife gets excited when she breaks 14 minute miles and would do anything to be able to run at a 10 minute mile pace.
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Tony

Romans 8:28 <><

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: cdban66 on 2011-10-04 8:28 AM

The only podium I have sniffed was a local 5K in which I came in 3rd in my AG. 3 people in my group, I came in third. Yep, the blazing speed of a running manatee. As I told the "running club" at work, I have been passed by young men, old men, young women, old women, small children, and big children. I believe I got passed once by a lady with a walker, but I'm not sure since the sweat in my eyes was making everything blurry.

About all I got in my favor is that I will continue to work to get better. That and the fact that I enjoy being outside and active around like minded people.
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Chris Banting
"The liver is evil and it must be punished" - VC
http://instagram.com/cdban66
http://app.strava.com/athletes/2116063

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: mmrocker13 on 2011-10-04 8:37 AM

If you're third off teh bike, and only 10 people pass you...you can't be THAT slow.

That being said, there are a lot of folks out there who train and train, and are still running 10, 12, 15 whatever minute miles, and they say "But I am young, fit, in shape, have trained...why can't I run faster???"

For some folks, I think, yes, there IS a genetic ceiling effect--although I doubt few people every do enough to completely achieve it. But for a lot of people, I think they just don't know how to run. Whether it's missing a key portion of training/rest/recovery, or whether it's just they've never quite cracked that "suffer" barrier, hit that last gear...or aren't even aware it's there (which is most often the case).

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RE: slow runners pity party
BY: Sharyn5 on 2011-10-04 8:40 AM

I'm hovering in the 9mm arena...9:20...9:30ish... so...i found the right thread for me, then. lol but i'm workin on a sub 9 mm...i got there for a brief time this year! lol

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: BikerGrrrl on 2011-10-04 8:50 AM

I hear ya.   I've been lucky enough to run consistently for years now and put in a record setting 80 miles last month to prepare for a 10 miler last Sunday.   Even with that, and I was honestly running as fast I could, I averaged 9:33 m/m.   I am super excited by this result, for me, but it's frustrating.  I feel as though I simply cannot turn my legs fast enough.   Inside I feel like I sprinting and then if I see my reflection it's the same old slog.   

The absolute best time running in a tri was a sprint 3miles where I turned in a slightly under 9 minute pace.  And I was absolutely going ALL out.  Oh well.

This pace usually puts me roughly in the middle at running races and slightly below middle in my AG at tris.  I just don't ever see it changing a lot. 

It's also frustrating when I have friends who start running that I help and run with to start out and then they pick up speed so fast I can't run with them after 6 months. 

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The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.
~Ayn Rand

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: jamgam on 2011-10-04 9:00 AM

I run 8 minute miles and get passed CONSTANTLY on the run.  I think in my last olympic I passed 1 person on the run.  Getting out of the water early (when you're an early wave) makes you the rabbit :D

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: Atlantia on 2011-10-04 9:03 AM

I run 11:30 mm.

And running is my strongest of the 3 legs. It is kind of a bummer being so slow. But I think of it as a public service. Somebody has to come in last, right!
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Laura
Blog: http://www.tryandtriagain.com/blog

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: phoenixazul on 2011-10-04 9:06 AM

I'm anywhere from 8:50-10:00, depending on how badly my give-a-dam is broken that day.

But I'm so happy when I do that occasional 8:23 mile, or if I really hoof it and get a 7: something mile (and it would be just one mile). But the great thing is that that pace range (the 8:50-10:00 pace) is awesome for going long distances. It's a pace I can sustain and replicate for mile after mile after mile.

And ya know, I'm ok with that.
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Buy the ticket, take the ride.

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: cdban66 on 2011-10-04 9:12 AM



Now you're talking my speed
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Chris Banting
"The liver is evil and it must be punished" - VC
http://instagram.com/cdban66
http://app.strava.com/athletes/2116063

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: Lesandtj on 2011-10-04 9:15 AM

Don't look at it like you are a slow runner, but a fast jogger. I pr'd a 5K this weekend at a blistering 29:33. hahaha. My target was to be under 30min, but still, I felt slow. A nice old lady passed me at about 3K. Not exactly a confidence booster. (Evidence below. )

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One foot in front of the other. One more step down this road. Breathe in, breath out. Simple, but difficult. Painful, yet rewarding. Years of apathy slowly melting away. Keep moving.

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: gzh6464 on 2011-10-04 9:39 AM

People talk about  doing negative splits on runs (faster times for miles towards the end)...I just get negative placements as my tri s go on.  In my first tri I place top 100 (out of about 800) in the swim followed by top 200 in the ride...then about top 500 for the run!

Was estatic when I broke 10mm. Pushed on and have gotten into the 9mm range.  In my last race I blew by lots in the swim and ride. Jockeyed back and forth with a guy on the ride having a little fun and finally passed him with several miles to go....sometime in the run he tapped me on the shoulder, said hi and asked if i wanted to run with him. He said he was going for sub 8mm and I tried but finally told him to go without me...  give me a longer swim or ride over the run any day!

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: KansasMom on 2011-10-04 9:39 AM

I embrace my speed, and I use the term 'speed' liberally in this case. I used to worry about it (like two months ago), but I don't any more. As long as I'm moving forward, I'm happy.
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"And Joab said, 'Why will you run, my son, seeing that you have no reward for the tidings?' 'Come what may,' he said,'I will run.' So he said to him, 'Run.'" (2 Samuel 22b-23a)

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: Donto on 2011-10-04 9:54 AM

I train slow but race fast!

Facebook has a Slow Runners Club page 

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"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there are few." Shunryu Suzuki

RE: slow runners pity party
BY: lisac957 on 2011-10-04 10:03 AM

Why do you say that? This happens to me at nearly every race I enter (I assumed she was talking about those in her age group?). Maybe you were being funny.

I'm a slow runner and I'm okay with it. I don't train/race to go to the Olympics, or even to better my time most races. I give my best effort and if I PR that's great. If not, okay! I train and race because I love to, and I'd rather have a great time out there than suffer and feel miserable. Lots of people take issue with my approach, but it's what works for me

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