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 don’t have too much to add here, since you’ve already been given some really great advice – both for the physical and mental aspects of running. Something that I’ve recently started incorporating into my training and growth as a runner is addressing and analyzing the question, “Why do I run?” It sounds like you’re living a healthy, active lifestyle. So what is it that makes you put on your shoes — even on days you might not feel like it? Running is about being active and staying healthy and setting goals for ourselves, but it’s also about who we are as people. While it might not help you with your immediate goals, really knowing Why you run may help you with feeling like you’re in a slump. I certainly know it’s helped me. Best of luck!