I have something weighing on my mind as I write this.
I just need to express my frustration at my pace. I cannot believe how many runners who look much more out of shape then me can sustain far faster paces than I. I see a lot of men with bear bellies and heavily overweight ladies moving at 9:00 paces for their training runs, while I (whose MP is 10:00) am doing long training runs at 11-11:30. Out of the 100 members of my charity I am the slowest, by a far margin. When weather is bad and I use a local indoor track I have occasion to see a lot of runners and observe them carefully. I just can’t figure out why they are all moving so fast except the obvious… their cardiovascular system are in far, far better shape than mine. This of course undermines my own pathetic reasons for running slowly (I am 45, I could still lose 20 pounds, etc). I watched one older guy (60ish) running in regular cargo shorts. He looked to me to be about 245, 5’9 with that tight as a drum beer belly that implies a lot of visceral fat around his organs, and he ran with this shambling, bouncing step… for 6 straight miles at a far faster pace than me. I found it really disillusioning to me since I am 5’10 175 pounds, running 40 miles a week with a smooth efficient stride. I do my fartleks and my tempo runs and my long runs. I read tons of books on running (just finished Hal’s how to run fast) The only thing that seems to hold me back is my Vo2 max. Yes, I had 20 years of no exercise, and I was 70 pounds heaver a few years ago and I only started running seriously in October, but should I not be further along at this point? Someone please tell me it takes 2-3 years to get to a pace of 7mm-9mm no matter how hard you try so I can stop trying to rush it!
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