Hi Everyone! I'm looking for advice from the runners out there. I've been running on the treadmill 4x per week for the past 3 weeks and cannot go past 10 mins at the 5.5mph level. I've read that you should move up in time each week but I cannot get past this time! I get winded at around 9 minutes still. Any advice?

Start going for a longer time and include some intervals of walking. Start with 20 minutes and when you get too winded to continue, walk for one minute, then go back to running for as long as you can and eventually your walking intervals will get shorter and running intervals longer until you are jogging for as long as you like. Don't walk for too long in the beginning or you're not increasing your endurance - no more than one minute if you can help it. Don't focus too hard on that time marker where you're expecting to get exhausted. Put a towel over the timer display if you have to. If you get kind of zen with it or have some music you like, you'll focus less on your time or your exhaustion. You just have to challenge yourself. If you don't push it, you'll never get past that plateau.

Just keep going. It will happen. When I started running 5 years ago, after a 4-year stint of no running, I could only run 30 sec - 1 min. I did the walk/run/walk/run thing for several months. Within a year I was running for 45 min - 1 hr with no problem. Good luck!

Slow down. To increase distance, you need to go slower than you can for shorter runs.

Increase your longest run each week by no more than 10%. Increase your total mileage for the week no more than 10%

Iwould slow down if I were you...When I started Running I was only running between 4.5 and 5 Mph.

Doing Intervals is also very good. It is how Many Marathoners Train

Start by doing 1:1 One Minute Running/One Minute Walking. then slowly increase the ratio to the pount that you are doing 10:1 . If I run anything more then a 5k I will Run 10:1 's

Dont feel that you need to run straight through with out walking...take this approach and you may want to quit. when you Run decide How Long you want to Go for. Pick a time or a distance, and then do your intervals. You should be able to work your way up to runnign 30 minutes without Walking. Dont Worry about the Speed you are doing it.......The Speed will come in time.

There are a lot of good Runnign sites that you can visit to get good information.

have you considered running outdoors since it's summer? just a personal thing, but i HATE running on the treadmill. 3 miles (8 minutes per mile) outdoors to me is fun and i don't really feel winded or exhausted when i'm done. however, put me on a treadmill, and i'm ready to STOP completely after like 1 mile. seriously. i feel tired and winded and it's VERY hard for me to keep up my "outdoor" pace. maybe it's just me, but i really get winded and EXHAUSTED on those things, while i have no problem doing the same workout outside. anyway, just a suggestion!

I also agree that you should slow down!! Build a base first (endurance), then you can work on speed. When you can run for 30 minutes w/o having to stop, then you can work on speed. Also try other forms of cardio. You mention the treadmill. Is this one you own or at the gym?

Thanks for your responses everyone. Well, I forgot to mention that I was running at 4.0 then 4.5 then 5.0 and I just can't run that slow. I used to run track (I was a sprinter) and I find it just unbearable to be going that slow, it's like dragging my feet.

Thanks for your responses everyone. Well, I forgot to mention that I was running at 4.0 then 4.5 then 5.0 and I just can't run that slow. I used to run track (I was a sprinter) and I find it just unbearable to be going that slow, it's like dragging my feet.

It may be unbearable and embarrasing at first, but the best way to build endurance and stamina is long, slow distance running. I realize it can be difficult (and annoying) to run at a pace so much slower than you are capable of maintaining, but if you want to be able to run longer than 10 minutes, you need to slow it down.

Right now, your body is adapted to running on glycogen, but does a poor job of running on fat. You see, for the first 10-15 minutes of any vigorous exercise, we all burn primarily glycogen. After that time, however, the body tries to reduce the amount of glycogen use and compensates by trying to burn more fat as fuel. If your body is unaccustomed to using fat as fuel, this switch-over can be uncomfortable and inefficient. Your muscles don't get enough fuel at a fast enough rate, and so they start to shut down. In other words, you get tired or winded.

Long, slow running over a period of weeks and months will result in your muscles learning to use fat as fuel more efficiently and with less discomfort. Over time, your muscles adapt to the process and will get more energy at a faster rate. As a result, you will be able to maintain a vigorous level of exertion for longer periods of time. Runners call this "building your base" because once your body adapts to using your fuel sources more efficiently, you can then work to add additional muscle adaptations (e.g., speed).

After months of working on endurance, most runners find that they are again running as fast as they ran before ... but now for 30, 60, 90 minutes or more. However, there is no short cut. For the first few weeks you will be running painfully and annoyingly slow. If it makes you frustrated and impatient, then you know you're doing it right.