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One f**king year and no improvement…Everyone seems to be faster than me…Why Am I So Slow At Running? 

Are you often bothered by these question? 

My friend Rick, definitely is… 

Rick and I have been friends since school and he is the longest relationship I ever had…part from my recent crush Garmin vívofit 2 Activity Tracker 

Some of you might have the question if your hip can be an issue for your running performance? Truth is it is… 

Also, in my post “Hip Flexors Strengthening For Runners & Non-Runners“, I’ve provided some concrete ways to strengthen hips.

Why Am I So Slow At Running?

When Rick asked me this question,  it was after that day’s run.

He was pretty upset about his little to no progress in the last year.

And the worst thing is, this poor fellow is putting in so much effort to improve.

Like, eating right, running every other day… But, speed and stamina seem to be elusive to him.

Since I’m just a beginner, I had no answer to his question… 🙁 But the friend in me wanted to desperately help him…

So, I started doing some research…

I came across this wonderful article about the reasons for slow running by Jason Fitzgerald.

Immediately I called up Rick and forced him to meet me… This is what happened next…

We met, at the BG Road Starbucks (Really??? and you thought we were trying a healthy lifestyle :P)

Once seated comfortably with our huge Lattes (Hey! Don’t Judge…one sin is allowed. Trying to comfort a friend…remember?), I shot my first question at him…

What is your current lifestyle like?

He raised his left eyebrow sarcastically but answered it anyway…

It turns out, he has been overworking…

Since he got promoted last year as a project manager, his job has become very demanding.

It was very stressful and sometimes he is not getting enough time to eat.

He gets up around 4:30 AM in the morning most of the days for a workout and goes to sleep only by 12:00 AM

He still feels there is not enough time in the day…

Listening to this, I was thinking…OMG…How can someone work so much? :O

He definitely did not hear about The lazy project manager

BTW, previously I didn’t tell him our meeting reason 😛

He would not have met me…now I sound like a “despo”… 😛

But hey…I’ve got a right to be irritating…I’m his friend. 😀

Anyways, now his curiosity peaked….and I revealed the grand purpose of our meeting…

Why Am I So Slow At Running?

He laughed at me and said “For this silly reason you have called me?” 

Let’s finish our coffee and head out… 🙁

Momentarily I felt so stupid…but I was not ready to give up…

I literally begged and pleaded with him to stay…..and gave him cute puppy eyes look… You know what I mean 😉

And yep…it worked…

Aha! time to bell the cat…

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Less Sleep

First of all, we all underestimate the power of sleep…

This is one of the most important aspects of our fitness that is often overlooked…

Rick is sleeping way too less…only around 4 and 1/2 hours a day.

Our body needs proper recovery at least 7 hours of sleep for a full recovery…

This means he has to increase his sleep by 2 and 1/2 more hours.

He screamed at me…THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!

What do you want? Should I sleep for the entire day?

Don’t you know that I’m buried under work?”

I calmly said, don’t do it in one shot…

Try to increase it by 15 min every other week…

Aha! Now he is listening…

Some more Q& revealed, that he is a control freak at work…

This has stopped him from delegating anything…even the most inconsequential ones.

This must change…

So, I gave him his first task…..In the next 7 days, he will find out some no-brainer to delegate.

Those tasks should be something like pulling out reports or responding to trivial emails, etc.

Also, since he is not comfortable, he will only delegate this to his top team members.

He gently was nodding his head…meaning he is agreeing to the plan

Time It Right…

Another major problem was…he is skipping meals often…

Imagine, how his body will feel…

In the morning he is forcing it to run, and in the afternoon he is not providing it with food.

Poor thing…it is worst than torture

No wonder it is not able to perform…

As I’ve learned from the book Don’t Lose Out, Work Out! our body needs food after every stressful event

Otherwise, none of our efforts will work

But the question here is why?

Why was he not eating on time?

He is working with some important clients based in Singapore and the UK.

Singapore is ahead of India, by 2:30 hours and the UK is around 3:00 hours behind us.

So, the best possible time for him to have a meeting is 1:00 PM Indian Standard Time or our lunch hour

These meetings get dragged most of the days.

By the time its over, our lunch hour is over and he has to run to another meeting…

So, unwilling he has to skip lunch or make it very short.

The problem is…

I cannot force him to eat lunch at 1:00 PM…

So, my best bet was to ask him to eat it early…

We decided the time can be somewhere from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

He agreed to block his calendar from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM so that nobody can schedule a meeting at that time.

With his lunch routine set, he agreed to block his calendar from 7:30 PM to 8:00 PM for early dinner as well…

Now we have to attack his 3rd problem…which is…

Stress…

By this time Rick became pretty interested in the process…

He was seeing light at the end of the tunnel…

Now it was not only about running faster, but he felt that this process can help him to have a  much healthier lifestyle… (We are still in Starbucks…irony 😉 )

For me, this one issue was a bit of a challenge to tackle…

I didn’t know what exactly was causing him stress…apart from work…of course…

With some further probing, he said that he has lost a lot of money in the stock market and is going through a financial crisis…

He said that it is becoming overwhelming for him, with a mortgage, family, kids…and it seems like he is not doing enough…

Ouch! I know how that feels…

But what is the way out of this…

Count your blessings…AKA MONEY…

This is a trick that I’ve figured out during one of the most crisis-hit times of my life…

I’ll not lie to you…this did not solve any of my problems…but took some stress out of it…

With a cool head..I was able to think clearer….and was able to get out of it

I thought to show Rick this trick…

He confessed that he lost almost 20 lacs in Stock Market… in dollars, it will be around $33 grand

WOW!!! that’s a lot…

Anyways….who am I to judge…

So, I asked him to take a piece of paper and write down what are the financial assets he has…

It turns out…

He has 50 Lacs in Fixed Deposits

50 Lacs in Mutual Funds

1 House worth 3 Million

Some Bonds of 70 Lacs valuation and some more…

He actually was astonished to find out that he had around 20 lacs profit in his mutual funds

Now was the time for me to scream at him…

WTF…

With so much of assets, why was he stressing over 20 lacs…Not saying that it is a small amount…but…

It turns out, his wife manages most of his finances…especially the investment part…he is never good with it

But he kept stock investment hidden from her as she was against it…

He could not let go of the thrill of doubling his money (I don’t get it why people don’t learn it first. there are so many good books like The Intelligent Investor or The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing)

So, the decision was easy…he would come clean to his wife first…

And then start following the below plan…

We needed a simple plan to prevent him from getting stressed…

I cannot do anything about his money issue…but can help him to reduce stress…

I suggested him skip his strength training class for a day in the week and go to Yoga

Also, meditate, for 20 min in the morning and evening every day.

But as always…..starting slow is the key…

The Plan…

So, now we have a plan in place…

• He will gradually increase his sleep time from 4:30 hours to 7:00 hours daily…
• He will delegate those repeatable no-brainer tasks to his competent employees…
• He will block 12:00 PM To 1:00 PM and 7:30 PM -8:00 PM for having lunch and dinner respectively
• He will meditate for 20 min every morning and/or evening every day.
• He will maintain a journal

The disadvantage of knowing a friend for a long time is that…you know them too well…

I knew that he will relapse and will not follow through with the plan…

So, to keep him accountable…we agreed to meet once every 15 days…to discuss his progress and the challenges he was facing…

Our first meeting is on the 17th Of June…

Other Reasons For Slow Running

Although the above are the primary reasons for slow running, there are some more that I’ve gathered throughout the years which I want to share with you…

This post has not been updated in a long while and since I’ve got a bit more experience now and some injuries that I’ve suffered myself…here is what I’ve learned:

Reduced joint mobility

If you have lesser mobility in your joints like the ankle, knee, or hips, your speed will suffer.

Even if you have the perfect form and follow everything that is mentioned above, your speed will not be where you want it to be.

For that, you will have to improve your joint mobility with different kinds of mobility exercises.

You can follow this routine, to improve the mobility of your joints for improved performance.

Focus on compound movements

Rather than isolated movements, if you use compound movements it will help you to improve your strength and stamina.

Both of these are required by endurance athletes to gain speed.

Also, if you focus on a routine that is targeting your legs as well, then you are not only gaining strength and stamina but also training your legs to have a better turnover.

For this you can follow this routine:

• Seated calf raise.
• Donkey calf heel.
• Thera band exercises for ankle mobility.
• Deadlift.
• Clear and press.
• Push press.
• Jumping squat with weight.

Explosive workout routine

Apart from compound movement exercises, you can also include some explosive moves in your workout routine.

This helps to push yourself mentally while strengthening your overall body.

When you are running slow, one of the main things is that you may not push yourself mentally…which results in no speed improvement.

Here are some of the workouts that you can include in this routine:

• Box jump.
• Jumping lunges.
• Jumping squats with or without resistance.

Running with resistance

Another way to improve your running speed is to use some sort of resistance while running.

You can do it in various ways, however, the most common are…

• Running with a parachute.
• Beach running.
• Running with resistance bands.

Running with a parachute

This is a very effective way to improve your speed.

Essentially, you are running with a parachute on your back. When you are running, the parachute, being inflated, creates resistance against the air.

This makes you put more effort to attain the same speed. Now without it, your speed will automatically increase.

Beach running

Sand provides more resistance than hard ground or roads. Your feet tend to sink slightly in the sand while running.

Effectively, you are putting more effort while running which will help you to improve your speed.

Running with a resistance band

This is a stationary way with which you can improve your running speed.

You will be running in place, with the resistance band around your waist. This puts a lot of resistance to your normal movement and you will be able to improve your speed gradually.

Improve the strength of core muscles, lumber, and lower back

Along with improving your stamina, and leg strength, it is also important to improve the strength of your core muscles, lumbar, and lower back.

These areas actually stabilize your body while you are running and provide you with good running form.

This helps you to more efficiently utilize your energy and have a better running speed.

Here are some exercises you can use:

• Hyperextension.
• Good morning.
• Superman.
• Plank.

The steps are present in this article.

Conclusion

Though I’m a beginner in the world of running, it felt extremely good to be able to help a friend out…

The feeling is out of this world…

I don’t know whether he’ll succeed or not…but now at-least I’ve an definite answer to the question “Why Am I So Slow At Running?”

What are the reasons that slowed you down and how did you overcome it?

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