The last 2 times that I ran I've averaged about 13:45 miles for 3 miles. Speaking with someone about this I guess I need to clear up the fact that I don't run the entire time. To get that pace I walk for 3 minutes then I jog (it feels like running to me) at 5.2 MPH for about 2 minutes. This goes on until I've covered the 3 miles. After the 3rd mile I walk for a mile or so as a cool down. I've been covering a total of about 4.25 miles in total lately. While breaking 14 minutes per mile is encouraging it's really not that big of a deal in the running world... neither is 3 miles for that matter.
When I started running my obstacle was definitely leg strength. I wasn't winded running 15.9999 minute miles, but I was stumbling all over the treadmill trying to get my legs to move faster. Now that I'm down to under 14 minutes not only am I still stumbling around, but I feel like my lungs are going to blow out of my chest :) I don't know how long it's going to take me to get under 12 minutes, but it's highly unlikely that it will take another 2 weeks.
I've been trying to use conservative couch to 5K and I've been able to keep pace. I'm up to Month 3 week 3. For the next 2 weeks, I will maintain the pace of 18 walking minutes and 12 running minutes per 30 minute interval. After that I'm actually slowing down from the pace set in the website. Rather then start month 4 as the program dictates I'm going to do the following:
Week 1 - maintain the walking of 18 minutes, but increase the running to 15 minutes (3 min walk / 2.5 min run)
Week 2 - drop the walking to 15 minutes and maintain the running of 15 minutes. (2.5 min walk / 2.5 min run)
Week 3 - bring the walking back up to 18 minutes, but increase the running to 18 minutes as well. (3 min walk / 3 min run)
Week 4 - drop the walking to 15 minutes and maintain the running at 18 minutes as well. (2.5 min walk / 3 min run)
Time will tell ;)
