How should a new runner handle the stabbing lung pain and overall feeling of being about to die? I have been unable to find any running speed that avoids these issues, even if it’s actually slower than my usual easy walking pace.
I’m a new-ish runner, and I think I had a similar problem when I started. I couldn’t jog slowly enough to not be immediately winded. I say immediately, but I could go for a few tens of seconds, I think? Less than a minute, and I would be surprised if it was even 30 seconds.
So, I started jogging for just long enough that I was touching the edge of being out of breath, but nothing really hurt, and then I would walk until I caught my breath and felt like I could do another short jog.
I still can’t jog for that long, but it’s way longer than before; and now I can go harder once or twice a week and it feels pleasantly intense rather than intensely painful.
Also, I don’t want to make it sound like a heart-rate monitor is necessary, because I don’t think it is, but I found that getting a (reliable) heart-rate monitor was really illuminating for me. In my case, there was initially just no jogging pace that would not put me well above zone 2. I experimented a bit and found that speed-walking was the only way I could stay in zone 2, and even then, I would slowly climb up into 3 by the end of my route. (Even more interesting was finding out that, for me, that “Gah! I’m dying!” feeling was me smacking into zone 5, which I can now use to calibrate the intensity of my harder runs.)
One of the more valuable insights I got from my heart-rate monitor was that I was trying to train at a way higher intensity than my fitness level allowed, which helped me chill out and stop injuring myself so often.
Good question. If you’re new to cardio and running is too painful for you, I’d suggest trying another less strenuous discipline like biking. As you get better at biking and your cardiovascular fitness improves, you could try running again at a slow pace.
Another option is to walk on an incline treadmill. You could increase the incline steepness each week or go for longer to improve.
I don’t know your fitness/general health. If you smoke, for example, I can’t imagine your lungs would feel good during a run.
This is/was me. I finally realized I couldn’t actually start with straight running, at least not for more than a minute or two at a time between walking. Things got better when I paid more attention to heart rate zones. Actual running will put me in the red zone way too fast, so I do things like really fast walking or treadmill incline to hit more moderate heart rate zones.
How should a new runner handle the stabbing lung pain and overall feeling of being about to die? I have been unable to find any running speed that avoids these issues, even if it’s actually slower than my usual easy walking pace.
I’m a new-ish runner, and I think I had a similar problem when I started. I couldn’t jog slowly enough to not be immediately winded. I say immediately, but I could go for a few tens of seconds, I think? Less than a minute, and I would be surprised if it was even 30 seconds.
So, I started jogging for just long enough that I was touching the edge of being out of breath, but nothing really hurt, and then I would walk until I caught my breath and felt like I could do another short jog.
I still can’t jog for that long, but it’s way longer than before; and now I can go harder once or twice a week and it feels pleasantly intense rather than intensely painful.
Also, I don’t want to make it sound like a heart-rate monitor is necessary, because I don’t think it is, but I found that getting a (reliable) heart-rate monitor was really illuminating for me. In my case, there was initially just no jogging pace that would not put me well above zone 2. I experimented a bit and found that speed-walking was the only way I could stay in zone 2, and even then, I would slowly climb up into 3 by the end of my route. (Even more interesting was finding out that, for me, that “Gah! I’m dying!” feeling was me smacking into zone 5, which I can now use to calibrate the intensity of my harder runs.)
One of the more valuable insights I got from my heart-rate monitor was that I was trying to train at a way higher intensity than my fitness level allowed, which helped me chill out and stop injuring myself so often.
Good question. If you’re new to cardio and running is too painful for you, I’d suggest trying another less strenuous discipline like biking. As you get better at biking and your cardiovascular fitness improves, you could try running again at a slow pace.
Another option is to walk on an incline treadmill. You could increase the incline steepness each week or go for longer to improve.
I don’t know your fitness/general health. If you smoke, for example, I can’t imagine your lungs would feel good during a run.
It just takes time. Your diaphragm will eventually stop being so annoying.
This is/was me. I finally realized I couldn’t actually start with straight running, at least not for more than a minute or two at a time between walking. Things got better when I paid more attention to heart rate zones. Actual running will put me in the red zone way too fast, so I do things like really fast walking or treadmill incline to hit more moderate heart rate zones.