Mind over matter

Hi, just like to say hello to everyone on here, new to all this and lots of great info on these forums . great work . 

Firstly i am a new runner and i am running to loose weight and feel good and i enjoy it, i have teamed up with my friend who is experienced of 3 years and is also a training fighter. 

I am 26 years old. quite heavy 20 stone ish give or take and was a couch potato unitl recently.

I have been running around 2  and half month 2 -3 times a week and started with hill sprints to get my lungs working before i can do distance. now i have started doing distance and built up to about 5 miles but i cannot do it in one go ! The run incorporates hill climbs and downhills now the downhill im good at and can keep my pace, but the first mile and the up hills are a killer and i stop too many times now i no its in my head and i dunno how to overcome this ??? 

My friend is too pushy and is like come on come on and like mate you really should be doing this and now im feeling a little bit pushed away from training with him , but i cannot push myself enough on my own ??? 

I no am still new to this but i feel i should be doing this in 1 go now without stopping. any info or ideas would be much appreciated . 

Thanks 

Tony

if the first mile is the killer, then have you warmed up enough? I am a very very beginner but have already discovered that I need a good quite strenuous (to me )warm up otherwise I just end up having to run the first km very slow - it turns into my warm up!

Thanks for your feedback - maybe i have jumped in a little too deep and thats where my training buddy threw me in at. 

The first mile is my warm up and as my lungs get used to it the rest gets easier. 

i can run 5 mile on a straight no problem or downhill its just the up hills my brain fights with me and is telling me to stop every stride i take, my friend tells me to ignore it and just put one foot in front of another and i also read on internet that it is just psychological but i dont no how to overcome this barrier ! 

im gonna try a slow run again tonight and see how it goes. 

i agree with the other posters, to much to soon, i would slow down a little and not run as far  build your fitness slowly ,you have to be paitent, and you will get fitter stronger faster in the end

Hill repeats are  a form of training in themselves along with intervals, tempo runs and speed track work. None of them are designed to build endurance and you wont loose any weight doing them. You will get injured long before that.

Your friend i am afraid is trying to get you to "macho" it out. Running is not a macho sport. Try cage fighting if you want that.Its a sport of conditioning conditioning the body to endure by slowly building up the muscles in the legs and hips and core to deal with the repetitive stresses of running. To slowly push back the threshold that lactate acid builds up in your body so you can run further and faster for longer. To increase your ability to absorb and use oxygen  until it reaches your personal optimal.

Its not about stripping to the waist and dragging a car tyre up a hill. Not that your doing that but you get the idea?

Find yourself a park of good size and just run a round it. On your own. Walk when you have to. Do it for 20 minutes then go home.

Then choose another day in the week and do it again.

and again.

Then wait for another week and do it three times again

When you can run for 20minutes non-stop with no walking hold that for a week and then and only then increase the time by 10%. Again walking when you have to.

Do this until you can run continuously for 30 minutes with no walking at an easy conversational pace 3 times a week.

Then get back to us.

It should take about 3 months and you would have lost about 3 stone i reckon probably more if you watch your diet and you would be on the way to conditioning your body.

As for hills heres the technique. You shorten your stride. Do not lean into the hill keep your body perpendicular to the slope and you will go up it slower than on the flat but you will go up. No one goes up a hill as fast as they can on the flat.

No one.

Thats impossible.

Good luck