So slow!

Hi everyone.

I know I shouldn't be, but I'm a bit disheartened. During the last month I've gone from running NOTHING to running 3km in 30 mins. I wish I wasn't so slow. Will my speed increase as I get fitter or am I doomed to plod along forever?

About me: I'm 26, female and pretty overweight (though have lost 10lbs since I started!)

Is there anything I can do to run faster? Feels unsustainable if I try. Thanks everyone!

It will get easier, you'll get faster, you'll go further, it will become painless, but it will take time. Give yourself a couple of years really. 
Patience is the key. 

It does get easier.

I started in May i am very slow but yesterday i managed 20 miles at less than 8m per km.  6 weeks ago i was still struggling to get below 40m for 5k now i can run 32m for 5k.

Just keep plodding along, I found that trying to go quick over a short distance didn't really help that much being a newbie.  Just keep slowly upping the distance and once you can run 10k you just find that naturally your 5k speed picks up. For me it's like hang on i've only got 5k to go and i'm not out of breath only just started in fact... oh i can push this a bit more...  You start off noticing that on the shorter runs you are running the last 100m harder, then it was the last half km, now i can start of reasonably hard to begin with and go for it for the last 2km. 

So don't despair just relax and go with the flow

bl, going from nothing to 3k in a month is a great achievment and something you should be proud of!

10 weeks ago and at 53yrs I started running again (didn't do much more than the C25k and a few months running last time). At first was bothered by my time (5k in 38 minutes). Now I'm more about distance, stamina, getting up those hills and guess what, without even thinking about going faster its happening without worrying about it. I'm still very slow but even after such a short time my 'average' kilometre is falling by about 20 seconds every 3-4 weeks.

The thing that helped me most was using a Heart Rate Monitor and setting it to bleep when I past 85% of MHR which was great as I'd have a walk break before my body gave in and now I can run further/faster at a lower heart rate with fewer walk breaks.

At the weekend I 'ran' 10 miles in 1hr 54mins - 10 weeks ago my record for 10 miles would have been 500 metres!

Thank you to everyone who's replied so far.

You've all given really good and thoughtful advice. You're right, a bit of patience is what I'm lacking.

I'm going on holiday to Sydney over Christmas and dreaming of a long run with my friends!

I started "running" back in April, I could just about manage to run a bath at that point. I was 15st 7lb and a size 20 fast forward to today, I am 11st size 10 and ran 10 miles without stoping in 1hr 39min this weekend. Getting above 5k was my block yet it was something i found that just sort of happened, one day I just said right im going to try 8k lets see and I done it.Speed also comes with time I use to only be able to run at about 5.3mph now I can run at 6.5mph+ for the whole run. Give yourself time but every now and then give yourself a little push you will surprise yourself.

Amanda, that's really really inspirational. Thank you so much for posting! My starting weight was around 15st 13lbs. Now down to 15, 2 after a month of running and healthy eating. Nice to see it can be done!

Oh yes it certainly can be =) If you need any help just drop me a message