why am I so bad at running?

A few thoughts for you, OP:

1). Depending on where you are in the world it’s hot as fuck right now. For me, this morning was miserable. I kept my pace easy, I took a couple breaks, but I hit my miles. Sometimes the summer is something that you survive and then enjoy the endurance gains in the fall.

2). What’s your typical volume? Is a 7-mile run more than 25% of your weekly volume? If it is, you might scale that back. Overall, for a new runner, the most important thing is building your weekly volume. And it should all be easy. Try to get to 35 comfortable miles a week before you add in workouts or anything else. These will help, but not nearly as much as just running more. Specificity is a thing, after all.

3). Do you like running? I’m not going to try and talk you out of something that I really enjoy, but sometimes I take a brain break and swim, or ride my bike. I usually come back pretty refreshed. If you’re just beat, maybe give that a shot?

I'm not a good runner either but a few things helped me.

• Increasing my cadence.
• Slightly leaning my body forward.
• Doing exercises that train my legs to move a certain way during a stride. Basically working on my running form.

The only thing I haven't seen people mention so far is breathing.

Make sure you are doing breathing exercises and that you can keep your breathing under control for your whole run. Once your breathing goes everything else will fall apart.

A few things:

1. You started at 5 am: early morning runs can be very very sluggish even for people who are good at running.
2. 10 miles a week, while respectable, is simply not a lot. Just keep increasing, slowly, the weakly volume.
3. There's an overemphasis lately on the easy runs. Sometimes you should get tired. Sometimes very tired. Maybe once every 2 weeks, since you're only running 3x a week. Consider some fartleks.

Edit: some additions:

4. Almost against the previous point but not really: while you should get very tired sometimes, easy runs have to feel easy/comfortable. Forget what your watch is telling you about heart rates and zones and all that. Listen to your body.

5.Your legs getting tired could be a number of things: lactate build up (going too fast),not enough recovery from harder runs/leg strength workouts, muscle fatigue from being unconditioned to longer runs (solution is also to just keep running more and easy).

6. Have patiente. Don't force a pace that is not there yet, let it come naturally as a consequence of sustainable long term training.

If you didn't eat anything before and are not used to morning runs it can be very hard on your body energy wise. Your glycogen levels could be low. When I first started doing long morning runs when the last time I ate was the night before I'd hit a wall. Eventually my body adapted and I was able to run 18 miles on an empty stomach. If you're not trying to lose weight or train your body to operate with lower glycol levels there is not much of a reason to run on an empty stomach.

I have nothing to add to this other than to tell you I'm in the exact same boat as you. I played football and rugby in highschool and I was a really good athlete, and I was super lean, 6'0 and about 175 pounds.

I could not fucking run long distances to save my life, whenever we did runs in practices I was struggling back with all the fat dudes, where the other skinny guys like me were not even breaking a sweat finishing so fast. I was the fastest sprinter on the team too, so it wasn't my athleticism holding me back or anything.

I've never really figured out why, I think I might have some form of asthma or something.

For me heat & humidity would kill my endurance/pace, so i would focus on running in the winter (more bike/swim in hot months)

However since you run in the AM try raw dogging your run. Leave the Garmin and all accessories at home, and roll out.

Sometimes I would get way too over focused on what goals I wanted to achieve, and then seem to plateau without hitting them. That's when I would "reset" my mental run. Clear out the cobwebs and just hit one foot in front of the other.

Remember that every run you are ahead of the game period.

Remember that training plans are generally made up for the average athlete, and each one of us may need a different way of training. (flat terrain? hills? dirt or paved roads, etc.)

Don’t run through pain. Injuries happen from overuse of tendons and ligaments and they let you know beforehand.

Also going slow is (5/10 effort) is the name of the game until 30m per week. Less speed means less injury buildup means more miles per week which translates to more aerobic speed. Sprinkle in one long run per week at 20-30% of weekly volume when the time comes. Couple that with only increasing mileage 10% per week and you’ll do well without injury.

For me switching the mindset from “run fast/hard” to “run more” increased my progress 3-4x faster while being easier. :)

I don't have too much to add here, since you've already been given some really great advice -- both for the physical and mental aspects of running. Something that I've recently started incorporating into my training and growth as a runner is addressing and analyzing the question, "Why do I run?" It sounds like you're living a healthy, active lifestyle. So what is it that makes you put on your shoes --- even on days you might not feel like it? Running is about being active and staying healthy and setting goals for ourselves, but it's also about who we are as people. While it might not help you with your immediate goals, really knowing Why you run may help you with feeling like you're in a slump. I certainly know it's helped me. Best of luck!

What is your zone 2 range? It should feel easy, as in able to keep a conversation going, no huffing and puffing.

Just curious, but do you run on a flat surface like a track?

This is awesome I was literally thinking this on my run this morning

Do you do any speed work? Just doing Z2 work will improve your endurance, for sure, but you should include some Z4/Z5 sprints and intervals if you want increase speed.

Totally not judging. I was a new runner once too. Running is very specific activity, were the majority of improvements come simply from just running more. However, running more is a very slow process, you can't go from 0 miles, to 10 miles, and expect them to be fast. While you are fit, you aren't running fit, it's like being fit and not being lift heavy fit. Your plan is a get to the finish plan, which is good for ramping and getting to the finish line, but isn't really going to build speed, but that will come if you continue to work at it. Don't get discouraged, the improvement when you start are often the the biggest jumps you have. Good luck

This seems crazy considering your details, and I would ensure you are hydrated and sugared... But if you are struggling in zone 2, then you aren't ready for zone 2.

You might need to be walking, then walking with short jog stretches (100 yards?)

You should ever be involuntarily in distress or fighting to continue.

I think this falls in the technique group— I improved my stats quite a bit by focusing on using glutes for power. Easiest way to do this was to do a squat routine (one that I’d feel a bit) the day before so that I could isolate the glutes better during running day.

What training plan are you following?

Hi there, you didn’t mention whether you have any speed training in your running plan. If not, i would look into adding in maybe one day of tempo run or intervals.

your technique probably sucks, there is tons of content out there how to be a better more efficient runner by changing your technique