Slow runner

Have you tried squats, lunges, stair climbing, hill training with a weighted vest? There are some things you can do to improve muscle strength in your legs which might help you go a bit faster.

45 minutes isn't the slowest 5km I've seen in my clinics, and I've been last in triathlons, more than once. I found that I feel pride in just finishing the dang thing!

For triathlon training, I have to focus on my weakest area, which is the bike for me. If I can't finish that stage in time, I don't get to even worry about the run! And in fact, the half and full ironmans I completed, I was so exhausted by the run, I pretty much walked the entire time - and running was my best out of the three sports.

Whatever you do, have fun & enjoy the journey to your first tri! Which one is it?

The only way my running time improved for me was running more.  But, when running more, I was losing a LOT more fat and that was the reason I think I was getting faster.  Currently I have let myself go to where I am the heaviest I have ever been.  Now I can't run without my knees swelling and making the next week a complete horror show.

Increase your running time no more than 10% or if you go by distance do not increase it by more than 10% in a week.  After a month then either drop back to two weeks prior (distance or time) for one week and then increase 10% again.  This has worked for many people that I have run with and helped over the years.  But, I am not a coach or a doctor.  Just someone that has used that theory in self practice while training for a 70.3