Pain and tiredness when running

[Sandra]

Hello

I started running last February. I'm 34 years old.
I started quite slowly: series of 5m walking plus 5m running, then I increase the running period until having reached 1 hour. I stopped running on 3rd June and I started again on 11th August. Since then I've run 1 hour 3-6 times a week.
What's strange is that from the beggining I feel a lot of pain in my legs. In an hour race, the first 30m is always a period of pain and effort. I cannot understand the reason. Without improving this behaviour it's impossible to increase the velocity of running. Do you know some cases like this? Why does this happen is the question I put myself all day. I'm running for 9 months, I cannot improve and the pain doesn't stop.
The "cardiac rythm" (????) is usually between 140 and 164.

What do you think?

Regards
Sandra

[SarahPT]

Good for you for starting running and building up to an hour run. That's great! I am wondering if while running you are focusing too much on using power in your leg muscles to move forward, rather than making running a smooth and fluid movement, and engaging your core muscles to take stress off your legs. Where is it in your legs that you feel the most pain? I am guessing your quads???

[techgirl321]

I think you are running too fast.
Slow way down and see if the pain doesnt go away.

[stressmom]

When my husband runs he gets pain on his outer calves. Weird huh? What can he do to avoid this?

[KiwiCoach]

I have found that pain (particularly of the Quad Region) can be due to a lack of flexibility and that you may need to work on increasing flexibility. The main issue is that the stretching required can take up to 4 weeks before you know if it has worked and some of the stretches required are actually quite painful. Good luck :)