I’m trying to do Couch to 5K at the moment to improve my personal fitness.
I can do long walks of an hour or more (10k+ in one go) with relative ease.
Yet a one minute run (which is Week 1 Workout 1 in C25K!) at an INCREDIBLY slow jogging pace is pushing my heart rate nearly to dangerous levels and I am finding it immensely challenging.
So what is it about a light jog that makes it so much more difficult than walking?
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You are activating way more muscle activity in a shorter amount of time; analogy if you drive 30 mph in a car for ten miles your are going to cause far less stress and use way less energy than if you floor it and do 100 mph over the same distance.
In the latter case(100 mph) you will have more fuel use, higher pressures and temps, etc.
When you walk one foot is generally always in contact with the ground and supporting your weight.
When you jog or run both feet are off the ground at some points, so you are pushing your entire body weight into the air temporarily. This takes a lot of energy you don’t expend when walking.
Remember your question when you hit week 5. You may start to realize that such jogs aren’t as taxing as they feel right now after moderate training.
Week 5 tends to be the OMG I can really do this moment.
Some long distance runners shuffle without so much up and down motion.
You will learn to be more efficient.
Simple answer–you’re simply doing a harder activity when jogging, by moving faster. So you’re doing more work (energy) in less time.
If you’re doing a C25K (ie: aren’t already a runner), then you’re finding that the change of land speed is not linear from standing still to running, with regards to energy. There’s a much bigger jump in effort/energy required to jog than to walk, even if you move the same speed. This is the point that a lot of C25Kers stop at because the difference is jarring. Jogging slowly is just really hard too–you’re moving up and down rather than just running. Keep pushing past this part, and you’ll be able to jog with more natural form at a sustainable pace.
Jogging is an unnatural movement; walking and running are less taxing.
You should check with your doctor to find the right exercises for you.
The answers here are correct, but I’ll add that from what I understand walking and jogging burn the same amount of calories by distance. So basically, a 2 mile walk will burn the same amount of calories as a 2 mile jog. Even though the jog is more intense of an activity, it also takes like half the time as an equivalent distance of walking.
So jogging is better for burning calories only insomuch as you burn calories in less time, but if you have time on your hands and think in terms of distance traveled, you can totally just walk instead to achieve the same result.
As a once heavy guy myself, it hurt badly my knees when I started running. When running you often land with all the weight in one point…
This is because when you walk, you always have 1 point of contact (and thereby at times 2 points of contact) with he ground. When running, you never have more than 1 point of contact (and thereby have times of 0 point of contact)
If your stride is short, you land downward with that weight. A slow stride is often downward if you are new to running. But if pushing more for a forward stride you will also land more forward, not pushing as much force down (forward, not necessarily longer strides. There is a difference)
And if problem persists, increase you walking speed for a start instead of do a full run
If you can’t jog for one minute no worries just start slower. Try a minute and 40sec walking and 20sec moving with intensity and repeat. After a week adjust try 130 to 30.
For the same reason cars can’t drive forever, physics and energy.
When you’re at rest, you’re not working your muscles. Muscles need energy to function, and for your muscles to have energy, they need oxygen. When you start using your muscles, the more you use them, the more energy they need. Your heart rate increases to pump blood faster, giving your body access to more oxygen.
The reason why you specifically are struggling so much is that your body is no longer good at this process. Your heart, lungs, muscles, joints, ligaments, and even your individual cells are out of shape.
The good news is that your body can fix itself with consistent exercise.
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