Asthmatic Non-Runner With a Need to Run - 1.5 Miles in 13 Minutes

by Jenifer
(West Palm Beach - FL )

Truth be told I am NOT a runner. I can walk a 14 minute mile all day. But running, not me. I have had asthma since I was a child - severe through all my childhood - not so much now.

But as a kid I wasn't able to do a lot of excessive running - or playing - a game of tag would have me on my nebulizer.

As an adult my asthma is much more calm. I use a fast-acting inhaler once in a while - but not that often.

I have no real breath control experience and when I run I just get so out of breath.

I am interested in a job that would require me to run 1.5 miles in 13 minutes or less.

I am 25 years old, 5'3" approx 135-140lbs and not incredibly athletic, but I do exercise and workout. I have strength - but I think I am lacking the endurance.

What would be a good way for me to get to this point? In your opinion can I get to this point?


Answer by Dominique:
Hi Jenifer,
Thanks for your question about the 1.5 mile test. Let's break up the answer as follows:

1. Is 1.5 miles in 13 minutes doable?
2. How to start running?
3. How to prepare for 1.5 miles in 13 minutes?

Is 1.5 Miles in 13 Minutes Doable?

You want to do the 1.5 mile in 13 minutes. It is really hard to predict whether you can get to that point without knowing much more about you. 1.5 miles in 13 minutes is a doable goal for many people.

It's a little bit fast, but not so much that you need to rely on special running talents to get there.

But.. I don't know enough about your current state of fitness and the asthmatic condition to give you an iron-clad guarantee.

The best way to approach this is try it out. Start preparing for this test and see where it takes you! At worst, you'll build up some fitness and health. At best, this could be the start of a new and exciting career.

How to Start Running?

I have quite an extensive Beginner Running Tips section on this website, which I suggest you start working your way through.

For somebody like you, who has not got a lot of experience with running or sports in general, I would pretty much always advise you to start by doing run/walks, i.e. alternating running and walking. The running should be done at an easy pace. This is important. Too many beginning runners have got this idea that running needs to be painful and hard. But really, I just want you to run at a pace that is a bit faster than walking. A pace at which you don't get out of breath that much.

Have a look at how my most successful beginners running schedule, Beginners Running Program 3 is built up.

It starts at the absolute beginning with 1 minute of running, but builds up over time to 30 minutes of running. I get thank-you e-mails pretty much every week from people telling me how they thought they'd never be able to pull it off and somehow 12 weeks later, they did.

Now, don't feel obliged to follow this program to the letter, but use the same approach which is really based on two simple principles:

1. Combine running with walking
2. Build up the running component slowly over time

This is one of the safest way imaginable to start getting comfortable with running. Once you get to a point at which you can run 30 minutes non-stop (this could be only 12 weeks from now), you can start working on seriously getting ready for your 1.5 mile test.

How to prepare for 1.5 miles in 13 minutes?

Now, when you get to that point you can run ~30 minutes non-stop you are starting to build some endurance. You should be noticeably fitter now than you were at the start of your journey. At this point you should also be able to assess what the impact of running is on your asthma.

I can see two pathways forward from this point, depending on how the running impacts your asthma and breathing:

1. You are doing fine with very little problems - if this is the case, you could start thinking about adding some workouts to your program. Most of your running should still be easy pace, but you can start adding a bit of speedwork to the mix. Start off easily by adding short intervals. And build from there. This is where I make a call out that anybody with any type of health condition should not just be relying on a running coach on the internet, but should be seeking advice from their healthcare practitioner! I can't look into your life and your circumstances, so you need to work out what is doable and what is not.

2. The asthma becomes an issue when you are running faster - if this is the case, then you could still be getting faster by building your endurance through more and longer slow runs. This is the slow way to the goal, but you'd have to be reliant on building such a strong engine, such a strong endurance base, that running 1.5 miles in 13 minutes feels like, almost literally, a walk in the park. Again, I would recommend talking to a healthcare practitioner at this stage about the safest way to continue your running journey.

Either way, the key to success is trying out running safely and build up your endurance step by step. Once you have got that base endurance, running faster to make your goal time won't be as hard on your body anymore as it is now.

Hope this helps.
Best of luck and stay safe.
Kind regards,
Dominique