speed or distance

As I am losing weight, I am trying to venture a little into the world of jogging - I already walk a lot (3 or more miles a day), but I want to start adding some jogging (treadmill).  Right now, at 5.4 mph I can jog/run a quarter mile before having to resume a walk.  At 4.8 mph I can go an entire mile.

Should I stick with the 4.8 and gradually build up speed while keeping a mile as my total distance, or am I better off staying at 4.8 and try to increase my distance?  Or, am I going about this all wrong?

I don't want to run a marathon, but I would like to comfortably run/jog 3 miles without stopping or slowing to a walk.

I currently weigh about 175 pounds, down from nearly 220 and I am 5 foot 2 inches, so I have short legs.

Until last week, I hadn't run a mile since high school 15 years ago, and I don't think I actually was able to do it without stopping back then, so I am proud of myself - I just want to meet the 3 mile goal.

If you are looking for total calories burned, go for the length of time rather than focusing on a set speed or distance, as it's length of time spent jogging that counts, not speed.

I found out the hard way doing the Couch to 5k.  The faster I would complete the 5k, the less calories I burned...NOT FAIR! I mean it wasn't by very much, only 20 calories less going to 5k in 40 minutes rather than 50, so I felt like I was practically killing myself for nothing.  The amount of additional calories you burn (increased heart rate) by running faster (or in my case as well, amount of time jogging in a walk/jog combo increasing) does not compensate enough for your shortened time. 

Here's an example off CC tools to see how many calories you would burn to go 3 miles at various speeds:

Running - 6 mph (10 Min/mile)   30 min = 370

Running - 5.2 mph (11.5 Min/mile)   35 min  =  388

Walking - 4.5 Mph, Level, Firm Surface, Very, Very Brisk   40 min = 311

I still didn't believe it until I bought a HRM, which confirmed it.

So now I just say I'm going to jog for a certain # of minutes regardless of how far I go or how fast.  Really I burn more going at a slightly slower speed because I can sustain it much longer.   

If you are looking for a personal goal, then either speed or distance is just a personal preference.   Personally I just jog around the subdivision, so I just judge by how many laps I make it around in 45 minutes on how I'm improving.

Good luck!!!

 Generally I've been told that you want to focus on distance to build your base; the speedwork and such comes later. Given how Couch25K and Learn to Run both focus on covering a certain distance on foot and increase the part of it that's covered at a run I'd say go for the distance you want to be covering first, and then go for speed.

Original Post by melkor:

 Generally I've been told that you want to focus on distance to build your base; the speedwork and such comes later. Given how Couch25K and Learn to Run both focus on covering a certain distance on foot and increase the part of it that's covered at a run I'd say go for the distance you want to be covering first, and then go for speed.

Absolutely...  build your strength and endurance first, then work on speed.  Increase your distance (or time) running following the 10% rule.  Never increase speed and distance in the same week.  Once you get past that distance, say 4 miles, you can trade some of the strength and endurance in for speed.

like wes, i was going to suggest that you focus on time rather than either speed or distance.  regardless of how far you go, 20 or 30 (or more) minutes at a relatively high level of exertion is going to be beneficial (provided that nothing hurts).

i've posted a good begin-to-run program in my profile, if you want to check it out.

I agree with above posters that the distance would be your primary target.

I was just going to say, for whatever applicability this has, that way back in the day when I ran cross country, my coach would start off every season just doing distance runs.  He would gradually increase our distance every day.  And then, after a month or so, he started to add a one day a week speed workout, where we would run shorter distances for speed, rest/walk, and repeat.  Every week we were suppose to get faster.  He also added hill running days, but that is something different. 

For whatever its worth. 

Totally agree with everyone regarding distance over speed to begin with.  What I would also suggest is getting yourself a good heartrate monitor.   Run/jog in your fat burning zone for the most part and then when you start to build you lung power, than you can focus on building some speed.