ILX running running thread

i am feeling really psyched at having gotten from 1m to 2.4m...and nabisco's list of the good things about running should be enlarged and put into a poster. the sense of well being i have right now having just come in is so intense, it provides unbelievable mental focus.

gotta keep it up now!

i'm basically adding on little bits to broaden the circle of my route. is that what everyone does or is there any science or other basis behind it?

totally

2.4m took me about 20 mins this morning, i know that's not v fast by a good standard but isn't it better if i ran more slowly for longer, fitness wise?

and that's fast, ya bollix. i think the advice i got was to do a bit of both, one or two long runs at your own pace, one or two short runs like the priest was after you.

At this point I'd say just experiment with pacing and eating and so on; find out what works best for you. For example, I can only run in the evenings and can't have eaten anything substantial in the previous four hours or so; other people work completely differently.

For the distance I'd suggest having one run a week that's longer (and a bit slower) than the others; this will boost your endurance and prepare your body for increasing the distances you run on the other days.

i started off doing about a mile (pathetic, i know) and now i'm up to about 2.4 miles. i'm basically adding on little bits to broaden the circle of my route. is that what everyone does or is there any science or other basis behind it?

that's what i did, and it's a year later and i'm still at it. it felt pretty lame at first, but you're right -- the satisfaction of finishing what i started out to do makes up for it, regardless of how far or how fast i am. then again, i am not a competitive person, so that's why speed/time doesn't really matter to me. imo stop worrying about science and stay focused on building habits at first. just keep going!

also i often go early morning, should i be eating beforehand? i tend not to as the less buffers between waking and running the less chance of losing my motivation. i guess a banana or something would be good?

i also go early morning (love love the air, the quiet, the dark) sometimes i have a graham cracker or a banana, but usually i eat oatmeal and drink coffee when i get back. i realize this could be the thing standing between me and running further/faster, but the fact is: if i don't go out before work, i won't go at all, esp. in the summer when it's hot. running in the quiet stillness of morning is more enjoyable to me than going further faster. in the winter you will feel like a viking.

good job so far, you're improving at a much faster rate than i did!

I eat before I do morning runs, if only for the fast that I only do long runs in the morning. Good to eat something and drink coffee to encourage evacuation before I'm out there for three hours.

fact, not fast. Not much I do is fast.

do any of you do situps or similar at home? i feel like it'd be good to do a few of those in the evenings...i'm running for two main reasons, general health and to lose a big old beer gut i've been developing...but thought situps and stuff might help with reason 2.

thanks for all the advice and encouragement, i'll be checking back here, i just read loads of this thread this morning and it's great encouragement.

I basically do no other workouts other than running.

And I've still go quite the gut.

go = got

wth is wrong with me this morning???

don't let this get u down but I've been exercising hardcore for a year and have lost three stone and still haven't shifted my beer gut ;_;

i'm promising myself all of the situps and stuff, and i play football twice a week, but really the best solution to a gut is to stop eating and drinking so much shit.

unfortunately.

i don't do situps, but sometimes i do plank and pushups on days i don't run. not very disciplined about it. do not have much of a gut, but i'm small all around. growth/reduction of gut pretty much determined by what you eat/drink, really. in other words, darraghmac otm.

I don't care that much about my gut. Right now I mostly care about performance over how I'm looking these days. Running can't fix ugly.

bollocks i was afraid of that, mind you i'm not sure where the hell i could lose weight other than the gut, my legs are like matchsticks...

i eat fine during the week but god...weekends.

oh jeff :(

My legs/thighs are pretty much the only thing that has changed since I've been running. More defined muscle.

ha iirc my fat came off face, then body, then legs and arms, then butt, then belly, it's def gotten smaller tho

muscles have become more defined in legs too

one other question...how often a week do you all go and how often is a good amount so as to keep your fitness up?

when i was actually running (will start back again soon promise) i was doin maybe 3 short runs during the week and 1 long run at the weekend

(for a given personal value of long and short obviously)

so ilx...i've started running lately, have been about 8 days out of the last 12 or so. i'm wondering about how to start testing myself or how to try and increase the distances i'm going. i started off doing about a mile (pathetic, i know) and now i'm up to about 2.4 miles. i'm basically adding on little bits to broaden the circle of my route. is that what everyone does or is there any science or other basis behind it?

that's about what i did when i first started running regularly. i ran along dalston canal, which you probably know, and basically when i felt able to go further than my usual, used the bridges as stageposts and just added a couple more. (and i always used to do it in two stages, ie stop to stretch/catch breath at the turning-round point.) it took quite a while iirc to get above my starting amount, but it happens fairly naturally, and the realisation that you can suddenly do twice/three times what you could do before is a tremendous motivator.

also i often go early morning, should i be eating beforehand? i tend not to as the less buffers between waking and running the less chance of losing my motivation. i guess a banana or something would be good?

i can't eat anything substantial for a few hours before running...guarantee of stomach cramps while out. if i'm running in the morning it's usually on an empty stomach, if in the afternoon i've usually only had breakfast.

finally what pace do you guys tend to do? i feel like sometimes i'm going too fast, 2.4m took me about 20 mins this morning, i know that's not v fast by a good standard but isn't it better if i ran more slowly for longer, fitness wise?

it is. going too fast is probably more of an issue than going too slow for beginners - i'm still crap at pacing but it was a bit of a duhhh moment when i realised that not pushing myself so much speed-wise would mean i could run further and for longer. i'm only a casual runner though (which is actually key in my approach to it) so i don't really time myself ever.

do any of you do situps or similar at home? i feel like it'd be good to do a few of those in the evenings...i'm running for two main reasons, general health and to lose a big old beer gut i've been developing...but thought situps and stuff might help with reason 2.

crunches >>>> sit-ups, which don't really seem to have any discernible effect on anything as far as i can tell.

you said you were running almost every day - i think alternate days might be better, to give your body a chance to recover. and do resistance exercise (push-ups/crunches) on the non-running days if you want.

i'm absolutely itching to go for a run but i'm at the tail end of a cold and still blocked up - sinus/breathing issues are the main thing that can totally fuck up a run for me and in this state it'll just end badly. ugh.

Lex is right - at this point the danger is burning out or getting injured by doing too much. As long as you run a few times a week and gradually up your mileage, then you're only going to get fitter.

well....i did just ignore that advice as i was keen to go, but once i'm back at work will be all too easy to not go every day.

i just did 3 miles in about 25 mins...i tried going more slowly but i think for the last stretch (i had my route planned) i kicked into a faster stride...

Got my second cortisone shot yesterday! Hopefully this one will get me through the marathon. Only a month away.

i go m-w-f sometimes sat or sun
i also bike to work when i can, but that's only about 4 mi -- not enough to count as real exercise for the day

As far as days go, I do M-W-Sat. I should be doing M-W-Th-Sat, but leg just isn't allowing that.

had my first bit of pain today, on the right hand side of my groin was v sore to start off. i guess stretches and perhaps better trainers at some point...

no expert but if it's groin it's stretching not trainers

also don't hurt yourself! you will find it difficult to make this a habit if you push too hard and hurt yourself at the beginning. then running = ouch instead of running = yay.

lex and seandalai offer great advice. the first two things any new runner should learn are go slow—slower than you think you should, probably—and don't do too much. i've spent the last 10 years in an on-and-off again cycle of running, and at the first signs of fitness i ramp up my mileage and the frequency of my runs and inevitably get burned out within a month. since may ive been running two miles, five times a week. i want to do more, but i feel like it's even more important to establish it as a long-term habit, so my plan is to do that for the rest of the year and see where that gets me.

(i've been reading this thread since may, figured i might as well pipe up.)

first half marathon done! 1:57:27

a lot harder than I expected it to be. hit the wall around 10 miles and ran the last three feeling like my right leg was going to pop out the socket. still - first half marathon done, here's to the next

― /killfiles self (cozen), Sunday, September 5, 2010 2:11 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

BAH, i also finished my first half-marathon on sept 5 and it took me two hours and seven minutes. mainly because i have been basically unable to practice since the 10k i did three months ago because my right knee basically stopped working. also i had a head cold. this was really annoying.

my dad - who used to be able to finish marathons in like 2 hrs 40 said 'well, it being you, i'm amazed you weren't walking'

Ha, my half Mary pr is 3:11. I had issues. I swear I'm not normally that slow.

I've done a half mary in 2:17 I think, but felt I was really slow. I'd be happy to try for under 2:05-2:10 but who knows, I haven't run one in years. And my last run was a few minutes short of 11 hours but that was 37+ miles so HEY

i want to do more, but i feel like it's even more important to establish it as a long-term habit, so my plan is to do that for the rest of the year and see where that gets me

yeah this is my attitude too. i don't really think of running as training for anything, just something i wanted to fold into my lifestyle. i don't see myself taking part in races any time soon.

(currently run either once or twice a week, about 8-9km each time. one thing that keeps me on the wagon is the knowledge that if i take one or especially two weeks off, it's astonishing how quickly i can lose stamina, and the next run after that will be pretty hellish.)

Local Garda ... Running isn't good for shifting weight, because it causes you to gain appetite. It's for fitness. You need to do upper body work to shift your gut - pull-ups, that kind of thing. I run 3.5m four times a week, and my waist size doesn't go below 38ins, no matter what - because I can't be fucked to/afford to take out gym membership and do the stuff that will actually make me thinner.

my googling suggests that aerobic exercise is a good way to lose weight, but also combined with some strength exercises.

one thing i've noticed already is a real determination not to eat shitty food cos you think of the pain you endured to go running that day.

ha i went the other way- i DESERVE this!

my half mara was 2.40, which was slow but i wasn't racin anyone

last night on the way home after a few beers i almost got chips...then just thought......NO. am trying to replace fried breakfast on a sat with boiled egg plus smoked or pickled fish...pretty nice alternative!

hurray imogene pass run is over. i was srsly hoping to do under four hours injury free. i ended up 3:24:25, 17th in my age group out of 113.

would be so easy to fuck yourself up beyond belief on the way down-- and many did.

How was the weather on the Imogene Pass Run? Sounds like a pretty amazing race.

I had 18 scheduled today but only did 3.66. Leg started hurting, I suspect because I didn't give time for the cortisone shot to really take effect. I don't think I'm going to attempt a 20 next weekend. In fact I'm just going to run sparingly leading up to the marathon. I think I
Just need rest at this point.

Bummer. I planned an 8-mile for Saturday evening and my legs went leaden before I even made it one mile. Had to do 5 instead, with a couple minutes of walking here and there. Drinking a bunch the night before and then skipping breakfast is not a good running plan. Also, the trails have dried out after the torrential rains, but now they're hard-packed and feel more like concrete than dirt.

fwiw i think resting is the right call at this point, jeff. the fitness gains over the last 3 weeks are probably not that great, and far less important than having sound legs.

f.hazel the weather was PERFECT, completetely cloudless and relatively warm. it was probly mid 40s at the start, 50s at the top, then 60s back down in telluride. i never put on a jacket, just gloves and a superlight long sleeve.

the weird thing about the race is that the final 2 miles or so to the pass, _everyone_ in my area was walking. just a long long string of folks walking up a very very steep jeep road. the elite guys run the whole way im sure. anyway i made it my goal to run 30 or 40 yards every couple of minutes, but i had to back off pretty quickly, just not enough o2 over 12000 feet.

good view of crest of pass from a previous year. because the weather was so nice this year, there were waaay more ppl on the crest spectating/supporting. there were all kinds of air horns and car horns and a giant ass bell going off, in addition to the cheering. you could hear from below well down the mountain, it was super encouraging and fun.

i may have missed this upthread: how long's the imogene pass run? that's a spectacular photo.

its 17.1 miles. garmin had it at 16.8 mi as it usually undercounts on courses with lots of vert and hairpins. also i didn't reset the altimeter, so its about 400 ft low throughout

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/48799670

that's a little bit brutal and a little bit beautiful. or a lot of both, i don't know. cool.