Soup to Nuts - Letsrun Train Me

Just thought I'd throw in that I ran my best 8k since 2006 this past weekend. No speedwork, coming off marathon training, running easy runs slower than ever - it is possible to see improvement even at 41.

This is the second year that I've used a HR monitor to keep my easy runs easy enough. Only now am I getting to the point that even if I don't wear it I can go out and not overdo it. The easy base building until your body is ready for faster stuff is excellent advice.

Continued good luck, in Vegas and Beyond.

First, thanks for all the sensible advice.

I do plan to run the marathon to finish rather than race the distance. I didn't intend to give the impression it was my intention to race the distance, so my apologies if I gave the wrong impression. I guess I should have said the 20 miler yesterday gave me a lot of confidence that I could finish the distance.

VF - Congrats on the 8k. That is inspiring coming from a fellow "old guy". Keep up the good work.

Last bit of business. I reacted much better to the 20 miler this week than the 15 miler last week. Some soreness in the knees and my calves and hamstrings just a little tight, but nothing to prevent an easy run this evening.

I put in 4 easy miles in 36 minutes, with 6 x 30 sec strides with 30 sec jogs in between.

Felt a bit tired and sluggish on my 7 mile run this evening, run at 8:40 + pace.

Good luck with your quest,ID -

At age 39, I had pretty much exactly the same sort of challenge you are taking on - I set out to get to my lifetime PRs, set in high school. I had never stopped running, but I spent my 30s running casually 20-30 mpw and competing just a couple times a year.

So now I am 43 and just this year have made it down to the range of my high school PRs: low 17s for 5k.

This is the point: what got me there was not doing a lot of tough, hard workouts in year 1. I did those, but it just burned me out a little.

What has worked is stringing together 3 years of injury free running. I mention this because you seem to be pushing things in terms of mileage - my advice is to hold down the mileage until you get into great shape. Like 16:30 shape or thereabouts.

I also made sure I hit what I consider the big 4 types of workouts: 200/400; mile/2 mile repeats; tempos; and long runs. Varying paces really helps me.

But overall, I don't see any limits because of age on my performance and you shouldn't either. I am pretty sure that on an average day, my 43 year old self would beat my 17 year old self.

agip wrote:

But overall, I don't see any limits because of age on my performance and you shouldn't either. I am pretty sure that on an average day, my 43 year old self would beat my 17 year old self.

It's interesting that you point that out.

The genesis of this whole thing started about a year ago right before Christmas. I was staring at my 40th birthday 3 months away and thinking I didn't want to be that guy who was middle aged, fat and couldn't keep up with my kids, so I got serious about losing weight and so I did.

The interesting part, at least to me, and the next step in my thinking was that when I was younger I pretty much considered 40 years old as a death sentence for athletic aspiration. Now that I've reached this age and I'm relatively fit, I don't feel so "unathletic". In fact, I don't mentally or physically see anything or than personal neglect holding me back.

All of that has played into my interests and now my strong desire to get relatively "fast" again.

The biggest challenge, I think, will be to fit this refound desire for an athletic life into my busy schedule. I have a lot of responsibility to my family, including 3 young children and none of this can impact them negatively. So I'm going to have to be smart about getting in the workouts.

Thanks for the post, Agip.

Do you dance? Can you teach your kids how to bust some moves? This is one of the best ways of cross training. The agility of good movers is something to behold. It's keeps you young so to speak and improves your running potential greatly.

:) I don't think dancing's my cup of tea, but thanks for the suggestion.

I've been thinking about pacing lately and the solid advice you've all been providing, so in the interest of setting some tangible short term goals that will help me make progress towards my ultimate goals, I've decided to make some pacing pledges that will correspond to some weight loss goals.

Here's the first pacing pledge:

8:50 pace or slower in all my training runs until I hit 179 pounds. My goal is to hit 179 by December 31

As of this morning, I'm 187, so 8 lbs to go until I can drop lower than 8:50's. I'll reset my pacing pledge once I hit my weight goal.

As for tonight's run, I ran 5.5 miles at 8:50 pace plus 6 x 30 sec strides with 30 sec jogs.

Ok, off work so I got my run in early today.

7 easy miles at 8:50 pace.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

So you put on all that weight without getting alchoholically inebriated and getting down? Or are you a heavy metal fan or what?

Don't aim for an 8.50 pace or slower, that's not how to do it man. Train at every pace in the right proportion. Too much slow running will not help the weight loss.

LTD,

I'm not really picking up on your meaning regarding the drinking and depression, so perhaps you can clarify.

As to losing weight, correct me if I'm wrong, its a fairly straightforward formula. Burn more calories than you can consume. I can burn more calories than I consume running 8:50 miles on a consistent basis. The point of the slower pace is to protect myself from the injuries that frequently catch up with me.

Speaking of running, today was an off day. I'm a smidge under the weather and I was due anyway.

Sorry for the lack of updates.

That smidge under the weather from my last post turned into a bad cold. I have 3 young kids, 2 of which attend pre school. They are always bringing home little "gifts" for me.

Anyway, 4 days off from running. I'm feeling better today, so I'll do an easy 30 minute run tonight.

Love your goals. Good luck in your training.

Leee Meee wrote:

Love your goals. Good luck in your training.

Hey, thanks a lot. That is encouraging.

Completed my easy 30 minute run this evening and I felt really good.

I'm stoked that I still have a few days left before the Vegas marathon to get back to feeling normal again.

Good luck to you at LV, and in your larger running initiative (the 15:30 5k).

I have run LVM; it can be really windy, mostly from the SW. Do you know what the weather forecast is, yet?

bauhaus wrote:

Good luck to you at LV, and in your larger running initiative (the 15:30 5k).

I have run LVM; it can be really windy, mostly from the SW. Do you know what the weather forecast is, yet?

Thanks Bauhaus.

So far the weather report looks pretty good. Temps in the mid 40's to start and winds from the NE at 5 mph. Looks pretty ideal. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Regardless, I'm certain to have a lot of fun.

I can't believe I haven't run across this thread before. Incredible.

People keep saying cross-train, and listen - it's a good idea. It's a great idea.

Right now you need to get yourself into a more reasonable runner's build. Running all the time with your body is going to wear you down. My advice would be run frequently, but more importantly you should be focused on being active at all times. Find something to do with your family roller blade, playful soccer, even just playing outside. It's going to take you being a very very active individual to get that weight off. So always be aerobically exercising in different ways (rowing machines, whatever). It's too easy to get trapped into the exclusive running mold. After some time you'll have adjusted enough to get into a serious running routine. You aren't 20 anymore.

good luck

I am saying this because I love you. You need to toughen up.

Impossible Dream wrote:

Sorry for the lack of updates.

That smidge under the weather from my last post turned into a bad cold. I have 3 young kids, 2 of which attend pre school. They are always bringing home little "gifts" for me.

Anyway, 4 days off from running. I'm feeling better today, so I'll do an easy 30 minute run tonight.

First, an easy 40 minute run this evening. Felt good.

Constant activities with my kids is just a fact of life for me, so I've got that covered. Cross training is how I lost the first 15 pounds of the 30 I lost. Throughout the year, I was a fairly regular occupant of our home weight room and the one at work. Also started a regiment of core exercises about mid way through the year. The last month I've kind of dropped the peripheral stuff as I was overcoming some sickness and injury so I could focus on just running as I wanted to be prepared for Vegas. I'll be adding that stuff back in gradually after this Sunday.

I also play as much golf as my schedule allows. Not a cart golfer, I walk and carry. A goal not discussed in this thread but that I'll share is that I want to break 80 in golf. I usually shoot in the mid 80's, but haven't made that big break through yet.

Honestly, and I cringe while admitting this, my dietary habits could improve quite a bit. I lack some self discipline in portion control and in snacking. So, although I burn a lot of calories, I tend to consume quite few also.

To my friend, Mr. Burns, I think I have a pretty good case for being to "tough" (some might say stupid), as many times in the past I have attempted to run through illness and or injury and have never come out the better for it. I think I'm going to continue with the policy of not running when I'm sick or when I'm hurt if its all the same to you.

Peace.

running through injury isn't a good idea, but a cold (permitted it isn't raining and 40 out) shouldn't be a reason not to run.

if you are going to take a day off though--don't eat anything...

ok that's a little extreme, but eat less and more greens. All about the weight loss for you right now, then you can really start to train.