I just want to add support for Impossible Dream. Keep working, man. You have a goal and you have a plan. Keep being strong against the naysayers. Nice work putting yourself and your struggles "out there" for all to see. Good luck to you.
I just want to add support for Impossible Dream. Keep working, man. You have a goal and you have a plan. Keep being strong against the naysayers. Nice work putting yourself and your struggles "out there" for all to see. Good luck to you.
Thanks for the kind words Running Ahead. Much appreciated!
Training Update -
Thursday Am - Squats and Lunges
PM - Core Work, Light Weights and I managed a 30 minute run with a lot less coughing than the night before.
Today, Am - 5 x 15 sets of push ups
PM - Core Work and a 45 minute run
Seems like I've got my energy mostly back, just can't wait for this cough to go away.
Have you run 17:00 yet? Too lazy to read the thread.
geezer23 wrote:
Have you run 17:00 yet? Too lazy to read the thread.
It's possible you're in the wrong thread. I'm not trying to running 17:00.
Have a good night. Thanks for dropping by.
Training Update:
Saturday AM Squats and Lunges,Light Weights, 20 minute run
PM core work and 50 min run
Sunday mid afternoon, 90 minutes covering 12+ miles (not so good at pacing when off the treadmill.) :(
Impossible Dream wrote:
Training Update:
Saturday AM Squats and Lunges,Light Weights, 20 minute run
PM core work and 50 min run
Sunday mid afternoon, 90 minutes covering 12+ miles (not so good at pacing when off the treadmill.) :(
Bad ID. Clearly, your punishment for this infraction is that you're going to have to buy a Garmin to keep yourself on pace.
Wait... I see what you did there.
:) (But I will confess that I find said devices extremely useful for forcing myself to slow the hell down.) As before, awesome progress and perseverance!
I agree with quack about using something to slow down pace - my choice was a HR monitor. Now if only I could get back to running...
Keep it up ID.
Quack,
I'm definitely interested in picking up a garmin. I've dropped hints with my better half. I've got a good track record there as she has gifted me a garmin for golf in the past. :)
VF, what is up with your situation? Why no running?
Impossible Dream wrote:
Just so we're crystal clear, JO, you are clearly not a serious nor well intentioned individual. Appropriately, I will ignore your posts within this thread and in other threads. I wish you well and hope that you find more appropriate outlets for your energy.
Thanks for the post "agreement". Congrats on your weight loss!
So you will only pay attention to people who agree with you?
My advice is very sound. I ran faster as a master than the times you aim for.
was there a single piece of advice from this thread that you have taken that did not come from yourself?
That's what I use as well- I like the GPS for telling me how slowly I ran afterwords, though. :) I've found that training by HR has been the best way for me to stay healthy. Hope you're back on your feet soon, VF.
ID, I just saw this thread. Congratulations on all you have achieved so far, and keep it up.
If someone in your position had asked me for advice I would have suggested losing 1lb per week, because I personally find I run out of energy and my workouts fall apart if I diet harder. Many nutritionists say the same. But that's for athletes trying to maintain hard training. Given that you have the willpower and aren't worried about training pace, losing the weight first makes lots of sense.
I came back from 15 years off, lost 30lb (admittedly not the 60lb you're aiming for), and came down to 26:40 for 5 miles at 44 which I'm pretty happy with. Also gunning for 15:30ish this summer. My main problem is to drop another 10-12lb and you've inspired me.
I figure you have about 6 weeks until target weight and starting to run a bit more mileage. I suggest you spend some of it converting that general strength into specifically developing running muscles. 3 little tweaks...
1. I notice a lot of push-ups. Can you find a way to do chins, or maybe inverted rows, in the rests? This would balance the upper body development a bit, and burn a few more calories. Best of all develop a little timed circuit of upper body and core stuff with a few more exercises.
2. On the lower body, progress to harder exercises. You want to really develop your running muscles. Burpees, step ups, single leg squats, squat jumps. Google 'RunningArt2004 leg crank' for an ex-poster here who had some great running strength routines.
3. Once or twice a week do a few drills and strides, on a hill if you have one nearby. This isn't like mileage - you can safely do it at your weight. Work in gradually but after a few weeks you could be doing 6-8 x 10sec sprints uphill with full power.
I came back from the strength/power end before I added mileage, on the advice of a great coach, and have been lucky to have few injury problems.
Finally, how about posting a quick summary once a week - weight, mileage, workouts. It would make this a bit easier to follow. You may also want to join the 'Masters Weekend Runs and Races' thread which appears every Sunday.
Euro,
First of all, thanks for such a thoughtful post and taking the time to craft it.
Regarding your advice, lots of great stuff there. I'll respond in order ....
1 - Good point on the balance and recommending some lat work. I'll work those in and I think my golf game will also thank you for that.
2 - As I was doing lunges this morning I thought to myself I should be doing these with dumbbells now, because they are feeling easy and I'm no longer getting sore doing them. I should add that I do a lot of lunge variations in my core routine including side to side, backwards with a tilt, and criss cross. I'll look into the RunningArt stuff.
BTW - What exactly is a burpee?
3 - Are 20-30 second striders equivalent to what you're getting at here or should I really be doing sprints uphill. I definitely could pull this off on the treadmill, is 15% grade steep enough?
I have posted a couple of weekly summary posts, but those have been inconsistent. I'll start knocking those out every Sunday.
Thanks again Euro!
Impossible Dream wrote:
2 - As I was doing lunges this morning I thought to myself I should be doing these with dumbbells now, because they are feeling easy and I'm no longer getting sore doing them. I should add that I do a lot of lunge variations in my core routine including side to side, backwards with a tilt, and criss cross. I'll look into the RunningArt stuff.
BTW - What exactly is a burpee?
Burpees are a combination plyometric-style exercise that goes from pushup through a jump squat; they're a favorite of the CrossFit crowd:
http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/burpeeclip.htm(They burn!)
Re striders vs hill sprints: My feeling is that hill sprints are a bit more strenuous and have more of a strength training effect than striders. I try to mix up between them, but while I'll do strides on a recovery day, I usually don't do repeats of short hill sprints if I'm already feeling tired.
Burpees used to seem so easy back when I was in HS and we did them every day. Now ... not so much.
My nagging heel issue just hasn't gone away so I finally decided to bite the bullet and take 7-10 (god I hope not more) days completely off from running. It's feeling better now after 4 days off. I'm trying to instill some of my own cross-training habits during this time.
Nominally I'm supposed to start marathon training this coming Monday. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Glad to be of help! I see some stuff has been answered.
For hill sprints...this is a good intro.
http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=15737&PageNum=1
I am not suggesting you become a sprinter or even 1500 runner; but this WILL cut your injury risk from the mileage to come, it 'perks you up' when tired from marathon-type training, and good mechanics and power will count as you chase the 15:30.
As a general progression for single leg exercises, you can go a LONG way with bodyweight and a solid step or box, and do even better with a dumbell or two. This thread has 2 posts by Alan Tobin (RunningArt2004) which are great sessions.
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3471209
In an ideal world I'd suggest 2-3 sessions of leg strength work each week, with at least a day in between. It works well to do the hill sprints on the same day as the exercises (e.g. at end of a run), as you are warmed up.
--
I have to thank you as well. I set some ambitious goals this season, sort of a last fling at the sport before I slow down too much. Rationally I know that the main thing I need to do to move up a level on last season is to lose another 5kg, but I'd been doing everything else instead. You have inspired me to start counting calories again (using the excellent
). Currently on 75kg (165), ran PBs 20 years ago 1t 70kg (154), will try to report in as I progress!
Forgot to say - 15% is definitely steep and good for strength.
I'm quite lucky that I run home from work and can detour just 100m to find a steep hill. But don't be fussy, any gradient works and variety is best. Flat strides/sprints on a track or grass are great occasionally too, but not on asphalt. The steeper the hill the more the strength element, and the less injury risk from impact/deceleration. So do a few weeks of hill sprints before you try flat ones, and NEVER do flat sprints on asphalt; grass or track only.
When it was snowing I tried on a treadmill. The problem was that the treadmill takes time to build up to top speed - in my gym it's about 20sec. So I'd basically program it for a minute at top speed (5:00 mile pace at 15%), hit 'go', then stay with it as long as possible. So my 'sprints' were more like 30sec buildups of which the final 5sec was a full sprint, and I'd then grab the handrails and lift feet off.
Flights of stairs or stadium steps are great too!
Final word on hills for tonight...both these guys were big fans!
Impossible Dream, I just browsed through this thread for the first time as well. Rest assured this pursuit will be one of the most rewarding things you will do in your life.
Reading this thread just makes me smile, because I know what you are in for. I'm 50 now, and am enjoying the results from doing basically the same thing since the middle of '07. I just set a PR in the half marathon (never ran one until 2010) by 2:45 and my weight this morning was within one pound of my college racing weight. While I have no illusions about breaking the times at the distances I ran in my youth (those would be age-group world records at age 50), I do have the intention of getting back to the age graded percentages I was at back then.
Better health and very rewarding experiences await.
PhysMech wrote:
I just set a PR in the half marathon (never ran one until 2010) by 2:45 and my weight this morning was within one pound of my college racing weight
PhysMech, congratulations!
Out of curiosity, do you think you now have more fat and less muscle, or do you think you have actually achieved the same body composition? And if it's not rude, were you a skinny runner shape in college, or a normal beer-drinking student shape? ;-) I'm really curious how lean 40-50 year olds can get...