Given everything, my advice would be to swap several runs for longer cross training sessions and strength work, assuming you've got access to a gym, for a few months, then increase the running again. For example, for the rest of this year do something like this (vary it by week, make each 4th week much easier, take a day off if you want):
Mon - leg/core strength - squats, split squats, deadlift, plank, situps, etc. Heavy weights, low reps
Tue - non-running aerobic - bike, elliptical etc. 60+ mins
Wed - easy run - 6 miles at 10:15/mile, plus strides
Thu - harder run - 4 miles at 9:20/mile (warmup 1 mile at 10:15+). Make an effort to do this.
Fri - upper/core/leg strength - similar to Mon plus upper body exercises. Heavy, low reps
Sat - non-running aerobic - bike, elliptical etc. 60+ mins
Sun - 8 miles at 10:15/mile, speed up over the last 2 miles if you feel like it
Lose weight but not with a faddy diet, just eat less and better. Everything in moderation but reduce junk food and cut out soda completely; make water your main drink
Sleep 7-8+ hours
Do a short dynamic warmup before runs (lunge, swing, jump, buttkick). Static stretch after (calves, hamstrings, flexors, etc.)
See if you can get some fire going for this challenge. "Jog a lot" (20 miles) is too casual to do this - get some fire in the blood. Watch some famous races/documentaries on yt. Look up Jo Pavey.
Train Me
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The above will build up your aerobic fitness and muscular strength which will make running say a 5K feel easier than it does now. After that I would start adding speed work to get you used to running fairly fast with good form and economy, over 200/400m, and also the occasional race (e.g. 5K). Then after a while add intervals (800m, 1K) to build up your aerobic power and stamina/speed endurance. After a while of doing that, you'll be ready to run a fast mile. Assuming you can lose weight, avoid injury, recover well, and - very importantly - want it enough, you'll have a fair chance at running 6:30 by 2020.
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As far as diet goes I've sort of been Paleo. I guess you'd call that a fad diet? I'm not having any sugar or sodas except in fruit. Mostly avocados and bananas and I just try to stick to meat and veggies every meal and around 1500 calories a day. All water or black coffee. The weight came off real fast the first couple of weeks but only 2 lbs a week the last couple. I guess it couldn't fall off that quickly forever though or everyone would probably be skinny.
I hear everyone really pushing that long run and I'm trying i just need to build up to it. That 5.2 last week didn't feel that bad until the next day when my knees were pretty achy.
I was considering once or twice a week of cross fit because there's a cross fit guy in town. That's the only thing they have here and it's free. And maybe swimming if they have the pool open this year (our school's long time pool employee retired and I'm not sure if the new guy is going to allow it for free like it used to be). I have been doing some lunges and planks a few times a week already, I just didn't mention it. -
Not walking near enough. Way too lazy to reach your goal, but give it hell.
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Everytime I see this thread it reminds me of this song.
https://youtu.be/hq7i7yBPn1U -
That's a great challenge!
I think your need to adopt a better strategy, I mostly agree with calf and a half's example program but I would go one step further : strength training, 100% easy runs (or other aerobic activities) and no speed work during several months, maybe a year.
You do risk injuries doing speed work for close to zero returns until you haven't lost more weight.
Strength training will give you much more benefits but it should be an pre-established routine that lasts at least an hour.
Only easy run to built a solid aerobic base, work on your lipolysis and strengthen your bones, muscles and tendons gently. From your 8:25 mile, I'd say you're jogging too fast. You should be able to chat comfortably while jogging. It's a patience game that will help you to double your mileage easily and burn fat. Remember : 10lbs=20s/mile faster for someone who's already trained. Speed work next year would fill the gap to 6:30 if still needed. -
Nirvana song wrote:
Everytime I see this thread it reminds me of this song.
https://youtu.be/hq7i7yBPn1U
That's a good song, but why? -
hi there wrote:
That's a great challenge!
I think your need to adopt a better strategy, I mostly agree with calf and a half's example program but I would go one step further : strength training, 100% easy runs (or other aerobic activities) and no speed work during several months, maybe a year.
You do risk injuries doing speed work for close to zero returns until you haven't lost more weight.
Strength training will give you much more benefits but it should be an pre-established routine that lasts at least an hour.
Only easy run to built a solid aerobic base, work on your lipolysis and strengthen your bones, muscles and tendons gently. From your 8:25 mile, I'd say you're jogging too fast. You should be able to chat comfortably while jogging. It's a patience game that will help you to double your mileage easily and burn fat. Remember : 10lbs=20s/mile faster for someone who's already trained. Speed work next year would fill the gap to 6:30 if still needed.
I did 7 miles this morning and my knees and balls of my feet are screaming. I'm not sure how many easy slow miles I have in me. Lol.
I did notice that the Friday intervals were really difficult no matter which length I did. I guess by Friday my legs are too tired from the full week and I'm almost certain I need a day off in there somewhere if the next week is going to be of any substance. Lots of suggestions to work with though. Lots of ways to skin this cat! -
Just FYI, my Strava says I gave "massive effort" this morning and I'm already over my effort for the week and it starts on Mondays. Not sure how it calculates these things but I've never seen it say that.
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SlowAFRunnrMom wrote:
hi there wrote:
That's a great challenge!
I think your need to adopt a better strategy, I mostly agree with calf and a half's example program but I would go one step further : strength training, 100% easy runs (or other aerobic activities) and no speed work during several months, maybe a year.
You do risk injuries doing speed work for close to zero returns until you haven't lost more weight.
Strength training will give you much more benefits but it should be an pre-established routine that lasts at least an hour.
Only easy run to built a solid aerobic base, work on your lipolysis and strengthen your bones, muscles and tendons gently. From your 8:25 mile, I'd say you're jogging too fast. You should be able to chat comfortably while jogging. It's a patience game that will help you to double your mileage easily and burn fat. Remember : 10lbs=20s/mile faster for someone who's already trained. Speed work next year would fill the gap to 6:30 if still needed.
I did 7 miles this morning and my knees and balls of my feet are screaming. I'm not sure how many easy slow miles I have in me. Lol.
I did notice that the Friday intervals were really difficult no matter which length I did. I guess by Friday my legs are too tired from the full week and I'm almost certain I need a day off in there somewhere if the next week is going to be of any substance. Lots of suggestions to work with though. Lots of ways to skin this cat!
Another good reason to ditch the speed work day for now and to run your easy run slower ;)
Patience is key here. -
hi there wrote:
That's a great challenge!
I think your need to adopt a better strategy, I mostly agree with calf and a half's example program but I would go one step further : strength training, 100% easy runs (or other aerobic activities) and no speed work during several months, maybe a year.
You do risk injuries doing speed work for close to zero returns until you haven't lost more weight.
Strength training will give you much more benefits but it should be an pre-established routine that lasts at least an hour.
Only easy run to built a solid aerobic base, work on your lipolysis and strengthen your bones, muscles and tendons gently. From your 8:25 mile, I'd say you're jogging too fast. You should be able to chat comfortably while jogging. It's a patience game that will help you to double your mileage easily and burn fat. Remember : 10lbs=20s/mile faster for someone who's already trained. Speed work next year would fill the gap to 6:30 if still needed.
This is good advice. Lots of LetsRun posters get ahead of themselves giving advice. The 400m reps are great, but NOT at your stage of training. You need to 1) lose weight 2) speed up your metabolism and 3) build your endurance.
Speedwork can be introduced later after you've built a base of running 25-30 miles/week and lost about 20 pounds. You said your knees were sore after running 7 miles. That is a concern. You need to make sure you have the right shoes or else you're going to get injured. Studies show that over half of beginners training for their first half or marathon drop out due to injuries. Your distance is the mile, but the data is clear that injuries are common among beginners.
You can speed up your metabolism by working with the crossfit guy you mentioned. Lifting will help you lose weight. Just tell the guy that your goal is to become a better runner, not Ms. Crossfit of the Year.
Running more miles will build endurance. You should alternate between hard (or long) days and easy (short, rest, or crosstraining) days. Right now, you are doing two hard days in a row. A long run day (whatever is long for you) and an interval day are both considered "hard" so in the future avoid doing these days back to back.
I would suggest that you still do a 400m or 800m workout every couple of weeks, but you're overdoing it by doing two of these workouts every week.
Dropping two pounds a week is GREAT! It will be hard to maintain that pace, but just keep at it. For what it's worth, my two women running partners are your height and weigh under 120... and they are a lot older than you.
Getting under 7 minutes/mile is going to be hard. You might want to renegotiate your bet with your daughter. I'm not saying you can't do it, but getting to 7 from 8:15 is going to be a lot easier than getting from 7 to 6:30. -
I alternate between glycerins and levitates. It's just the long runs pounding on my knees. Especially when I'm forcing myself to go easy pace because I tend to bounce more and I'm pretty sure 155+ lbs for 75 mins is what made them hurt. I've been mowing for the last 2 hrs and they feel fine now.
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fisky wrote:
hi there wrote:
That's a great challenge!
I think your need to adopt a better strategy, I mostly agree with calf and a half's example program but I would go one step further : strength training, 100% easy runs (or other aerobic activities) and no speed work during several months, maybe a year.
You do risk injuries doing speed work for close to zero returns until you haven't lost more weight.
Strength training will give you much more benefits but it should be an pre-established routine that lasts at least an hour.
Only easy run to built a solid aerobic base, work on your lipolysis and strengthen your bones, muscles and tendons gently. From your 8:25 mile, I'd say you're jogging too fast. You should be able to chat comfortably while jogging. It's a patience game that will help you to double your mileage easily and burn fat. Remember : 10lbs=20s/mile faster for someone who's already trained. Speed work next year would fill the gap to 6:30 if still needed.
This is good advice. Lots of LetsRun posters get ahead of themselves giving advice. The 400m reps are great, but NOT at your stage of training. You need to 1) lose weight 2) speed up your metabolism and 3) build your endurance.
Speedwork can be introduced later after you've built a base of running 25-30 miles/week and lost about 20 pounds. You said your knees were sore after running 7 miles. That is a concern. You need to make sure you have the right shoes or else you're going to get injured. Studies show that over half of beginners training for their first half or marathon drop out due to injuries. Your distance is the mile, but the data is clear that injuries are common among beginners.
You can speed up your metabolism by working with the crossfit guy you mentioned. Lifting will help you lose weight. Just tell the guy that your goal is to become a better runner, not Ms. Crossfit of the Year.
Running more miles will build endurance. You should alternate between hard (or long) days and easy (short, rest, or crosstraining) days. Right now, you are doing two hard days in a row. A long run day (whatever is long for you) and an interval day are both considered "hard" so in the future avoid doing these days back to back.
I would suggest that you still do a 400m or 800m workout every couple of weeks, but you're overdoing it by doing two of these workouts every week.
Dropping two pounds a week is GREAT! It will be hard to maintain that pace, but just keep at it. For what it's worth, my two women running partners are your height and weigh under 120... and they are a lot older than you.
Getting under 7 minutes/mile is going to be hard. You might want to renegotiate your bet with your daughter. I'm not saying you can't do it, but getting to 7 from 8:15 is going to be a lot easier than getting from 7 to 6:30.
How old is "a lot older?" Lol -
SlowAFRunnrMom wrote:
How old is "a lot older?" Lol
They are 59 and 60. -
I will train you if you be my gf.
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Monday-7 miles @ 10:17 pace
Tuesday-1 hr 45 minutes indoor biking
Wednesday- 1/2 mile warmup @ 9:50
8x400 (1:48, 1:57, 1:47,1:52,1:54,1:52, 1:53, 1:51) avg 1:52
Thursday- 1 mile @ 10:15. Then a friend came up and wanted to talk and walk and I didn't want to be rude.
Indoor biked for 1 hr.
Friday- Got t-boned early in the day at the only light in town. Spent my whole day trying to get things from the wreck taken care of before the weekend hit. Tried to run that evening but was starting to feel sore from wreck. Did 2 miles walk/jog in 32:03. Bike 30 mins.
Saturday- woke up very sore. Tried more walking and jogging. 1.6 miles in over an hour. Had to keep stopping and resting/stretching.
Sunday/Monday- Decided to just give my back a break and rest.
Weighed myself on Monday as usual and had lost nothing. I stuck to my diet so I guess it's just something else. Maybe I didn't do enough running or maybe I've just hit a temporary plateau. -
Don't give up. There will be good days and bad days but consistency and pleasure are keys!
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Good wrote:
Don't give up. There will be good days and bad days but consistency and pleasure are keys!
My friend said if I run/walk until my back gets better and just keep my heart rate from getting too low then it'll help with weight loss. Can anyone confirm? If so, what heart rate? -
SlowAFRunnrMom wrote:
Good wrote:
Don't give up. There will be good days and bad days but consistency and pleasure are keys!
My friend said if I run/walk until my back gets better and just keep my heart rate from getting too low then it'll help with weight loss. Can anyone confirm? If so, what heart rate?
Caloric deficit is how you loose weight. -
Back was still hurting off and on until Thursday.
Tues. 5.25 miles walk/run or 1.5 hrs.
Had to keep stopping do to back pain and 90 degree temps.
Wed. 2 miles @ 12 min pace and 1.5 hrs indoor bike
Thurs. 2.5 miles @14 min pace and 30 mins indoor bicycling
Fri. 2 hrs indoor bike
Sat. 3 miles run/walk at xc meet
Sun. 1.5 hrs indoor bike.
Current weight 154.2
My mother is in the hospital dying and I'm trying not to let it become an excuse to fail right now.
