Good preparations though I would suggest adding (if you go to a gym) squats and leg extensions to work the muscles that stabilize the knees.
Squats-don’t go full squat, thighs should be parallel to the ground at most. Too deep a squat stresses the knees.
Leg extensions-focus on the top portion of the movement but don’t lock out.
Do the PT-no slacking.
Cycling is good for the knees as long as you spin in a low gear. You won’t get a better workout pushing a high gear and it’s bad for the knees.
I’ve been a big fan of heart rate monitors for many years.
Almonds are not a good choice-high in fat and low in carbs. The carbs are far too slowly absorbed to do you any good on the road.
An hour or so before running, try a light snack like a bagel and banana.
If you want to carry something, various carbohydrate gels are are popular with runners and cyclists.
I’ve never tolerated gels but have had good results from Jelly Belly Sports Beans. You might also try gummi candies.
Trail running would be good for your knees, the softer ground helps.
Going up hills is actually good for the knees, can you work out a route that lets you go up steep and come down more gradually?(I know,perfect world and all that )
The problem with a bagel and a banana is that it’s a total of about 11 Weight Watchers points, and I only get 26 a day. The almonds aren’t exactly to give me energy for running, but to pull me through if I get low blood sugar attacks. This leads to me being very, very stupid and unable to decide what to do. A person with the problems that I have actually should act kind of the opposite of a diabetic: high protein snacks like nuts, seeds, beef jerkey that give a sustained, slow release. I’m operating under the assumption that in 30 minutes max of running, that any food I need will only be related to blood sugar issues, not the exercise itself.
I have some access to a gym, but it’s a very small, office kind of thing with some free weights and a multi-station nautilus style machine. At home, I have ankle weights and a resistance band. Oh, and stairs, which are great for that thing where you stand on a step with one foot and dip down to touch the ground with your other heel. At least when I was recovering from the surgery, that kicked my butt. Maybe I can do a leg extension exercise with the resistance band.
My PT centered around working the quads to fatigue. I am not supposed to exercise to strengthen the outside side muscle or stretch the inside side leg muscle. The original state of those muscles caused my kneecaps to track off center, causing my major knee problems.
You do know that telling me not to slack on PT is making silk1976 do an “I was right” dance, don’t you?
I’ll drive around and see if there is anyplace that would let me do the hill route you describe, but I’m not sure I want to make this any harder on myself than I have to, at least at the beginning. People upthread were throwing up after Day 1! How steep do you consider steep?
Steep depends on your fitness. It should be enough to get your heart rate up in a fairly short distance. The main idea is that when running uphill, impact forces are much lower but you need a long gradual downhill to recover. It should be shallow enough to not have to brake when going down.
Can you use or get a treadmill? That way you can start out uphill the whole way plus treadmills offer more cushioning.
Doing hills is not much harder that flats if you go by time/effort/heart rate. Where most runners have trouble with hills is that they don’t adjust effort to match the hill and wind up going too hard, it has the same effect of sprinting during a run, increasing fatigue.
I think Weight Watchers allows extra points for exercise.
As for the PT, I’ve been there, suck it up. :D:D:D:D
Are you on insulin, Mithril? When I was using insulin, my doc told me that he recommended a handful of M&Ms (15g of carbohydrate worth) as a good remedy for hypoglycemia. I would think that almonds, being so high in protein and fiber, would take too long to metabolize to be really good at combating a low blood sugar episode. However, my basic philosophy is that you should do whatever is working for you.
Yanno, maybe it would be good for someone to start a new thread, since there are a whole bunch of people just coming in on the first few weeks of the program. It’s up to y’all; I’m dealing with a rather sudden work-related financial instability issue that we just found out about yesterday so I may be slightly more scarce than usual for a while.
I’ve not seen much of “Friends” (just Phoebe’s songs clips) so I’d never seen that. That is awesome. It’s a bit like the way I remember running when I was a kid, that feeling of speed and inexhaustability and joy…definitely getting back to that. Thanks for posting it!
I finished the C25K program just before we went traveling for a month. We still managed to squeeze in some runs about twice a week. When we came back we increased our time and mileage from the 30 minute runs to be ready for a 4th of July 5 mile event, and I started the cool running Beginner 5k program’s pretraining and am now in week 5 of the program.
I’ve started a post C25K program/running log thread here.
I love these kinds of threads, I’ve enjoyed reading through this even though I ran into it too late, because I can totally identify with the dread of the 20 minute run. I was so nervous I wouldn’t be able to do it, but I did and it was easy! I felt like I could run more. But even if it hadn’t been, there’s no harm in repeating a week to build up, since building up and avoiding burnout/injury is the whole point.
I think these threads are great motivators. I keep a log of my miles and times using logyourrun, which I got for the shoe log aspect of it, but I like the more personal and interactive journally aspect of the SDMB community thread.
There have been questions about starting a different thread for post C25K program people, to not diffuse the focus of this thread or perhaps inadvertently discourage people just starting out–when running two minutes straight is hard, it can be frustrating to read someone talking about their “easy run” being a 25 minute 5k and how they just did a 6 mile run. (Or it can be inspiring, it all depends on your mood at the time.)
I’m still such a running newbie, a lot of the programs and jargon are still confusing, and I like the focus in this thread: to be motivating and supportive and stick to the Couch to 5k program.
So this other thread is for the next step, to keep challenging ourselves and get faster and fitter (if that’s our goal) and just to retain that running ability and motivation. For me, having a little program to stick to really helps. I’ve been trying to be a “real” runner for a long time, off and on and never really stuck with it, never really building enough endurance to run a whole 5k straight through, then slacking off and not running at all for a while, then starting from square 1. I’d really like it to stick this time and I think it will, as this is as running fit as I have ever been and sustained for the last couple months. I love seeing the mileage pile up.
Oh, no. It’s nothing like that at all. I just get suddenly weak, nauseated, and stupid all of a sudden when my blood sugar crashes. Eating simple carbs can help for a little bit, but it sets me up for a worse crash when the sugar cycles out of my system. I feel better literally within a minute of eating the almonds, although that may only be a psychological reaction.
This board needs more selection of emoticon/smilies to get anywhere close to my reaction to this…
Agree with runner pat that normally almonds aren’t the greatest choice because of the low carb content. On the longer training sessions (whether running, biking, or whatever) - 30-60g of carbs per hour is a good number to shoot for. However, for workouts lasting less than 1 hour (which would be most C25K people), there are usually enough carbs in the bloodstream to suffice for at least finishing the session - which is the most important thing.
Tortuga - That other thread is a great idea. I keep a blog of my own exercise, and I find it really useful for adjusting from one training session to the next - or tracking history. There are multiple times I looked at performances for intervals or whatever last year and compare them to this year and can see a large degree of improvement.
It’s gotta be as the almonds won’t digest in under a minute. I don’t think pure glucose would work that fast.
I have this vague memory that an adrenaline surge is responsible as people have had their blood sugar tested while having those symptoms and it’s been normal. I’m trying to find something online right now.
Generally, blood sugar levels stay normal during exercise until glycogen stores are depleted.
If I remember right from when I was on insulin and would occasionally have serious hypoglycemic episodes (i.e. blood sugar in the 50-80 range, and sometimes even lower), it would typically take about 5 minutes for even pure sugar water (aka Sprite) to start to affect me. But then, that was my experience as a pregnant diabetic woman on insulin who got light to moderate activity. A non-pregnant non-insulin-using runner is a whole different scene.
Although, Mithril’s description of symptoms is a good match for how I felt when hypoglycemic. The only thing missing is that weird metallic taste in your mouth.
It was such a nice day out today that I decided to do W1D1 early. Some unfortunate equipment and wardrobe malfunctions caused me to cut it a little bit short, so I’m calling it week 0. It’s a pre-program run to get the kinks worked out.
I couldn’t figure out quickly how to put the podcast on top of music that I like, so I decided just to go out with the podcast. silk1976 came with me because he wanted to see if I was heelstriking too much, so he helped me pass the time without music. I lost track of the podcast and am using an iPod shuffle, so I had no idea where I was in the program. So it wound up being six 60-second runs instead of eight. Also, my underwear was falling down and my shorts were riding up - not exactly the look I’m going for. Every fourth or fifth step was a bowlegged kind of thing that sort of adjusted the shorts.
Good things:
I’m not heel striking too hard
No blood sugar issues
3/4 of week one wasn’t hard work at all, so the trail walking must have done its job
There is enough flattish ground in the neighborhood that I can mix it up a little bit
My new sports bra is fantastic!
Not a single twinge from either knee
I’m doing my own little modified version of C25K and am at 2 minutes running out of every 5. I am fully amazed at how great I feel when running, my legs and breathing are working great.
But, I had not anticipated my arms wearing out. I would not have thought just holding them in the runner-type position would be tiring, but I find they are cramping up and I have to stop running to let them rest by my sides. Does anyone else have this problem? Does anyone know how to fix it?
Finished W7D2 yesterday, and it’s getting easier, that 25 minutes. I’m certain that I’ll have it down Saturday, just in time for the 28 minuter. Fabulous.
Also, I need a longer route for next week. The current route is 2.5 miles, so I’m figuring that I’m right on track to hit 3 miles in two weeks.
I just did the 20 minute run, It was easier then I thought it would be, but I did bring my pace down for the last 5 minutes, the 5 minute walk before and after are really helping with avoiding muscle pains later, the first 2 weeks I had some back issues, but I haven’t had any pain since…
Finished week 1 yesterday, and hope to start week 2 tomorrow (have a busy week coming up). Been having some hip pain, and it’s probably the shoes - which are kinda old, so went and got some new ones.
I am trying to remain loose and keep my hands un-fisted. Last time I ran I “lead with the elbows” and focused more on going back with my arms than going forward. That seemed to help. Also, I’m starting to tone my arms and stuff, to build strength/endurance.
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