Tell me about running for fitness.

In My Humble Opinion
1

It’s Spring, which means for the most part it’s safe to go outside. :slight_smile:

Mr. Olives and I spent part of our winter half-assing our way through DDR in an attempt to get in shape. It kept my mood up, but it didn’t do much by way of weight loss, which is definitely one of my goals.

He used to be a competitive cross-country runner in high school – he averaged about 7 miles per day with a max distance of 13 miles. He won some award for going two-and-a-half entire years without missing a single day of running. Personally, I avoided running at every opportunity. My only memory of actual attempted running happened in 9th grade, when I ran the state-required mile without resting for the first time in my life and promptly required knee surgery.

Last night I figured, what the hell, we’re grown-ups, lets go for a run together. He was excited because while he remains thin and well-fed, he hadn’t run for years because there was no-one to do it with.

Well, there’s no way to really mince words: I’m overweight and out of shape. :frowning: When we were finished, I felt like my head was going to explode, my chest was going to collapse (I actually have some major chest congestion right now which might be part of it) and I was going to throw up. Every part of my body hurt. That really seems to happen only with running, never with rollerblading or DDR or just about any other physical activity I’ve done for fun/fitness. But maybe that’s the point–running involves your whole body, and few other activities do.

Even more bizarrely, I woke up this morning wanting to keep doing it. I guess I’m some kind of masochist. I’m just tired of being out of shape. Besides, I sort of like the idea of being able to share something healthy with my husband. He’s been very patient watching me struggle at something that is as natural to him as breathing.

So tell me what you know about running for fitness. Is it the most efficient (time-wise) sort of exercise? Is it effective at losing weight? What’s a reasonable time frame for someone lazy and squishy like myself? How often should I do it, if weight loss is one of my goals? Has anyone else overcome a very strong aversion to running and become successful and healthy and wise as a result? Is there anything important I should know?

Thanks,
Christy

p.s. I in no way wish to imply, in this OP, that I am a wimp who gives up easily. I am actually quite a persevering individual and am willing to tolerate quite a bit of discomfort in the interest of achieving a goal, just for the sake of doing it. Often, with exercise in particular, I push myself too hard, and burn out. For example, my last serious fitness attempt was rollerblading – I started out 3 miles a day in 24 minutes and by the end of the month was doing 15 miles, 1.5 hours a day, and absolutely making myself miserable. I want to avoid this tendency to overdo things if at all possible, because ultimately it will be my downfall. I need a good balance between seeing results and staying grounded in reality.

2

Cool Running has a couch to 5k program. I loved it because it was doable for me on day one. You might give it a try.

That way you can avoid burnout from trying to do too much too quickly, you will have achievable goals and you will not feel like you are gonna puke.

3

Wow, thanks for the link! I’m going for Day #1 right now…

4

Answer to the first question: Yes. Well, I don’t know about successful or wise, but…I despised running for most of my life. When we had to run laps in grade school PE, I was always struggling to finish my first lap when the rest of the class would merrily run by me on their second. I hated it. 3 years ago, I took up running. Partly on a whim, partly because I had an infant and a toddler at home and I needed a time-efficient way to get back in shape.

I love love love running. I am addicted to running. I have run half-marathons and am hoping to train for a marathon. I get sad when I can’t run…or even downright bitchy.

Answer to the second question: Get the right shoes. Running does not have to destroy your knees or hips or whatever…if you have the right shoes. Find a small running store owned and operated by runners (i.e., Not FootLocker or someplace staffed by high school kids making minimum wage) and get fitted for proper shoes. Every part of you will thank you. ETA link to running stores near you: http://www.runmichigan.com/stores/

Also, starting off with something like Couch-to-5K is important. If you’re just starting out, your body has a lot to adjust to.

As for the weight loss aspect—run for fitness, eat to lose weight. Running burns something in the area of 100 calories/mile, so it won’t get you there on its own. That said, I have dropped 2 or 3 pant sizes in the past 3 years, so something’s working.

Good luck, and have fun!

5

Thanks for the advice, lorene! I did want to mention I just started implementing a common sense sort of diet change… I’m not an overeater but sometimes I eat unhealthy/pre-packaged/frozen stuff… my fruit and veggie intake is pathetic, so I basically just cleaned my house of every sort of unhealthy thing I could find and bought a TON of fresh fruits and veggies and other fresh foods… my goal is to consume 50-75% fruits and veggies for each meal and 25% protein/fiber. I have a small appetite and fill up quickly, and I figure I can use this to my advantage is I priorities fruits and veggies first. In terms of willpower, it doesn’t seem like the greatest sacrifice because a juicy strawberry or a ripe plum is equally appealing to me as a candy bar. The biggest hurdle to overcome is my hatred of cooking/preparing food. But I’m definitely off to a great start.

I just tried the ‘‘Couch to 5K Day 1’’ and I didn’t make it quite all the way through, but I did better than yesterday, so I’m happy. I actually enjoyed it for about 20 seconds, there…

6

I noticed your location shows Ann Arbor. Most college towns are excellent for running. LOL, I ran in Columbus, OH. I love running as exercise. It reminds me of football. You go out there and run ever day. You get to add the weather as a challenge on certain days. It becomes a challenge. Hmm, it might rain tomorrow, so I’d probably better do an extra mile today.

I wish I had a decent place to run here. I’ve been stuck using cardio equipment at the gym.

7

Couch to 5k was what got me running. There’s a podcast you can download here that tell you when to start and stop running - it’s especially useful for the earlier weeks.

Prior to C25k I had never run for more than 5 minutes at a time. 30 minutes seemed as unachievable as a marathon. The trick to C25k is that you run slowly - the common advice seems to be that you should be able to have a conversation while jogging. Initially my jogging speed was barely faster than my fast walking speed. Once I got that 30 minutes down I worked on improving my speed. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you improve! At the end of the program I was just as puffed jogging for 25, 30 minutes at a time as I was at the start and alternating jogging and walking.

I recommend having some fresh fruit waiting in the fridge after your run. Biting into a cold, juicy slice of watermelon after running is heaven.

I agree about getting good running shoes. When I first started I would get quite sore ankles and shins because I was using my crappy old runners. Proper running shoes made a huge difference.

C25k was what got me out of a largely sedentary lifestyle. It was doable for someone like me who was accustomed to zero exercise, and enjoyable enough that I wanted to keep getting fitter even after I finished the program.

8

Like lorene I was out of shape and hated running the timed mile in school. I had asthma, and used it to my advantage to get out of having to run it!

So let me tell you, it boggles my mind sometimes that I’ve run 5 marathons.

It is an incredibly efficient calorie burner.

Be safe, don’t overdo it, and for god sake, get a great pair of shoes. Your body will thank you for it.

9

Where should someone go who wants good running shoes? I’ve never seen a shoe store that wasn’t a major chain like payless or foot locker. How can I find these places?

10

You should of course do as you see fit, but I personally am more of a fan of biking for cardio rather than running. It’s not as bad on your joints as running is. But that’s just my own opinion.

11

Try this link to find a store near you.

12

You have two running clubs in your area. They’re a great resource for advice,support and potential running partners.

13

I have a different question about running. I have gotten to some degree of fitness (better than zero, my previous level) from running regularly on a treadmill. But I have found to my surprise that my ability to run for 30-40 minutes at a time on a treadmill does not translate to being able to do this in the real world, such as by running around the perimeter of a local park. In part this is because of all the pedestrian traffic, people walking dogs, kids on bikes and scooters, etc. that cause me to slow down and weave around. But mostly I find myself out of breath much more quickly.

My guess is that I am running faster than I think I am. I’m an impatient sort and even on a treadmill, my pattern of running is to run at a pace where I’m running short of breath after about 10-12 minutes, then slow to a walk for 2-3 minutes before resuming running. I’ve gradually increased my running speed from 6.5 to 7.5 mph (on the treadmill indicator), as by the time I got to the point of being able to run for, say, 25 minutes straight at 6.7 mph, I was running up against the front bar because I wanted to go faster.

This really doesn’t bother me all that much as I’m mainly doing the cardio work to burn calories and keep off the fat. But I do wonder if there is some well known difference between real-world and treadmill running?

14

Me too! I recommend it to anyone I know that wants to get started. I started 4 years ago with that program with no regular exercise up to that point and a very low fitness level.

Now… well, I can run 20 miles without even thinking about it and do much longer with a little beforehand preparation.

Okay, not that I would expect people to start doing marathons on a whim (a couple of co-workers had convinced me to do that last year), but I have lost 70 pounds from running (and I took up ice hockey at the same time) since I started.

15

Yes.

Running on a treadmill does not account for differences in elevation (unless you set the incline—some people I know always set it at 1.0 to mimic the road), wind resistance, any “drag” you might experience, and, as you have noticed, it’s easier to keep your pace steady on a TM.

My way of dealing with it is to just keep at it, really. I do more treadmill running in winter just because the streets are not well plowed here, and come spring, I just have to work a little harder at what should, theoretically, be the same distance run.

16

Any recommendations on running bras? I am, ah, top heavy and frankly the idea of running sounds painful. It is appealing in terms of being relatively inexpensive though, and the high school track is a block from my house.

Any suggestions on how to get fitted, or what about a specific style lends itself to chesty women such as myself?

17

My, uh, better endowed friends tell me that Enell is the busty woman’s friend. They’re kind of pricey, but people swear by them (Including Oprah, for whatever that’s worth).

18

Check out Pose running. There are some conditioning exercises that will help keep you from messing your body up, especially as a beginner, and the recommendations on form seem to be biomechanically sound. Starting out with that as a base before you acquire less efficient running habits can help with keeping you injury-free as well as helping your performance.

Do some strength training exercises to help prevent injury. Running uses the muscles in the back of your legs more than the front, and some common injuries are from muscle imbalance. Squats (unweighted, i.e. body weight only are okay, weighted are cool too), lunges or walking lunges, and toe raises for lower body require no equipment to start other than a box or stairs for the toe raises. Doing some upper body calisthenics (I recommend push ups, pull ups, and dips) would be very good for balance too. Core exercises like sit ups and arches are a very good idea for anyone since they provide some protection against back injury.

Two to three sets of 10–15 reps would be good enough to start with. You don’t have to do both upper and lower body on the same day. It would probably be better to split them at first, actually. Do strength training 2–4 times a week, before running or on your off days from running. It doesn’t have to be an onerous hours-long session. In fact, doing a full run of all the stuff I wrote out would probably only take about 30 minutes total. The main reason you shouldn’t do strength training after cardio is because you can’t put full intensity into the movements, and your risk of overwork or injury is higher when you’re already tired. Besides that, your body chemistry after endurance efforts is not conducive to building strength and muscle.

It’s nice that you want to go running with your guy, but the problem is that no matter the level of fitness, women and men have different performance abilities. Running together, men usually don’t get a good workout, and women run too fast and exhaust themselves prematurely. It’s bad enough trying to stay together with someone who has a similar level of fitness and performance, but matching paces when there’s a big discrepancy is really a bad idea. If you’re planning on running at your own pace, no problem, but I’d advise against matching his pace.

If you want to keep yourself from overdoing it, use your heart rate as a way to pace yourself. Keep to between 65% and 85% of your max (easy rule: 220-your age = your max heart rate) and you’ll be doing good work without pushing too hard. Pay attention to what that level of effort feels like and you can probably dispense with the actual pulse-taking in a couple of weeks. Check every once in a while to keep yourself honest, though.

Later on, you can do some speed work that’ll push you higher than that, but that pace is what you can sustain over a long distance, and is the prime zone for increasing cardio fitness. Most long-distance runners say you shouldn’t increase your total mileage more than about 10% every couple of weeks. Work in some shorter runs, and do some short-distance sprints or fartleks too.

Article on a running site about why to do strength training.

Article on increasing distance, other run training from Cool Running.
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/233.shtml

Journal of Applied Physiology article on benefits of sprint training.
http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/98/6/1985

We discussed some non-traditional shoes in a recent thread. Personally, I’ve done all my running lately in either my Nike Free 5.0s or barefoot. I did a few runs about a year and a half ago in regular shoes that blistered me up, despite the shoes fitting well initially and being new-ish but broken in. That experience put me off for a while.

I read up on shoes, training, and did some short barefoot runs because of some interesting articles I read about it (it does definitely work muscles you don’t utilize enough when you run in regular shoes) and found the Frees for relatively cheap. I’ve never had a single blister from them, even when I did my first 5k a while back. They’re not as challenging as running barefoot, but they are a decent compromise, and provide a place to stick the Nike+iPod sensor I bought a couple of months ago.

I’ve done more weight training and general fitness stuff than running, but I read up on training and equipment for it when I wanted to start doing some longer distance work. Right now, 5k is about the most I’ve done at a stretch, but I plan to slowly increase that until I get to doing occasional 10k runs. For my current fitness program, check out Crossfit. Most of the training information is available on that website for free! I love it, and you might too if you’re a bit of a masochist, as you say in your OP. I’m not a masochist, but I like pushing myself, and don’t mind being temporarily miserable as a result; either attitude is pretty much a requirement for Crossfit.

19

I got up to week 5 of the C25K before I fell off the wagon. I was running purely for mood/cardiovascular health. I was not trying to lose weight. I lost five pounds anyway.

I’d recommend the podcasts to anyone. I had always considered myself a non-running person. A key part of my self identity was that I would not run unless something with teeth was chasing me. I gave it a try because my husband returned to running (he ran track in high school) at the advice of his physician to help with depression (it really did help, but he’s fallen off the running wagon, too). I was surprised to find mysef really enjoying it and am trying to make time to start again. (moving into a fixer-upper has eaten our lives)

20

It is an efficient sort of exercise. It is effective at losing weight. Time-frame: I’d aim to take off 25-30 pounds before April 2009. Maybe more if you’re really overweight. Try to run at least 5 days per week. Try to work some sprints into your workouts at least one day per week. Start small. . .like when you’re two blocks from home, instead of jogging in at your normal pace, sprint for half a block, and then jog the rest slowly so that you recover while running.

Then, start to do repeated sprints going up hills. Sprint up. Walk down. Sprint up. Walk down. Maybe a 10-30 second sprint.

Sprints are great for losing weight, and for training you to run faster for your normal jog.

If your man was a CC runner, he should know good training drills. High intensity training drills are not just for athletes looking to compete. They are effective for people looking to lose weight, and go faster.