In the end the t-shirts are all that matter! I hope I can handle the altitude! Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
Good luck stick, GA gave you good advise, take it slow on the running. I speak from experience, I know doesn't seem very manly to run walk for a few weeks but I recommend swallowing your pride and taking it easy. It took me a couple of quick starts before I figured out I'm not an athlete anymore and my body couldn't take it. I started working out and eating right in February of last year with the goal of getting to my playing weight. I went from 205 in college to a 265# marshmellow, I'm back down to 215 and still working on it. After a couple failed quick starts I found a great program online called "couch to running" and I used that as my guide to get started again. I was able to finish a half marathon earlier this month. Google it and see what you think.
Sorry, didn't catch this til now. But hooker summed it up well. I took the elevator monday morning up to my floor for the 1st time in well over a year. But here it is Thursday, and I am ready to go a few miles this evening. My thighs were probably the most sore. My feet were also a bit sore, I made the mistake Sunday night of not elevating them nearly enough. So they were a little swelled thru tuesday.
I'm 2 days out from my first half marathon. I fully expect to have jello legs on Sunday and Monday, but I also expect to have fun! I can't wait!!
@GABowhunter Thanks man. I've been taking the rest days seriously too. I didn't workout at all yesterday. Just shot at my 3D league. @isaiah Thanks! Hopefully we can all motivate each other! @drenman Ha, couch to run! I had forgotten all about that program and it's been out there for awhile. I laughed when I looked at it, cause I was loosely following it already. Thanks for the well wishes! Back on the track today. I'm debating whether or not to lift and run, or just run. The torn cartilage inspired me to do some rehab exercises (leg extensions, curls and calf raises) to at least strengthen the area around the knee. It might be one of those days where I just figure it out when I get to the gym.
Finished up my first half marathon trail race in 2:35:55. I was doing great until a little after the 10 mile mark. I hit a wall and my 10 min/mile pace took a drastic hit. Next up a 10K in a few weeks.
Good work on the run Phillip. Those types of runs take some serious guts to even just begin the race. Bigstick, best of luck to you. I ran into some minor health problems last year (mono) and the result is that I ended up in the worst shape of my life early last summer. I had to walk for a month or so before I could even begin to run because the mono tore me up so bad physically. I then walked with a weighted backpack for another couple of weeks before I finally started to run and even then I struggled to run more than 1/2-3/4th of a miles. These days I average 3-4 miles a run.....my point, if I can do it so can you. You will meet your goal and then some. Make the cardio work your fitness goals at this stage. Get your heart and lungs into condition so that you can workout longer and harder, therefore losing more calories.
Any of you guys carry water on your longer runs of say 4-5 miles or longer? I need to run in the heat to acclimate so I more than likely will need to carry water on my longer runs in the 90-100 degree heat. Do you guys carry a waist holder water bottle on your backside or do you carry water bladder systems on your back? Thanks all for any advice.
I carry water. In the heat or on really long runs I pretty much have to. I have a belt that holds 8 oz or 10 oz bottles and you can add or remove bottles to your liking. I carry 4-10oz ones and hit the park water spots to refill if needed. Today I went 13.6 miles, drank all 4 bottles + 2 refills. It was pretty warm. I also have a bladder system, but I haven't actually run with it yet, just walked/hiked. I think I am going to have to wear a shirt with it to prevent chaffing at some of the strap locations.
On my runs during the week (typically under an hour) I'll carry a water bottle that attaches to my hand so I don't have to actually hold it. On my Saturday runs which are 1.5 hrs + I wear a Camelbak. Here's my water bottle... http://www.camelbak.com/Sports-Recreation/Packs/2011-Quick-Grip.aspx Here's my camelbak... http://www.camelbak.com/Sports-Recreation/Packs/2011-Octane-LR.aspx
Thanks Ryan and Phillip I appreciate the advice. I believe I will pick up one of those systems here tomorrow. I need to endure some hellish runs to get into the kind of shape I want in the next 6 weeks or so. I can imagine some 6-8 mile runs in the brutal heat as being what I need to mentally tighten up. Thanks.
Well I thought I would get out in the heat and do some hard running. I thought I would be ok out in the heat for 20-30 minutes without any water. I prehydrated a lot. By the time I got back home after 30 minutes I had lost 2.5 lbs of water weight. The heat index was around 97 degrees. I warmed up a bit by jogging for 10 minutes. I had a goal of running two, 4/10th of a mile "sprints" at around 2:30 (that would put me at about a 6:15 min mile pace-15 seconds faster than my current best mile pace). I am admittedly weak once my sprints hit 90 seconds or longer. So my middle endurance is my weakness. My first 4/10th mile I burned at 2 minutes even (5 min mile pace). I rested up for nearly 5 minutes then ran another 4/10th mile at 2:25 (6:05 min mile pace). So I accomplished my goal for the day. Finished that workout off with another 10 minutes of cool down running and some plyometrics/light weight lifting on my legs. Going to get in a good 5-6 mile run here in two days. Getting there slowly....sucks getting old.
That is awesome that you are working in some interval sprints, but I would slow down a bit. You want to be able to about 4 at the same speed. Don't just burn out the first one as fast as you can. Try to be more consistent. I keep my sprints at about a 6:15/6:30/mile pace.
Hooker, I agree completely. The problem is that I had no idea of what my pace should feel like you know. I really wanted to run about 3-4 of those sprints but I outpaced myself the first sprint and it killed me. That was one of the reasons why I chose to run the way I did today, kind of a learning tool you know. I feel like if I had run both of those sprints at 2:30 then I could have run 1 maybe 2 more. I will get back at it in 7 days or so again with the sprints. I appreciate all of your help with my running as I am a newbie "distance" (for me) runner.
I did a 5 mile run today. I had a goal of keeping my mile pace at 9:30 or lower. I did it at an 8:50 per mile pace. I consider it a big accomplishment for me. I for the longest time (6 months) had not been able to significantly lower my pace once I ran longer than 4.5 miles or so. I kept hitting a 9:45-10 mile pace. And I did not even feel good today.
