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Don_Julio pretty much covered it. If you're getting a shoe, go to a running store and have someone that knows you do gait analysis and fit you for a shoe before you buy (this is free 99% of the time). Getting a shoe that doesn't support your gait style can be a recipe for running injuries.
Are you supposed to carry a water bottle? It seems like it would probably hinder your run but I would assume its also important to stay hydrated during your run.
You will look silly, and it's 100% unnecessary, unless you are getting to the point where you are doing longer runs getting near 2 hours and beyond. Just be well hydrated beforehand and you'll be fine even if you are running for an hour or more. Most runners don't drink even in a half marathon, and if they do it's often just to wet the mouth.
How do you plan your route?
Just run baby!
Just head out for a bit, then turn around. Obviously since you are new don't wait until you are tired until you go to turn around. Or if you want to make some loop, just grab google earth, and plot out a route till you get a distance/route you like.
What do you do about foot traffic, and actual traffic?
Isn't this the same as if you were walking somewhere? Just common sense imo and following standard traffic regulations.
When you start. Start slowly, short distances (max 5km) and don't hesitate to stop running and start walking if you're exhausted.
This is perhaps the only thing I would disagree with. It's a little tricky for beginners, but learn to run at a pace that's easy at first. If you're getting exhausted and winded you ARE running to hard. This might be REALLY slow at first, especially if you are a little overweight. I've seen some people start out running as slow, or even slower, than they walk. Don't stress though, you will improve a TON, and quickly, at first.
Running should feel good, the effort should be relaxed and conversational. None of this gasping for air and lungs on fire 10 minutes into the run stuff.
I would recommend doing some strides (basically fast pickups at a quick, but not quite sprint pace) to get used to running faster and developing better bio-mechanics and fiber recruitment. 3-5 at the end of the run with FULL recovery (each stride should be short enough it never feels hard, and recovery long enough that the first is as easy as the last) is plenty.
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As for running with foot/regular traffic I would think if you're not choosing where/when to run wisely you wouldn't be able to keep your run at a steady pace
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On April 23 2013 02:53 Arisen wrote:
As for running with foot/regular traffic I would think if you're not choosing where/when to run wisely you wouldn't be able to keep your run at a steady pace
Hmm, unless you are somewhere with tons of intersections and/stoplights it isn't too much of an issue in my experience. I live in a suburbanesque neighborhood and rarely find I have to stop if I go running around there. Usually if you are paying attention you can see there are no cars and just cruise through the intersection.
If it's really busy with lots of stoplights and stuff you might have to plan out a route that minimizes the number of those you run into, although stopping at lights and such for short bouts of time won't really effect the quality of your workout. It can just be annoying.
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So I went to the local run shop yesterday and bought a pair of running shoes (apparently I pronate too much so I got shoes with harder rubber on the insideto keep me from rolling my foot; I'm not completely familiar with all this terminology yet, it's just what the guy at the store told me)
I had read an article in Runner's world while at the grocery store not too long ago that had a guide for beginner runners. There were 2 sections for beginners, ones which weren't sedentary and ones which are sedentary. For sedentary peoples it recommended walking 3+times a week for 30 minutes, and for people who were starting out but weren't sedentary it recommended interval training with a walk/run ratio of 4/1 and working your way up from there.
Now, I'm a cook working my way up to being a chef, so I"m in the kitchen (at work) for 8 hours or more a day and I'm moving around for a good portion of that and I am probably on my feet for at least another hour at home. I figured I'd start off with the interval training because I don't consider myself sedentary. However, when I did start, I just was wore out something fierce. As soon as my 5 min warmup walk was done and I ran for that first minute my thighs started to feel like jelly and I started to have problems breathing. I know a lot of people are going to say I'm trying to run too hard, but I was barely going above my walking speed.
I do have asthma, but it hasn't been very active for the last 5+ years of my life, I haven't even had an asthma attack in 8 or more years. Am I doing something wrong here? Should I be breathing in a different fashion while I'm running, or am I just wrong in assuming I'm not a sedentary person because I don't have dedicated periods where I work out?
I went for a 30 min walk today instead of interval training, and my thighs still felt kind of tight (I did stretch).
So besides what I might be doing wrong, I also have 2 questions...
The article I read was laid out for 3 days a week and working your way up as you've trained. Is there anything wrong with going more than 3 days a week? If I do, am I not giving my body time it needs to recover and build muscle?
Post workout, what should you be eating? I'm running/walking about 30 mins after breakfast and when I got back I made a smoothie out of fruit/milk and a scoop of protein powder (per my roommates recommendation, but I don't know how much he actually knows or if he's reccomending it because he's a weight lifter).
Thanks for the help.
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Where are you weight wise, if you don't mind my asking?
The article I read was laid out for 3 days a week and working your way up as you've trained. Is there anything wrong with going more than 3 days a week? If I do, am I not giving my body time it needs to recover and build muscle?
The answer to this question is who knows? Some people can just jump in and go and be fine. I just jumped into running at 40 miles a week and was up to 70 in three months time.
Other people get injuries after like their second run when new. The 3 times a week is likely a guideline that helps people from jumping in with what is generally too much volume at once to prevent some overuse injuries. Think IT band, achilles tendonitis, shin splints, etc.
In the long haul 3 days a week is nothing. Most competitive runners are running 10-14 times a week.
Post workout, what should you be eating? I'm running/walking about 30 mins after breakfast and when I got back I made a smoothie out of fruit/milk and a scoop of protein powder (per my roommates recommendation, but I don't know how much he actually knows or if he's reccomending it because he's a weight lifter).
It's not as critical in running, but usually a little bit of carbohydrate and maybe 20g of protein or so if fine.
I figured I'd start off with the interval training because I don't consider myself sedentary.
EDIT: If by intervals you meant interspersing walking with running, where the running was easy then ignore the next paragraph or two. If you meant intense running....read it.
You didn't read at all what I said apparently, which was:
learn to run at a pace that's easy at first. If you're getting exhausted and winded you ARE running to hard. This might be REALLY slow at first, especially if you are a little overweight. I've seen some people start out running as slow, or even slower, than they walk.
Starting out with intervals is not smart. Your easy running is the foundation for everything else. It builds up your "base", your general aerobic capabilites, your tissue strength, bone strength, elasticity of the tissues, etc. Jump into interval work before developing a decent base is asking for injuries. Your body isn't used to running at all, and you want to put it through hard, taxing workouts on tissues and ligaments that haven't been used in that way before?
Equally as important, as a new runner you don't have any control or understanding of your body at all. Jumping into a bunch of interval work isn't even possible because you don't have a clue how to pace yourself, or how your body responds and should feel at different intensities.
As soon as my 5 min warmup walk was done and I ran for that first minute my thighs started to feel like jelly and I started to have problems breathing. I know a lot of people are going to say I'm trying to run too hard
I am, because you were.
or am I just wrong in assuming I'm not a sedentary person because I don't have dedicated periods where I work out?
You're definitely NOT sedentary. The only problem here was you trying to run way to fast, relative to your current fitness.
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Thanks for the help. I did mean doing intervals of walking/then an easy run. I was running only slightly above the pace of my walk (brisk paced, I don't know how to measure speed). I guess I don't know how you can run slower than you walk, but I guess I can try slowing the pace more.
As for weight, I couldn't tell you. We don't have a scale in our apartment. If I had to guess I'd say about 20 lbs or so overweight at 6 feet just from looking at me and people my height
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On April 25 2013 08:33 Arisen wrote:
Thanks for the help. I did mean doing intervals of walking/then an easy run. I was running only slightly above the pace of my walk (brisk paced, I don't know how to measure speed). I guess I don't know how you can run slower than you walk, but I guess I can try slowing the pace more.
As for weight, I couldn't tell you. We don't have a scale in our apartment. If I had to guess I'd say about 20 lbs or so overweight at 6 feet just from looking at me and people my height
Hmm, at something modest like 20 pounds overweight, I wouldn't generally expect your running to be that slow. I would expect easy pace to still be brisker than walking. I started running at about 40 pounds overweight and easy pace started around 10:00 min/mile for me and dropped pretty quickly into the lower 9s. Obviously everyone is different, and has different backgrounds growing up, but to be running 15-20+ min/mile and still be a little surprising.
It might be worth it to measure a mile route, and run it as a nice easy pace and see what you are actually doing. Lots of people that start running have run primarily in occasional athletic bouts, which tends to be much faster running than you would be for most of your training. So even if you say, go at a pace that feels slowish, its still way to fast cause they are used to very quick running from sports.
If it turns out you are really running 15+ min miles and feeling as if your chest and legs are on fire we might change the plan somewhat. Something like 15s fast (NOT hard), then walk recovery till you are at comfortable breathing, then go again. This is different than intervals though as 15s isn't long enough to make you hurt, and you take enough recovery that when you run fast again you won't be going into pain territory.
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Another 10k race on Sunday, this one with actual bare pavement and temperatures above freezing and everything. (Hopefully. This is spring in Alberta, so I suppose there are no guarantees.) Second run of the day felt pretty snappy; I'm due for around 17k tomorrow morning and then I'm taking Saturday off. Excitement building once more! Aiming for 36:xx or faster.
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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/VWbEI5n.jpg)
Been almost 6 months since I last did that. Baby Steps.
Gradually building up as I continue my rehab, which is currently a bunch of core stuff and then strength work consisting of 1 leg dead lifts, squats (currently 65lbs), split squats, and just added a lateral squat. Rotation squat gets added in a bit, and then gradual progression into lunges and plyometrics.
On April 26 2013 05:02 Bonham wrote:
Another 10k race on Sunday, this one with actual bare pavement and temperatures above freezing and everything. (Hopefully. This is spring in Alberta, so I suppose there are no guarantees.) Second run of the day felt pretty snappy; I'm due for around 17k tomorrow morning and then I'm taking Saturday off. Excitement building once more! Aiming for 36:xx or faster.
This is achievable. Lookin forward to hearing some nice results!
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So I just went for a 30 workout with 5 min warmup. I downloaded an app for my phone that was highly ranked to track my miles/speed.
I tried to track my run speed too see how fast I was actually going to see if it was just me going too fast, but I'm can't understand the program that well, and I can't get it to notify me on anything but 5 min marks so I only know when to start running and I can't figure out how to isolate sections of time to see how fast I'm going. On their website where the data is uploaded it looks like I ran at around 5 MPH and walked around 4 MPH, but it looks like I did run a bit faster for my first two spurts.
I guess I don't consciously know I'm going that fast when I first start. So 15 min mile would be 4 MPH so even at my slowest run I'm going too fast. I'm not really sure how to run slower than I walk. Any advice here would be great.
Also, my breathing troubles were far reduced today, I was breathing significantly easier, but after even a minute running my breathing did start to get heavy. My legs definitely felt better, and I feel great after the workout (with the exception of this knot in my back I can't get rid of, but that's not because of running  )
Edit: Forgot to include a link to the report if it helps at all
http://runkeeper.com/user/855738408/activity/172094874
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I guess some depends on what is meant by heavier breathing. Obviously to some degree you're going to breathe faster than deeper when running, as it's obviously much more oxygen demanding that just sitting or walking.
"Heavy Breathing" as I see it tends to be at the point when there is really no way you could talk. Maybe you can gasp a word out here or there but thats it. It tends to have a 2:2 rhythm (2 steps in, 2 out), and generally at this intensity you'll start to feel the beginning of some burning in your chest if you go on for 10,15+ minutes.
I'd keep the pace roughly where it is now and see if it improves and gets easier in the next week or two. If it doesn't, then consider doing "intervals" where you run somewhat quick (6-7 min pace) for about 15s and then walk till you are recovered. Don't do the running until the point of discomfort...stop while it still feels GOOD. Then walk till you are mostly recovered. You should never feel like you are working hard doing this...it should be easy if anything. This will let you gain fitness without developing a really slow, inefficient, gait that almost invariably happens when you run at paces that slow.
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Hey guys.
I started running ~ 2 weeks ago, and I think I need some advice.
As an introduction, I'm 27 years old, 183 cm tall (6 feet) and weigh around 73kg (160lb). I've been doing strength training the last 2 years (even though I didn't progress much last year due to focusing on work/study), and got into running because I applied for a Police Officer selection process.
By August (physical test date) I'm supposed to do the following:
-Run 2400m (1,5 mile) in less than 12 minutes
-Static horizontal jump of 2m14cm
-Vertical jump of 45cm
-45 situps in a minute
-Climb a 4m net
I've no running experience at all, but as I didn't classify myself as sedentary I started running at a moderate pace (a little faster than jogging) and timing the distance, after a 10 minute walk to warm up.
Here's my running log (minutes / distance):
4/11/2013
0:07:00 || 1.2 km
4/13/2013
0:10:00 || 1.8 km
4/15/2013
0:10:00 || 1800 m
4/18/2013
0:15:15 || 2400 m (slower pace, more of a jog)
4/20/2013
0:10:18 || 1800 m
Problem is, after that last run, my calves were REALLY stiff, and the next day I was having some pain in my achilles tendon as I walked down stairs. After that, I obviously stopped running, and applied some ice on it, so today the pain is very soft, I feel like I'm almost recovered. Reading some of the posts here, I figure I might have overextended myself (I felt good running, but as I was forcing a faster pace I felt really tired afterwards).
After I heal completely (I think maybe some 3 to 5 days of rest), how should I restart, so I don't injure myself again? Luckily I still have more than 3 months to reach my goal, so it wouldn't be a problem to start slow and build it up again.
some more details:
Many years ago (when I was in high school) a doctor said I had supinated feet.
I didn't buy running shoes, with this trend of minimal I was running with the converse chucks I use at the gym (yeah this was probably a terrible idea  )
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I have no real clue of good training plans. That said I know that it is the tendons that take the longest to adjust to more exercise. It can take months for them to catch up even if you can actually run faster and further.
I'd say increase the distance of your workouts and reduce the pace. It makes no sense to try to run the 2400 m over and over again. So increase the distances and try to run at the required pace for the test for short intervalls only occasionally (and not every workout).
Your chucks might be most responsible for your sore tendon. They provide no stability for your heel at all.
Again, I'm only guessing. Better wait for others to correct me.
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Well, first thing is that you can probably reach your goal right now if you absolutely had too.
For Achilles pain just use stretching and eccentric calf drops and you'll probably be good to go. You can also get a heel lift for the short term to reduce the stretching/twisting of the tendon.
First thing I would do if maybe ease of the gas a bit in terms of pace, but get in some better distance. Go for 20-25 minutes, so more like 4-5km so you get some actual benefit out of it. 10 minutes of running won't do anything at all for your fitness. If you just jog building up to 4-5 times a week from 30-40 minutes you'll pass the test so easy it won't be funny, especially considering you can pass it right now if you needed.
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So I went out for 35 or so mins with a 5 min warm up again today.
http://runkeeper.com/user/855738408/activity/172367655
So, looking at my run for today, I'm adding speed purely unintentional. I feel like I'm going the same speed as yesterday, but I was actually going a decent amount faster looking at my app. I feel better and my breathing is getting better. I'm going to try to consciously go slower tomorrow and try to add on a min or so of running every 5 mins. Apparently speed is a problem for me as I don't really know how fast I'm going until after my run when I look at a graph, so what are some tips when I run to keep a steady (slower) pace?
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On April 27 2013 04:14 Arisen wrote:So I went out for 35 or so mins with a 5 min warm up again today. http://runkeeper.com/user/855738408/activity/172367655So, looking at my run for today, I'm adding speed purely unintentional. I feel like I'm going the same speed as yesterday, but I was actually going a decent amount faster looking at my app. I feel better and my breathing is getting better. I'm going to try to consciously go slower tomorrow and try to add on a min or so of running every 5 mins. Apparently speed is a problem for me as I don't really know how fast I'm going until after my run when I look at a graph, so what are some tips when I run to keep a steady (slower) pace?
For right now don't think in terms of pace at all. Feel/Effort is what we want to focus on, as running primarily controlled via effort whereas pace varies significantly. On some days for me a nice easy jog will be 7:20 min/mile, and on others it might be 7:50 min/mile.
The effort your looking for is easy. You should feel like from an effort standpoint you would be happy to run your pace for hours. It should be quite easy to have a conversation, and the breathing shouldn't be excessively rapid or deep. When finishing the run you should almost feel "refreshed" as opposed to strained and exhausted. That's the effort you should be using entirely right now, and what even world class runners use for probably 60-80% of their total running.
I was actually going a decent amount faster looking at my app. I feel better and my breathing is getting better.
This is good, and expected. You will gain fitness very quickly in your first few months of running.
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L_Master still dealing with injury issue? I thought you were pretty much fully over the groin issue.
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On April 27 2013 11:24 LuckyFool wrote:L_Master still dealing with injury issue? I thought you were pretty much fully over the groin issue.
Nope, still fighting the good fight. I think it's slowly healing though and now its a matter of rehabbing so I can get some groin strength and tissue quality back to prevent re-injury.
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Ah sucks. I think the worst injury I've ever had I wasn't out of action for longer than 1-2 months, can't imagine dealing with that.
Doing a nice 12 mile long run tomorrow through rock creek park here in DC with my club. One of my longer runs in a while in preparation for my half coming up in mid May. Hoping to get through it in something like 1:30-1:40 timeframe. I know I could probably run faster but I don't like pushing myself where I'm risking anything in my longer training runs.
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Don_Julio and L_Master, thanks for the advice!
Think I'm going out today to get a new pair of shoes. I did some research and came across Runner's World shoe advisor ( http://www.runnersworld.com/shoeadvisor ).
For me, it says the 3 best running shoes are
Saucony Progrid Jazz 14
Brooks Summon
Asics Gel Cumulus 14
The only one I could find here in Brazil was the Asics Cumulus, and it's kind of expensive (here it costs around 200 dollars). Do you guys know about this shoe? Is it worth the price?
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EPT
