magiciansampras

Today was nice and rainy in BOS so I took advantage and did a 5.01 miles in 37:27 or 7:28/mile pace. Felt great.. I love running in light rain!

magiciansampras

Hey there! Congrats for getting back into running!

In my opinion the keys to getting in shape and losing weight are (in particular order of most important to least):

Consistency
Consistency
Consistency

By far the best thing you can do is get on a schedule where you run regularly. I find a lot of people get frustrated because they run intermittantly and find that they aren't losing weight. The key is to run consistently in terms of days per week and I think you'll be fine.

Now, once you are running consistently, running longer will ultimately help you lose weight. The physics is fairly simple: it takes X calories to move your body Y distance. There are nuances here (running fast keeps your heartrate up for longer, etc.), but the basic idea remains. So if you want to lose weight a good idea is to do a "long" run once a week. Depending on how far you run now, this might be 5 miles or 20 miles.

Consistency + long run = meeting your goal.

richard

I believe a lot in the value of lifting weights in addition to running. Weightlifting anerobically means progressively increasing poundages, big lifts that involve lots of muscles. A great amount of exercise in a very short period of time.

annerj

^ ^

If you want to keep the weight off long term and change the shape of your body you HAVE TO do resistance training.

All cardio will shrink your body but not really change the shape. And you will need to do more and more cardio over time to keep your weight down. But if you add in resistance training then you add/tone muscle.

The reasons for this are complex but at a high level: When you start running you are burning more calories then you are use to. If you don't increase your food intake as much as your new output you will lose weight. As you lose weight your body actually needs less calories to survive (yes even fat burns calories)....so it will take more and more running. When you lift you tone/build muscle this added/better toned muscle create a need for more calories during the day.

Some people really don't want to think that fat burns calories. But just think when you are doing no exercise and eating poorly....eventually you will put on enough pounds to = maintaince for your intake. Once this happens your weight levels off....why becuase all of the added fat that you have put on is burning those extra calories. Probably not very clear but it all boils down to resitance training + Cardio for long term weight loss/management.

annerj

magiciansampras

It is sticky in Boston today. Probably going to rain around 2 and not stop till Tuesday.

Anyway, I went out to do a little speedwork this morning. Started off by doing 2.8 miles in 22:00 to warmup (7:51 pace). After that I did a series of sprints with recovery jogs. This included:

0.51 miles 03:36 7:01/mile
0.18 miles 01:16 7:01/mile
0.15 miles 00:53 5:55/mile
0.62 miles 05:11 8:22/mile

Sort of all over the place. I guess I need to go to the track to get more regularized distances .

Also, what RJ says is true.. I definitely need to incorporate more resistance training in.

magiciansampras

I did something funky to my left foot at some point this weekend. Anyway, it's a bit tender when I walk, so I'm definitely going to take today off. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. Official Chicago training begins on the 19th, so I need to at least start the prgoram healthy .

This means that this week I only got 18 miles in, as opposed to my regular 20 and goal of 25. Oh well. I'll go for a walk or something later today.

magiciansampras

Felt fairly decent during my 5 miler 38:34 (7:42/mile pace) run today, but my left food is still bothering me a little bit. I think it's a slight sprain or something. I'm icing it now and will continue to do so and monitor it throughout the day.

annerj

Monday - Off
Tuesday - Bis/Tris + 2.5 Miler
Wednesday - Shoulders + 3.5 Miler
Thursday - Off
Friday - Off
Saturday - Total Body Lift
Sunday - 4 Miler

Kind of a weird week for me. I got some good solid lifts in but my mileage total was VERY low (10 miles). I felt very sluggish on my first two runs (coming back from the calf deal). Was planning on a 6+ miler on Sunday but woke up with a crazy headache....popped a few advil and just went to the gym with my wife. This was a mistake as about 1 mile in I felt like a champ but Sunday is her short workout day and since she was driving I only got 4 in.

Anyways I have about 5 weeks left in this heavy lifting cycle. I feel super strong (was repping with 295 bench this week) but SLOOOOOOW. I'm going to try to get back to about 15-20 miles/week running and then pick up the pace to 20+ when I start my next cycle of prymids that will run for 4-5 weeks.

As always I need to clean up my diet and shed a few pounds....but its so hard to do during heavy. I just want to lift and eat, lift and eat....and the scale shows thats about all I've been doing.

annerj

richard

I'm thrilled thanks for an acquaintance who advised me on doing very long stretches as the solution to my peroneal tendon soreness. It is working and what's more, it doesn't bother me more whether I run or not. I am thrilled. I signed up for two 10K races over the Summer as I know that my tendon is on the way now to full recovery.

Also ran 3mi yesterday with a bit of walking in the run. It makes the running much easier and my time wasn't much worse than just running. It made recovery much faster so I think I will do it this way from now on -- run 5 minutes, walk 1 minute etc.

redbeard911

Another heavy week at work. Nothing tonite, golf tournament tomorrow. Maybe work out Weds and Thurs.

JS

Last week I got a ride from work to a bicycle store and rode the bike home 7 miles. I had to stop halfway for a break (water, chocolate milk, Snickers candy bar, and a cigarette, yeah I know that makes no sense but too bad).

annerj

^ ^

What type of bike? New Bike?

JS

Yup, a new Sedona Giant.

magiciansampras

The foot felt pretty good, but it was quite hot out today. Did yesterday's 5.0 miles in 40:22 or 8:04/mile pace. Not too bad, but not great either.

annerj

Nice man! Did you buy it to commute with or to get some exercise (or a little of both)?

I love bike riding! Are you trying to shed a few pounds or just get in shape?