Introduction

carriebeachbound

Hi I just saw this group and thought it would be nice to join for some support. I honestly don't love running, but I like the results that come with it. My goals are to trim and tone, lose about 15 more lbs. I have a pretty high threshold so achieving results is tough for me. I just recently started doing interval training on the treadmill. One min walk, one min run. Any recommendations to help achieve my goals? My core is my problem area.

MobyCarp

carriebeachbound wrote: »

Hi I just saw this group and thought it would be nice to join for some support. I honestly don't love running, but I like the results that come with it. My goals are to trim and tone, lose about 15 more lbs. I have a pretty high threshold so achieving results is tough for me. I just recently started doing interval training on the treadmill. One min walk, one min run. Any recommendations to help achieve my goals? My core is my problem area.

@carriebeachbound - This group is supplemental to monthly running challenges. You can check out the current (January 2017) challenge at http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10493483/january-2017-running-challenge

Given the sentence I bolded, I'm not sure what advice to give you. I started running to see if I could, and fell in love with running. A lot of folks who are active in the monthly challenges also love to run; we will have trouble understanding how to cope with running in spite of not loving it.

That having been said, I also started with walk one minute, run one minute intervals as a self-built remedial program to get to where I could start a canned 5K training program that called for running 3 minute intervals in the first week. I'm not sure exactly when I fell in love with running, but it was some time after I got through that 5K program. I remember I set a goal of run for 20 minutes, 3 days a week, because I was concerned I'd lose motivation when I no longer had a structured program. That turned out not to be a problem for me; I've missed that goal far too many weeks due to injury, but never due to lack of motivation. It's possible that if you stick with running, you might have a similar shift in attitude. It's also possible you won't. You don't know until you get there.

If you know your core needs work, there are a lot of core exercises out there. Find something that works your abs, something that works your obliques, and something that works your erector spinae. Do it consistently, but don't do so much that you hurt yourself. Keeping that sort of balance can be tough.

I notice that there are people who lovingly describe a gazillion core exercises. I know some of them in real life, and they invite me to join core work sessions after a running workout. I'll do core work if I have to in order to support my running, but I definitely don't love it. I prefer to get my core work indirectly from exercises that aren't focusing only on the core. I don't know what will work for *you* with respect to core exercises; finding something you will actually do is more important than finding the technically best core exercises for your specific issues.