Cardio questions

Leoturi wrote: »

Another odd question, is why is it so much harder to jog/run outside vs a treadmill? My heart went crazy yesterday when I tried to jog a 1/4 mile, whereas when my legs don't hurt, I can usually go for about a mile at 5 on the treadmill. It only took a minute or so for my heart rate to spike into peak, which worried me a bit so I started to walk again. I went back and forth with jogging as my heart would allow to get a 13 minute time for a mile, but on the treadmill I'm usually 12 minutes, and if I push, 11. Anything I can do to ease or train myself better to handle it?

A treadmill requires less energy input on your part. See how it's plugged in? That's energy being added to your activity. You're not really pushing your body along on a treadmill, you're moving your legs to keep up with the belt which is being driven relative to your body by an electric motor. When running outside the ground is just sitting there. To get your body moving relative to it, you gotta push your body.

It helps to think of this as a system to which energy is either being added or not. If energy is being added from something other than you, there is necessarily less energy being expended by you. This may have something to do with why cardio machines like this often overestimate calorie burns.

Lastly, I've noticed when I do jog on the treadmill, my lower legs, on the sides hurt. I am assuming the muscles there aren't used to it, but I was curious if there is anything I can do to help with it not happening, or strengthening it so they can handle it. I want to start learning to run more, as I'm trying to get myself in shape to maybe one day become a cop. The test times for a 1.5 mile means I need to be capable of running for a good distance at a good pace. I'm no where near there yet but it is a goal for me, and I want to do all I can to achieve it.

I only use a treadmill if the weather is really foul (I'm in California, so that's only in the winter) or if I don't have time to run until it's too dark because my usual route isn't lit (also usually in the winter). With me it's my hips. I'm not sure why. It may be related to the fact that I often struggle to keep my balance on a treadmill until I get used to it. (Which takes awhile because I don't habitually use one.) And THAT might be due to the fact that my peripheral vision isn't registering any movement while I'm otherwise making this running-type effort. Whether it's the same thing for you I have no idea.

Good luck on your LEO goals!

Leoturi wrote: »

5.0 speed or 12 minute for a mile on a treadmill is about as fast as I can go. Any faster and I'm really out of breath and tired quickly, and my legs start hurting. At the 5.0 speed though if I am feeling decent, I can usually do that for around 14-16 minutes before I'm exhausted and then I do incline walking for the rest to keep my heart rate up. I go for 30 minutes total, then a 5 min cool down and then machines or weights for 15-30, depending fatigue.

Thinking about your aspirations for law enforcement, you have a fair way to go before the fitness test is viable.

I've done a fair amount of military fitness testing, and we use a similar cooper test based assessment, with age banding. Last year I got a good pass in the 20-25 year old age range, which I was quite pleased with. For a 46 year old it was in the excellent range

What I've generally advised new entry candidates to do is to run longer. The test is one thing but basic training will have you running much more than a mile and a half, very regularly. With that in mind I'd generally advocate working up to a 10km run. The added benefit of that is that your mile and a half time will reduce significantly just by virtue of running longer.

To put some context to that, in my service you'll join basic training, the following morning you'll do a confirmatory fitness test; 1.5 mile squad run followed by the 1.5mi personal best effort.

The following morning you'll be on a 10Km run, and two weeks later is your first 10 miler. If you only train to the test then you're snookered.

As far as eating is concerned, I'm the same as Lenny. I can eat up until just before I go out, although for a speed session I wouldn't generally. The main thing is to eat enough in general to fuel your training, rather than thinking about what to eat just before you run.