MFP Runner's Club

Glad the advice helps! Good job on the brick workouts, the legs sure do get wobbly bike to run transition. It's good you are working on it already. Feel free to ask any Tri-questions, T1, T2, Shoes, gears, whatever. Try eating a banana an hour before workouts, it's amazing how it can help. It converts very quickly to energy, without adding a ton of cals to the overall diet. I'll try to get a post on how to train and loose weight, it's tricky.

Looking forward to hearing the tricks to training AND loosing weight. Tend to get frustrated with the whoel weight issue. Not that I want to loose a ton but figured at this level of exercise I should be loosing SOMETHING!!! Send insight quick :sad:

OMG! Did a test run of the upcoming 5k race route. We decided 2.3 miles was close enough for today!
My last 5k time was 30:15, it took us 27 minutes to complete the 1st 2.3 miles of this course. The hills are ridiculous! Going back Tuesday for the whole thing.

Dealing with humidity here as well. Not too bad though...I'd rather be hot and sweat like a hog anyday over dealing with midwest winters!

Sherry, definitely sounds like a visist to the doctor is in order. My friend just went to sports med guy and he told her that full shin length pain indicates shinsplints, severe, localized pain often indicates a stress fracture. I so hope that isn't the case for you!

Good job everyone! Have a great weekend! :flowerforyou:

Becky

Good morning!
did 5.5 miles today -- felt great -- was supposed to be an easy day but my brain was not ready for that -- had to run --- fast Tomorrow is my long run!

rainman -- i'm training for my first 1/2 marathon in September. My workouts are Tu/Th weight training -- M/W/F 5.5-6 miles per day -- and Saturday is my long run 10.5 miles. Feel like I'm okay to do the 13.1 today -- but would like to do better on my time. Is it okay to continue this schedule and just continue to try to speed up?

Great goals for a ½, and tri too, but NO, just adding speed to every run is not the best approach. Let’s try to optimize a plan to find the superstar inside. Here is a proposal, but the key is to pick two runs in the week where you try to stretch yourself.

Mon – Easy 5 mile run and stretch. Perhaps upper body strength

Tue – Pick some pain, either hills, speed work, tempo run, and stretch yourself. Shoot for a hard run of 5 to 7 miles. When you get home add some leg strength when finished. No need to go the gym. Grab some light weights (5, 10, 15 lbs max) and do leg drills directly after the run. 20 to 30 squats, 20 lunges per leg, and finish with a wall squat (place back against wall, bend legs to 90 degree, hold for 30, 60, maybe 90 second). Repeat this 3 times and you should have a difficult time with stairs. HeHe That is the ONLY leg strength you need to do on a weekly basis, trust me.

Wed – Upper body strength, walk, but let those legs rest!

Thu – Easy 3-6 mile run and stretch, good chance for cross train too (cycle, elliptical)

Fri – Cross train, Upper body strength, or light run. Try to keep this day light for legs and be fresh for the long run on Saturday.

Sat – Long Run, make this the marquee workout each week. Always start the run easy and get 4-5 base miles in. Take the next several miles and shave 20-30 seconds per mile. Take the last 2 miles and try to finish strong, really push yourself. Feel free to increase this to 13 to 16 miles too. It’s all about finishing strong.

Sun – Cross train, walk, stretch, or Weight Train upper body, drink lot’s of water.

Some general comments about strength training and recovery:
Legs = take 2-3 days to recover, only need to do once per week
Chest/Shoulders/Back = take 2 days to recover, try 2 good workouts per week
Arms, Calves, Abs = 1 day to recover, it’s OK to fit 3 workouts in per week
So many people overdue strength training and never allow enough time to repair/rebuild, be smart, be strong.

This program will make you fast and get you quick results in tone too. It will also prep you to finish strong, which will make race day a delight as you pass everyone you see in the last 3 miles.

Hope it helps, and keep going forward!
Raymond

I did 5K today in 23:24! (My fastest time outside!) I'm excited! I have another race (my 2nd ever) coming up on June 12! I'm excited!:bigsmile:
Rainman- thanks for the advice on training for a half. I have one coming up in October.

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Rainman,
Thanks so much for the info....can this apply to anyone else as well? Right now I cannot run 12 miles, but I would like to try to follow your program - just tone the miles down until I get better. Thanks for all your advice...I'm really happy to have you here.

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It does change. I consider running to be a 5-phase program and I will try to tailor advice accordingly. That plan was for a Phase 3 person. Let me know where you fit, your goals, and I'll get you a plan.

Phase 1 = Newbie going from couch to jogging
Phase 2 = "WOW, I am a runner" phase where you try to continually go farther
Phase 3 = Race ready, finding races to stretch yourself
Phase 4 = Hardware collection, trying to be that age group contender
Phase 5 = Forrest Gump, I just love to run (where I am now!)

Let me know and I will be happy to help.

Raymond.

wow Sherry -- hope everything is okay -- keep us posted!!!:flowerforyou:

thanks for all your well wishes. I called my regular doctor and I have an appt on Sunday morning. Who knew he had hours then. Anyway, I have been doing some self diagnosising and if my suspions are correct it does not look good me. From everything I read it sounds like I may have a stress fracture of my tibia. Like I said this is strictly self diagnosising :smokin: but all the symptoms I have read are exactly my symptons. Treatment is 8-12 w/o running and lots of low impact cardio and strength training. I guess no bootcamp either. :sad:

Oh no!!! You know what, my running buddy has the same thing. She has been biking and swimming like crazy to recover. She qualified for Boston in April and ran a PR half marathon time May 2nd. She has taken the whole month of May off from running.

but... her Dr. told her that some running is ok and strength training will really help also!

Completed 3 miles for the first time in my life! We were on w8d3 of c25k and were going to run for 28 minutes (2.75 miles), but after 28 minutes we felt good and kept going until we hit the 3 mile marker...we did it in 31:14!!! I feel great!

Wow, you guys are an inspiration. I'm new to this post and just started trying to run again. I have never ran over a mile without walking. Right now I'm jogging at a 5.0 for a minute and a half then walk at a 3.0 for one minute, I do this for 25 to 30 minutes, which is an improvement from 2 months ago, when the best I could do was a speed of 4.0. I would like to get to a 10 minute mile in the next couple of months, I want to try out for the Highway Patrol and I need to run a mile and a half in 16 minutes. Any tips on how to help me get past that feeling that I'm going to die, please let me know.

ok, now for today...

5 miles on the TM this afternoon and a small walk planned for after dinner.

Sherry, hope you're ok, keep us updated. :flowerforyou:

Well, I'm starting to have second thoughts about this half marathon thing. For some reason, I am getting weaker- no;t stronger with my runs. What's the deal. Is the humidity hurting me that badly? Today, I ran on the treadmill- inside- and could barely get thru the 4 miles. My time was a shotty 38:50, and I felt twice the weight that I am-- very sluggish. My time is usually around 35 and I've done a couple of 34's. And my hip has been hurting at the top of my hip bone, like I've pulled away from the bone--ouch!! I just feel very defeated. The marathon is in Sept. I don't look forward to my long 7 mile run on sunday.

So sorry to hear about your injury, Sherry, hope the best for ya.

Good job fitat41!!!

With running comes some good days, and bad days. Humidity will really sap you too. It's also a good practice not over analyze training runs. Save that for race day. Savor that you did the run. About the hip, well, that's another dilemna. I highly recommend a physical therapist for any pains that seem un-natural. Running does stress the system and will create imbalances in tendons and flexibility that will cause some problems. I know of many cases when a simple stretch solves it, it did with my knee pain several years ago.

I did 10 miles today!:bigsmile: Each week, it seems like the long runs get easier! Trying to add a mile on to my long run every Saturday!

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Way to go Kechie and Christine!!!

Hi everyone, I only did 2 miles this morning but I tried to pick up the pace, I was able to average about a 7:45 mile, it felt great I felt like I pushed myself but didn't go overboard.