FaxMeBeer said:Hey all! I've started running three days ago, and thought I'd put the
feelers out for any advise folks think would be helpful to a newbie.
I'll fill you all in on some information about myself:
Last year, about this time, I was 255 lbs (5'8"😉. I've dieted for
about a year and am now at 220lbs. I'm still 5'8". I've got a goal
to be somewhere around 190-200lbs, the last weight at which I was able
to run a full mile in under 9 minutes (good weight for me, though it
sounds like a lot for my hieght). Oh, I'm 27.
I started running to help me achieve my goal of losing weight and
getting in better shape. At this point, I'd like to be able to run two
miles. I've started by doing a run/walk for 30 minutes
every-other-day, and I walk-only on alternate days (taking Sunday off).
So far I've learned that my Nikes suck, and I switched to Army issue
combat boots, which are very comfortable to me and offer lots of
support. This has helped me run more with less pain, so I figured that
out for myself🙂.
Aside from that, I'm pretty much just kind of flying blind. I run as
much as I can, and when I can't, I walk. I'm not sure how hard I
should push myself, though. I don't want to go too soft and never gain
anything, but I don't want to go too hard and cause injury. How do I
know what the right balance is?
Any other tips would be greatly appreciated.
First:
Congratulations and welcome to the group.
Suggestions:
Start a running log NOW. You will appreciate it later. Keep it simple,
just log what you want but the basic entry should include when you ran
and for how long (time and/or distance) You might include other notes
on things like weight, weather, problems or joys on that run, and
whatever else you like.
Try running at a convesational pace, IOW at a pace you can still talk
sentences. Many beginners start by running full force and are forced to
walk before completing their time. Until you can run all your runs
without walking, this is the fastest you should go.
Generally we suggest you only go for the amount of time that you can
run without walking. Then gradually add time to that (over several
weeks and months) until you can run three times per week 30minutes each
time.
But you already jumped to this 30min. time. So for you, keep to the
30minutes until you can run the entire time. One way to improve is to
pick one run per week and make it your "hard" run. Try not walking at
all on that run, starting with a 10minute run. (so 5minutes out and
5minutes back). But even this "hard" run should not be faster than
conversational pace.If you finished 10minutes easily, the next week, do
it for 15 minutes. Increase gradually until this becomes your longest
run without walking. You may find your other two runs having less
walking. you might find all three weekly runs soon get to be complete
runs, without any walking.
Measure only time until you get to the three 30minute runs per week
(without walking). If you want, record how far you ran using landmarks.
You will make better progress at this stage without knowing your pace
(minutes per mile or kilometer).
Only AFTER you can do the 3 runs should you increase weekly total When
you do, make one of those runs a "long" run but increasing it
slightly.Timewise you might only add 5minutes to that run. Later you
might add another day per week. When you do, make sure not to overly
increase your total weekly mileage. So if you get to 2runs of 3minutes
and a long run of 60minutes, add a new day by making the next week
4runs of 30minutes. then you can increase again.
finally, it is a good idea to not increase mileage every week.Any time
you increase mileage one week, keep it the same or decrease it slightly
the following week.
Check out the rec.running FAQ for more info. it's posted here somewhat
regularly.
enjoy the run
Ed
PS do not feed the trolls.
PPS that means, don't bother responding to them
PPPS You'll quickly figure out which posters they are
