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Re: Getting into shape

Posted: March 4 19, 1:04 pm
by Swirls
Freed Roger wrote:Keep at it Swirls. When training for distance, some training schedules don't have you do the entire race distance in training. i.e. for a half your training may top off at 10. I think it is important to do the full distance ahead of time -at whatever pace

Physically it may not do much in short term -but mentally you have cleared the hurdle. You know it is do-able and race day is more enjoyable. Two weeks out from race day if possible.

You probably have considered you may not be acclimated to heat. Be sure to have a plan for hyddating and electrolytes etc. I have read about Badwater participants (the awful ultra in death valley in summer.) that hack into acclimation with sauna sessions.

Sounds like you have a run walk plan, which is good. Good to have a strategy. I make one up a strategy arbitrarily -even for training runs -kind of a placebo empowerment thing.

For long [expletive] I've only toyed with this run walk regime of my brothers - he has a goal per mile pace. say for simplicity 10 mim miles. He runs first full mile -say he he hits a mile in 9:30, then walks to 10 min mark. then runs until he hits 2 miles and walks to he hits 20 min mark. He says he feels like he can do this forever, because he banks quite a bit under that 10 min mile pace. I rarely do it, because I am almost always in hills and if I am walking, its going to be uphill rather than when the watch tells me.
Yeah, this plan basically takes you to 10 or 11 and then assumes on actual race day you'll be able to do the rest on sheer adrenaline.

I do have a few pairs of compression socks of varying amounts of compression. I would normally wear them for a 5K or a 10K (which I would walk 90% of), but will probably wear the light compression ones during the race and switch to the heavier compression ones after it's over.

The wife is a long distance runner and has done 20 half-marathons so far. Last year her goal was to do one each month of the year, which she completed (finding ones in November and December were rough with weather and travel, but oddly enough there were a ton in January and February). Her bucket list is to run one in all 50 states (she's currently on #12 or #13 I think). So she's running this one with me and is somewhat keeping me accountable (and vice versa).

Re: Getting into shape

Posted: March 4 19, 1:33 pm
by Freed Roger
It is cool husband of you to train and jump in a few of these events with your wife. Some people egos are too big for something that can suck in a humbling painful sort of way. Helps you get in shape, gives you appreciaton for what she is doing.

And fwiw, the running is humbling at all levels. Unless you are Usain Bolt in the sprints or Eliud Kipchoge for distance... some one that logically shouldn't be faster can kick your arse.

My main competitive foe in long trail races used to be a 60 year old guy that looks 60 and super-humble non-descript. He has several grandkids. "Used to be" my foe because now he is getting faster and blowing me away. (i feel better about things after learning he used to be a local elite -once did 2:30 marathon. ...he is finding it again).

Re: Getting into shape

Posted: March 11 19, 10:43 am
by Swirls
Update: last Tuesday the wife and I hopped on the treadmills to do our 5 mile run, and within a couple minutes I had developed some severe pain on the side of my foot. It wasn't on the ankle, heel, or the front near my toes, but more on the outer side (close-ish to the ankle). After resting it for a couple days I tried to run again and the pain was present the entire time. Even after those runs the pain would continue off and on for a few days. We both feared it may be a minute stress fracture or something that could affect the rest of my training regimen before April's race.

Yesterday afternoon I took the advice of my wife and went in to a popular running store in Minneapolis. I explained my situation and they had me walk a few steps, do a couple squats, and stand separately on each leg to see how my feet moved and landed. They immediately said it wasn't a stress fracture and was likely a shoe problem. I showed them my current shoes, which were about 2.5-3 years old but still had plenty of tread left on them. It turns out they weren't actual running shoes and were more of a cross-training shoe with support designed for working out in a gym rather than long distance running.

They gave me a new pair of shoes and had me hop on their treadmill where they filmed me running for 30ish seconds to get a gait analysis. It turns out my left foot lands inward quite a bit but my right foot does not. Both are pretty neutral when landing in terms of heel/toe. That new piece of information, combined with my high arches, led them to recommend a wide-toe running shoe. They only had two brands in stock in my size, so I tried both on and gave them a whirl on the treadmill.

Holy [expletive] what a difference it made. There was a pair of Brooks (which my wife swears by) but they were still a little tight on the top of my foot, so I ended up purchasing the other pair (New Balance 860v9's). At $125, they were also some of the cheapest shoes they had in the store. The store has a full 60 day return policy, so if the pain comes back then I can return them and try something else (they also carry custom orthotic inserts, so I may try something like that as well).

Image

I put them on and went back to the Y and ran 4 miles without any problems. The pain was there when I started, but after about the first half mile most if it had gone away. It's still there slightly right now, but I'll pop a couple ibuprofen before my 4-5 mile run today and hopefully within the next couple days it will be gone entirely.

Re: Getting into shape

Posted: March 13 19, 8:46 pm
by Freed Roger
Well that is good. I remember way back having similar issues.
Shoes were too small, and me too cheap to buy new ones. wide toe box is way to go. injuries in the lower extremities also went away as I lost weight.

Perservering and even making progress getting in shape in the winter will payoff. Running outside not bundled up, and in daylight will seem like a breeze

Re: Getting into shape

Posted: March 27 19, 9:48 am
by Swirls
Latest update: since switching shoes, I've tallied 44 miles - my longest run so far was 9 miles this past Sunday. We have a 10 miler scheduled for this weekend, which will be the last long run before the Disney race next weekend on April 7. Weight is down to right at 190, so unless I eat like an absolute slob over the next couple of weeks, I should easily be able to hit my goal of being under 190 before the race.

We were finally able to get out on the weekends and do runs outside rather than on a treadmill. Holy [expletive] what a difference it makes. I've found when outside our walking pace is considerably slower than the 4.0 on the treadmill, but our jogging pace is considerably faster than the 5.5 on the treadmill. When each mile gets announced in my MapMyWalk app, I'm oftentimes amazed at the splits. Some are down to 10:30 but usually they're between 11:30 and 12:00. Occasionally they're higher, but the only times we've had splits above the 13:00 range are when we have to stop at an intersection and wait for the stop lights to rotate so we can cross.

The pacing cutoff for the Disney race is a 16:00 mile (3:30:00 time limit), so even if we slow down a bit we should still have plenty of time for the run. They do picture spots around each mile marker, so I'll likely be stopping a bunch for photos - they recommend keeping a 15 min pace minimum if you want to get pictures taken.

Re: Getting into shape

Posted: March 27 19, 10:27 am
by tlombard
Well, I feel like even more of a fat slob after reading that!

I did walk to work today but it took me a little over an hour to make journey (just over 3 miles with the route I took). I wasn't exactly trying to walk fast since getting to work sweaty is not something I want to do but I also had to take a detour because I forgot about the construction along 44 and couldn't cut under where I normally do when I walk to work and had to go all the way up to Grand on Shaw.

And you are right, every single intersection having a stop sign or stop light and traffic really slows things down. Having to go all the way to Grand added a bunch of extra lights that I had to wait for. It shouldn't take me an hour to walk three miles even if I'm not hurrying!

Re: Getting into shape

Posted: March 29 19, 4:24 am
by Tim
Tim wrote:Tilted the scales at 200lbs this morning

I’m going to use this thread as accountability. I’m feeling lazy, I’ve got reflux and eat like crap.

I leave on a long weekend for the anniversary March 31 ~ 12 weeks.

I want to lose a lb a week. No reason I can’t. 188lbs by 3.31.19
Well 196.0 as we head to a mini vacation.

I did however manage to drop enough weight to fit back on my jeans. And I feel better than I have in a long time.

Re: Getting into shape

Posted: March 29 19, 5:50 am
by Radbird
Down 6, 20 to go. It takes a lot longer than it used to.

Re: Getting into shape

Posted: March 30 19, 4:21 pm
by JCShutout
Hey Swirls! We're twins. Just clocked in this morning at 190.4. Not bad for 6'3". I'm officially ending keto this week. (which only really means that fruit and occasional nightshades are now okay again) Going to attempt one of those crazy fitness 12 hour events next week and I figure I'll need some carbs to survive that nonsense. Then I'm going to try a couple of endurance hikes. I'll probably end the low carb run around Wednesday. That makes around 36-38 lbs since Thanksgiving and a much smaller gut. Body fat% dropped at least 5%, maybe 6%. (4.5% from when I got the scale a month or so in)

And tlombard, don't feel bad about 3mph walking to work with traffic lights. You probably had a nice 4mph pace when actually moving.

Re: Getting into shape

Posted: April 1 19, 9:09 am
by GeddyWrox
I hit a new low this morning. 258. I haven't weighed in the 250s since late college. 250 was my main goal when I started keto in Dec 2017 (stretch goal is 225). The loss rate has slowed way down as I've gotten closer and closer to my goal. I'm also nearing the 100 lb loss mark for this diet. If I count my heaviest weight ever, I'm almost 130 down (not all of that was keto diet).