hottopic
2005-07-10, 08:20 PM
******Monday,July 11, 2005.....EVERYONE PLEASE READ-CHECK IN******
Hello Ladies of LHCF,
I am back and in full swing. I start my new job, eating plan, and workout schedule tomorrow. Now that I am no longer depress, found my dream job and bought a treadmill....I have to change my routine in life. I was in a running rut, but I am out of it now. My month goal is to lose 5lbs. I have to walk at 3.5 for the next 2 weeks or so to build back up.
Thank You,
Hottopic
************************************************** *******
Get Your Running Back on Track in the New Year
By Cedric Jaggers
Has your running ever gotten off track? Have you had an injury or an illness or something else that has interfered with your ability or your desire to run? If you have run or if you do run for enough years, it will happen to you. It certainly happened to me.
Two years ago (almost to the day) I took a bad fall when I tripped over some construction stakes (black and nearly invisible in the ground) and fell onto a new sidewalk. That hip injury still bothers me occasionally, but not enough to matter anymore. Then last year when I was trying to whip myself back into shape I got an ear infection. I thought only kids got ear infections, but five weeks and four increasingly expensive antibiotics later I knew better. It is hard to run when you are sick and dizzy.
For two years in a row now my running has been off kilter. What do you do when that happens? How do you start to try to put things back the way you want them to be? If it is running you are talking about you have to run. There really is no substitute for mileage as John Parker pounds home in his excellent novel Once a Runner.
You have to start building your mileage back up if you want to run well in races. If it has fallen to the single digits per week (as mine had for some weeks) you have to be careful not to add so many miles on per week that you get exhausted or re-injure yourself. This is more of a problem as you get older and it takes longer to recover from hard or long runs.
After you have built your mileage up and gotten comfortable with your new 'load' you need to add speedwork if you really want to compete well in races. Trying to run fast after two years of slow running can really be humbling. Your mind remembers, but your body does not.
What better way to get back on track than to go to the track? You cannot kid yourself about the distance when you are on a track. You can not pick an easy downhill stretch or blame a slow time on having to jump curbs or dogs or traffic or whatever. The distance around the track doesn't change. It doesn't suddenly elevate or decline. It is what it is, like it or not. The track is the true trial, judge, jury, and sometimes executioner.
I had gone to the track the day before I fell two years ago. I remember that I was disappointed with six quarter mile interval repeats at 78 seconds (with a two-minute recovery quarter). I went to the track expecting to be a little slower than I was two years ago.
However, the track wanted me to be a lot slower. In fact the best of four quarters was 90 seconds (which is a six-minute pace for a mile) and it felt like the effort I put out to run sub 60 seconds quarters decades ago when I could still do that. Even worse, my legs felt like fresh hamburger when I got off the track and started the mile and a half run home. A group of my hometown running club friends came running by and Heyward yelled out "Come on and run a loop with us." I couldn't do it even though I wanted to.
The next day my legs felt like someone had used a meat tenderizing hammer on them, especially the thighs. But I had a feeling of accomplishment. I had made the first tentative steps towards getting back on track in both senses of the word.
If your running is out of sorts or off track, try this plan. First make sure you are over your illness or injury. Next build your mileage base, then build your speed. It takes a long time and does not come easily as I can testify. My progress and likely yours as well, will be much slower than you want it to be. But we have to start somewhere. Then if we can just avoid illness and injury and take off the extra 10 pounds we've put on, we will definitely be on the right track.
Hello Ladies of LHCF,
I am back and in full swing. I start my new job, eating plan, and workout schedule tomorrow. Now that I am no longer depress, found my dream job and bought a treadmill....I have to change my routine in life. I was in a running rut, but I am out of it now. My month goal is to lose 5lbs. I have to walk at 3.5 for the next 2 weeks or so to build back up.
Thank You,
Hottopic
************************************************** *******
Get Your Running Back on Track in the New Year
By Cedric Jaggers
Has your running ever gotten off track? Have you had an injury or an illness or something else that has interfered with your ability or your desire to run? If you have run or if you do run for enough years, it will happen to you. It certainly happened to me.
Two years ago (almost to the day) I took a bad fall when I tripped over some construction stakes (black and nearly invisible in the ground) and fell onto a new sidewalk. That hip injury still bothers me occasionally, but not enough to matter anymore. Then last year when I was trying to whip myself back into shape I got an ear infection. I thought only kids got ear infections, but five weeks and four increasingly expensive antibiotics later I knew better. It is hard to run when you are sick and dizzy.
For two years in a row now my running has been off kilter. What do you do when that happens? How do you start to try to put things back the way you want them to be? If it is running you are talking about you have to run. There really is no substitute for mileage as John Parker pounds home in his excellent novel Once a Runner.
You have to start building your mileage back up if you want to run well in races. If it has fallen to the single digits per week (as mine had for some weeks) you have to be careful not to add so many miles on per week that you get exhausted or re-injure yourself. This is more of a problem as you get older and it takes longer to recover from hard or long runs.
After you have built your mileage up and gotten comfortable with your new 'load' you need to add speedwork if you really want to compete well in races. Trying to run fast after two years of slow running can really be humbling. Your mind remembers, but your body does not.
What better way to get back on track than to go to the track? You cannot kid yourself about the distance when you are on a track. You can not pick an easy downhill stretch or blame a slow time on having to jump curbs or dogs or traffic or whatever. The distance around the track doesn't change. It doesn't suddenly elevate or decline. It is what it is, like it or not. The track is the true trial, judge, jury, and sometimes executioner.
I had gone to the track the day before I fell two years ago. I remember that I was disappointed with six quarter mile interval repeats at 78 seconds (with a two-minute recovery quarter). I went to the track expecting to be a little slower than I was two years ago.
However, the track wanted me to be a lot slower. In fact the best of four quarters was 90 seconds (which is a six-minute pace for a mile) and it felt like the effort I put out to run sub 60 seconds quarters decades ago when I could still do that. Even worse, my legs felt like fresh hamburger when I got off the track and started the mile and a half run home. A group of my hometown running club friends came running by and Heyward yelled out "Come on and run a loop with us." I couldn't do it even though I wanted to.
The next day my legs felt like someone had used a meat tenderizing hammer on them, especially the thighs. But I had a feeling of accomplishment. I had made the first tentative steps towards getting back on track in both senses of the word.
If your running is out of sorts or off track, try this plan. First make sure you are over your illness or injury. Next build your mileage base, then build your speed. It takes a long time and does not come easily as I can testify. My progress and likely yours as well, will be much slower than you want it to be. But we have to start somewhere. Then if we can just avoid illness and injury and take off the extra 10 pounds we've put on, we will definitely be on the right track.