So, I Started Running Again...

[eits]

i decided i was tired of being a fatty, again...

i needed to start running... but it's cold. i know myself well enough to know that if i go to the gym, i'll get depressed and self-conscious because i let myself go over the past year or so. i also know that running in the cold would just piss me off.

so, i went to a local running store. they gave chiropractors a 10% discount, which was pretty awesome. anyways, i bought some synthetic semi-loose running pants, a semi-loose half-zip mock turtleneck synthetic running shirt, running gloves, a synthetic knit hat, a nike+ sportband (since i don't have an ipod touch or iphone), and some mizuno running shoes.

i ran in the cold in total comfort... i didn't freeze or anything. i would normally go for a run and be winded at 1.5 miles... and i hadn't run since around july or so. well, i ended up running 3 miles very easily... i could have gone running for longer, but i had to get back inside to make the kids some dinner before bedtime. last night (which was the very next night after my first run), i went for a run again... i stopped after 1 mile. i wasn't worn out or anything, but my calves were killing me. they're still pretty tight, along with my quads. taking the stairs anywhere is a total bitch.

anyways, i think i actually like running now, all because of my new running apparel. my gf's daughter said i look like some kind of spy or burglar (because all my gear is black, except my shoes).

 

[brikis98]

Congrats on getting things going again! A few suggestions:

1. Have a look at the fat loss sticky. Note that diet, not exercise, should be the priority when trying to losing weight. Once you have your exercise regime squared away, make sure to get your diet sorted out too.

2. Slow, steady-state cardio (ie, jogging) alone is not a great choice of exercise when trying to lose weight. Jogging will certainly help burn calories and improve your conditioning but it also tends to burn up muscle mass and not just fat. Unless you counter it with some weight training and a high protein intake, you'll lose weight, but not lower your body fat percentage as much as you'd expect.

3. If you haven't exercised in a while, work your way up gradually. If you do too much too quickly, you may be sore and have to skip the subsequent workouts, could become discouraged and quit, or could even injure yourself.

4. Set some concrete goals in the 2010 goals thread, such as "weigh X pounds by date Y" or "run X miles continuously by date Y". Writing them down where others can see them (and where you can see them often too) and measuring progress towards them (which is why the goals should be quantifiable) can be a great motivation.

 

[darkxshade]

If I lift 3x/week while on cutting phase... what if any cons are there if I run steady state at say 10min/mile pace?

 

[eits]

diets never work for me... they never have, unless it was like an atkins diet... which didn't ultimately work for me.

i'm doing a lifestyle change, where i just start learning to stay away from unhealthy foods and moderate my portions. that's about as far as i'm willing to inconvenience myself when it comes to my diet.

i plan on lifting weights, i just want to lose some weight first to where i don't feel as self-conscious going to the gym.

i'm being gradual in the sense that i'm going to go easy on myself whenever i'm sore, but i'm not going to not exercise. i need to form the habit. so, although i'm sore as shit right now, i'll probably just do .3 miles tonight rather than a full mile and do some push ups, planks, and chair dips whenever i get home.

i want to take a before pic of myself, but i'm afraid of the negative feedback i'd receive from assholes. i posted a pic of myself on the forums a couple years ago and i've put on about 20-30 lbs since then and it's just really embarrassing to me.

what i really need right now a is a good chiropractic adjustment. my sacroiliac joints are sore from all the new stress being put on it from various muscle tensions it's not used to feeling. that and my thoracics.

 

[darkxshade]

As far as pics are concerned, I regretted never taking pics. I had originally planned to take a pic once/day or once/week and put it into a flip book type format to see my progression over time in minutes. Suffice to say I never took the first step to get that going and now I wish I had. I was at my heaviest 205lbs @ 5'8, I'm now 170lbs and still dropping while maintaining muscle... I have a vague image of what I looked like in the mirror when I started and looking at the mirror now, it's been a metamorphosis.

All I can tell you is that even if you don't want to show anybody, you should still take those pics. Not only does progress motivate you to push harder, you might find yourself confident enough one day to show them to people so they can see how much you have achieved.

 

[brikis98]

diets never work for me... they never have, unless it was like an atkins diet... which didn't ultimately work for me.

i'm doing a lifestyle change, where i just start learning to stay away from unhealthy foods and moderate my portions. that's about as far as i'm willing to inconvenience myself when it comes to my diet.

Sorry for the confusing terminology: I didn't actually mean you need to go on a "diet", especially any of the fad/extreme diets (like Atkins, South Beach, etc), as these always include a temporary change in your eating. Obviously that won't work as you'd regain any weight lost as soon as you went back to your old eating habits. What I actually meant by "diet" was exactly what you are saying: a permanent lifestyle change where you modify your eating habits. And a lot of the Fat Loss Sticky is dedicated exactly to that. Changing the quality of the food you eat is the most important - and permanent - thing you can do: avoid highly processed/refined "food products" and instead eat real, natural, whole, raw food. As for the quantity that is of secondary importance, but not something you can ignore if you are trying to lose weight. You don't need to avoid all carbs or all fats or anything like that, but you will need to track calories, for too many calories of even the healthiest foods will prevent weight loss no matter how much you exercise.

i plan on lifting weights, i just want to lose some weight first to where i don't feel as self-conscious going to the gym.

Your choice, but why do you care what other people think? I don't know about you, but I go to the gym to work my ass off and could not care less about the other people there.

i'm being gradual in the sense that i'm going to go easy on myself whenever i'm sore, but i'm not going to not exercise. i need to form the habit. so, although i'm sore as shit right now, i'll probably just do .3 miles tonight rather than a full mile and do some push ups, planks, and chair dips whenever i get home.

By gradually, I am not in any way suggesting you should skip workouts. However, you shouldn't jump in 100% on the first workout and run your ass off. Otherwise, as you noticed, you end up really sore and will have trouble doing the next workout. Do too much too early, and you'll get injured, frustrated and start missing workouts - the exact opposite of what you want. Instead, you should start slow, say by running 1 mile, and then gradually build up. Give your body time to adapt and you'll find it much easier to stick with the habit.

 

[brikis98]

If I lift 3x/week while on cutting phase... what if any cons are there if I run steady state at say 10min/mile pace?

It depends on what your goals are.

In general, steady state cardio tends to have catabolic effects, meaning it burns up muscle mass. In other words, do too much cardio, and you'll somewhat impede your attempts to build strength/mass from weight lifting. However, it's a trade off: doing cardio is important for building endurance/stamina and is a great way to burn calories (although high intensity cardio may be a better choice for both). If weight loss is your goal or if developing endurance/stamina is important, then doing some cardio on the off days from lifting will probably be more of a benefit than a detriment. If gaining mass/strength is your goal, then you'd probably want to minimize cardio.

 

[darkxshade]

It depends on what your goals are.

In general, steady state cardio tends to have catabolic effects, meaning it burns up muscle mass. In other words, do too much cardio, and you'll somewhat impede your attempts to build strength/mass from weight lifting. However, it's a trade off: doing cardio is important for building endurance/stamina and is a great way to burn calories (although high intensity cardio may be a better choice for both). If weight loss is your goal or if developing endurance/stamina is important, then doing some cardio on the off days from lifting will probably be more of a benefit than a detriment. If gaining mass/strength is your goal, then you'd probably want to minimize cardio.

I'm not really going for weight loss, it's fat loss that I'm working on but that's probably what you meant anyway. I've only started running a little over 6 months ago and in that time I've lost roughly 30 lbs. I'd estimate that 25lbs of the 30 is fat. My bf% is now something like 11%(guestimate, last I checked it was at ~13%). Anyway I usually run for 45 mins but I do it about 3 times a week where twice a week I run at relatively high intensity(about HR of 170+bpm/192max) but I also do once or twice a week of steady state(about 150bpm) when I don't feel up to the challenge for high intensity. I guess the real question is, at what point for me would a run be considered high intensity anyway? I've kinda thought 150bpm was respectably high for a steady state jog? Additionally, I also always thought the body was very protective with muscle loss until after a certain time which is why I usually do 45mins(or 1hr at most- I lose track of time running outdoors).

 

[eits]

As far as pics are concerned, I regretted never taking pics. I had originally planned to take a pic once/day or once/week and put it into a flip book type format to see my progression over time in minutes. Suffice to say I never took the first step to get that going and now I wish I had. I was at my heaviest 205lbs @ 5'8, I'm now 170lbs and still dropping while maintaining muscle... I have a vague image of what I looked like in the mirror when I started and looking at the mirror now, it's been a metamorphosis.

All I can tell you is that even if you don't want to show anybody, you should still take those pics. Not only does progress motivate you to push harder, you might find yourself confident enough one day to show them to people so they can see how much you have achieved.

what did you do and how long did it take you? i'm at 205 now and 5'8".

 

[Megatomic]

Welcome back eits. I used running to help me lose weight also. I started off at 280ish (5'11" tall) in 2005 and got down to 162 at one point in time in 2008, but was unacceptably skinny-fat. Now I continue to run and do some strength training and at my best I was 175 pounds. 2009 was a bad year for me weight wise, I'm back up to almost 190 and plan on dropping weight down to 170 before race season starts on May 3. I'm not going to diet to do this, but I will clean up my diet and step up my workouts. My son and I are registered for a 50 mile trail race on July 3, losing weight will be inevitable - or so I hope.

 

[eits]

50 mile race... on foot?

 

[Megatomic]

yep

If that goes well, we may go for a 100k race later in the year. And if that goes well, next year we'll go for a 100 miler. Either the Virgil Crest 100 or the Oil Creek 100.

 

[gar655]

Normal amounts of running/jogging are not going to cause a loss of muscle mass. I was running an average of 60 mpw for 4 months while training for a marathon and lost no muscle mass or strength. I only did 20 mins 3 times a week of strength training.

 

[darkxshade]

what did you do and how long did it take you? i'm at 205 now and 5'8".

Well hard to say, this is gonna be a long read, first the backstory:

I've been going to the gym for lifting for over a year now and before that I was not under a gym membership since I changed jobs and cancelled my old one so for another year before that I didn't go to the gym at all. That was probably the time when I gained weight. And before that I also had been going to the gym on my older membership for years. Anyway I was 205lbs at the time I signed up for my current membership back in 2008.

Skip forward a year later which was around end of May this year I was down to roughly 195lbs. Keep in mind for the year prior all I did was lift at the gym, no cardio and I ate whatever. I wasn't serious about actual weight loss during this time, I just wanted to get back into my normal weight lifting routine as I had in the past(I lost a lot of strength during my time out), I used to do a bit of cardio though.

So end of May around the 20th it began innocently(I had not planned to begin a weight loss/fat loss program) when the guys stopped coming out on weekends to play softball. We played every Sunday. I didn't wanna sit at home doing nothing and I wanted to replace softball with something else. Since I used to do cardio, I decided to go running. Keep in mind I've never ran before outdoors in my life, it's always been on a treadmill but softball was an outdoor sport and being that it's starting to become nice out, I didn't wanna run on a treadmill so I gave outdoor running a shot...

Oh... my... god... I was slow, I was heaving, I was sweating, and I was dying. I ran and I walked and then I ran and then I walked some more and this was not HIIT, I was just weak and had no endurance. I ran(if you call it that) for 30 mins for roughly 2 miles and change. I was dead the next day and it took a week to recover but I felt good, really good because it's been a while since my body has been in so much pain and I'm a bit of a sadist... this is good pain. It was also a waking call and it was somewhat of a drug. I was addicted.

The body is an amazing machine, it wasn't long until it adapted to the punishment I was putting myself through as the next week I had already began to run regularly. So a week after my first run, I ran twice the week after with 2 days of rest in between for 40 mins(run walk run method as I still lacked endurance and willpower). In my 3rd week I ran 3 times.

I had lost 10 lbs after the first 3 weeks and by July I was running 5 times a week for 45-55 mins and gradually I was able to get to the point where I didn't have to stop and walk. I then did research and incorporated diet into my routine but that's another story you should ask the others about as they are more experienced at this than I am. The gist of it was that I swore off high fructose corn syrup, cooked my own food or ate stuff that has only ingredients I can pronounce.

Running is a high impact sport so by September, the novelty had worn off and I didn't want to kill my knees so I toned down the running back to 3x/week but threw in 2 days of other exercises(rowing machine, biking, ellipticals, etc). I also increased the intensity of my runs over time trying to improve my times.

It's December now and I run 3x/week for 45 mins each and for each run, I try to improve my time to complete 5 miles. As of today I completed 5 miles in 43 mins and my weigh in tonight pegged me at 167lbs.

During this whole time I was still lifting weights but I switched to heavy weights low reps more sets to keep muscle from degrading from all the cardio. Additionally I began taking supplements along with my diet.(multi-vitamins & fish oil). I was on creatine for May-Aug so I can continue to lift heavy and adapt to the combo of both lifting and running. I was off creatine by Sep and had been off since. I will probably cycle back on in Jan 2010.

Hope this helps. ^_^

 

[eits]

i was seriously considering getting some creatine into my diet like i used to in high school. back in the day, my one-rep bench was 250. now, i think i could do about 170 if i had a spot. pathetic.

i know i can run 30 mins straight... i did it the other night

i think i'm gonna do what you did, but i need to find some time to go and lift in the gym. i live about 3 mile from my old school and since i'm an alum, i get to work out still for free. i want to work up to being able to run to my school, lift, and run back. the thing is that it's a hilly 3 miles, so it's gonna take a while to accomplish.

 

[brikis98]

I'm not really going for weight loss, it's fat loss that I'm working on but that's probably what you meant anyway.

Yep.

I guess the real question is, at what point for me would a run be considered high intensity anyway? I've kinda thought 150bpm was respectably high for a steady state jog?

I don't go by heart rate for these sorts of things because it depends a lot on genetics, level of fitness (ie, it'll probably get lower as you get more fit), stress levels, rest levels and other factors. Instead, I tend to define "high intensity" as something you can only keep up for a very short period of time. The exact amount can be varied, but it isn't "high intensity" if you are going for more than ~1 minute or so. Obviously, one minute of cardio isn't going to cut it, which is why you usually pair it with "interval training", alternating periods of high intensity with periods of low intensity or rest. For example, 30 seconds of running quickly followed by 30 seconds of walking/jogging or 20 seconds of all out sprinting followed by 10 seconds of rest (this latter type would be a "Tabata interval"). Depending on your level of fitness, you won't be able to do too many of these intervals before your level of intensity drops off significantly. With Tabata's, for example, you rarely do more than 8 intervals (4 minutes) of one exercise (though you could chain together Tabata's of different exercises). However, even though it is short & fast, don't be fooled: intervals are - and should be - brutally difficult (so start gradually if you try them), produce awesome improvements in anaerobic and aerobic fitness, and continue to burn calories long after you finish.

Additionally, I also always thought the body was very protective with muscle loss until after a certain time which is why I usually do 45mins(or 1hr at most- I lose track of time running outdoors).

Under normal conditions, sure, the body isn't going to go burning up too much muscle mass for no reason. But when you are in a caloric deficit (as you need to be to lose fat), the energy must come from somewhere. Exactly where it comes from is a big balancing act: on the one side, muscles are metabolically expensive, so during big energy shortages (such as long bouts of cardio or if you are starving yourself), your body may choose to burn up more muscle mass. On the other side, you can stress your body with weight training, which will make your body attempt to recover/adapt by (amongst other things) increasing muscle mass. In a caloric deficit, there just isn't much material to work with (though high protein intake helps), so the best you can typically hope for is to maintain the muscle mass you already have. The exact balance that will work for a given person depends on genetics, training experience, diet, hormones, etc. Moderation - including a moderate calorie deficit, moderate amounts of cardio & moderate amounts of weight training - tends to work pretty well for most people.

 

[darkxshade]

I've always known HIIT is better for fat burn but for the life of me I just can't seem to get interested in it. I've tried it a few times and it does get me gassed at the end and I've only done it running outdoors. I've tried it at the gym and it's just not practical on machines in that I can never seem to push myself to the brink like I do with actual running(too much focus involved in increasing and decreasing treadmill speed, it's distracting). I've never done Tabatas though but 4 mins total is crazy. Exercise for me is like food, I actually want to enjoy the workout like people do with food(chew slowly and savor the taste) so in that respect is kind of why HIIT/Tabatas has never hit home with me. When I run for 45 mins outdoors, I like to take in the atmosphere, enjoy the scenery, etc. When I do HIIT, I have to sacrifice that to keep my eye on the timing and the intervals, there's a lot more work. That's not to say I'm writing it off, it has its place and I'll probably give it a shot with more effort when spring rolls around but as of the current winter season, I'm sticking with steady state for the time being.

 

[RKS]

If you are running in the dark/dusk with all black gear; please wear some sort of reflective vest.

 

[eits]

If you are running in the dark/dusk with all black gear; please wear some sort of reflective vest.

it's on the sidewalk just around the block (suburban neighborhood)... it's a .3 mile loop. i just keep looping it. i don't run on the street. plus, my shoes are bright and have tons of reflective stuff.

 

[brikis98]

I've always known HIIT is better for fat burn but for the life of me I just can't seem to get interested in it. I've tried it a few times and it does get me gassed at the end and I've only done it running outdoors. I've tried it at the gym and it's just not practical on machines in that I can never seem to push myself to the brink like I do with actual running(too much focus involved in increasing and decreasing treadmill speed, it's distracting). I've never done Tabatas though but 4 mins total is crazy. Exercise for me is like food, I actually want to enjoy the workout like people do with food(chew slowly and savor the taste) so in that respect is kind of why HIIT/Tabatas has never hit home with me. When I run for 45 mins outdoors, I like to take in the atmosphere, enjoy the scenery, etc. When I do HIIT, I have to sacrifice that to keep my eye on the timing and the intervals, there's a lot more work. That's not to say I'm writing it off, it has its place and I'll probably give it a shot with more effort when spring rolls around but as of the current winter season, I'm sticking with steady state for the time being.

Hey, if jogging outside is something that you genuinely love, then you should certainly keep it up. If your diet is solid and you are hitting the weights hard, an easy 45 minute run probably isn't going to cause any issues. On the other hand, for people avoiding training at high intensities because it is "hard", it is often good to have some refreshing insight of the Mark Rippetoe variety:

“It would be good if some of you people learned that comfort and ease are not often associated with progress and accomplishment in any endeavor.”

 

[eits]

ran 3.28 miles today in 29'49"

that's a personal best. two days ago, i ran 3.14 miles in 34'something"

 

[MrMatt]

ran 3.28 miles today in 29'49"

that's a personal best. two days ago, i ran 3.14 miles in 34'something"

glad you're sticking with it!

 

[eits]

i ran 3.1 miles in 27'07"

that's the fastest i'd ever run that much distance

i'm really surprised at how much i quickly i can gain stamina... it used to not be this way whatsoever. i was wondering if it was because i was running in cold weather, but the last run i did was inside of a gym on a track and it was warm.

i think it has to do with the black running gear i wear... it makes me more ninja-like. that's right, i wore it indoors... and i really didn't give a damn. if that outfit is like my super suit and a t-shirt and shorts won't cut it for me anymore, then so be it.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Cool temperatures are ideal for optimal performance due to several factors: the body doesn't have to utilize extensive vasomotion to redirect heat, nor does the body lose plasma volume to skin (which is the case for sweating). You probably are doing better now due to the weather, but don't think that it's only the weather

 

[eits]

Cool temperatures are ideal for optimal performance due to several factors: the body doesn't have to utilize extensive vasomotion to redirect heat, nor does the body lose plasma volume to skin (which is the case for sweating). You probably are doing better now due to the weather, but don't think that it's only the weather

my best run was on an indoor track at about 68F