Any joggers/runners out there?

Karrie

Poodlecrazy wrote: »

Hi

I thought I would join in as so many of the stories ring a bell with me! About 18 months ago I joined a gym and decided to get fit. At the time I was about 11 stone and a size 14 - 16 clothes. Not huge admitedly but as my daughter was nearly 2 and I couldn't use the 'just had a child excuse any longer'!!

Anyway within a month I could run about 800m (4 min ish) on the treadmill and then run / walk to 5KM. Did the race for life last year and ran / walked it and took 37 minutes. This was in May 2006.

Really got the bug and decided to train really hard on the running front. In October 2006 I got a place in the London Marathon (I know a bit of a leap). By Feb 2007 I managed to run (not a step of walking) a half marathon in just under 2 hours. Did the marathon in 4 hours 58 minutes, so pleased - ran the first 18 miles and then ran / walked the rest.

Now I am training for 5KM / 10KM races doing several throughout the year and just trying to get faster. When doing a 10KM it is not even a question of walking at all, how my mindset has changed!!:T Can now do 5KM in under 25 minutes which I NEVER thought would happen.


Interestingly on a weight / legs issue... I am now around 10st - 10st 3 which is not a huge drop BUT I am now a size 10 (sometimes a 12 on top:rotfl: ). My legs are more muscly but substantially smaller than they were before.

The point of writing is three fold really:

1) To tell you all that no matter where you begin you won't look back and you will be amazed at how quickly you do progress. It's almost like a light bulb moment when you find a base level of fitness and a suitable stride.

2) To offer any advice to anyone (please note I am not a qualified fitness instructor). I simply know what has worked for me!

3) To put those of you who are worried about rugby legs at ease!!!:D

Take care all.

P
xx

That is a great story. Thank you.

I have been running for 5 weeks - am on walk 2 min run 2 mins x 7. My aim is to run for 30 mins without walking and to do a 5k run.

What do you do when you feel your legs are about to give way? Do you carry on or stop?

belfastgirl23

Poodlecrazy thanks, I think that's a good idea. I'm doing a longer distance on Sunday hopefully (normal route is just 2.5k, Sunday route is nearer 5k). I'm gonna do an overall time every sunday and do the run as long as I can and walk till I can breathe thing on it. The other 2 in the week I'll follow the schedule for. Hopefully this will give me some sense of progress

Karrie I can't help out on your question because my lungs give out before my legs and it's a question of stopping or fainting I had been doing leg strengthening stuff in the gym because of a knee problem so my leg muscles aren't too bad and I'm not too stiff or anything afterwards.

I'm going for a 5k run too hopefully

silverbullit

Great to hear so many people have taken up healthier lifestyles, keep it up!

I recently gave up smoking (day 18 today!) and have been meaning to take up jogging but....erm....'haven't got around to it yet' (same old excuse). If anyone near Heaton Park in Manchester is looking for a jogging buddy, i would welcome the company and mutual encouragement since jogging alone can get a bit boring. If anyone's interested, PM me.

This is yet another good excuse for me to go shopping for some funky sports gear too!

suffolkb

See the first post on page 3 of this thread. Someone wants a running buddy for Heaton Park.

Poodlecrazy

Hi Karrie

I'm not so sure about the legs giving way thing. One thing I do know is that my definition of 'got to stop' has dramatically changed since I started running longer distances. I'm not saying that it is a healthy way to go about it but I personally run through anything apart from obvious sharp pains / injury.

If I am in discomfort I will slow down for a bit, but will keep jogging. I guess it is down to personal comfort levels and goals. I know that I have a certain base fitness and therefore can run through discomfort without fear of doing much damage. If you get discomfort when suddenly increasing distances or speed then maybe you have increased too quickly and your body simply isn't ready for it, in that case I would stop and go back to increasing gradually.

That said in a recent cross country race I did over multi terrain which I thought would be ok as I had covered greater distances before and I kept pushing felt quite yucky and ended up actually being sick just over the finish line - not a good look and VERY unhealthy, had to take a complete rest week after that.

Listen to your body I think is the moral of the story.

P
x

Karrie

silverbullit wrote: »

Great to hear so many people have taken up healthier lifestyles, keep it up!

I recently gave up smoking (day 18 today!) and have been meaning to take up jogging but....erm....'haven't got around to it yet' (same old excuse). If anyone near Heaton Park in Manchester is looking for a jogging buddy, i would welcome the company and mutual encouragement since jogging alone can get a bit boring. If anyone's interested, PM me.

This is yet another good excuse for me to go shopping for some funky sports gear too!

Well done on giving up :T It's a month for me.

Karrie

This is my face even 50 mins after the run.

Lost count of how may flies I nearly swallowed :eek:

Had a bad day today but feel better after my run.

Am still trying to convince myself that I will be able to do a 5k

belfastgirl23

Well done silverbullit and Karrie for giving up smoking!!

Karrie I think we all have bad days with fitness stuff. The thing that sorts the women from the girls is getting your a** back out there again. When I feel like this I have to set a date to do whatever it is again and stick to it like glue or else it becomes a slippery slope. Bet it'll feel better again soon. And you will be able to do 5k if you stick with it!

Too lazy to go to the gym this morning, trying to get the wherewithal together to go later on

Poodlecrazy

Bad days come with the territory. Don't let them get you down. I find that keeping a training log detailing what I have done is a really good way of dealing with the bad days. Even though they may feel bad if you go back a few weeks or months you'll find that today's bad day would have been superb back then and it makes you realise how far you have come.

With the red face thing. I have come to the conclusion that it has nothing to do with fitness. I used to go bright red when I struggled to run 500m, now even though I can run for over 20KM quite 'comfortably' I still go bright red in the first 5 minutes of running! If you are prone to going red, I'm afraid you're stuck with it!

P
x

Karrie

I do a training log sheet and it does feel good every day when I cross off the scheduled training.


I found this on the web

"As you exercise, your body generates more heat because of increased metabolism. This causes the blood vessels (capillaries) in your skin to dilate in order to release the extra heat and prevent the overheating of your body (this, along with sweating helps to keep your body cooler to maintain homeostasis) The dilation of these blood vessels, together with the increased blood circulation from excise, are the reasons why your face turns red when you work out."

Homeostasis = is the means by which internal body conditions are kept constant.

My foot/calf still feel tingly. I also get sharp pains in my calf when I am at rest. If the tingly ness doesn't go soon, I'll have to go to docs.