[Archived] Running and general keep fit

[Paul]

I have two friends who walked the Ribble Way last summer. This is a 72 mile walk. I think, but can't remember, the challenge was to complete it, unsupported, in 24 hours. I know they finished, both very tired but OK. One is a fit, active person the other less so.

My experience of walking is 10-12 miles maximum but I do a lot of long distance cycling, 80 miles or more most weekends and occasionally over 100. You have 12-14 hours walking to sustain. Based only on cycling I suggest you should pay attention to nutrition and hydration. The day before I would ensure I ate:

Breakfast: oats and raisins soaked in milk. 

Second breakfast: 2-3 eggs anything but fried

Lunch: tuna salad or similar

Evening meal: carbs!! Pasta etc.

On the day I would have the same breakfast and try to add a banana. During a long ride it is essential to eat and drink. An experienced rider will know what suits him/her but a good guide is to eat every 45 minutes and drink every 10-15. I use sports bars and drinks but there are plenty of every day foods you could try  - banana, raisins, flapjack, jelly babies. A Google search will give you loads of ideas. If you don't use a sports drink add a small amount of cordial to take away the plastic taste from the bottle. During an 80 mile ride I would drink 2-3 litres of water.

I don't know the effect of stopping on a walker. When riding 80-100 miles in a group we would stop once for 45 minutes at a cafe. Typically I would have beans, brown toast, two poached eggs and sometimes a cake. I would stretch on arrival and before leaving. For the first 2-3 miles after stopping I would expect to have heavy legs.

My walking is usually no more than 7-8 miles. When we rest I'm tempted to remove my boots but don't as I find it hard to put them on again. In your position I would not take my shoes off!

From what you have said I feel footwear should be your concern. Nutrition, hydration, tiredness etc. can be overcome but poor support and discomfort from inadequate shoes can't be. I hope running shoes are adequate, do you have an alternative?

 

 

[blueboy3333]

After spending nearly 18 months living like a crisps&cake-eating sloth I'm now 3+ stone overweight. My moobs are huge (I've gone up at least 9 cup sizes) and I could flatten a small county with my arse. My achilles are too shot to run and I don't like sports bras so it's back to the cycling which I was passionate about a couple of years back till someone clipped me with a caravan on the A6 and I ended up in a ditch. It was more a slow-motion trundle into the ditch than anything and I wasn't hurt but I got the fear. So I'm heading out today for my first ride since 2015.

As I've become a bit obsessed with my weight I was looking up which exercises burnt the most calories. I found the table below from this article http://www.ilovebicycling.com/how-many-calories-do-you-burn-when-cycling/  Hope it provides some inspiration fellow chub-sters and I'll see you out and about on the highways of Lancashire.

 

[Leyland-Rover]

Interesting little table.

Swimming is a great way of keeping in shape, especially with the lack of strain on your aging joints. I have also read many times that regular brisk walks are a far better way of losing weight, that going for a run. There's also the reduced wear and tear of the body too.

[AmericanRover12]

got a "simply fit" board as half a joke but have been using it and following the dvd while watching tv in the evening and it has certainly helped more than I expected it would. also easing back into a diet that works for me, but usually i just try and do too much too soon and not sticking with it so hoping this works.

[Mike E]

5lbs gone since I first posted in this thread!

Only real change has been drinking water or tea only instead of easily 3-4 cans of pop per day. I allow myself a Vimto with my tea and at the wknd I let myself have 2 cans of fizzy drink or 1 pint.

But drinking so much water (2L per day) has meant I'm feeling so much more full during the day! So fewer crisps!

Sleeping better too. Water is actually magic!

[Audax]

2 hours ago, AmericanRover12 said:

got a "simply fit" board as half a joke but have been using it and following the dvd while watching tv in the evening and it has certainly helped more than I expected it would. also easing back into a diet that works for me, but usually i just try and do too much too soon and not sticking with it so hoping this works.

That's cool and I commend you.  I've actually seen the board at the store and I know exactly what it is.  I'm holding off for now because I already do some running and cycling. Otherwise, I would seriously look at one and I've watched a few youtube videos on them.  I also have a few exercise gadgets in the house already so I've been down that road already but it looks like one of the better home exercise products I've seen. I even picked up fairly inexpensively from a yard sale, a 16 pound weighted vest that I rarely use. I have a twister bar I got a few years ago which I could barely move for the first few months and worked that all the time. I worked that thing big time.

 

So for me, it's, "oh, another exercise gadget" per the fit board but I get into home exercise equipment and I think they are good investments, to do while on the computer or watch tv. I don't consider them "jokes" at all, I do have one gadget that I will not mention the name of that I think is so-so.  I have a few weights around as well.

Simply fit board in case anyone wonders.

It really looks alright; there's a few other balancing devices that look good. Trampolines, are suppose to be decent, even a small one for "rebounding" I heard.

Looks like it could be fun too.

 

 

 

 

[AmericanRover12]

Just now, Audax said:

That's cool and I commend you.  I've actually seen the board at the store and I know exactly what it is.  I'm holding off for now because I already do some running and cycling. Otherwise, I would seriously look at one and I've watched a few youtube videos on them.  I also have a few exercise gadgets in the house already so I've been down that road already but it looks like one of the better home exercise products I've seen. I even picked up fairly inexpensively from a yard sale, a 16 pound weighted vest that I rarely use. I have a twister bar I got a few years ago which I could barely move for the first few months and worked that all the time. I worked that thing big time.

 

So for me, it's, "oh, another exercise gadget" per the fit board but I get into home exercise equipment and I think they are good investments, to do while on the computer or watch tv. I don't consider them "jokes" at all, I do have one gadget that I will not mention the name of that I think is so-so.  I have a few weights around as well.

Simply fit board in case anyone wonders.

It really looks alright; there's a few other balancing devices that look good. Trampolines, are suppose to be decent, even a small one for "rebounding" I heard.

Looks like it could be fun too.

 

 

 

 

Yeah, also harder than i expected. need to just stand and slowly go and adjust my balance before i can get moving.  My core is engaged the whole time and when you work in planks/pushups (while balancing on the board) and other body weight exercise i rotate in, it really turns into a workout watching sports and netflix when i'd just be sat in my chair.

[gumboots]

Can somebody please tell me when running gets easier? I'm on week 4 of c25k and I'm absolutely shattered when I get back and the longest run is 5 mins! I don't expect it to be pain free but when will I actually be able to run and breathe at the same time?

[Paul]

If 5 minutes exercise is leaving you shattered it might be wise to speak to your GP before undertaking more runs. I don't run but I can manage a lot more than this.  

[gumboots]

21 hours ago, Paul said:

If 5 minutes exercise is leaving you shattered it might be wise to speak to your GP before undertaking more runs. I don't run but I can manage a lot more than this.  

I'm healthy, just old!  I don't just run for 5 mins.  It's a training schedule that involves 30 mins of constant movement.  it's just that at the moment I'm not supposed to run more than 5 mins at a time.  It will build up over the next few weeks with more running time and shorter walking periods between the runs.  And when I say shattered it's a bit of an exaggeration in that I recover quite quickly.  It's just that everyone tells me it will get easier and at the moment it doesn't seem to be doing so.  But actually I suppose it is because 4 weeks ago running for 1 minute left me thinking I would never move again.  I'm just impatient to see results, I think, and lose sight of the progress I've already made.

[Jimbo]

I think the adage "It never gets easier, you just get faster" applies - Just stick at it, it will come. 

[Paul]

@gumboots you've put in perspective now!

[Audax]

Word to the wise,  don't be so set on losing weight that you do not give yourself enough nutrition.

It's a balancing act and it isn't easy, salads and brown rice often don't fill one up. If you use energy, it needs fuel additionally.

 

[Paul]

Completely agree with the above. Cutting out snacks and rubbish food will have an initial impact but weight loss is about combining exercise with the right foods. It's very difficult, close to impossible, for most people to lose weight purely through exercise. 

[Paul]

19 hours ago, Jimbo said:

I think the adage "It never gets easier, you just get faster" applies - Just stick at it, it will come. 

Yep! True of all sports that require physical stamina and/or endurance. My cycling being a prime example - still get home nackered but after riding further, faster.

[gumboots]

Just an update. I'm now up to running 2 lots of 8 mins with 5 mins walk between. Did it for the first time today and will be doing it again Thursday before moving to the next level

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, gumboots said:

Just an update. I'm now up to running 2 lots of 8 mins with 5 mins walk between. Did it for the first time today and will be doing it again Thursday before moving to the next level

My wife started the couch to 5 k a couple of years ago. 6 other women started at the same time, she's the oldest by far  at 66 and she's the last one standing. She goes out every morning now. 45 minutes jogging and she  comes back not a bit out of breath and not a drop of sweat on her brow. I run all around the common for 10 minutes and I'm soaked in sweat and out of breath. Her advice - " Keep going and it'll be worth it in the end !" 

She was Liverpool girls 440 yards champion in her early days though !

[gumboots]

I keep starting and giving up which is why this time I've decided I really need to get to the stage where I can run 5k as a matter of course. No further as I don't think my knees would cope. The running doesn't bother my legs too much. It's having enough breath I find hard and always have even as a kid at school

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

It's my knees that are the limiting factor with my running to be honest. A lot of football and cricket when I was younger plus a lot of kneeling on concrete in my working life have pretty much ruined them, my right knee especially. I didn't have the sense to use kneeling pads and now I'm paying for it.

When my wife started out she had the " Couch to 5 K " recording on her phone and at first it was a very gentle introduction to running with quite a bit of walking involved in between the short bursts of  jogging. She just built up from that. I'd say it took her about 6 months to be able jog for the whole 45 minutes. She's never been a smoker and she wasn't carrying much weight. Having said that she's lost a stone over the two years of jogging.

[gumboots]

Yes I'm doing the c to 5k too but I've never got past week 5 before, once because I was ill, once because I dropped a folding exam desk on my foot and couldn't get my trainers on for weeks. This time I've promised myself I'll finish the course. It's hard because I am overweight but I reckon the fitter I get the easier I'll then find it to work on weight issues, as I'll want to keep improving

[broadsword]

Would love to be exercising, but have had man flu. I'm assuming that it's the consequence of being under a great deal of stress at work, and also trying to organise the refurbishment of my house. Not only have i been suffering with a cold, I've also developed eczema on my torso. Undoubtedly, this is down to stress as well.

 

I've already bailed on a 10k and a 10 mile race in successive weeks. Hopefully I'll feel OK this weekend. I can't ever remember being so tired and drawn in my life. There was one day a few eeks back where I started work at 10am, finished at 2am and was back at work again 8 hours later. Insanity.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

You haven't mentioned the added stress of being a Rovers fan ! Get well soon.

[broadsword]

Cheers mate.

Yeah, Rovers aren't helping at the moment. All is doom and gloom. Luck has to change at some point.

[broadsword]

Interesting read:

 

http://www.athleticsweekly.com/news/colin-mccourt-craves-a-pizza-the-action-57782

[Paul]

I was persuaded by a "friend" to enter my cycling club's Time Trial Handicap. TT is a particularly exquisite form of cycling torture in which one simply rides as fast as possible over a given distance on a set course. The handicap competition consists of one qualifying event to achieve a baseline for one's handicap, 4 x 10 mile TT races and 1 x 25 mile TT.

I've never done this before so on Tuesday night I rode my baseline. I was very pleased to ride 10 miles in 28:23 seconds with an average of 21.4mph. To put it in perspective, riders 30 years younger who train with purpose designed bikes put in times of 22 - 26 minutes. The winner rode 19:21 seconds. I finished 87 seconds ahead of the "friend" who entered me. Not bad for a man four weeks off his 63rd birthday!!

Only five more to go!