JiveTurkey
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Runner's High'd
Ran my first 5k today
- Thread starter Jarick
- Start date
Jarick
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Yeah she's pretty competitive but also pretty athletically gifted. She can run a mile in about 7:30 but also can run for close to half an hour without stopping. She's still a year or two away from being able to compete in middle school track so it's fun to keep her engaged in these things.
For myself I'm also pretty competitive and can be motivated by things like improving speed. I started playing hockey after college and was really motivated to improve to start scoring goals and winning games, and used to track my stats and improvement over time. Of course after kids I stopped taking it as seriously. If I could get myself hooked into a beneficial physical activity like running, I'd happily use pace and time as a motivator.
Jarick
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Picked up some decent running shoes last night, a pair of Brooks Ghost Max 2. Tried on a bunch of different shoes and really liked the amount of support they have. I'm 220 pounds so the extra cushion seems helpful. They're quite springy and have some structure and cushion in the tongue and upper which should help on longer runs so my foot doesn't go completely numb like last time.
Went out for a couple miles this morning and they help quite a bit with feet but the rest of my legs will need to strengthen up for sure. I timed out my mile and it's a pretty pathetic 14:30. So I've got a lot of room for improvement.
Went out for a couple miles this morning and they help quite a bit with feet but the rest of my legs will need to strengthen up for sure. I timed out my mile and it's a pretty pathetic 14:30. So I've got a lot of room for improvement.
Jarick
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Got a few more runs in and timed out my mile at 12:42, nearly two minutes faster! Turns out working out somewhat regularly does have benefits! Also the proper running shoes are a huge help in reducing pain and fatigue on my lower body, although I did find my left foot starting to go a bit numb again. Running would be a heck of a lot easier with 40-50 pounds less on my body....
Jarick
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Newbie gains are fun! Last week my PB half mile was 6:39. Today I set a new PB at 5:48. I had room to improve too but want to pace myself.
Amazing how quickly my conditioning is improving! I was doing 30 second run to 30 second walk before, now I'm pushing for 75 second run to 30 second walk.
Doing great on my diet too, down 4+ pounds and no pain or inflammation at all this morning.
Amazing how quickly my conditioning is improving! I was doing 30 second run to 30 second walk before, now I'm pushing for 75 second run to 30 second walk.
Doing great on my diet too, down 4+ pounds and no pain or inflammation at all this morning.
Jarick
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Some more milestones.
I'm down 5 pounds now and a full inch off my waist. I'm getting adapted to the lower calorie diet and my hunger is more manageable. Averaging 2200 cals/day now. I even had a couple cheat meals and still hit my 2200 calorie/day goals.
My running intervals are now 90 - 120 seconds of running to 30 seconds of walking, and I'm jogging a lot more in my warmups as well, so my overall miles per workout are up from about 1.5 miles to closer to 2.5 miles.
New PB half mile today of 5:40 which is interesting because I was not close to max effort, running nearly the entire time with a couple short breaks. My last PB I was running much harder for 60-75 second intervals.
Also hit a new PB mile of 12:22, and ran my first 1.5 mile over the weekend.
It's amazing how much improvement I'm seeing now that I'm both working out regularly AND sticking to a healthy balanced diet. I'm not getting any pain when running now and my cardio is significantly better.
I'll be shopping for a treadmill soon as the Minnesota weather will start to turn in a couple months.
I'm down 5 pounds now and a full inch off my waist. I'm getting adapted to the lower calorie diet and my hunger is more manageable. Averaging 2200 cals/day now. I even had a couple cheat meals and still hit my 2200 calorie/day goals.
My running intervals are now 90 - 120 seconds of running to 30 seconds of walking, and I'm jogging a lot more in my warmups as well, so my overall miles per workout are up from about 1.5 miles to closer to 2.5 miles.
New PB half mile today of 5:40 which is interesting because I was not close to max effort, running nearly the entire time with a couple short breaks. My last PB I was running much harder for 60-75 second intervals.
Also hit a new PB mile of 12:22, and ran my first 1.5 mile over the weekend.
It's amazing how much improvement I'm seeing now that I'm both working out regularly AND sticking to a healthy balanced diet. I'm not getting any pain when running now and my cardio is significantly better.
I'll be shopping for a treadmill soon as the Minnesota weather will start to turn in a couple months.
EOengineer
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Jarick
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I finished my second 5k with my kid over the weekend. This race was planned as my target/goal for my summer training program. My time was 36:34 which beat my earlier 5k time of 43:03 by about 6.5 minutes and under my goal of 38 minutes! I also hit my fastest mile time during the run at 10:48 which is nearly 30 seconds faster than my previous best time of 11:15.
Even better, my 10 year old finished at 31:01 which is crazy! She is super competitive, even though she finished four minutes faster than her best time (and finished ahead of most other runners of all ages), she wanted to run in under 30 minutes. We started in the middle of the pack so I told her next time she could start at the front. It's wild that she's only 10 years old but could run the entire 5k in about 30 minutes without ever slowing down to walk and barely breaking a sweat or getting winded.
Unfortunately I had the same issue with my left foot going numb which made me have to repeatedly stop and stretch my calf and get blood flowing again. I may need to see a sports therapist to get some feedback, probably need to do some stretch and foam rolling to loosen up the muscle and get knots out. If I can resolve that, I should be able to drive towards a 30 minute 5k time next summer.
Even better, my 10 year old finished at 31:01 which is crazy! She is super competitive, even though she finished four minutes faster than her best time (and finished ahead of most other runners of all ages), she wanted to run in under 30 minutes. We started in the middle of the pack so I told her next time she could start at the front. It's wild that she's only 10 years old but could run the entire 5k in about 30 minutes without ever slowing down to walk and barely breaking a sweat or getting winded.
Unfortunately I had the same issue with my left foot going numb which made me have to repeatedly stop and stretch my calf and get blood flowing again. I may need to see a sports therapist to get some feedback, probably need to do some stretch and foam rolling to loosen up the muscle and get knots out. If I can resolve that, I should be able to drive towards a 30 minute 5k time next summer.
Jarick
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Bumping this as I had my first running workout since basically the last post.
Planning to run two 5k's at least this summer with my daughter, first is in about six weeks and the other in about ten weeks. I intended to get a treadmill and work out over the summer which of course never happened. So gotta start back up from scratch I guess.
Anyways, first timed half mile of the season came in at 6:19 which isn't great, but at least is faster than the 7:30 or whatever which was my first half mile of last summer before I started training. I'm hoping the cardio and legs bounce back after a couple weeks. I'd like to do sub 38 in my first 5k and maybe sub 36 in my second.
Planning to run two 5k's at least this summer with my daughter, first is in about six weeks and the other in about ten weeks. I intended to get a treadmill and work out over the summer which of course never happened. So gotta start back up from scratch I guess.
Anyways, first timed half mile of the season came in at 6:19 which isn't great, but at least is faster than the 7:30 or whatever which was my first half mile of last summer before I started training. I'm hoping the cardio and legs bounce back after a couple weeks. I'd like to do sub 38 in my first 5k and maybe sub 36 in my second.
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Northern Winters = We all end up out of shape and slacking by the time the snow melts.
I got my first cycling adventure in yesterday afternoon, and am going out again this afternoon.
I am excited to put the shovel away and not slip and slide every damn step!
I got my first cycling adventure in yesterday afternoon, and am going out again this afternoon.
I am excited to put the shovel away and not slip and slide every damn step!
MirrorProfiles
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Congrats on the progress! It’s so satisfying to get it done and see the improvements as you go.
I’ve always been hopeless at running but started using the couch to 5k app a few years ago. I think it trains you mentally just for what running a bit further feels like, and also how to pace it out. Once I finished that, I found running 5k or so way less challenging and something that I just do (albeit not that quickly).
I got married this year and wanted to get in shape for that, but also just to take control of my fitness a bit. I’ve often fluctuated between “normal” and a bit overweight. A couple of years ago I managed to get my weight down to 75kg which was my lowest in my adult life. In my head I thought as soon as it goes back up to 80kg I’ll put the brakes on again.
Lo and behold, my “pre-wedding” weight was 81kg and this time round I just wanted to get all the extra belly fat gone. When I hit 75kg last time, I cheated my way there by cutting back on doing weights, and I’m pretty sure it was just losing muscle that made the scales go down. And despite the lower weight, it wasn’t really the physique I wanted.
So this year I’ve been focussing way more on being stricter with counting calories, getting at least 120g of protein a day, doing lots of weights/resistance training, and then trying to include some runs in there too. I really don’t want to be one of those people who’s healthy but can’t cope with a run. The first run after a few months off was a bit tough but it’s amazing how quickly the body re-learns it.
Currently at 73.7kg, I’m wearing 30” jeans which I’ve never worn in my time of actually buying my own clothes and feeling better than ever. Losing the stubborn fat gets harder and harder the more I hone in on it but it’s coming off steadily. It’s quite funny how easy I found getting from 90kg to 80kg. At 80kg it got WAY harder to get to 75kg. And everything since 75kg has been a crawl too.
Anyway, keep it up and hopefully your successes with it inspires others. It’s so important for all of us to take whatever responsibility we can for our health.
I’ve always been hopeless at running but started using the couch to 5k app a few years ago. I think it trains you mentally just for what running a bit further feels like, and also how to pace it out. Once I finished that, I found running 5k or so way less challenging and something that I just do (albeit not that quickly).
I got married this year and wanted to get in shape for that, but also just to take control of my fitness a bit. I’ve often fluctuated between “normal” and a bit overweight. A couple of years ago I managed to get my weight down to 75kg which was my lowest in my adult life. In my head I thought as soon as it goes back up to 80kg I’ll put the brakes on again.
Lo and behold, my “pre-wedding” weight was 81kg and this time round I just wanted to get all the extra belly fat gone. When I hit 75kg last time, I cheated my way there by cutting back on doing weights, and I’m pretty sure it was just losing muscle that made the scales go down. And despite the lower weight, it wasn’t really the physique I wanted.
So this year I’ve been focussing way more on being stricter with counting calories, getting at least 120g of protein a day, doing lots of weights/resistance training, and then trying to include some runs in there too. I really don’t want to be one of those people who’s healthy but can’t cope with a run. The first run after a few months off was a bit tough but it’s amazing how quickly the body re-learns it.
Currently at 73.7kg, I’m wearing 30” jeans which I’ve never worn in my time of actually buying my own clothes and feeling better than ever. Losing the stubborn fat gets harder and harder the more I hone in on it but it’s coming off steadily. It’s quite funny how easy I found getting from 90kg to 80kg. At 80kg it got WAY harder to get to 75kg. And everything since 75kg has been a crawl too.
Anyway, keep it up and hopefully your successes with it inspires others. It’s so important for all of us to take whatever responsibility we can for our health.
