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<p>I’ve reached that conclusion on my hill walking route. I can’t walk any faster at the beginning before the hills. I can’t walk any faster on the downhill parts because sections are just too steep for that. I can’t walk any faster on the uphill parts because I’m already huffin’ and puffin. Over time, I suppose I’ll be able to march up the hills a little faster and recover a little sooner, but until then, it is what it is.</p>
<p>I want to take this opportunity to commend everyone who is exercising, whether or not it is yielding the desired weight loss results.</p>
<p>Saturday’s cheer competition was in a large arena. You had to walk about 10 steps up to get into the area, then you can walk upstairs or down depending on where you wanted to sit. We were sitting about 6 steps up. I can’t tell you how many people were huffing and puffing to walk up just a very few steps. I’m not talking about elderly grandparents. I’m talking about overweight people in their 40s who could barely walk up a flight of stairs.</p>
<p>So remember as you do your workout, even if you never have the body of a lingerie model, if it keeps you able to go to your kids’ or grandkids’ activities without major trauma, it’s worth it!</p>
<p>I haven’t tried running in a week, and have only gone to the gym a couple times – spending time on the ellipitcal – and walked 9 holes on the golf course 1 day. Otherwise I haven’t done much exercising, but my knee is very painful and doesn’t seem to be getting any better at all. I feel as if I’ve been living on Advil, which can’t be good. I am NOT a happy camper at the moment! Gr-r-r-r.</p>
<p>cbbblinker…I’m a member of the Advil club too. It’s helping.
Went away for a few days. Weight is the same (ate and drank more but also got a lot of exercise in too!)
Thing of trying acupuncture for my tennis elbow…might help my lower back too. PT didn’t do it. Got it from golf! 10 months now.</p>
<p>I’m “watching” H’s Boston marathon.They have a thing where you can put in the bib number and see his results every 5k. So far he is right on his desired pace–well perhaps a little fast, but doing well.</p>
<p>He’s got good weathah in Bastahn, today. In the 50. Partly cloudy with some sun peaking through. Mostly dry. Light breeze.</p>
<p>I’m following a lot of my friends on the tracker for Boston, too. (I should be working…)</p>
<p>After watching my daughter run 10 miles in under 90 minutes last weekend, I am inspired to “train” for a 5K in 6 weeks. I ran a 10 minute mile today to start, plus a warm up and cool down. I often do a run/walk combo for 30 minutes plus, but I haven’t run a mile straight in years.</p>
<p>Seems a little sad to have to “train” for a 5K. Oh well.</p>
<p>^^^Not sad at all!! It’s a positive, wonderful thing to do for yourself!</p>
<p>NRD: Sad to train for a 5K?? NO WAY. You are very fortunate that your body is holding up and allowing you to take it to the next level. A terrific accomplishment. Back when I was running, I only did 2 or 3 miles but I was very proud of that since I was kind of a slug growing up. And I was out there every day. Now, even with a bum knee (and lately back) I still do everything I can to ensure I don’t turn into that slug again…</p>
<p>Thanks guys. I guess I was thinking that the average active person should be able to run a 3 mile race without really training for it. </p>
<p>I do have serious back issues, so I hope I’m up to it. My 16 y/o runs a lot and said she’d jog it with me to keep me going.</p>
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<p>Are you kidding? Of course you have to “train” your body to successfully run a 3 mile race. I posted links a few pages back to iPod interval programs designed to specifically help someone go from a run/walk combo to their first 5k race. Page back, you’ll find 'em. I think it may even have been a free one. If you are doing a jog/walk combo for 30 minutes a day and can already run a mile non-stop, you shouldn’t have any problem at all following one of these programs and getting ready in six weeks. The gains come pretty quickly.</p>
<p>There are also people who just can’t/shouldn’t run. My 14 year old D is in awesome physical shape, but running even a mile kills her. She was a competitive gymnast for about 8 years and as a result, has very “old” knees and ankles.</p>
<p>Has anyone seen this? It was in our newspaper a week or so ago.</p>
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<p>I am giving this a try. I’m particularly interested in trimming my belly, which seems to be the hardest for me to lose.</p>
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<p>Thanks, I’ll go back and take a look.</p>
<p>“Seems a little sad to have to “train” for a 5K”</p>
<p>No, no, no! Even a 100 m dash requires training - just ask any elite sprinter! Please don’t feel sad. A 10-min mile to start is FANTASTIC. Keep building up your endurance and pay no attention to the youngsters. They can pull off all sorts of crap. I was also bummed out when one of ours ran a sub-25 minute 5K in a triathlon without training for said triathlon at all (AND without shoes because she forgot them at home - :eek:) AND the other one placed in the top 15 at a major local half-marathon race (that was her first half-marathon and she did not train much). But the main question is: will they be able to do this without injuring themselves when they are my age?</p>
<p>Here ya go. Here’s the post with the link to the free training plan:</p>
<p>The second is an eight week plan to (allegedly) take a beginner from jog/walk combo to running a 5k. These plans are based around three running days a week (two jogging, one interval training) starting at 10 to 16 minutes each day the first week and ending with 35 to 40 minutes a day in week 8.</p>
<p>[Learn</a> to Run](<a href=“http://www.mytreadmilltrainer.com/learn-to-run.html]Learn”>http://www.mytreadmilltrainer.com/learn-to-run.html)</p>
<p>You are farther along than the beginner in this program if you can already run a mile, so jump in at week 3 or accelerate the pace a bit. </p>
<p>A couple of definitions:</p>
<p>TTP = talk test pace, a pace of cardio exercise where you are breathing a little hard, enough to break a sweat, but still allow you to talk to someone. Basically a nice easy workout pace that you can maintain indefinitely (or until boredom sets you in).</p>
<p>HIIT: high intensity interval training, alternating short bursts of higher intensity (e.g. running) with intervals of lower intensity (e.g. jogging or walking). This allows you to do more minutes of strenuous training in a session than you would if you tried to just run non-stop. </p>
<p>For example, I did 320 seconds on my exercise bike at over 60 rpms pedal speed in my workout yesterday including 100 seconds as hard as I could pedal. If you look for Schwinn Airdyne YouTubes, there’s one of fit young whippersnappers in a gym all but collapsing trying to do one minute at 60+ rpm. I’m an old fat guy, but I did it in intervals mixed into a period of 35 minutes at TTP. As you progress week to week you do longer intervals and shorter recovery between them. Both your high intensity and your TTP recovery pace increase.</p>
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<p>I think athletes, who train for specific sports, also tend to develop fitness in very specific ways and may be surprisingly week at other physical activities. For example, despite having off-the-charts aerobic capacity, someone like Lance Armstrong probably would struggle as a marathoner, just because his body is so finely trained and tuned for cycling.</p>
<p>The same thing, I think, happens to us weekend warriors who do one thing (treadmill, exercise bike, etc.) over and over and over. I think that’s a part of the whole plateau thing. That’s why the fitness experts seem to recommend a wide variety of workouts: different cardio, different types of resistance/weights, working muscle groups in conjunction, etc.</p>
<p>missypie…you made me feel better about my old knees 
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<p>nrd…watch that back…take it slowly. </p>
<p>My back has been a pain lately. Chiro says that one leg is shorter than the other and that it’s contributing. Do they tell everyone that? I’m feeling a little…malformed right now 
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<p>Anyway, did yoga today and avoided any back straining poses. Feel MUCH better. Need to get to that class more often cause I just can’t stick with it that long on my own.</p>
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<p>That’s interesting. One of my legs is about an inch shorter than the other. The only problem I’ve encountered directly is in pant length…but maybe there are other issues?</p>