<p>Any improvement in time or distance is an improvement.</p>
<p>My pace vary considerably, typically in a range of 30 seconds and it depends on how I am feeling. Things like time of day, nutrition, how much sleep I got the previous night, etc. matter a lot in pace.</p>
<p>The difference between 4.5 MPH and 5.0 MPH is actually pretty big - the pace for the former is 13.33 minutes/mile and 12.0 minutes/mile.</p>
<p>When I breakthrough another barrier, usually 0.25 mile, it’s usually very hard for a while and then gets easier. I stay in ranges on speed for a long time, typically many months.</p>
<p>I keep track of my overall times in a spreadsheet so that I can get a relative view of progress (or no progress) in distance and time.</p>
<p>I went running this morning for the first time in a while. I planned on going to the gym but I couldn’t find the car keys, so I went outside and ran.</p>
<p>Question for you runners: stretch before or after? I come from the “stretch at least 10-15 minutes before running” camp, but D (the XC/track runner) says it’s stupid to stretch before you run. But she’s 19, and I’m…not…</p>
<p>I see that you avoid carbs to some extent. I have a fairly vegetarian diet for someone that is not a vegetarian. That means I have a significant number of grains, beans and nuts in my daily food list. For example on most days I select among walnuts and almonds, oatmeal, quinoa and brown rice. Add in edamame, chick peas, black beans and red kidney beans. I almost always have several pieces of fruit- apples, bananas generally but in the summer it varies more. I might have meat at dinner but never during the day except for a hard boiled egg or two. Occasionally I have cottage cheese and I do snack on various cheese products- chunks of swiss etc.</p>
<p>My big problem is the “junk”- although I don’t see how Kozy Shak chocolate pudding can be called junk. It amazes me what we can give up if we put our mind to it. I love ice cream but now never eat it because it is my wife’s treat every night. I leave it for her because if I ate ice cream now I would never leave any for her. I have no issue skipping the ice cream. I should try to get her hooked on cookies and other junk. Maybe that would work for me.</p>
<p>Stretching- I never stretch before or after. I do specific exercises (or, I’m supposed to) to balance out injury issues… I believe starting slowly or warming up with a walk or job is better than pre-run stretching. If you have a specific issue like a tight calf or something, do stretch that first.</p>
<p>VeryHappy- Great progress. I think a drop from 5 to 4.5 is significant. I notice every .2 basically.</p>
<p>I try to limit my carb intake, period. I’m not crazy low carb, but I aim for a calorie breakdown as follows:</p>
<p>25% carbs
25% protein
50% fat</p>
<p>I seem to be OK on 100 grams of net carbs a day (total carbs minus fiber), which I get mostly from vegetables and some fruit.</p>
<p>I believe that most people struggling with their weight are insulin resistant. The body does not respond normally to insulin and therefore insulin levels are further elevated to trigger a response. Insulin makes the body convert calories to stored fat, so having elevatedinsulin all day long sets up the optimum conditions for storing fat rather than burning it. On the flip side, low insulin levels tell the body to release stored fat and burn it for energy – the optimum conditions for shedding blubber.</p>
<p>Carbohydrates cause insulin spikes. Thus, anyone who is insulin resistant will have a very difficult time with their weight if they eat a high carb diet.</p>
<p>Insulin resistance is the link between obesity, type 2 diabetes, some of the bad cholesterol markers, and all of the elements of what is called “metabolic syndrome”.</p>
<p>Given that you gain weight easily despite exercising quite a bit, I’m guessing that you are probably insulin resistant to some degree and your high carb diet is not making things easy.</p>
<p>Here is the best explanation I’ve ever seen of this insulin resistance mechanism:</p>
<p>Tom -I hate to sound like a low-carb fan girl, but I became overweight on precisely the type of “healthy” diet you describe coupled with vigorous exercise. I felt like I was doing everything right, but did not see any weight loss until I drastically reduced the carbs (including the quinoa, brown rice, potatoes, etc.) and upped the protein and fat intake.</p>
<p>I was very resistant to this, because a) I like carby food of all kinds b) was skeptical of what I viewed “the Atkins mindset”. Reading some of the books that were suggested on this thread really spoke to my frustrating experiences in trying to shed the pounds, particularly the two books by Gary Taubes.</p>
<p>You go, VeryHappy! As for the dreadmill, the worst part is the boredom. You might find that you can go longer and/or faster if you are outside. Also iTread workouts like idad’s “Ipod Nazi” may help with overcoming the psychological block of the treadmill – it’s like having a trainer in your ear who is pushing you just that little bit more.</p>
<p>On the diet my doctor recommended, I was always hungry, always thinking about the next time I could eat, and eating a ton of whole grains, very low fat everything, and only the leanest meat. I lost very little weight and it was mentally and emotionally draining. </p>
<p>I’m not (and wasn’t for more than about a week) strict Atkins – never lower than about 30 carbs a day, and I’m still losing weight (albeit more slowly) at 50-70 g. of carbohydrates a day with a calorie limit as suggested by Livestrong. The biggest thing is that I’m not starving, and, unless desirable carbs are set out where I can see them, I mostly don’t go in search. I did go off the track some at Christmastime, but that’s okay, I’m back on it now. </p>
<p>My issue was never consuming too much in the way of vegetables – in retrospect, it was eating far too much in the way of grains and far too much fruit. (The new WW “fruit is zero points” thing is very scary for me. Those folks have no idea how much fruit I’d be happy to eat if I could. Truly.)</p>
<p>My other win was buying a decent electronic food scale with a tare function. I’m not good at measuring everything out, and a lot of foods don’t come in regular-enough sizes. (Have you seen how much a chicken thigh can vary?) I got
<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Escali-P115C-Digital-Multifunctional-Chrome/dp/B0007GAWRS/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1326047137&sr=8-11[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/Escali-P115C-Digital-Multifunctional-Chrome/dp/B0007GAWRS/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1326047137&sr=8-11</a>
and it has been fabulous. Now I turn it on, plop a bowl on the top, tare it back to zero, add yogurt until I’ve hit the ounce/gram quantity I want, tare it to zero, add fruit or nuts until I’ve hit that number, and off I go. No dirty measuring spoons or cups. And a whole lot easier to weight a chicken thigh after cooking and put in livestrong that I had 4.2. ounces of boneless skinless chicken thigh.
(I’ve also made my money back on the kitchen scale because I use it to weigh letters – I used to slap a second stamp on any letter that felt heavyish to me, and now I measure and usually find that one will do!)</p>
<p>Went to the other Marshalls and picked up a Nike T-Shirt.</p>
<p>They had a huge amount of long-sleeve stuff for sale. The best was Champion sweatshirts (double-dry) for $7.99 and long sweatpants for $9.99. Adidas long-sleeve and short-sleeve cotton tees were priced to move and they had some Reebok sleeveless running shirts but they only had S, L and XL. I would have picked one up in M if they had them.</p>
<p>I also had a look at the Merino socks. They had three types - 35% to 70% Merion wool. I wanted to try one of the 70% socks but they only had M - I imagine that this stuff is not selling well this year.</p>
<p>6 trail mile marker miles, 48 iPhone minutes. My Garmin stayed at home because DH was trying to conduct a scientific experiment with it (don’t ask :rolleyes:). Believe it or not, in he 30 min he wore it around the house just trying to set things up, he managed to walk 0.36 miles. :eek: LOL. </p>
<p>Parking by the trail was busy. The regulars and NYRers took advantage of the nice weather: 50 degrees, light clowds and calm. I wore my CWx tights, HH baselayer and Brooks Nightlife vest. By the end of the run I was ready to ditch the vest, but realized that I had a stain on the front of the baselayer from the time when baby kiddo borrowed it and spilled hot chocolate on it. Vanity prevailed, and I kept running fully vested. :)</p>
<p>I’ve been told that current wisdom is to warm up five minutes or so before aerobic exercise/running, but stretch afterwards when your muscles are loose. </p>
<p>I really don’t lose weight unless I’m at 35% carbs or less - I basically only eat grains at breakfast. I love my kitchen scale too.</p>
<p>Hey all…haven’t been here in a while and nice to see all the familiar names and a few new ones too! Happy New Year! Very inspiring to catch up on what everyone is doing!<br>
So for me, I’ve lost a bit more weight and have managed to keep fit despite a grueling work schedule so all is good here! I still bike long distance (can’t believe how warm it is!), go on brisk walks and do yoga at home. My diet is super clean…and I actually really like it. My biggest problem is finding foods I can eat when I travel. I’ve gotten down right obsessive about it…but hey there are worse things to obsess about right?
So I need some help from you folks on something I’m thinking about. I REALLY miss running…haven’t done it for four years due to runners knee on my right side. The knee isn’t bothering me now. Don’t have any nagging pains or problems. I read about “natural running” in the NYT a few months back and I’m thinking about giving it a try. I ordered a couple of books and will soon be ordering light weight running shoes (a step up from vibrams) and first try walking in them first. A store near our vacation home runs clinics on this type of running style and I plan to take one in the early spring.
So…any one out there have experience with this? I’m gonna give it a try but would love to hear if anyone here has done it or has friends who are in this space. Did I say I really miss running? And I love light sneakers. The ones I wear to walk right now have hardly any cushioning…</p>
<p>Yes, BC, it is the lightly insulated version of the stabilyx which I got a couple of years ago upon the recommendation of the helpful CCers. I like it a lot. The knee is doing better, thanks for asking, but there is still some inflammation. I manage that with Salonpas, ice and a Chopat strap when it flares up. Gotta make some lunch and dive into my reading of a (very boring) very large book.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input. I will try to limit the grains. I will also track net carbs. Total carbs minus fiber and see if I can keep it in the 100 carb range and see how I feel.</p>
And I love light sneakers. The ones I wear to walk right now have hardly any cushioning…</p>