<p>I was reminded by the United Airlines thread that I need to lose a little weight. Sounds like some people are doing that successfully by running. I would like to try running but have never gotten past the incredibly painful jagged breathing stage. Maybe I’m just not cut out for it? So, for those who have been able to start and keep it up, what’s the best way to start? I can jog for MAYBE a quarter mile right now (and keep in mind that my husband can walk next to me while I “run”). Should I just do that for a few days, and increase gradually from there? Or should I run a bit, walk a bit? I know there are plenty of website out there with this info, but I would like to hear from regular people who have found a way to start and keep running.</p>
<p>I walk a bit, jog a bit. Not sure about running ;)</p>
<p>I recommend reading “The Courage to Start” by John Bingham.</p>
<p>Getting GOOD shoes are a must!</p>
<p>The human body is an incredible machine and it generally gets stronger in response to a workout be it mental or physical. The body is composed of multiple systems for exercise, and, in particular running, and these systems have to get stronger together as too much stress can break down individual systems. A common rule of thumb for runners is to not do more than a ten percent increase in distance per week.</p>
<p>Here are some common limits to running:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Joints - you can get overuse and stress injuries to your ankles and knees. Stress injuries are possible to the heel. Good shoes are a must as you ramp up distance or improve times.</p></li>
<li><p>Heart-rate - there are guidelines that you will typically find on a wall chart of a gym of how fast you should go with your heart rate. The chart will have an upper-limit for your age and then a recommended range (typically lower than 85 percent of your maximum rate) to keep your heart rate in. Treadmills often have heart-rate monitors so that you can get a snapshot of your heart-rate while you are working out. There are companies that sell heart-rate monitors that you strap around your chest - they report your heart-rate in a special watch-like device. The latter stuff is expensive.</p></li>
<li><p>Lung capacity - it looks like you’ve run into this.</p></li>
<li><p>Support muscles. I find that having strong core muscles and strong quads helps in avoiding injuries, and improving performance and efficiency.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>As with all physical activity, it’s best to start out slow and then work your way up. You can start by walking and then jogging. Some are happy with jogging and never getting up to running. You can do a lot of distance and physical improvement with jogging. I keep track of my running workouts so that I can see improvements, even over longer periods of time. It can feel like you’re not making improvements but looking over things from the longer term can make you feel better when you’re treading water. Sometimes you’re busier in life or something distracts you or interferes with your schedule.</p>
<p>I assume that you’re getting annual checkups and that you don’t have any medical issues related to getting winded easily.</p>
<p>Where to run is also an issue. If you’re running on a treadmill in a gym, a lot of the environmental factors are removed. You don’t have to worry about excessive heat, cold, insects, cars, potholes, tree roots and you can get a drink of water whenever you want to. There are fewer safety/security issues too.</p>
<p>There are many benefits to running/walking/jogging in groups. There’s safety, the social aspect and having someone else encouraging you to run. We have a lot of workout groups at my office and it’s like having a support system to get you to exercise. Sometimes you’re the driver of the group and sometimes it is someone else.</p>
<p>The thing is to make a commitment to exercising whether it’s walking, jogging or running or using the elliptical stepper (what I started out with before getting back into running), setting aside the time, making it convenient (a workout bag, a system for managing laundry, having enough workout clothes through the week, a place to take a shower, etc.)</p>
<p>A magazine that I like for running stuff is [Runner’s</a> World: Running Shoes, Marathon Training, Racing](<a href=“http://www.runnersworld.com/]Runner’s”>http://www.runnersworld.com/)</p>
<p>It has a lot of advanced stuff in it but that can be ignored. It has a lot of training, practical and safety device. I think that running is the most injury-prone sport out there. The injuries are not as severe as in other sports but the frequency is higher because you’re using the same muscles and joints over and over again. Doing something wrong compounds small amounts of damage over many repetitions. This shouldn’t be as much of a problem for a beginner but there is a great temptation to ramp up distance or speed quickly once you see success.</p>
<p>^^^Nice post, BCEagle. </p>
<p>I’d like to add –</p>
<p>I’m now 60 years old and run two miles three times a week, almost always on the treadmill. I started 30 years ago!!! by walking half a mile or so. After a while, I’d do some of that in jogging mode. After a while, I lenthened my distance. After a while, I’d revert back to just fast walking. After a while, I gave that up and did Jane Fonda tapes. After a while . . . .you get the picture!! </p>
<p>I love this quote: “If exercise were a pill, it would be the most widely prescribed medication on earth.”</p>
<p>Any kind of exercise is wonderful for your body and helps with your weight. It doesn’t have to be running.</p>
<p>You can start out walking and doing walk/run intervals, then build up to more running.</p>
<p>That said, I hate running. I was forced to do a half-marathon a few years ago, trained, built up to it, and still hated it. And still walked part of the way. I have discovered several very specific forms of physical activity that I love (rowing, a specific martial art, yoga) and I enjoy those. So don’t feel like you need to run!</p>
<p>I did what eirann is suggesting. I walked one side of a block, jogged the next, walked again and jogged the last side. I built up to jogging the whole block. Then I started adding in additional blocks. By the end of the summer I was jogging 3.5 miles.</p>
<p>Now for me, the breathing is alway ragged and unhappy for about the first three quarters of mile. Then something happens in my body and all the discomfort goes away and my speed picks up. This was a real surprise to me when it first happened.</p>
<p>I thought I would continue running in the winter on a treadmill but I found it way too boring.</p>
<p>Do check in with a nurse practitioner or doctor to make sure you don’t have exercise induced asthma. I use my inhaler about 15 minutes before I head out. If it is hot and humid (by Minnesota standards!) I often have to slow down to a walk. I’ve learned what is out of shape breathing and what is asthma breathing.</p>
<p>I sprained my ankle badly a 4.5 weeks ago at home and I am still limping. I may not be able to get out this season. I hope I will be able to start walking the neighborhood soon.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>that is a huge problem for me. To be clear, i am not a runner. My favorite exercises are brisk walks, biking, and kayaking. The last is impossible in the winter, the second to last is difficult, and even long walks are tough in frigid, windy weather when it’s dark at 4:30. So I do try to use my Nordictrak in winter, but I find it deadly boring. I’m thrilled that the days are getting longer, and it’s actually almost warm some of the time, so I can get outside and lose a few winter pounds (I hope.)</p>
<p>If you don’t like running there are other forms of exercise. I agree with checking in with the doctor. I’d start off by finding a mile long route (or plan on doing a mile on the treadmill) and then cover it with alternating jogging and walking, while trying to gradually increase the jogging component. Keep in mind that for burning off calories the distance is a better estimate of how many calories you’ll burn off - it’s about 100 calories per mile at any speed.</p>
<p>Mousegray – Warm up is vital. You probably shouldn’t start running until you’ve warmed up by a little walk first, increasing your pace after a couple of minutes, then increasing it more and more until you are at the speed you want. If you just open the door (even after stretching) and start running, you’re not giving your body a chance to get to the easy breathing…only run right out of the starting gate if somebody’s chasing you!</p>
<p>Start with walking. Make sure you have an Ipod or some such, also. I started by walking and listening to music that I love. Walking quickly for a sustained period of time will also burn calories and give you plenty of other fitness benefits. I run 2 1/2 miles up and then down a very, very steep hill with just me and my music. It’s one of the best things in my life as I watch the changing seasons around me and feel an enormous rush of adrenaline as I hit the top of the hill where I can look down on the Verrazano Bridge and New York Harbor. Being alone and letting music that you’ve chosen run through your head is an incredibly peaceful thing to do. I recommend “I Run For Life” by Melissa Etheridge, as well as songs that have meaning for you and make you smile. Then don’t listen to that playlist any other time. Make it a special gift to yourself everytime you get up and move.</p>
<p>I went form couch potatoe to endurance sports enthusiast a couple years ago. Lost 70 lbs. and ran a marathon last October. Running is good for loosing weight. Consider biking also. It really burns alot of calories and doesn’t entail the pounding on your joints. Biking uses different muscles than running, so the two are complementary.</p>
<p>When I first started running, I didn’t run two days in a row. </p>
<p>I second the book " courage to start". Also “Running for Mortals” is a good book.</p>
<p>Music is good. For some, running with some one is good. You should be able to hold a conversation. If not are probably going too hard.</p>
<p>I enjoy running on trails for something different.</p>
<p>I read somewhere it takes running 3 times a week for 6 week before you get comfortable with it.</p>
<p>Make 3 miles your goal, and get there any way you can. It took me two years to build up to running 3 miles without stopping, so don’t give up.</p>
<p>With aerobic exercise, burning fat kicks in after about 15 to 20 minutes. You are using your sugar stores before that. Burning fat requires water and oxygen so it’s good to be hydrated well and replenish if needed. If you don’t have sufficient water and oxygen in your system, you start metabolizing muscle. This isn’t much of a concern for a beginner but running can become addictive.</p>
<p>Something that always amazes me is the running shoe selection at the New Balance Factory Outlet in Allston (Boston). They have so many varieties (usually a lot more for women) and I have to think that there are huge numbers of people that run in the Boston area. This is validated when I drive on Storrow Drive and look at all of the people running along the Charles River at all hours.</p>
<p>I’m a self-competitive person and I think that there are lots of other similar personality types on these boards. Running is really great if you are self-competitive because you can always work for a better time or a longer distance.</p>
<p>Hey, I hope your goals work for you!! I have been running for 15 years, I started with a new years goal of exercising at the gym once per week. Because my goal was low and not overwhelming, it was easy to have success. I continued building up as the habit to run stuck. I have done 9 marathons and many many road races. I am 48 and slowing down, so I think i need to alternate to less joint affecting workouts some days but it is absolutely the best way to lose and maintain weight. It has made a huge difference in my life. Good luck</p>
<p>Also, routine is the enemy; vary your workouts and you’ll see better results. Go short-distance, high-intensity some days, and others, longer. Mix it up and you’ll improve faster.</p>
<p>As the teens would say truu dat! Anyway I always change it up, some days easy and slow, others harder. Shorter, longer etc and a running partner once a week also helped for the long runs.</p>
<p>Start SLOW. Run 1/4 mile, then walk a quarter mile, then repeat. Build up slowly, your body will tell you when you’re pushing too much.
For me, running on a soft surface ( cinder track, trail) is critical. Otherwise I get shin splints!
Running shoes are important. </p>
<p>I’ve been struggling with a knee problem, which took me off running for two years. I’m now trying to get back. We’ll see. I have added yoga - which has helped with the knee. Runners tend to be inflexible - so the yoga has been extremely helpful. At the very least, make sure you do regular stretching. </p>
<p>I hate treadmills too - but my ipod helps. I second the idea of developing your own personal playlist. I have running, slow music, yoga, etc. Elevates my mood and helps me pace myself. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the great advice. You are all an inspiration to me, even those of you who said you hated it! </p>
<p>I love the special playlist for the iPod idea. Zoosermom, I think you may have hit on what is missing for me, transforming a painful experience full of inadequacy into something to look forward to. (Isn’t that always the problem?)</p>
<p>also, BCEagle, thank you for that informative post. You are definitely right about strengthening all the body systems. This is where it’s broken down for me, literally, in the past. The one time I really stuck with running, my knees gave out two or three weeks in. I wasn’t really running fast (I guess that would be jogging? what’s the difference anyway other than speed?), but the terrain was very hilly so maybe that added extra stress. It got me started on yoga though, which has really helped. </p>
<p>The thing that appeals to me about running is that it doesn’t have to involve equipment other than good shoes. I can just go out the door and do it. (I wish I could swim like that.) I walk my dog in the park every day and watch the runners with admiration and envy, even the ones who are all redfaced and panting, maybe especially those! </p>
<p>As for shoes, I definitely need some new ones. Is there anything in particular I should look for? I have flat feet (which don’t bother me). </p>
<p>OK, I’m going out right now with my dog for 20 minutes. I’ll warm up a bit and do some alternate fast walking with jogging.</p>