dear_abby

Pam - we missed you at supper!

Mary, good to see you here, I share your wonder at what parents can accomplish!

I just finished a 3 mile 30 minute run - hilly but no mountains. I'm proud of myself - I never drag out early on Sunday!

Abby

lusciousL

First of all a cheer to all for all the exercise done!

From running after kids to running uphill et cetera

Today my goal was to run a little longer than the last run I did last Friday, and so it went: approx. 2.5 to 3 K, in blocks of 6 minutes running and 1 minute walking. Each block with a little faster pace, I started with a heartbeat of 140, then 150 then 160, took one large not so steep hill and 3 short but steep ones (tried to sprint without going entirely out of breath lol)

Wednesday is the next run, which should be 7 min running 1 min walking, and 3.5 to 4 K, depending on how I feel tomorrow. Love my new shoes!! They're so comfortable and bouncy and silent and they are still so bright white compared to my older running shoes

dear_abby

Nice going LuciousL - sounds like a well designed plan.

Pam, you're as bad as my trainer - not letting me forget to schedule that appointment (I'm responding to a message from a few days ago) I'm on for Thursday.

Today was strength training, I got some good aches going with weights, and started with a pretty fast mile.

Abby

RunbikeSki

Ahh, my work is done

Not much exercise this week. Working with a former student to get her papers done and submitted for review and then a professional meeting for the rest of the week. I am sure I'll get a couple of good long walks in, and maybe a workout in the hotel gym, but this week is mostly about meeting, greeting, and networking.

Urbanmule

Ran a 5k today, on the treadmill, with my old shoes (free runs) in just under 34:00... Its just one of those days. This week I have a tempo run on Wednesday and an easy run on Thursday with my long run Saturday. The weather is looking good so it'll be outside for the first time since Christmas Eve. I'll let you know how my "week off" has helped me

liquidlizard

I found a park near my house with a bunch of basketball hoops. I shot baskets for 30 minutes. It's been years since I've touched a basketball. Most of the excercise I got was from chasing the ball down when I missed. It was a lot of fun!

lusciousL

that sure sounds like good fun liquidlizard

Urbanmule wow 5K on a treadmill, don't think I could do that, I find treadmill running sort of depressing after 10 to 15 min lol. Kudo's!

I have a question to all the more than 3 times a week runners here:

Yesterday I searched for running tips, especially how to go about the whole frequency distance speed thing, and I read that frequency "should" go up first.

Now I run on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so yesterday I had a good run but I still feel it in my legs. Should I wait until I don't have that anymore before I start adding a 4th day of running to my regimen?

How did you go about the adding more running days into you system? Just slow short runs but at least get out and run?

Or did you first build up weekly mileage before you added another day?

Today I will go for a bikeride (for transportation purposes but biking nonetheless) but I like running way better than any other exercise, so crosstraining is sort of my "weak point"

(source of info i got from As I run more, should I focus on distance, frequency or speed? - Quora )


thanks in advance for replying

pixiedust7976

Got an hour in at the gym on all the machines and then 45 minutes on the treadmill for 5 miles with a 6.7 mph pace.... felt really good after. It was nice after working out to get in the massge chair for 10 minutes and the a 12 minute red light therapy session....

dear_abby

Welcome LiquidLizard – glad to have you here – I work out at a Y where there are cardio machines overlooking the basketball court, there’s a man there almost every day shooting at baskets, seldom making one, but having a great workout!

UrbanMule, your discipline is impressive, but it seems to be working!
Pam, you can network between ellipticals – I’ve seen it done, actually got a good client that way!

Luscious, I’m not able to help with your question, I just mix it up to keep myself intersted, if you post on the “Team Fitday” thread, you may get super answers.

Pixiedust, great to have you you here – sounds like a great workout – and a nice reward!

Today was a killer spinning class – progressive intervals, just a little longer harder, faster each one, by the end I was falling off the bike! But, after cool down, stretch, and more water, I could do a bunch o’ crunch (decline bench, then obliques on a ball).

Ready for nap time now!

Urbanmule

A little background first:

When I started running I was challenged by a friend to run a Half Marathon, so I started to look at training programs. Almost all of them said you should be able to run at least 10min before you begin. So I slowly built up my walking to running. Before I knew it I was running for 30min straight. I started following a training program from runnersworld which just happened to be a 4-day cycle. So I have always run 4 days a week.

I usually run:

Mon (easy) 10:00-10:30 pace
Wed (alternating speedwork and tempo every other week) Closer to 9:00 pace
Thurs (easy) Same as Mon
Sat (long) 10:30-11:00 pace

I'm running about 22miles a week and that increases by 10% every week. As long as I have a rest day before and after my long day I feel fine. I take a protein shake after any run over 30min long which seems to help a lot.

To answer your questions (or at least give you some advice)

I don't know how long you have been running but aches and pain within the first month or two is normal, maybe even longer... I still get "pain" but its a good feeling pain, almost like stretching, and I don't feel injured so I keep going. You know you're body best so if you feel you need a day or two off take it. As soon as you feel better get back out there!

As I said before I started out running 4 days so I can't really say when or how to add it but just try it one week and see how you feel. I don't think it's a matter of how many days you run but how you run on those days.

I've always heard frequency, distance, speed for marathons and speed, distance, frequency for 5k. It really depends on what you are training for. If you just want to get out there and run then don't worry about speed or distance. Focus on running 4 days a week and your speed and distance will both increase (the fast you can run the farther you can go philosophy)

Are you training for something in particular?
How many miles a week are you running now?