Fitness!

[Bennnnn]

Nice job! Keep up the good work.

I use my apple watch to track runs, which syncs up with strava. My overall goal is to improve my distance, and while I'm not actively trying to run fast I do treat my pace as an indicator of my ability on a particular day as well as the arc of it over recent runs. My goal is three runs a week. Weather, mood, and schedule dictate the distance each time I run, and while I wish I had a decent loop near me so I could just run until I truly know I'm done, I mostly out-and-back which means I kinda gotta know my planned distance when I embark.

I'd like to do a half marathon sometime soon (I last did one almost 20 years ago!), and a marathon, just to say I did it. But mostly my goal is consistency of practice as well as pace.

Thanks! Ah yeah, I've been using my old Apple Watch too. It is helpful to see all of that as I am running. I have also seen Strava mentioned all over the place, but I haven't dipped my toes into it yet. I do have a lot of options from where I live to just go run and come back, but I have been sticking to the neighborhood behind my building. It's usually not super busy with people, which is why I go that way. But it's not the best running path in general. I have to tweak what side streets I go down to time things right sometimes. Also some rough sidewalks are around there.

 

[TCell]

So, runners, what do you usually do on your runs? I am just curious to know. Do you use an app? Do you run long distances, or do you run for time? How frequently?

Congratulations! Nice work on your first few races. Good luck training for the 10k.

I track my runs with my Garmin watch on Strava.

Now that I'm old (46), I run trail runs for distance. I do still put in some speedwork as part of my training, but my days of sub-20 5ks are over.

Right now, as it's the offseason and I live where it's -20, I run three times a week - 1 Tempo Run, 1 Interval Run, and 1 Long Z2 Run - with some other fitness activities (X-C Skiing, Spin on the bike, or weights at the gym) through the week. Once spring hits and I can be outside more, I'll run 5-6 times a week; the three "pillar" runs I just mentioned and then a couple more just at an easy Z2 pace.

 

[wokeupnew]

So I think I now feel comfortable calling myself a runner? After starting this journey last year, it's been incredibly slow going. Had to stop a number of different times last year (heat, injury, covid). But towards the end I picked it back up to prepare for my first running 5K at Disney World in January. It went incredibly well. I mean, it was hard (didn't properly train myself for it), but it was so much fun. Part of that is just how well organized and electric the whole layout and atmosphere is, but honestly just the act of doing it felt amazing.

So I did another 5K in February. I bought some new Hokas, tried pushing myself a little bit more, but stalled out with some bad weather. The race though... I improved my time little bit, but it felt significantly harder to finish. It went okay, but I felt worse. Yet still the experience itself was nice. After that, I really started running as much as possible. Since last year, I've relied on an app called None To Run - where the idea is week by week it'll take reduce your walking intervals and increase your running ones. I haven't been totally on track with that, but I have been trying to increase my runs as much as possible.

Which led me to last Saturday. My third 5K. This time I was going at it alone and I wanted to push myself even harder. I had my best time yet, but didn't meet my goal. I won't say it as I know it's still pretty slow compared to most runners. I placed almost halfway in the entire roster of runners - maybe a little worse than halfway. But I wasn't near the very end! The amount of effort I put into it just made me so ready to start truly running for real. Again...I am still very much new at this compared to many many many other people.

After resting for too many days (had pretty sore calves after the race), I ran my first full run -no walking- today. And it didn't feel that bad. I ditched None To Run and tried out the Nike Run Club app (which is free). The first run was an easy run, just 20 minutes of slow paced running. Once I finished that with a pretty horrible mile pace, I decided to just keep going for another 10 minutes or so. I found a good pace, which was still pretty slow, and just pushed. And now as I sit here, I feel pretty great. I think now today I feel like somewhat of a runner. The issue, though, that I was having pre and post recent 5K was comparing myself to everyone else. I got down into that, realizing just how not great I am. But I tried hard to push it all away and just run for fun and to get back to it. And it feels good. I finally feel like maybe I am actually getting better at this. And it only took 14 months.

I do see that my time keeps decreasing, so the goal now is to run a virtual 5K this weekend (proceeds going to the Georgia Aquarium) and then just keep going week by week, increasing as much as I can. The next full on, in person 5K for me will be early May. By that point I should hopefully have at least the time I want down - or close to it. And after this? I don't know yet. I'd like to go up to a 10K by the fall, if I can find some in the area. I'd say eventually the longer term goal is a half marathon, but I am nowhere close to that yet. I don't see myself ever wanting to do a full though.


So, runners, what do you usually do on your runs? I am just curious to know. Do you use an app? Do you run long distances, or do you run for time? How frequently?

Jeez this post wound up being incredibly too long. TLDR, I guess I feel like a runner now.

This is awesome!!

I use Fitbit to track runs, but I don't really like it too much. 1 out of 20 runs it'll decide to not track the run with GPS. The activity/steps/heart rate will track but I like seeing mile time intervals that the GPS will provide. It's not often but annoying enough when it happens to make me want to switch eventually.

I mainly run for distance rather than time, but I loosely like to see my time get better. I try for 5 days a week, but usually it's like 3 or 4 days depending on what is going on. Sometimes in the summer I'll do 6 days. I started running 3~ miles around early 2020 to coincide with Covid-times, sometimes stopping midway through my runs but soon after I just kept going to not stop. It's definitely a tough adjustment to run that long without stopping. I was consistent with that for a long time before upping to 4 miles which is my new daily goal. If the weather is nice, or if it stays lighter later in the day (if it's not winter) I'll run between 5-8 miles. I did 10 miles once last summer which wasn't that bad. My next goal is a half marathon. Probably independently to see if I can do it and then maybe organized.

As for races, I've done a 4-mile race that a local Brewery does every year, once virtual, 3 times in person. I've also done a virtual 6-mile race that a local winery put on. That was before I upped my daily goal to 4 miles so I remember that one being tough. My old work did an in person 5k last October which really intimidated me because there were some people who were cruising at like 6-7 minute miles and I was going my own pace at 8-8:30/mile. I'd like to consistently get below 8 min/mile but it's not something I'm really striving for, I feel like I'll get there eventually. Usually my first mile is like 7:45~ and then I slouch into 8-8:30 afterwards. When I started in early 2020, I was doing like 9-10 minute miles.

 

[Bennnnn]

This is awesome!!

I use Fitbit to track runs, but I don't really like it too much. 1 out of 20 runs it'll decide to not track the run with GPS. The activity/steps/heart rate will track but I like seeing mile time intervals that the GPS will provide. It's not often but annoying enough when it happens to make me want to switch eventually.

I mainly run for distance rather than time, but I loosely like to see my time get better. I try for 5 days a week, but usually it's like 3 or 4 days depending on what is going on. Sometimes in the summer I'll do 6 days. I started running 3~ miles around early 2020 to coincide with Covid-times, sometimes stopping midway through my runs but soon after I just kept going to not stop. It's definitely a tough adjustment to run that long without stopping. I was consistent with that for a long time before upping to 4 miles which is my new daily goal. If the weather is nice, or if it stays lighter later in the day (if it's not winter) I'll run between 5-8 miles. I did 10 miles once last summer which wasn't that bad. My next goal is a half marathon. Probably independently to see if I can do it and then maybe organized.

As for races, I've done a 4-mile race that a local Brewery does every year, once virtual, 3 times in person. I've also done a virtual 6-mile race that a local winery put on. That was before I upped my daily goal to 4 miles so I remember that one being tough. My old work did an in person 5k last October which really intimidated me because there were some people who were cruising at like 6-7 minute miles and I was going my own pace at 8-8:30/mile. I'd like to consistently get below 8 min/mile but it's not something I'm really striving for, I feel like I'll get there eventually. Usually my first mile is like 7:45~ and then I slouch into 8-8:30 afterwards. When I started in early 2020, I was doing like 9-10 minute miles.

Interesting to hear all of this. You’re definitely at a place I am looking to get to. Because I was doing walking/running intervals for so long it was an adjustment for me to just run longer. But now getting into that pattern, it feels pretty good. So far. My pace per mile is still very slow, but I’m working in more strength training which I hear might help? It’s weird starting out and even now I see and hear “go slower than you think is slow” which I guess is fine on my own. But if I’m running in a 5K I think that’s way too slow. This Nike Run Club thing I think will introduce some different kinds of runs when I finish week one. I am still figuring all of this out.

 

[wokeupnew]

Interesting to hear all of this. You’re definitely at a place I am looking to get to. Because I was doing walking/running intervals for so long it was an adjustment for me to just run longer. But now getting into that pattern, it feels pretty good. So far. My pace per mile is still very slow, but I’m working in more strength training which I hear might help? It’s weird starting out and even now I see and hear “go slower than you think is slow” which I guess is fine on my own. But if I’m running in a 5K I think that’s way too slow. This Nike Run Club thing I think will introduce some different kinds of runs when I finish week one. I am still figuring all of this out.

Everyone is totally different, but I'ver never done any interval training, speed training, really slow running, sprinting, anything like that. I just go out and run. Different types of running can totally help with upping distance, stamina, etc. My main thing was to just be consistent and do it everyday or do it even when I don't feel like it. I got better and more comfortable over time. It might not work for you, but I found consistency was good for me.



ETA: Yes, strength training is super important. I was doing zero strength exercises at all. Like, when people say “don’t skip leg day” I am the opposite. I would skip arm day constantly. Last year, I started doing pushups and sit-ups with some other light arm exercises with small weights about 3 days a week and it’s made a huge difference.

Also I added protein shakes to my diet because I was burning a lot of calories and my protein intake was way too low for how much activity I was doing. Those, plus eating more chicken, made me have way more energy and helped me get faster and have more stamina too. It’s totally not just one thing, but looking at protein intake to the amount of activity you’re doing can help.

 

[Ghost]

Started this trendy challenge called 75 Hard about a week ago and I’m happy to say it’s gotten me moving my body for 7+ days in a row for the first time in maybe my whole life? I’m 28 and have had very infrequent bouts of exercise, I’ve been blessed with a good metabolism and good genes to where I haven’t put on any weight but the pain has been definitely been creeping in.

I’m at 8 days currently and feeling great. I’m running, stretching, swimming, and lifting all week long. Excited to keep it going and hopefully walk away with some keystone habits finally.

 

[Bennnnn]

Everyone is totally different, but I'ver never done any interval training, speed training, really slow running, sprinting, anything like that. I just go out and run. Different types of running can totally help with upping distance, stamina, etc. My main thing was to just be consistent and do it everyday or do it even when I don't feel like it. I got better and more comfortable over time. It might not work for you, but I found consistency was good for me.



ETA: Yes, strength training is super important. I was doing zero strength exercises at all. Like, when people say “don’t skip leg day” I am the opposite. I would skip arm day constantly. Last year, I started doing pushups and sit-ups with some other light arm exercises with small weights about 3 days a week and it’s made a huge difference.

Also I added protein shakes to my diet because I was burning a lot of calories and my protein intake was way too low for how much activity I was doing. Those, plus eating more chicken, made me have way more energy and helped me get faster and have more stamina too. It’s totally not just one thing, but looking at protein intake to the amount of activity you’re doing can help.

I do think consistency is the key, which is why it took me this long to feel this comfortable doing it. I just wasn’t consistent enough. The past month or so I’ve been very consistent, and I’ve noticed a difference for sure. Also when I started I wasn’t doing strength training in any way, but now I’m wanting to keep that consistent too. That’s the harder one to keep doing for me.

 

[dbarila]

My normal fitness routine has been go for about a mile and a half walk over my lunch break on a bike trail near my work and then when I get home do the exercise bike for about 30 minutes. I've been really slacking in my motivation to do the exercise bike when I get home (kids afterschool activities and homework don't make it convenient). So the other day I had the brilliant idea of combining my two workouts and I went to Target and got my first bike since I was 15 to ride on the bike trail over my lunch break. Man, I am beat! Riding an actual bike is nothing like the exercise bike at home!

 

[RenegadeMonster]

So far failing at my goal to lose 20 to 30 pounds.

It's not for lack of effort. I have closed out every ring on my Apple Watch every day so far this year. I'm getting between 45 minutes and 90 minutes in on my new NordicTrack elliptical everyday.

The issue is I'm now famished and constantly craving to eat. And I mean I'm feeling weak / getting the shakes need to eat something. So I do.

End result is I have maintained the exact same weight so far. Haven't lost anything, haven't gained anything. Which is kind of a bummer, because I gained like 10 pounds over Christmas eating leftover Prime Rib and Potatoes Agrantin for week straight after your big Christmas Eve family dinner. Followed by Chinese for New Years Eve.

I would have hoped to have lost at least that extra 10 pounds by now.

My endurance is way up now though, so that's good.

 

[Bull Shannon]

So far failing at my goal to lose 20 to 30 pounds.

It's not for lack of effort. I have closed out every ring on my Apple Watch every day so far this year. I'm getting between 45 minutes and 90 minutes in on my new NordicTrack elliptical everyday.

The issue is I'm now famished and constantly craving to eat. And I mean I'm feeling weak / getting the shakes need to eat something. So I do.

End result is I have maintained the exact same weight so far. Haven't lost anything, haven't gained anything. Which is kind of a bummer, because I gained like 10 pounds over Christmas eating leftover Prime Rib and Potatoes Agrantin for week straight after your big Christmas Eve family dinner. Followed by Chinese for New Years Eve.

I would have hoped to have lost at least that extra 10 pounds by now.

My endurance is way up now though, so that's good.

Weight is weird, and not always a good metric for fitness; since I started running a few years back I've failed to lose any weight, and actually weigh the most I have in my life.

 

[RenegadeMonster]

Weight is weird, and not always a good metric for fitness; since I started running a few years back I've failed to lose any weight, and actually weigh the most I have in my life.

BMI is especially a bad metric.

I follow a lot of fitness influencers on instagram, any many of the female gender could be considered "gym rats". They are very healthy, but weigh a lot more than average girls. You you see them post stuff like "unfit to serve" because their BMI classifies them as "obese", despite having visible abs if they are a military member.

For me, I don't really care so much about the number on the scale, I want to be confident in how I look. My body likes to store fat in my gut and chest, which is something I'm really self conscious about. I will not take my shirt off at the beach or pool. I want a flat chest. Even in high school, when I was at my lightest weight and looked like a stick, I got made fun of for having "man boobs". Nothing crazy, or abnormal.

 

[wokeupnew]

Weight is weird, and not always a good metric for fitness; since I started running a few years back I've failed to lose any weight, and actually weigh the most I have in my life.

BMI is especially a bad metric.

I follow a lot of fitness influencers on instagram, any many of the female gender could be considered "gym rats". They are very healthy, but weigh a lot more than average girls. You you see them post stuff like "unfit to serve" because their BMI classifies them as "obese", despite having visible abs if they are a military member.

For me, I don't really care so much about the number on the scale, I want to be confident in how I look. My body likes to store fat in my gut and chest, which is something I'm really self conscious about. I will not take my shirt off at the beach or pool. I want a flat chest. Even in high school, when I was at my lightest weight and looked like a stick, I got made fun of for having "man boobs". Nothing crazy, or abnormal.

Yeah exercise is so weird. I didn’t exercise for about 2 weeks because I had a lot of things going on traveling and I didn’t have the time. Over those two weeks I ended up losing about 5 pounds. Since I started back up running this week 3 days in a row so far I’ve put back on about 3 pounds. It makes no sense.

If I wanted to get my weight down to under a “healthy BMI” for my height I’d have to lose about 30-40 more pounds and I don’t know if that’s even healthy and/or possible without losing additional muscle. 15 more pounds loss is ideally where I would like to be and just kind of maintain that going forward.

I also had/have the man boobs thing issue. I still carry excess weight there even though my stomach is flatter. Friends like me who are/were overweight always carried more of a belly, I was never that way. What worked for me was some light arm exercises that helped work the pectoral muscles and push ups. Push ups suck but they help define those muscles and burn that fat there. Replacing that fat with the muscle is most likely the best outcome without unhealthy dieting.

 

[nolalady]

So far failing at my goal to lose 20 to 30 pounds.

It's not for lack of effort. I have closed out every ring on my Apple Watch every day so far this year. I'm getting between 45 minutes and 90 minutes in on my new NordicTrack elliptical everyday.

The issue is I'm now famished and constantly craving to eat. And I mean I'm feeling weak / getting the shakes need to eat something. So I do.

End result is I have maintained the exact same weight so far. Haven't lost anything, haven't gained anything. Which is kind of a bummer, because I gained like 10 pounds over Christmas eating leftover Prime Rib and Potatoes Agrantin for week straight after your big Christmas Eve family dinner. Followed by Chinese for New Years Eve.

I would have hoped to have lost at least that extra 10 pounds by now.

My endurance is way up now though, so that's good.

85% of weight loss is about food. If you have constant cravings to eat, add more fat to your diet. At minimum, you should try to get about 30% of your calories from fat, 30% of your calories from protein, and 40% of your protein from carbs. Right now, I am doing more of a modified keto/lower carb and it works well for me.

The other thing to remember is that when you start working out, you can put on muscle weight and that weight can displace fat in your body. Sometimes it’s better to go by body measurements or how clothes fit. If you are reducing your waist measurement, it doesn’t really matter what the scale says.

 

[Bull Shannon]

When it comes to distance running, the common knowledge I see thrown around is to try to increase by no more than 10% a week. But how does that work once you’ve hit a peak distance and then reduce? In my case, I hit about eight miles back in December, then got a bad cold one week, the sidewalks iced up the next week, I got food poisoning the next week, etc etc; basically I’ve gone down to running once or twice a week, only 2-4 miles. Only the last two weeks have I gotten back to 3-4 runs a week.

So my question is do I need to slowly work my way back up to eight again?

 

[wokeupnew]

When it comes to distance running, the common knowledge I see thrown around is to try to increase by no more than 10% a week. But how does that work once you’ve hit a peak distance and then reduce? In my case, I hit about eight miles back in December, then got a bad cold one week, the sidewalks iced up the next week, I got food poisoning the next week, etc etc; basically I’ve gone down to running once or twice a week, only 2-4 miles. Only the last two weeks have I gotten back to 3-4 runs a week.

So my question is do I need to slowly work my way back up to eight again?

For me it seems to be weather related. When it’s cold or grey, I don’t want to do more than 3-4 miles. Anything more than that feels like too much when it’s cold. The most I’ve ran was 5 miles back on a warmer day earlier this month. I hadn’t done a longer run than that since like late November. The first time I ran without leggings on, just shorts earlier this week I was significantly faster than I expected even though I still felt sluggish doing 4 miles.

I would try alternating runs during a week. Do 2 miles, then 3, then 4, then 2, then 3, etc. slowly building back up. But don’t force the mileage if you’re not feeling it. Or, if you are feeling it on a shorter run, keep going. When I run 5+ miles, I don’t usually plan it. I hit the 2 mile mark on the path where I run and decide how I’m feeling and if I want to turn around to make it 4 or keep going longer. It really depends if I’m feeling tired, did I hydrate well, is it too humid or hot or sunny? It all depends.

 

[Bull Shannon]

For me it seems to be weather related. When it’s cold or grey, I don’t want to do more than 3-4 miles. Anything more than that feels like too much when it’s cold. The most I’ve ran was 5 miles back on a warmer day earlier this month. I hadn’t done a longer run than that since like late November. The first time I ran without leggings on, just shorts earlier this week I was significantly faster than I expected even though I still felt sluggish doing 4 miles.

I would try alternating runs during a week. Do 2 miles, then 3, then 4, then 2, then 3, etc. slowly building back up. But don’t force the mileage if you’re not feeling it. Or, if you are feeling it on a shorter run, keep going. When I run 5+ miles, I don’t usually plan it. I hit the 2 mile mark on the path where I run and decide how I’m feeling and if I want to turn around to make it 4 or keep going longer. It really depends if I’m feeling tired, did I hydrate well, is it too humid or hot or sunny? It all depends.

tbh my overall approach to mileage is similarly mood-and-circumstance based more than it follows any method or plan. i also escalate mileage across a week, though i tend to have a number in mind as i embark. i’m very there-and-back (which kinda necessitates a plan), and very bad at tacking a mile into a run.

 

[CroutonBoy]

85% of weight loss is about food. If you have constant cravings to eat, add more fat to your diet. At minimum, you should try to get about 30% of your calories from fat, 30% of your calories from protein, and 40% of your protein from carbs. Right now, I am doing more of a modified keto/lower carb and it works well for me.

The other thing to remember is that when you start working out, you can put on muscle weight and that weight can displace fat in your body. Sometimes it’s better to go by body measurements or how clothes fit. If you are reducing your waist measurement, it doesn’t really matter what the scale says.

This happened to me (I think). I have been pretty lax about food and exercise the last couple of years and had visibly put on (unflattering) weight. I bit the bullet last fall and invested in Tonal since I never really weight trained and wouldn't do it unless it was in my basement and had some structure to it.

I was hoping to get back to my early-pandemic weight but almost immediately started getting heavier, not lighter. I've been at it for about 5 months now and both feel better and look thinner (or at least better proportioned) but am easily 8 pounds heavier than my target weight. It has been frustrating, but I'm starting to make peace with the notion that chasing that weight is a useful indicator but not the goal.

 

[I’m Just Ken]

This happened to me (I think). I have been pretty lax about food and exercise the last couple of years and had visibly put on (unflattering) weight. I bit the bullet last fall and invested in Tonal since I never really weight trained and wouldn't do it unless it was in my basement and had some structure to it.

I was hoping to get back to my early-pandemic weight but almost immediately started getting heavier, not lighter. I've been at it for about 5 months now and both feel better and look thinner (or at least better proportioned) but am easily 8 pounds heavier than my target weight. It has been frustrating, but I'm starting to make peace with the notion that chasing that weight is a useful indicator but not the goal.

I know muscle weighs more than fat, but have you tried reducing the quantity of your lifts?
I follow this fitness person on IG who was doing a mini cut over 8 weeks or so and I straight out asked them if in a cut, were they doing the same strength training routine and was told no. They said they would reduce sets/reps.

 

[debianlinux]

I know muscle weighs more than fat, but have you tried reducing the quantity of your lifts?
I follow this fitness person on IG who was doing a mini cut over 8 weeks or so and I straight out asked them if in a cut, were they doing the same strength training routine and was told no. They said they would reduce sets/reps.

Absolutely; volume cannot be safely maintained in a calorie deficit. The point is to move from additive to subtractive while targeting what is subtracted. Since you are no longer additive you shouldn't expect muscle to be repaired as quickly so you stop the wholesale breakdown.

There's lot of permutations on how to restructure the set rep schemes but the overall idea is a reduction in volume with volume being defined as total weight moved expressed in Weight * Reps. So, if you were to keep the same rep/set scheme you necessarily drop the resistance. One can easily increase resistance while also decreasing volume, however. Typical powerlifting meet cuts still involve peaking on intensity with sets of 1 to 3 of near max effort resistance.

Ultimately, it depends on your goals but the paradigm of lowering volume while cutting calories is near constant.

 

[I’m Just Ken]

Absolutely; volume cannot be safely maintained in a calorie deficit. The point is to move from additive to subtractive while targeting what is subtracted. Since you are no longer additive you shouldn't expect muscle to be repaired as quickly so you stop the wholesale breakdown.

There's lot of permutations on how to restructure the set rep schemes but the overall idea is a reduction in volume with volume being defined as total weight moved expressed in Weight * Reps. So, if you were to keep the same rep/set scheme you necessarily drop the resistance. One can easily increase resistance while also decreasing volume, however. Typical powerlifting meet cuts still involve peaking on intensity with sets of 1 to 3 of near max effort resistance.

Ultimately, it depends on your goals but the paradigm of lowering volume while cutting calories is near constant.

Thank you for reaffirming this!