I'd venture a guess that I know the most here about running. I was a captain on my cc/track teams in high school and college. My senior year of college I got up to a little over 100 miles/week. My best mile is a 4:17, and my best 5k is a 15:01. Since graduating two years ago, I've done a couple half marathons and won them both. This last fall I started coaching a high school team, which has been a blast. One of my teammates that was a year older than me on my small college team (~20 people) is now a professional runner, and ran in the US 10k track championships last year. He has one of the 10 fastest D3 10Ks ever run (I think he's 8th or 9th).
I had no idea, that's awesome! Anther shameless plug, but did you ever see our "Running Sucks," video/podcast? Check it out: Do you ever do the "ultra" marathons? Those seem a bit crazy to me and not very good for your body. In fact, my guess is that anything over a half probably isn't the best for your heart/body. I could be wrong though. You're the expert though, what do you think?
That's an excellent episode of the podcast - thanks for sharing! I hadn't heard that one. I've never done any ultras, or any marathons for that matter. I've worked up to 20 milers in training. I'm considering trying my hand at a couple marathons in 2016, but I'm not sure yet. I'm just not sure how much I'd enjoy it. I think the half is a great distance. I'd say you nailed it - anything over a half marathon can potentially be real hard on the body. Different bodies can be better equipped to handle it, but the stress of consistent marathon (or ultra) training will almost certainly have a detrimental effect down the line. The big one is knees getting wobbly, which often doesn't kick in until years after a person's hardest running is over. During training, the shin splints, IT bands, and planar flescitis can get pretty rough as well. Still, sometimes I get pretty jealous of people who do ultras. The feeling I get after a great long run is one of my favorite feelings in the world. A girl I dated in high school has a sister who's one of the top women in the ironman triathlon in the US, and she's one of the smartest and most interesting people I've met. I saw in the podcast that you did some training for a half - are you still running?
Perhaps I can claim to be the house specialist in ultras, then. I don't have any special knowledge about health and safety, but my pet theory is that overtraining is the biggest risk factor for runners at any distance. Perhaps logging fifty miles in a day causes no more cumulative damage than covering the same distance over a week, running every day or two. (At least not for back-of-the-pack finishers like me, who prioritize having fun and not getting hurt.) But the more frequent outings must interfere with recovery. It is rare that I run more than once a week, and I am even lazier in the summer and winter. I suspect that the shorter races, usually on carefully-measured pavement courses, tend to inspire more competition and focus on finish times, while the longer events are typically off-road, with irregular distances, and are perceived more as fun challenges. Emil Zatopek, the Czech Locomotive, seems to have performed better in competitions after illness or injury forced him to back down from his famously aggressive training regimen.
There's a run here in Chapel Hill, NC that I really enjoy called the Tar Heel Ten Miler and I plan on starting my training for it this week. I've not been running for over 3 months. I'm starting cold essentially. I plan on two runs during the week and a longer run on the weekend. I know that feeling you mention at the end of a long run, it's an awesome feeling. I completed a half marathon and have done 3 ten mile runs. It's a great sport.
Thanks! One of the best things about running as a sport is that it's really inclusive and most runners tend to not give a shit how fast anybody is. Everybody can do it and have their own goals and reasons for running. It's fun being able to be competitive with it but the main reason I love running (and the thing that drew me to it) is that most runners tend to be cool/interesting people in general.
Do you use Endomondo? 'Cause if you do, add me and other hubskiers! I just started running again.
You can enter workouts, load info from smart watches or track your progress with your smartphone. You can also track your weight on there, and I track my heart rate with this thing.
I love to run as well! I have had some injuries that have curtailed my running significantly since I first started, but when I am healthy I love to get out there. I can't say I've run anything close to your times, I'm just out there to feel healthy and get that runner's high. I'm hoping to run a half this May, as long as I stay healthy. Any training and mileage tips would be greatly appreciated!
That's great! That's one of my favorite things about running as well: feeling good and gettin' those endorphins flowing. It's tough to give any solid training tips without knowing what your running background is like, but here's a few general ones: - build up your mileage slowly. the rule of thumb I've used is to add around 5% every week, and on every fourth week, cut back about 10%. (these numbers don't need to be followed to a T, but that general progression tends to work pretty well.) - about half of your runs should be "easy" runs. this could be anywhere from 1-8 miles depending on the person. make sure you keep your pace conversational and you feel good when you're done. - you should do a "long" run ideally once a week, or once every other week if your mileage is relatively low. again, this will vary a lot by the person, but it should be at least 20% of your weekly mileage. - 1 or 2 times a week you should try to get a "speed" workout in. this could just be a few minutes of a faster pace in the middle or a run, or 400 meter repetitions on the track, or hills. spice it up and think of fun workouts to keep your runs interesting. probably most importantly: - if it ever feels like you're training too hard, pump the brakes and take it easy for a few days. in fact, most of training should feel somewhat easy. it's those couple hard days per week where you want to push it. if every day feels hard, you're going to get injured, and it's always much easier (and more fun) to prevent injury than it is to get rid of it (as it sounds like you already know). That was more than I was planning on writing, but I hope that that's helpful in some way for you!