Exercise and Fitness (M.O.R.)

[Vethnar]

Good and bad news from yesterday's workout:

Good:

I can do a 120 cm (47 inches) standing box jump, for the first time in more than ten years! It was far easier back then, but being able to do it again still feels awesome. I hope to get up to 130 cm before the end of the summer.

Bad:

I can't do a 120 cm standing box jump twice. Moreover, failing on a high box jump really hurts the shins.

:crying:

[Stego]

Moreover, failing on a high box jump really hurts the shins.

:crying:

I came up short on Saturday. I thought I had broken my freaking leg. 270lbs is fucking heavy coming down on the shin.

[BookWyrm]

I've managed to run a 23 minute 5k! I'm so proud of myself. :laugh: :D

My goal is to be able to do a 5K in about 18 minutes by either late June or late July. Anyone know how realistic a goal that is? When I started running two weeks ago I was doing 25 minute 5Ks.

Is it wise to run every other day or should I be fine with every day?

[seastarr]

I did the Primary Series this morning for the first time in a month. Felt a little weird, because I felt really tight (I rarely feel tight) and my jump backs were rather sloppy. But I am glad to have my ribcage feeling well enough to even try it.

This week I am going to work on back flips on the trampoline. I hate back flips. The control freak in me can;t quite handle the moment of disorientation when I don't know where the ground is.

[ztemhead]

I've managed to run a 23 minute 5k! I'm so proud of myself. :laugh: :D

My goal is to be able to do a 5K in about 18 minutes by either late June or late July. Anyone know how realistic a goal that is? When I started running two weeks ago I was doing 25 minute 5Ks.

Is it wise to run every other day or should I be fine with every day?

if you stretch, you'll be fine with 5 days a week. do some weights and upper body stuff occasionally too, eh?

sorry, further edit to revise my earlier statement that an 18 minute 5K on flat ground is damn fast. It's not surprising that you've shaved off two minutes in your first two weeks, but expect the progress to slow a bit. If you're skinny and otherwise healthy, I'd say it's a challenging goal you've set; but if you're belly-riffic like me or a recovering smoker or something you might want to pick something more doable.

[DJDonegal]

Hey all. I'm joining this thread. I should have joined a couple of weeks ago when I started hitting the gym, but I'm here now!

I hit the gym early yesterday and did 1700m on the rowing machine, 20 minutes on the bike, and a lot of weights and ball work. I hate that god damned ball.

The box jump you guys are talking about... Are they the things you can stack up on top of each other?

[cjfshaw]

I've managed to run a 23 minute 5k! I'm so proud of myself. :laugh: :D

My goal is to be able to do a 5K in about 18 minutes by either late June or late July. Anyone know how realistic a goal that is? When I started running two weeks ago I was doing 25 minute 5Ks.

Is it wise to run every other day or should I be fine with every day?

Training hard 5 days a week could get you from 23m to 18m, but I'd say that it would probably take somewhere around 3-5 months. I'd throw in hill work once a week.

Box jumps are jumping from a the ground onto a raised surface and back down.

[Stego]

The box jump you guys are talking about... Are they the things you can stack up on top of each other?

They can and are done like that sometimes, yeah.

[alguien]

I've managed to run a 23 minute 5k! I'm so proud of myself. :laugh: :D

My goal is to be able to do a 5K in about 18 minutes by either late June or late July. Anyone know how realistic a goal that is? When I started running two weeks ago I was doing 25 minute 5Ks.

Is it wise to run every other day or should I be fine with every day?

Some huge factors are your natural build: how tall you are, how long your legs are, and how much you weigh. If you're a bulky 230lb 5'6" tall person... its possible but not as likely than if you are a lithe 6'2" 180-pounder with stork legs. When I was about 160 in high school, my PR was 17:30. I was about 5'9", somewhat bulky for a runner. (I wrestled in high school as well). YMMV, literally.

An 18 minute 5K is fast. Not college level fast, but you'd probably win a small road race depending on your age bracket. Depending on your physique and your training, I'd definitely say its possible.

You might notice yourself start to plateau after some initially great gains. At that point, you might want to start doing some hard track type workouts, intervals and such. We used to do these 8 mile ladder runs where you'd go up and down, 1 minute fast, 1 minute regular, 2 minute fast, 2 regular, and so on. Those kind of workouts make you feel like shit, but they will build up your legs and lungs.

As a measuring point, when I was able to run a 17:30, I could do five miles at 7 minutes per mile, comfortably, almost easily.

Running five days a week is fine as long as you STRETCH AFTER EVERY RUN. Seriously. Do it, or your knees and shins will pay the price. Don't feel bad about icing or taking a day off to recover from an especially brutal running workout either.

ETA: Hal Higdon offers some great, free online workout programs. I used his training when I ran the Chicago marathon in 2005.

[lessthanluke]

Hey all. I'm joining this thread. I should have joined a couple of weeks ago when I started hitting the gym, but I'm here now!

I hit the gym early yesterday and did 1700m on the rowing machine, 20 minutes on the bike, and a lot of weights and ball work. I hate that god damned ball.

The box jump you guys are talking about... Are they the things you can stack up on top of each other?

Wwlcome!

[ztemhead]

As a measuring point, when I was able to run a 17:30, I could do five miles at 7 minutes per mile, comfortably, almost easily.

Running five days a week is fine as long as you STRETCH AFTER EVERY RUN. Seriously. Do it, or your knees and shins will pay the price. Don't feel bad about icing or taking a day off to recover from an especially brutal running workout either.

ETA: Hal Higdon offers some great, free online workout programs. I used his training when I ran the Chicago marathon in 2005.

yeah I was going to add that if you're training for an 18 minute 5k, your daily workout should be a lot farther than that. In high school I was on cross country and could do that pace, but our daily practices were anywhere from 6 to 16 miles.

good times today at the chi chi McGym. One hour of push/ pull sets on the strength routine, followed up with 23 minutes of 3-minute, fast/ slow intervals on the treadmill.

[Lord of Oop North]

Spring is in the air, and I can taste the sweat already. It's going very well. Fallen behind a bit over the winter, but I should be able to fix that in no-time at all. I also cut wheat out of my diet a month and a half ago, and it's already made a bit of a weight difference. Not to mention the fact that my skin is clearing up, and my stomach feels way better.

I'm working myself back towards a full-time training schedule. Hopefully that will be in place by the beginning of May. My mornings are going to be a combination of cardio and a light warm-up, and the evenings will be a WoD at the gym, maybe some lacrosse practice in the park, and an obsessive stretching schedule. My hamstrings are absurdly tight lately, and I need to work those bastards.

I also have lacrosse practice with my Box team for a few hours on Saturdays, and our game is each and every Sunday.

My goal is to get back into peak form, and hopefully make myself attractive to some of the Senior Field Lacrosse teams in the GTA. I really need something like a team to keep myself focused, and out of the doldrums. Life is too short to be brooding on the past.

[alguien]

Didn't have time to go to the gym today, what with working late and a haircut.

To make up for it, I did a two-miler on the lake trail in front of my apartment. Legs felt tired, but that's to be expected after I pushed my four-miler yesterday.

Tomorrow, half hour of light circuit weight training followed by an hour long yoga class.

[BookWyrm]

alguien, that Hal Higdon site looks wonderful! I'll try to find a fitting training program tomorrow. :D

I'm short and slim. 5'6" and 134 lbs. Fittingly my strides aren't terribly large so this is quite a goal. That and the fact that I am someone that has recently quit smoking something (ahem not tobacco) is going to make this pretty fucking hard for me, but as long as it keeps me focused on something to work towards then I'm happy. It's the working that counts to me really, not necessarily the achieving of the goal.

Also, I'll explore some track workouts and try to integrate them into my runs.

ztemhead, I do uper body stuff too, but strictly away from gyms. As a broke 19 year-old currently in the middle of a disastrous college transfer, I haven't got the opportunity to join a gym. I've been using the Scooby Workshop site for home workouts and I'm totally loving it. It's free and the information has seemed pretty legit so far, especially since I've had good results. It might be genetics but I'm having no trouble at all keeping up with friends that work out in gyms by using a weighted back pack for pushups and chin ups.

Also, for the 5K, though my goal is to do it in 18 minutes, I will be going (I hope) farther then that to train for the goal.

Thanks for the great help everyone! I'm surprised that there are so many athletically knowledgeable people on a, well, geeky forum. This might just be some leftover high school stigma though. :)

[Vethnar]

I came up short on Saturday. I thought I had broken my freaking leg. 270lbs is fucking heavy coming down on the shin.

I can imagine. My 180lbs were bad enough. From now on, I'll stick with stair jumps for a while. They're generally safe, as long as you don't fall backwards (which I've never done).

The box jump you guys are talking about... Are they the things you can stack up on top of each other?

Anything you can find which is stable and has the right height.

Welcome to the thread, DJDonegal. :)

[Eponine]

The best distance guys aren't usually very tall- especially the Kenyans.

I was running 20 mpw when I ran 22:30, and 55 mpw with a rest day every 2 weeks when I ran 18:55. But you should be able to get there at lower mileage, being male.

An important thing to find out when you're training is how your body reacts to shorter intervals vs. longer tempo runs for workouts. I burn out on too much speed work and would not very well on the Hal Higdon program with its weekly 400s or 200s, but some people thrive on it. If you find that the speed work is not translating into fast endurance, consider Daniel's Running Formula or Pfitzinger's Road Racing for Serious Runners.

If I were putting together a workout schedule, it would look something like this:

Day 1: Tempo

Day 2: Recovery

Day 3: Hill workout

Day 4: Recovery

Day 5: Aquajog/crosstrain

Day 6: Off

Day 7: Long run

The tempo could be replaced by jumping into a race, and as you get closer to the target race day, the hill workout would be alternated with long intervals, and then speed work near the very end. Strides after ever easy run, and strides and plyos before every workout. Lifting after workout days. And I wouldn't change the structure as you improved- just the distance and intensity.

[Vethnar]

Thanks for the great help everyone! I'm surprised that there are so many athletically knowledgeable people on a, well, geeky forum.

That's a common mistake. Geekiness is usually (but not always) incompatible with watching sports, but not with doing sports. As a group, I think geeks are no less athletic than the average population.

[Han Shot First]

Yeah, so according to my doctor, I have to lose about fifty-to-sixty pounds or I'm at risk for some serious complications.

Two hour work out today. Shirt was drenched. Cannot wait to start shedding some real pounds.

[seastarr]

I am now sitting here pondering whether or not I am a geek.

ETA: And I am.

[cjfshaw]

Yeah, so according to my doctor, I have to lose about fifty-to-sixty pounds or I'm at risk for some serious complications.

Two hour work out today. Shirt was drenched. Cannot wait to start shedding some real pounds.

good luck on the journey, there's tons of people in this thread who can probably help you out with that