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Exercise & Fitness: it’s a marathon, not a sprint


Iskaral Pust
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2 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

@Iskaral Pustactually 2 of them were from rolling my already damaged ankles in massive divots, nobody near me. But generally I take your point. I also chipped a bone in my ankle once when I kicked my own ankle as I fell over. 

I’ve lost all sympathy, you clumsy sod. :)

Breaking ankles just by rolling them sounds more like osteoporosis than a football injury.  That’s usually a slight ligament strain, not a bone break.

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On 8/24/2021 at 11:14 PM, Iskaral Pust said:

I stand in awe of all you marathon runners.  I’m definitely put off by the idea of grinding through so many training miles for so many months, and the inevitable stress injuries.  I got very few injuries during many years of running miles around soccer fields (only when some external impact caused one), but running 3-5 miles on asphalt more than once a week causes more stress soreness — shin splints, lower back, etc — than any game of soccer.

My dad ran three or four marathons in his 30s, and I remember him icing his knees most nights as he trained.  Later he had his hip replaced by age 55, and still has ongoing lumbar disc problems.  Not all due to a few years of road running, but it definitely contributed.

Yeah, I love long distance running but I've always been of the opinion that a marathon is where it tips the scales into being detrimental to one's health to run that much. This is why I've not done a marathon before and why this upcoming marathon is intended to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I'll be happily back to running halfs and 10ks with lots of adequate rest after this!

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I finally started my physical therapy. Some magnets, some electric stimulation this morning, some laser stuff due tomorrow etc. All in all, 5 treatments total, due to be finished on Wednesday and, hopefully, after that I can get back to training.

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I have something called mortons neuroma. Niggly rather than painful. But just not getting better by itself. Doesn't stop me cycling but running is a definite no go. Will probably need a steroid injection, can't imagine that will happen any time soon on the NHS. 

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Last week was great for exercise while I was off work.  Sunday and Monday were weights sessions, Tuesday was a rest day before more weights on Wednesday.  I finally got the pool re-opened on Thursday (chemical shock needed after the Henri storm water) and then swam on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday, while also getting another weights session on Saturday.

Then I went back to work on Tuesday this week and I’ve had no exercise since.  I’ve been working long hours to get caught up, just like I was working long hours before the break too.  But this is a holiday weekend coming so I’ll get some good exercise then.

And after a break/ retirement of 7 or 8 years now (where does time go?), I’m looking into joining a soccer league here for the fall season.  I don’t think I’d be comfortable with indoor soccer this winter during COVID but I could play outdoors for the next couple of months.

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No weights for me over the long weekend because I was focused on maximizing the nice weather.  Plus golf is such an unfamiliar motion that it’s causing minor strains afterward and then I don’t want to lift heavy the following day.

On Friday, my wife had scheduled another golf lesson for us together.  It was fun to be out in beautiful weather and I was hitting pretty well.  Saturday was a long swim; it felt fantastic although the water is getting colder now.  Sunday was bad weather but I plunged into a Netflix binge and didn’t lift weights.  Monday I swam in the afternoon and then hit golf balls in the early evening using a mat and net in our garden.

Overall, it was a relaxing long weekend with some alternative exercise to enjoy the outdoors while the good weather lasts.  After crushing it in the gym over the past couple of months, it wasn’t terrible to take a break from weights.

I’ll try to keep the pool open for a few more weeks, although I may have to switch back to a wetsuit before much longer.  The overnight temperatures are dropping, which is cooling the pool a lot.

I’m supposed to have a soccer game this Thursday evening.  Let’s see how that goes.  Surprisingly, they’re going to finish their outdoor season by the end of the month and then switch to indoor.  I’m used to playing outdoor through Thanksgiving before switching to indoor.  I don’t think I’m ready to play indoor during COVID, so this may be a very brief return to the pitch for me.

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Week 5 of my 5 day program and things are going pretty good.  Today was my heavy leg day, so front to back lunges, dumbbell squats, goblet squats, split squats, very light dumbbell deadlift, side squats, and calf raises.  Tomorrow I'll do upper body w/ my wife and Friday I'll finish off with some lower body HIIT (plyo lunges, sprints, bear crawls, & jump squats).  Feeling pretty sore on a week to week basis, but feel like I'm getting some good rest on the weekends.  Will probably switch things up again next month.

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Just up and did a 5kish in one of the many beautiful areas Ace and I are blessed to live in. Close to 30 mins, but I kept it under. On my off day. After I already had mowed, cleaned my entire place, foam rolled for 20-30 minutes and walked over 15k steps. 

There may have also been some day drinking in the mix. Vamos Chelsea! 

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Last week Tuesday and Wednesday I was working long hours and got no exercise, but on Thursday I played my first soccer game in 7 or 8 years.  It was a lot of fun.

We played 7v7 outdoor on an appropriately sized field (and smaller goals).  We played for 75 minutes without a break, although rotating goalkeepers gave some players a rest (not me though, my offer to take a turn was declined because there was always someone in greater need of a rest).  I felt great for the first 30 minutes, floating & darting with ease, and I scored three and assisted two. For next 20 minutes I slowed down to around the average of the group, still played well, but was running lower on energy and had to find mini-rests between runs.  For the last 25 minutes I was gassed and on my heels; I had to force myself to run despite opening blisters and tightening muscles.  I’m just unused to to that sustained cardio demand.  Obviously I should have stopped before the game ended, but I didn’t want to leave my team short-handed.  In the following days I had lots of stiff muscles, primarily the stabilizers rather than the power generators, so I avoided leg weights in the meantime.

I swam both Saturday and Sunday in the beautiful weather here, although the water is getting colder each time.  And I did a weights session on Saturday too: bench press and cable row.

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Last week was my first week back to being 100% on my training plan. It was pretty hard, and my hip is still nagging at me, but I feel like at least I'll be able to get across the finish line next month!

This weekend will be my peak training run. Nominally 20 miles, but following both general internet advice and affirmation from a physical therapist, I'm too slow to do 20 miles. I'll cut it off at 3:15 instead, as the additional time on my feet will hurt more than it will help.

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4 hours ago, Starkess said:

Yeah, I'm slow. :( I cut if off at 3 hours a couple weeks ago and that was only 16.6 miles!!

Wouldn't stress too much over a couple miles at this stage. Better to get to the start line as healthy as you can. Race day adrenalin and determination will get you to the finish line on the day.

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21 hours ago, Starkess said:

Last week was my first week back to being 100% on my training plan. It was pretty hard, and my hip is still nagging at me, but I feel like at least I'll be able to get across the finish line next month!

This weekend will be my peak training run. Nominally 20 miles, but following both general internet advice and affirmation from a physical therapist, I'm too slow to do 20 miles. I'll cut it off at 3:15 instead, as the additional time on my feet will hurt more than it will help.

Holy shit, a three hour plus training run?  My knees hurt just thinking about that.  I think I would need at least several days, maybe a week, to recover from that.  My longest run so far has been for 1:45, and I took off three days and still felt sore for an additional 2 or 3 days after I started running some easy runs again.  Good luck with the rest of your training and your race!

I've noticed that if I run for longer than about an hour, usually I'll start feeling soreness in at least one of my knees, and sometimes my muscles will also start tightening from fatigue if I'm running a bit too fast.  I think I'm going to stick to 5K and 10K training programs for a while, partly because the vast majority of the runs in this category are under an hour, so are relatively low stress and it's something I can do 6/7 days a week without much difficulty (much easier to find time for a quick run too).  It'll also help me build up my speed along with some additional strength and durability in my legs.  Not even sure I want to try running a half this year to check on my progress.  Maybe next year...

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1 hour ago, Mudguard said:

Holy shit, a three hour plus training run?  My knees hurt just thinking about that.  I think I would need at least several days, maybe a week, to recover from that.  My longest run so far has been for 1:45, and I took off three days and still felt sore for an additional 2 or 3 days after I started running some easy runs again.  Good luck with the rest of your training and your race!

I've noticed that if I run for longer than about an hour, usually I'll start feeling soreness in at least one of my knees, and sometimes my muscles will also start tightening from fatigue if I'm running a bit too fast.  I think I'm going to stick to 5K and 10K training programs for a while, partly because the vast majority of the runs in this category are under an hour, so are relatively low stress and it's something I can do 6/7 days a week without much difficulty (much easier to find time for a quick run too).  It'll also help me build up my speed along with some additional strength and durability in my legs.  Not even sure I want to try running a half this year to check on my progress.  Maybe next year...

Yep, that's generally why it's not recommended to go over that, even if you're not hitting the mileage. It takes so much to recover from that it impairs your training more than it helps! Luckily this is my longest run and the peak of my plan--after this, it'll be taper time! Just a little 12 miler 8 miler the next weeks. And then I may never run again...

Okay that's not true, but it will definitely be nice to take some time off and reduce my weekly mileage!!

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1 hour ago, Starkess said:

Yep, that's generally why it's not recommended to go over that, even if you're not hitting the mileage. It takes so much to recover from that it impairs your training more than it helps! Luckily this is my longest run and the peak of my plan--after this, it'll be taper time! Just a little 12 miler 8 miler the next weeks. And then I may never run again...

Okay that's not true, but it will definitely be nice to take some time off and reduce my weekly mileage!!

The host of a podcast I've gotten into recently ran seven marathons in seven days on all seven continents a couple of years ago. Imagine the recovery from that. 

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56 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

The host of a podcast I've gotten into recently ran seven marathons in seven days on all seven continents a couple of years ago. Imagine the recovery from that. 

Some guy did 50 marathons in different states in the US over 50 days.

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You really do get used to 2-3hr training runs at an easy pace. They're a very necessary part of marathon training. Used to be able to run an easy 25-30k on Saturday and still be good for an interval session on Tuesday and mid-week 10k each way to and from work on Wednesday. 3hrs+ you start getting a high potential for injury though.

1.5hrs+ at pace is a completely different story. I could never train properly for a couple weeks after racing a half.

All this running talk makes me want to put the weights down and get back out on the road.

Edited by Impmk2
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