New to jogging! Any advice? (lift, bicycles, training, runner)

[TabulaRasa]

Listen to your body and go at your own pace. The most important thing is at you are being active and doing it consistently. Echoing others, really do your best to avoid running on pavement if you can.

[dmills]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

Echoing others, really do your best to avoid running on pavement if you can.

Does this mean any hard surface, or are you specifically referring to concrete? What about asphalt?

[wutitiz]

Originally Posted by burgler09

You already received great advice here, but one thing people skipped over was perhaps one of the more simple things. Don't forget to stretch really good before and after you run. It'll save your legs and muscles.

I have to respectfully disagree w/ this; I'd say try some stretching and if if floats your boat then do it. But I've been running for many years and never did any stretching to speak of, mainly because I didn't like it. Warm up, yes, bet stretching, no. I used to do at least 30 minutes of pushups, situps etc. before a run, and by the time I was done with that I was warmed up & ready to run.

Now it turns out the experts are saying that static stretching (i.e. stretch & hold) is not helpful & maybe even counter productive. There has been a lot of research done on this in the last couple years. If I'm in a hurry and don't want to work out I do some of these 'dynamic' stretches from RT:
Dynamic Stretching Better Before Training and Racing | Running Times Magazine

Then I do a very slow jog for 1.5 miles to warm up before picking up the pace. Better than stretching IMO. I know a lot of knowledgable people do recommend stretching after a run, but I'm too lazy to do even that.

[Ulysses61]

I tend to agree with the stretching. I have never done it either, though after I turned 40, I started to stretch for about 30-45 seconds after my run. I will also lay down and elevate my feet above my heart for several minutes. This reduces fatigue in your legs the next day. Some runners swear by stretching and do it religiously. Others never do it without consequence. Do whatever works for you, stretching is an individual thing.

[whoisjongalt]

This a great thread...not sure if I should post here or start a new one. I want to take up running too but purely for cardio. I DON'T want to lose weight. I'm already 5'10, 140. Should I concentrate more on speed and shorter distances once I've done it for awhile? When I look professional athletes, the marathoners all seem to be thin and the sprinters are super muscular.

[ogre]

Originally Posted by dmills

Does this mean any hard surface, or are you specifically referring to concrete? What about asphalt?

Concrete is the worst, but asphalt is still a hard surface. If possible, it would be better to run on an athletic field or a running track made of that springy composition material.

[ogre]

Originally Posted by whoisjongalt

This a great thread...not sure if I should post here or start a new one. I want to take up running too but purely for cardio. I DON'T want to lose weight. I'm already 5'10, 140. Should I concentrate more on speed and shorter distances once I've done it for awhile? When I look professional athletes, the marathoners all seem to be thin and the sprinters are super muscular.

The general advice would be to build up a good base of fitness with relatively long runs at a slow to moderate pace, then, once you're fit enough to do this without high risk of injury, focus on more high-intensity running. This could mean steady running at a faster pace for shorter distances, but it would also be good to do intervals a couple of days a week. What I'm talking about there is basically short-distance sprinting, or a very fast pace, close to sprinting, repeated quite a number of times, with just enough of slow jogging or brisk walking in between to recover enough for the next sprint. It would also be a good idea to do some strength training to gain, or at least maintain, muscle mass.

That would be the general advice, but everyone is different. In my early twenties I gained forty pounds of muscle (over a period of about five years) through a combination of lifting weights and steady running at distances usually ranging from two to 3-1/2 miles or so, at a clip that was a brisk running pace but not pushing really hard, typically maybe about 7-1/2 to eight minutes per mile, though it varied some, and sometimes I'd run a bit faster.

You can't necessarily use me as an example, though. I grew nearly two inches in height between the age of eighteen and my early twenties, and even before I started the exercise routine I've just described at the age of twenty had gained something like ten to fifteen pounds since the age of eighteen while wearing the same pants size. Unlike the usual idea that you're done growing by eighteen, clearly this was not the case for me, so I can't know how much of that muscle gain in my early twenties resulted from lifting, and how much of it was just that I was still filling out to my basic adult size.

Your best bet would be to follow the general guidelines of building up a fitness base with steady running, then focusing on a mix of brisk runs at moderate distances and intervals, and to consider pumping some iron as well. Once you're in the kind of shape you want to be basically, you can experiment to find out what works best for you as a way to tailor things to your particular situation, but those general guidelines would be a good starting point.

[whoisjongalt]

Thanks 'ogre'. That's sounds like great advice. I already have to chug protein shakes and workout if I want to gain any weight at all. But I'd also like to give running a try rather than the occasional treadmill or stair machine. Boring.

[veuvegirl]

Originally Posted by burgler09

You already received great advice here, but one thing people skipped over was perhaps one of the more simple things. Don't forget to stretch really good before and after you run. It'll save your legs and muscles.

[veuvegirl]

Originally Posted by wutitiz

I have to respectfully disagree w/ this; I'd say try some stretching and if if floats your boat then do it. But I've been running for many years and never did any stretching to speak of, mainly because I didn't like it. Warm up, yes, bet stretching, no. I used to do at least 30 minutes of pushups, situps etc. before a run, and by the time I was done with that I was warmed up & ready to run.

Now it turns out the experts are saying that static stretching (i.e. stretch & hold) is not helpful & maybe even counter productive. There has been a lot of research done on this in the last couple years. If I'm in a hurry and don't want to work out I do some of these 'dynamic' stretches from RT:
Dynamic Stretching Better Before Training and Racing | Running Times Magazine

Then I do a very slow jog for 1.5 miles to warm up before picking up the pace. Better than stretching IMO. I know a lot of knowledgable people do recommend stretching after a run, but I'm too lazy to do even that.

Static stretching BEFORE you run, not after you run. After you run it is very important to stretch out your muscles.

Mix yoga in if you can, great cross training!