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Running Nerds Unite

i was dodging it because i realized it coulda been taken as racist if read wrong. but ya if you're quite invisible and are running at night, you didn't think your cunning plan through ;)
 
Running with no shirt on is douchey? They were talking about this on the radio and everyone pretty much agreed it was a douche move to run shirtless. For me, this came from left field. It's much more comfortable in the summer to run shirtless, and it also preserves the nipples. Has anyone ever heard someone say this?
 
i can't say i've heard it, but i know it's the case. what is 'douche'? if a fat old dude is driving a ferrari w/ an 18y/o, most everyone agrees that's douche. jogging topless? some people definitely think so (i don't and many don't tho). i know i feel more like a douche wearing a wifey than a t, and topless than a wifey (EDIT: i should mention i'm just aware that it can be that way, lest my words give the impression i pay any real mind to that kind of thing. you're in a hot state just like me, actually your area's hotter than mine. you gotta go for comfort/safety first on biking/running!)
 
i'm glad this thread was bumped actually, because running has just been getting more and more important to me since i took it up ~6mo ago. i'm not even running more, per se, but am an infinitely better runner. after understanding things like how far you can go /session, and /week, w/o overdoing it; understanding HIIT, pacing, "fartleks" (shudder, fucking hate that word); understanding form/locomotion, etc etc, running is just flat-out addicting, almost as much as biking.

i used to follow the "running is high impact, biking is better" line of thought, but now i think it's just all in how you do it. i don't think running or biking for 1hr+ is good for most anyone, but at this point it's much easier on my joints/body to go sprinting on foot than sprinting on bike. running is tough on your joints if you go too hard at it, and it seems most go wayy too hard upon starting, so it forever seems like "high impact and bad/inferior"; i'm starting to develop this notion that, even if running is a problem for you BUT there's no singular reason (ie a bad knee or ankle), that you should just approach it slower. i probably view sprint speed/agility as one of teh truest tests of physical fitness now!
 
it didn't, i did the better part of a month at VERY low training levels after i hit the wall. overtraining is NO JOKE, ppl; "it's better to be wayy undertrained, than just a touch overtrained" are words to live by. when i decided triathlon would be fun (september '12), i did the first proper cardio training since school-sports, tracking rigorously (still do to this day, never stopped :D ), and made crazy progress for about 7wks before crashing. took about 3wks to get back to progress (triathlon was dec1st and i was on my ass :| )

the idea is, when in heavy training, to do a week off every 4 or 5 weeks of training. i didn't take that seriously, and paid the price. as i approached my 2nd wall (probably early january iirc?), i cut back immediately and went light- didn't hit a wall, but still had a couple weeks of struggling to just maintain my #'s. the next wall (which i'm on the cusp of right now w/o a doubt) will go even better, honestly i should just stop everything *today* but i think i can go til sunday (my 'weeks' are m-su)

what're your thoughts on overtraining, PI? i cannot imagine your volume doesn't have this factor becoming relevant to you... i was utterly unprepared for this phenom, but after the dec scenario (wherein i was quite literally sick from overtraining) i learned everything i could - what a shaky, undefined area "overtraining" or 'burnout' is!

as for whether i'll go for another, i dunno, maybe if there's one that's a reasonable distance sometime in the summer (i'm not swimming during the winter), as i'm very much against the long-distance training i was doing back then when i started, shit was NOT good for you! (i don't mean wrt overtraining, i mean that the low variety and long distance was just not nearly as optimal training as what i'm doing now, ie heavy variety, shorter length w/ higher hiit-style intensity :] i've had a lot of fundamental shifts lately in how i view training, and an accompanying distaste for highly-specialized training / competition as a result.
 
bmxxx said:
i'm not even running more, per se, but am an infinitely better runner.
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I've always heard, "run longer and you'll run faster". Like, if you want to improve your 5K speed, run half marathons on a regular basis. I've found that my biggest impediment at the 5K distance is not my sprinting speed, but my cardiovascular ability to maintain a very fast pace. Specifically, at fast paces, I run out of breath way before my legs tire. Is this not your experience?
 
no, it's not. kinda.. depends.
if you wanna get good at 5k's (~3mi) you should NOT be doing half's, you should be doing sprints. i actually had the same logic as you when i began, but quickly found that the hardcore/extreme ppl didn't do it like that (slowtwitch was an incredible forum spot for learning these things). on competition day you can push harder- if you're going for a great 5k, you shouldn't be doing half's you should be doing speed work SO LONG AS you have base conditioning; if you don't, then yes, you should do longer distances (this would be akin to what we consider GPP in sports/weightlifting). Once you have a base, it's absurdly inefficient to train with distances longer than your race-distance.
on the topic of lungs/heart v muscles, it depends on two main things: your current level of conditioning, and the actual running being done. if your current conditioning is in-line, then you should be able to run until your legs are spent w/o gassing too hard at all (it took a couple weeks for me to get to the point where my legs, not lungs, were failing first). re the actual running being done, consider whether the majority of the work is anaerobic or aerobic. if it's anaerobic (ie shorter/sprint work), then by definition you'll gas quickly (because your muscles want more oxygen, to burn more calories, than your heart/lungs are getting to it; this is why we develop v02 max by keeping our distance-type training at ~85%, and manipulate how much power-output we can get before energy-production shifts from mostly aerobic to mostly anaerobic)

how frequently do you run? right now i'm averaging about ~2mi/day running, 'varied hiit' intensity and unique/'difficult' courses within reason (i don't have cool trails like PI does, but a large% of my running is not on asphalt anymore, maybe only half is - when i start a run, i just aim for a specific spot, and do my best to get there quickly regardless of parking lots/lawns/whatever (almost like ugly parkour lol). a 'good' run for me has my legs and lungs/heart all feeling pretty worked; if i just do "medium" pace, i can do many miles while talking to somebody and i don't really lose breath (i've brought heartrate down over 20pts since beginning like 5mo ago). alternatively, i can make myself gasp for air if i go full-on sprinting for 1/4mi, i mean i can bring myself to dizziness w/ only a quarter mile!!!)
 
it took a couple weeks for me to get to the point where my legs, not lungs, were failing first
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I guess you and I are different. Whether I'm running slow or hauling ass, my legs feel no fatigue until I've run at least 8 miles--and even then it's only slight. My breathing is a different story.

Maybe it's because I smoked Lucky Strikes for so many years. Or maybe it was football (squatting heavy and pushing that sled every day). Anyway after running for years now ~40 miles a week, I still get short of breath as soon as I accelerate significantly, but the legs are always good. And running the tempo 5Ks doesn't improve my time, but increasing my running length always seems to shave minutes off the time.

I'd much rather run fast than run long though!
 
Well shit I am sorry that happened to you, bmxxx.

23536, I am a mouth breather when I run. My nose gets so stuffed up from allergies. I imagine I would be more efficient brather if I could use my nose. I smoked for years too. I still hack and spit while running. My breathing is first to go not my legs.

bmxxx said:
what're your thoughts on overtraining, PI?.
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I have none. I just do it. My first trail 10K I ran the course twice over a 4 month period before the race. I started trail running 7 months prior to my first race. I had never run before.

This year I am doing my first trail 10 mile race then half marathon a couple months later. I ran over 10 miles a couple times this year. I feel that is enough "training" for me to compete and challenge myself.
 
Perpetual Indulgence said:
23536, I am a mouth breather when I run. My nose gets so stuffed up from allergies. I imagine I would be more efficient breather if I could use my nose. I smoked for years too. I still hack and spit while running. My breathing is first to go not my legs.
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Me too! I try to use my nose for inhalation, but I become short of breath and begin gasping within 15 seconds. I wonder what the effect of bypassing the nose and nasopharynx is. The nose does a lot of filtering, so I hope I'm not filling my lungs up with sediment.

I also wonder how much permanent damage was done to my alveoli by ten years of smoking. I thought, since I have good stamina, that most or all the damage was reversed. But this Friday I accidentally inhaled chlorine gas (used as a chemical weapon in WWI) and my lungs hurt like shit for 2 days, but I was still able to run 6 miles with no problem. So then, if my lungs compensated for the chlorine damage, maybe they've also compensated for the smoking damage, and maybe there is scar tissue in my lungs after all.
 
I fucking love the feeling after a good run, just ran 3.5 miles. However, it's so much harder for me than weight training. When I lift, I don't get tired/exhausted till at least 40 minutes in.

Running, I start off and after it feels like it's been an hour and i'm pouring sweat and heaving, I look down at my watch and it's been ten minutes:X
 
CHiLD-0F-THE-BEAT said:
Ergh, I don't really dig transitions.. to the point where I just couldn't bear to wear them. :\
And STH, I have an astigmatism. I can't wear contacts as I have chronically dry eyes, and they irritate the bejesus out of them.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'm sure I'll find a solution eventually. :)
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They now make contacts for astigmatism. My right eye is -2.00, no astigmatism, and my left eye is -4.00 with 0.75 astigmatism. Like PI I can't stand to run with anything on me, and glasses just drive me crazy. When I run out of contacts I'll run blind rather than wear glasses. Like you I have chronically dry eyes, but the new contacts for astigmatism and new water-rich types in general are heaps better than contacts used to be. I still can't wear them daily/as a substitute off my glasses, but I wear them just for working out. I use the daily contacts, usually 2-4 hours a day, for 3 days, then open new packets.

These are the contacts I use: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B004G6WGOC/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

23536 said:
I guess you and I are different. Whether I'm running slow or hauling ass, my legs feel no fatigue until I've run at least 8 miles--and even then it's only slight. My breathing is a different story.

Maybe it's because I smoked Lucky Strikes for so many years. Or maybe it was football (squatting heavy and pushing that sled every day). Anyway after running for years now ~40 miles a week, I still get short of breath as soon as I accelerate significantly, but the legs are always good. And running the tempo 5Ks doesn't improve my time, but increasing my running length always seems to shave minutes off the time.
Click to expand...

I'm like you & PI. My lungs/heart are always what limit me, never my legs. I've never smoked, but I have environmental allergies and I produce ridiculous amounts of phlegm when I run. In winter it's so bad I run out of clothing to absorb my never ending snot. I'm primarily a mouth breather though I think I use my nose as much as I can. I can't run with my mouth closed, though. Back to the legs vs lungs, I've never had my legs tire, though the longest distance I've run is 12 miles. Even when I regularly ran distances over 10mi, I never felt like my legs were exhausted. Heat, dehydration, and injury are my biggest obstacles.

When I get back into running after a lengthy period of inactivity, the first 1-2 months of running, increasing my distance does increase my speed. But then I just plateau unless I have a faster running partner or something else to push me, like speed workouts (which I hate). At any point once I'm reasonably fit, a single speed workout will noticeably increase my speed. I don't generally care much about speed though...I haven't pushed myself since I ran competitively in high school. I do think about racing again; maybe one day.
 
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Anyone here ever get a ton of mucous/drainage going down the back of their throat while running? It gets so bad for me I end up gagging sometimes and have to stop and try to relax... really sucks.

On another note, I ran in Vibrams for 2 years then switched to Altra Instinct and now Im on the Instinct 1.5's. Best shoes Ive ever run in. Loved Vibrams but hated having to constantly roll out my calves. My lactic acid would kill me if I didnt.
 
Never the throat for me.

I pulled my left groin March 2nd during a 10K trail race. I made excellent time even after falling on mile 5. I only push myself when I race. I am my biggest competitor. Fairnymph, RACE!

Worst pain ever for 5 days. I am not walking fluidly yet and stairs are slow so I can't run. Retardly, I was thinking that I would still trail race this Saturday but I was sitting down at the time. I ran on the spot...eff that. It hurts. I need to wait to fully heal so I can have more years of running. I didn't realize how much I liked trail running until it was taken away from me.
 
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