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[Bobby Isosceles]

I'm getting slower. Why am I getting slower?

One of two reasons:

1. You are pushing yourself too hard.
2. You are not pushing yourself enough.

Due to the mutually contradictory options, diagnosing this can be rather bothersome. Remember the following rules of thumb:

1. The body adapts to whatever stimulus it experiences the most of. If you work it harder, it gets harder. Consequently if you let yourself lapse, it will revert to a softer state.
2. Joints and tendons and fascia and other soft tissue take much longer to adapt than muscle and bone.
3. Your muscles and bones will not grow/adapt unless you eat enough protein and rest.

What is your routine?

[KeithHernandez]

Okay, this is as simple as I can say it and running is the only thing I've ever been decent at- stop making excuses- you've said you aren't making excuses as you are making excuses here in the last two pages- no pollen, no period, no bullshit.  Second- dont worry about how fast you are going, why you aren't going longer, etc.  What you do is you say, okay, I am going to run Monday Wednesday and Friday (whatever your schedule is) and on those days you run the best you can.  You do it to the point that you know you have done your best and you can be proud of what you've done and you won't need to make excuses and you will run faster eventually.  

No one is there with you, no one is watching you, no one is timing you, maybe, MAYBE, two people outside of yourself actually give a fuck about your running, so you do this for yourself.  If you are confident you've done your best you will not have to ask questions on message boards, if you are not then it won't matter what the answers are, you will never improve.

[jay-ell]

Wow, between the two of you, I would not expect Bobby to be the one with helpful advice, and Keith to be the one that makes me want to throw my laptop out the fuck*ng window.

Bobby, my routine is to run every other day unless some scheduling weirdness prevents it. So generally I do Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Monday etc. Sometimes I have to take two days in between because there is nobody to watch my kids, but I have been guarding my running time pretty closely and, like, scheduling it ahead of time and stuff. I've run at least 3x/wk for 7 weeks and I've been very consistent about it, but because of scheduling I can't run at the same time every day or whatever.

Does that tell you anything? I can't go into any more detail ATM because some friends just arrived to play games.

[side_show]

JL, when I was in top form and running 3-5 days a week, I would normally see a clear decrease in my stamina on runs the day before/of the start of menstruation. 

I just came here to whine.  I really miss running.  Probably as much as I miss white wine and pasta.  Not quite as much as I miss sushi.  I am vaguely terrified as to how badly out of shape I'm becoming due to having no choice but to be sedentary.  On Friday I was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection.  At that moment, I had more things wrong with my body at the same time as I ever have ever.   Regular breathing sounds like a tiny rusty hinged door is creaking inside me. Coughing fits make the baby kick.  Sigh.  There are a bunch of other things wrong with me, all pregnancy induced.  I'm getting sick of all the things I'm told will "likely go away at delivery" and especially at women who respond "oh, I loooooved being pregnant" but baby is growing fine despite my deteriorating state.  In two weeks we step it up to weekly ultrasounds, weekly visits to the endocrinologist... I'm already on weekly visits with the obstetrician.  If I make it out of this pregnancy alive that will be a proof of a strength as great as anything I've accomplished.  So I'll use that as fuel to become an even better warrior I guess.  Considering the huge ding this has taken out of me physically, it's going to be hard for me to be patient about getting back into form though.  I'm looking forward to lots of nice stroller hikes to start with.

[KeithHernandez]

I'm being nicer to you because I am giving you the only advice you ever need.  If you follow my advice you will get faster and probably stop worrying about getting faster.

[Choop]

whatever, simon cowell

[AugustWest]

whatever, simon LE cowell

FTFY

[pmcd9]

Maybe she's just getting old and her body is starting to fail her.

[Arachno-capitalist]

yeah I mean if she can't even keep up a regular jogging schedule, she's probably just getting old. That's why senior living communities have nice walking paths with lots of benches that don't stray too far from the housing units. Oh well, you had a good run while you could, ma'am.

[jay-ell]

I love that Keith is saying exactly what I said last week and is getting shit on instead of me.

Stay solid, former Met.

::DAP::

(seriously JL, we all hit lulls, just keep running. Your body will figure out you are not fuck*ng around and get with the program. Improvement is not a smooth upward plane, it'll be full of lurches and plateaus. just keep running)

I actually said to Pedro last night, "If Ash had said what Keith is saying, I'd be like, "Oh, that's Ash." But coming from Keith, it's like...fuck, dude. All that weed should be making you more mellow."

I'm not giving up, even if Paul is right and I'm just getting old and falling apart. I mean, the whole point of this is to die young and leave a beautiful corpse, right?

I'm not trying to whine or make excuses. But I keep posting here because, to be perfectly frank, I was not an athlete in the least during the time in my life where I would have had coaches and mentors available to tell me basic things about exercise, so I don't actually know shit about dick when it comes to whipping my lazy ass into shape. I am not trying to be a whiner. I just never learned to tell the difference between "pushing yourself to get stronger" and "pushing yourself so hard you cause injury" and since I can't afford a personal trainer I figure people who have run this course already can probably help me with that.

Is all.

[KeithHernandez]

Sorry, I am really into running, it has changed my life so much and I am just trying to help.  These are the things I said and say to myself to get to where I am.  I have been getting more and more ash like, at least in my personal opinions (just do stuff, basically, don't let things get in your way-whatever it is that you judge yourself by, our politics are still crazy different I'm sure.)

Seriously though, my advice is just to make yourself proud of what you are doing (like, really really proud) and you will enjoy it more, enjoy your life more, etc...  It is easy to tell when you have done enough because you will feel great about yourself.  The only time you have an injury to worry about is when you literally like can't walk or something.  I've tried to run while injured a lot.  It is also easy to tell when you are injured and not hurt or sore or whatever- you will just know.  Pay attention to your body, you will have like a breakthrough type thing (it isn't a "high"- it isn't that pronounced) that is good.  Pay attention to your body, you absolutely cannot run even though your mind is determined to- that is bad, that is an injury.  Make sure that your mind isn't controlling your body- that should get easier to do the more you like running, which should come with running for pride.

I wasn't trying to call you a whiner, that is not what I was thinking or trying to say, but the things that you say completely conflict with what my advice is, so you do have to stop doing that (well, you don't, but that is my advice.)  Seriously, do it to make yourself proud and you will eventually love doing it and all of your other issues will fall away- you will know when enough is enough, when you are hurt, how you are doing, etc.  On the other hand, maybe I just had something in me that makes me love running and you could never take my advice because it just won't work for you.  In that case I would try other cardio things, swimming, biking, whatever, and maybe you love that one and can get to the place I am telling you about with one of those activities.  But seriously, I urge you, just try to follow the second paragraph of this post for a few months, then maybe you will understand how I am not being an asshole.  Oh, also, I was not athletic either, was an alcoholic coke and pot head for like 6 years.  I have smoked cigarettes and weed everyday for 13 years now.  You can do this.

[wombat]

Personally I would rather poke myself in the eye with a pointed stick than run, but I thought Keith's original post was good advice for almost anything you might want to do.

[Bobby Isosceles]

Wow, between the two of you, I would not expect Bobby to be the one with helpful advice, and Keith to be the one that makes me want to throw my laptop out the fuck*ng window.

Bobby, my routine is to run every other day unless some scheduling weirdness prevents it. So generally I do Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Monday etc. Sometimes I have to take two days in between because there is nobody to watch my kids, but I have been guarding my running time pretty closely and, like, scheduling it ahead of time and stuff. I've run at least 3x/wk for 7 weeks and I've been very consistent about it, but because of scheduling I can't run at the same time every day or whatever.

Does that tell you anything? I can't go into any more detail ATM because some friends just arrived to play games.

Unless you've overstrained your tendons or knee joints, this should be sufficient rest between runs.

1. Eat more protein. Aim for 1 g/lb of body weight. Yes, that's a lot. Deal with it.

2. Improve your posterior chain explosiveness. I am dead fuck*ng serious about this, so much so that I'm passing a prime opportunity to make a fart joke here. Improve the power (vice strength) of your glutes, hams and quads. This means accessory work, to include:
  a. Glute-ham raises
  b. Squats
  c. Deadlifts
  d. Power Cleans, if you can find a way to do them conveniently
  e. Plyometric versions of the above, where safe and applicable

For your size and strength, this isn't going to require a barbell (though those are rather nice and I recommend them), you can do this with dumbbells. The goal here is to improve your muscle fiber recruitment rate. So lift heavy, and aim for an explosive movement.

3. Get a weighted vest (TKO makes a nice one) and load it to no more than 10% of your bodyweight (and work up to that). Interval running/wind sprints/suicides/whatever.

4. Without going overboard, you might want to look into a creatine supplement pre-run, combined with the above. You're not trying to get swole, but it will provide more sustained energy for your sprints.


The overall goal of all of this is threefold:

1. Improve CNS recruitment of muscle fibers for increased power (work over time).
2. Improve circulatory ability to handle spikes in BP and vascular whatever
3. Strengthen accessory muscles around joints and tendons to help defray some of the shock that would fatigue them

Finally, I'd look into your gait. I may have discussed this before, but if you can master a mid-foot strike (like folks in trainers, minimal shoes, or those vibram monkeyfeet things naturally do) then you will be able to take advantage of the Achilles tendon rebound and get a little more oomph per footfall. This should help with your time as well, but the majority of speed originates in the posterior chain and HIP DRAAAAHVE.

[jay-ell]

I have trouble getting enough protein. I will look for ways to get more of it in my life. I also definitely do not get enough sleep, but that's been a chronic problem for years and there is very little I can do about it without quitting my job.

I do not have a lot of time to lift. It is hard enough to find time to run in the first place. That said, my training program has squats/lifts/etc built in to help with building muscle, and I try to do heel lifts and half squats at random times, like while I'm talking on the phone with my mother or standing around at work with no customers in the store.

As for the weighted vest and supplements, my gut reaction is "I am trying to get healthier, not built" but I will look into it.

I actually did try minimal shoes when I first started running last year, and while I was a crapton faster (wicked fast on sprints, for a white girl anyway) it tore the hell out of my ankles and shins. To the point where I had to stop running altogether for a couple of weeks, it was vicious. Learning how to land on my heels took a little effort and it slowed me down, but it's easier on my joints and I can sustain a sprint much longer at a less intense speed. Since my goal is to run a 5K this year, not to hit a certain pace, being able to sustain a run longer is an improvement.

Today's a run day, we'll see how it goes.

[jay-ell]

You can add me to your "street team" on Runkeeper if you're keen to spy.