New here (Read 144 times)

 

Okay, you're about as crazy as it gets. (I say that affectionately) Let me ask because this is a huge factor; Did you  train legs and back also? Mainly Squats and Deadlifts. I am damn sure I could run 4x/wk if legs were not trained. If you did, did you see a reduction in one facet of your training?

This was back in the day (over 20 years ago), so I could do things back then that I can't do now.  About 3 hours per day in the gym.  2x per week for chest & tri / 2 x bi, lats, & shoulder / 2 x legs (press, squats, dead lifts, leg curls - not all in one workout).  Yes, I ran even after leg workouts too.  It sucked. I didn't see any reduction in training, because everything had a purpose (in theory at least).  I wanted the greatest strength-to-weight ratio that I could get which also meant staying as light as possible, hence the running.  I was about 148 lbs (about the same as I weigh now, but I'm only running now).  Could bench 225 x 5.  Can't recall the squats and dead lifts, but in the 275 - 315 range.  OTOH - I can do things now running-wise that I could never have done back then.

Back to you.  Running is a very different exercise than lifting (which you've observed by saying a lot of folks you lift with couldn't run a mile without stopping).  So it requires a different approach.  But to put it in lifting terms (not sure how analogous this is), you don't want to "max out" every time you run, like you're not maxing every time you bench press or squat, etc.  Lifting, you go lighter, more reps, change things up.  Similar to running.  Slow down, go hard every now an then, but change it up.  Don't go all out every time.  With running, you're engaging different muscle fibers - slow twitch - and want the effort to be aerobic.  Versus lifting, it's fast-twitch muscle fibers and anaerobic.  There's too much physiological science that goes into this that I'm not qualified to explain, and it would take too long anyway.

In any case, I agree with most of what the other posters have said.  But having said that, if you're just trying to build and maintain aerobic fitness and can fit 3 or 4 runs of 3-4 miles per week, then I'd say run them as you wish.  Fast, slow, both, since running is secondary to lifting.  If it were your primary focus, then I'd have a completely different opinion on what I would recommend you do.   Good luck!

Update:

Yesterdays workout was like this

Squats: 5 sets of 6 reps

Leg Presses: 4 sets of 12 reps

Leg Extensions: 3 sets of 10 reps

Standing Calves: 5 sets of 10 reps

Seated Calves: 1 set of 20 reps

It maybe hard for some of you to understand but this takes about 2 1/2 hr. to complete

Walk 1.0 mile

Jog 2.25 miles

Walk 1.0 mile

My run time was 10:00 min/ml. That's is down from 10:15 min./ml at a shorter distance. And considering the workload 15 min. before the cardio, I'm very positive I can get to my goal.

BTW, I shortened my stride and stopped the bobbing up and down. Too much wasted energy. Thanks for the advice on that one.

I had not intended to post again but I find the topic fascinating. I like contradictions and the very idea of a bodybuilder training for a 5 k race is an anomaly. As you said most of your fellow body builders could not run a full mile and it is great that you are not afraid to be different. I know that you can get some cardio benefits from weightlifting, particularly if you go from one exercise to another without pause, however, and I may be biased, but I think running is one of the top exercises for improved overall heath because it requires a sustained cardio effort. The body makes adaptations;  your heart gets stronger, the blood's oxygen carrying capacity increases, improved circulation, more efficient energy production, better endurance and many other benefits. It does not take much and I think you are already experiencing improvements since your pace has improved and hopefully easier. I'm  glad that the shorter strides with less bobbing has helped. After reading Fredford66's advice I had to look up my own cadence on my last big race, a marathon I did last October. My Garmin device provides graphs of data and it showed I was mostly doing between 180 and 185 steps per minute with an average .9 m stride length. My pace was about 9:40 for most of the race, but I did do two miles at 9:13 early in the race. Unfortunately I could not maintain the pace for the whole distance and just had to slow down by mile 21 giving me an overall average pace of 10:14. The pace I want to be at for a Boston Qualifier would be like a 9:20 and I think I need to do more speedwork to attain that.

As far as being an older athlete, when you are young it is not difficult to remain in shape, even if you are hardly doing anything. As you get older you really have to work on it. I start to gain belly weight and feel like an old slug whenever I stop running and I want to continue running as long as I can. I may not be able to keep up with the college age runners, but looking at how fast the elite runners my age go I know there is lots of room for me to improve.

I would be interested if you could recommend a book on free weight training. I am an "old school" type and really don't want to go to a gym to use all those specialized machines. Bear in mind that right now I may not have much time for strength training, but I may try some bench presses and see how weak I have gotten. I used to do more upperbody work and did develop bigger arm muscles, but nothing to compare to a bodybuilder! By the way, it was a weightlifter who talked me into doing my first race! He was a stocky truckdriver where I worked at the time and he did train to run a half marathon. This was 1993 and I was just getting into running and had perhaps done 6 miles at the most so I was not sure if I could finish a half with only a few weeks left to train. He said to try and I could just walk to finish if I could not run the whole thing. I did manage to barely finish and my legs were shaking after I crossed the finish line. He did give some weight training advice. I did curls with the hand weights and my elbows started to hurt and he suggested turning my wrists as I did them. One other book I would be interested in finding if you know it's name. While waiting for tires to be put on my car I started reading about a bodybuider. He said started training to look more intimidating because a homeless person kept hitting him up for money. At first it was the gay people who helped him showing him how to go through the machines, but eventually the regular body builders took notice and introduced him into weightlifting. It was interesting how hard he worked at it, even developing an obscure muscle that most lifter did not bother with because it was so hard to develop. One lifter had him punch him in the nose and breaking it just to get up the adrenaline to do one more rep with a heavy weight. He  eventually moved to the west coast and I got no further than that because my tires were done. Read about half the book, I am a fast reader, but did not get up to the part where he got into competition. Anyway, it was a fascinating read and I would like to finish it.

 My diet is painfully mundane; the same damn stuff day in and day out for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack. The only thing that differs is my supper and that still needs to meet my macro requirements. Ball park macros are : 200 g protein, 400 g carbs and 100 g fat. Somewhere around 3,300 cals.

 

Thanks for the insights.  My meals are far from consistent and I suspect my downfall is home-made dinners.  I don't really ask my wife what she puts in them and if she's on a roll and making really tasty stuff for several nights in a row, then I'm doomed.  But I'm not complaining about the meals.