i made the change!! huge milestone for me!!

i am still high on the endorphins.

Saturday morning, 6:00 am, put on my running shoes and i ran 8 miles!! 10 min mile pace so it wasnt anything special speed-wise. but i did it non-stop (except for the occasional red-light street crossings). i have never EVER jogged so far in my life. the ability just crept up on me. i run 2.5 off road trail miles 5 days a week. last saturday, i ran 6 miles and felt okay. so i set a goal for this Sat..8 miles.

it's been a 3-4 year transformation to bow-hunt more efficiently. i didnt really care about my weight. i was 233..Saturday, i weighed myself. 186lbs.

crazy! my wife loves it. (weird part: i still think i look fat. therapy time )

i'll be 49 in July. i am running 10 miles on my birthday. goal is set.

Congrats dude! You should follow my health plan and buy knives as rewards for getting back in shape :doublethumbsup:

Congrats! That's awesome!
I've been running for a while on the treadmill. I can get up to around 5 miles. I'm pretty discouraged though as I continue to have leg issues. I thought I was all healed up and ran about a mile on a local trail. The next day I could barely walk! My Dr said I sprained my MCL. I guess all the years of standing in the kitchen have actually taken a toll on my legs, especially my knees.
It just sucks to get all gung-ho and excited, only to be crippled later.
I hope to get back to it soon.

Congrats! I tried to start jogging last year, but my knees did not want to cooperate (we are in very similar boats, knifeknerd) - maybe this year it will be better.

thanks guys.

just so you know, at the beginning i couldnt run either. my ankles and knees were in competition to see which one would put me on the couch more often.

my doctor suggested that i ride a bike. i took my piggy bank and bought a cyclocross bike. Surly Cross-check. i rode that poor thing every single day. 11 miles or so. with one huge long hillclimb. i remember at first, i would crawl up that road. i never had to stop, but the...no correction, i used to have to stop. after awhile, my ankles and knees got better and i trimmed down enough that my chassis wasnt pounded to death.

now i still ride that bike on days my knees feel sore. one unexpected benefit: my ankles are so much stronger now since i started trail running. i used to sprain them and be in pain for a month. now, i still strain them, but the pain last a couple of days.

Bike climbing up steep hills get a granny gear. Less strain on your knees. For us older folks walking up steep hills is good no pounding and it will get your heart going. If you don't have hills go to gym with one of those incline things.

I have to get back into swimming, can't take the sun anymore have to start swimming before sunset. So out of shape since I quit that and beer could stand to lose some weight.

boomchakabowwow said:

thanks guys.

just so you know, at the beginning i couldnt run either. my ankles and knees were in competition to see which one would put me on the couch more often.

my doctor suggested that i ride a bike. i took my piggy bank and bought a cyclocross bike. Surly Cross-check. i rode that poor thing every single day. 11 miles or so. with one huge long hillclimb. i remember at first, i would crawl up that road. i never had to stop, but the...no correction, i used to have to stop. after awhile, my ankles and knees got better and i trimmed down enough that my chassis wasnt pounded to death.

now i still ride that bike on days my knees feel sore. one unexpected benefit: my ankles are so much stronger now since i started trail running. i used to sprain them and be in pain for a month. now, i still strain them, but the pain last a couple of days.

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Holy cow grats on the weight loss! Like keith said maybe start swimming so you don't wear our your joints.

Admirable, congratulations. I cannot seem to get my act together to go out and move more. It's embarrassing how out of shape I am, I would need to start really low. I'll just try and take you as an inspiration...

Stefan

Matus said:

Congrats! I tried to start jogging last year, but my knees did not want to cooperate (we are in very similar boats, knifeknerd) - maybe this year it will be better.

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My left knee has been bothering me for a while now, can't run more than 20 minutes unless I run on soft surface. As weird as it sounds, I tried the Vibram Five Fingers shoes after reading someone's story and they worked wonders for me. They look funny, and you gotta start VERY slowly, but you get back to that "natural" fun way of running. You train muscles you never knew you had. I only run 15-20 minutes in them, and use regular shoes for longer runs, but it helped so much. Knee fine, better running form... Everything

Congrats Boom! That's great to hear!

From my experience - A challenge many people face when they start running/jogging is they feel it's necessary to run much too fast and too far. The body is so exhausted that one runs only a couple of times a week. It's most beneficial to run consistently 5-6 days a week. It sounds like boomchaka is doing it right. :doublethumbsup:
If you're just starting and out of shape start with 5-10 minutes a day and go SLOW. A higher cadence is also beneficial to the body so you're not taking long, cumbersome, jarring strides.

Haburn said:

Congrats Boom! That's great to hear!

From my experience - A challenge many people face when they start running/jogging is they feel it's necessary to run much too fast and too far. The body is so exhausted that one runs only a couple of times a week. It's most beneficial to run consistently 5-6 days a week. It sounds like boomchaka is doing it right. :doublethumbsup:
If you're just starting and out of shape start with 5-10 minutes a day and go SLOW. A higher cadence is also beneficial to the body so you're not taking long, cumbersome, jarring strides.

Click to expand...

thanks.

i adopted a mantra. "never walk it"..(it's a rough draft of a mantra). what i mean is that no matter what i am doing..riding a mountain bike..or trail running. i dont walk. if i have to stop, i stop. catch my breath whatever. then i continue. no pushing my bike up hills, no walking parts of the trail. my goals were simple. minimize my "stops" every outing. i still cant cleanly run my trail circuit. it is brutal. with current 100 deg temps, it is a tough workout. todays run was better. till the hottie with the yoga shorts smoked me up a hill. whatever..it was a vision worth being behind her my usual daily trail runs are 2.10 miles. very challenging since it is almost all uphill. pretty quick tho...about 20-25 minutes and i am back and a sweaty mess.

my dad told me, "slow and steady wins the race".

trail running fixed my knees and ankles. they are rarely sore. i think the uneveness of the trails keep me from repetitive steps that pound the joints.

Congrats, Boom! I think you're doing it sensibly.

Last year I started running with 5 min stretches . And I didn't really run either . I just continued and now I do 5 km every other day in less than half an hour. Still not really fast, but a good workout a couple of times a week.