Advice From Educated Crowd

[jillybean]

I cannot use my workout room for a week. I can continue to do Cathe's weight tapes in the basement but the ceiling is too low for cardio so I was going to run/jog. What is a speed/distance that is comparable to a Cathe step tape? Any suggestions are welcomed here. Thank you!

 

[Sonnenschein]

I don't know that anyone could give you numbers on this one. Part of the problem is that since running uses different muscles, or uses them differently, than step does, your body may have to work harder cardio-wise than you might expect just to keep putting one foot in front of the other.(I'm assuming here that you don't already run as a normal part of your cardio). I was thinking at first that I would just recommend that you take the time you would spend on a Cathe step tape (average seems to be about 7-9 min. warm-up, 40-47 min main cardio, 7-9 min cooldown), walk briskly for the warm-up and cooldown times and walk/jog/run at whatever pace feels like the same percieved rate of exertion you would use with Cathe for the same amount of time she uses for the main cardio. But then I realized that going that long if you're new to running would be to set yourself up for injury. So I guess my wishy-washy advice is to walk a lot, run a little, and know that you're not going to lose your conditining from just a week without step. --Karen

 

[sancho]

Another thing you might consider is to use a heartrate monitor for the week. I use mine all the time just to get a feel for how hard I'm working when I try something new.

 

[Stargazer]

If you haven't run before, be careful how far you go at first. You will no doubt be able to handle the cardio but the different muscles you use (and one book I read said the fascia) will feel the strain. I know that when I picked up running again after a few years off I went to far the first time and I could barely walk the next day and was extremely sore for two more days. To give you an idea, I had previously run 3 miles in 30 minutes. When I picked it up again I ran about 2 miles at the same pace.

Start conservative and work up. Oh and please get a good pair of running shoes.
-joy

 

[nancy324]

I really believe in heartrate monitors for cardio workouts. Can't imagine cardio without one. How would you know if you were working hard enough or too hard? As long as you're in your target zone, it doesn't matter what your speed is! And the distance doesn't matter as long as you're in your target zone for the time period you've decided upon.