Aquajock or Cheetahs or anyone/? overtraining vs lazy

C

cocob1

Cathlete
I just started running again 4 weeks ago. I stopped last July when it got too darn hot outside. I've just been doing Cathe's monthly rotations using the step for my workouts until April 20th. I had minor laser surgery April 18th. (General anesthetic) took pain meds for 3 days and then just took Advil until swelling and pain stopped. Pain meds made me nauseous. I started doing workouts 3 days after surgery and doing slow 1 min walk one min run for 3 miles.
Anyway I've been doing Cathe's April then May rotation and I now can run 3 miles without stopping. May's rotation has been Heavy Weight work.
I feel so tired I could just crawl. Is heavy weights plus running too hard for my 54 year old body? Should I do Circut workouts or Total Body on alternate running days instead of HW? When I run I do shake things up. One day steady and slow, one day fast for a few minutes with one min. recovery walk etc and I do weights on alternate days along with core/abs and stretches.
I was going to add hill work in June.
What would you recommend for a rotation?
I have been just struggling for the past few days with no energy and I've missed yesterdays workout and may miss today because I'm so tired.
Thanks for any input.
Colleen
(Hi Aqua Jock. I live near Lake Harriet. That is the lake I run.)
 
Hi, Cocob1 and thanks for the shout-out! I can understand your love of running when you live near Lake Harriet - on a day like today, the lake is about the only place you can think of being.

IMHO, it is very easy to overdo the running. I might catch a bit of flak for this, but I think running is overrated as a mode of cardio training, although it certainly has its place. I do NOT think it's a 54-year-old thing that you're feeling so fatigued. I don't know what May's rotation entails (I'll check it out soon, and come back with some suggestions if I feel qualified to do so), but I think your instincts are sound: heavy weights AND running to the exclusion of all other forms of cardio have probably produced overtraining fatigue.

As I mentioned above, I'll check out the May rotation (which is on its last day, natch) and make some suggestions. However, here's something to ponder:

Continue the heavy weight schedule, and each week only do one cardio session that incorporates running. On the other cardio days, do Cathe workouts that involve low-impact step or lower-impact cardio:

Low Impact Circuit cardio and blast step segments;

4-Day Split Low-Intensity Step (if you need longer duration, do the step segment after the warm-up a second time);

Low Max

Kick Punch Crunch

4-Day Split Kickbox

CTX Kickbox workout

One thing that's nice about the low-impact step routines is that Cathe incorporates movements that entail you going lower and deeper into the entire leg, which recruits the thigh muscles much more meaningfully than running does. (Don't get me wrong; I'm not dissing running but I think its training benefits are more limited than I prefer.) Give that some thought, and in the meantime I'll check out the May rotation and hopefully have some more suggestions.

Great to talk with another Twin Citian! I used to live in the Uptown area, and walked Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles.

Okay, I'm in Plymouth, and we are being strafed with baseball-sized hail right now. GOTTA GO!

A-Jock
 
Cocob1, I just checked the June rotation that Cathe put up today, and I can see that she really incorporates varied-impact cardio workouts amidst the continued heavy-weight training. I suggest that you do June's rotation strictly as listed; if you don't have the suggested DVDs substitute another DVD rather than substitute another run.

Thanks again for thinking of me! Let me know how you get on!

A-Jock
 
I hope you are not in the line of the storms. We got pounded with tons of hail. My new plants are full of holes.
I'm going to take your advice on the rotation. I don't feel good with the hard core running and weights. I'm going back to my indoor workouts and sprinkle in running.
I want to keep the running up for times when I travel with the family this summer so I can get a strong workout in on the road.
Whoops. Here come more storms.
More later.
Colleen:(
 
RE: Aquajock or Cheetahs or anyone/? overtraining vs la...

Colleen,

Your mileage really isn't that high, so I would be inclined to think it's not the running itself. Perhaps it is the combination of heavy lifting. Other factors could be allergies, an oncoming cold, diet, stress, or a reaction to medicine. Maybe it's simply time for a recovery week. Or add a rest day (or a second) to your week.

If you enjoy running, I would try a circuit rotation next and maintain the running to see if there's a difference in how you're feeling. Consider structuring the rotation so that you're not running on consecutive days. Or if the running just isn't that important for you, scale back to 1 day a week. If you don't enjoy it or crave it or you're not training for a race, then there is no need to limit yourself to just running.

Take care! :)

[font face="bradley hand itc" size=+2]~Cathy[/font]

http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee296/runninteach/exercise/th_SnowBunny_tns.jpg
http://img16.glitterfy.com/53/glitterfy084824T933D37.gif

"Do you want to feel my spatula?" Run, Fat Boy, Run
 
Hi Colleen-

Just want to jump on here and say "hi" from another neighbor. I love the Lake Harriet area. One of my favorite places since moving to MN. I'm up in Hugo-north of White Bear Lake (yea, we were in the path of the tornado last Sunday).

Joanne
 
Cathy, I always feel so GUILTY when I take an extra rest day off and I never take a rest week. I look at Cathe's rotations and I just plow through them. Month after month. I sometimes wish Cathe would put rest weeks on her rotations. I'm so afraid if I stop exercising I'll never start again. It's such a fine line between good habits and compulsion.
After taking two days off I feel like exercising again. I don't feel like my veins are filled with glue and that my body was run over by a truck. Weird. Maybe it was the weather?
I ordered STS and I'll be very interested in seeing how that effects me since it will be a very controlled rotation with lots of information to record.Especially doing the rep max (which I still don't know how to do).It sounds like extra work but I'm willing to do it for 3 months so I can become more knowledgeable about my workouts.
Joanne,last Sundays tornado was so awful and so sad. Were yesterdays storms deja vu all over again? I think we're in for a bumpy summer. I hope you and Aquajock are both ok today. my yards a mess and I haven't seen hail like that ever.
I moved to MN 16 years ago to marry my husband and we always wanted to live by Lake Harriet. It's our vacation and summer cabin substitute and it is so pretty year round. Being two blocks from the lake is why I feel I should use it for some of my workouts.
Thanks so much Aquajock, Cathy and Joanne for giving me moral support and very good advice for me to consider. Whoops. I'm getting lazy again. I think I'll sit down and have a cup of tea before doing Slow & Heavy legs and Shoulder.
Have a wonderful Sunday.
Colleen:D
 
RE: Aquajock or Cheetahs or anyone/? overtraining vs la...

Don't mean to hijack this thread but wanted to shout out to my MN neighbors!

Joanne-I'm not very far from you. I'm in north Maplewood near the Maplewood Mall. I hope you didn't have any damage from the Hugo tornado. It was just terrible;( So sad for the family that lost their little boy and all the destruction.

Hope everyone gets outside to enjoy the beautiful day!

JJ
 
RE: Aquajock or Cheetahs or anyone/? overtraining vs la...

Jo-Jo: good to cyber-hear from you, girlfriend! I hope the clean-up for you and DH isn't too grotesque. Our thoughts are with you and your neighbors who got so trashed by last week's twister.

NinjaMom and Cocob1 as well: is today not the greatest gift? Our area didn't get too whalloped by last night's excitement, although it did take the hailstones a couple of hours to melt down. Today is 80-degrees (ABOVE ZERO) and sunny! YIPPEEE!!! Cocob1, if DH and I were ever to contemplate moving into Minneapolis proper, the lakes area would be the only place. I've always drooled over the architecture of the houses along Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles, knowing I'd have to have Oprah's bank account to afford one of them.

A-Jock
 
RE: Aquajock or Cheetahs or anyone/? overtraining vs la...

Hi JJ. Wow. I didn't realize how many of us were here in Minnesota.
Can we meet for coffee sometime soon? Or wine?
That would be so neat.
Off to blow debris off of my roof.
How are your gardens? My hostas look like swiss cheese.
Enjoy your days. It is glorious.
Colleen
 
RE: Aquajock or Cheetahs or anyone/? overtraining vs la...

I am glad Cathy made these comments, I totally agree with her. I would highlight something else, rather than the running as causing the tiredness per se. Runners don't really need heavy weights. It is this that I would change. You would be better off with lighter to moderate weights for your resistance training. For runners also, a whole lot of other cardio methods is also not necessary. One day of alternative method cardio per week is great, but don't forget that your resistance training is your cross training and it will also help support your running. The weight training will strengthen legs, glutes, hips, help protect joints and prevent injury that very high impact cardio can incur.

As far as running not being an excellent cardiovascular exercise?!?!?!?! Beg to differ. It's one of the best and it will help keep your skeleton strong. Certainly, as a current post mentions, doing the cardio of BC, followed by the cardio of BC and the leg exercises of BC, and the cardio and leg and upper body exercises of BC, followed by who knows what, makes very little sense to me. Hey, whatever floats your boat. The body needs a certain amount of cardiovascular exercise, but after a certain point, this kind of repetition begs for injury.

As Cathy says, it all depends on what your driving motivation is: do you want to run and welcome the challenges and achievements other than cardiovascular fitness that it offers, or do you just want cardiovascular fitness? If it is just the fitness that you want, then by all means, play around with different cardio types, but if you really want to be a runner and get better at it, and enjoy the benefits it provides, then running is your main form of cardio. Three runs per week is all you need.

STS should be a good complement to running: a variety of approaches, differing weight loads and only 3 hours per week.

Also, do not discount age. It is a folly to think that your body will react and recover at age 40+ in the same way as it did when you were twenty. It is not possible. I'm not saying "give up and give in to the aging process." No way. I am fighting hard myself and will continue to demand a lot of my body in pursuing fitness. But, the body takes longer to recover as we age, and an extra rest day built into the fitness week not only makes sense but makes working out more enjoyable because then you are not always struggling to find that energy you feel you should have and that you used to have.

Clare
 
RE: Aquajock or Cheetahs or anyone/? overtraining vs la...

Clare,
I missed your post. I'm sorry not to have given you a thankyou as well.
I'm going to run this week and do the weight rotation Cathe has up for June and if I'm too tired again I'll try lighter weights or do Circuts and see how June goes. It is fun to be outside and see the beauty of nature while running. Now how I'll feel when it's below zero in winter is another matter.
I love getting different perspectives from all of you because you are all great dedicated exercisers with lots to offer.I appreciate all of your opinions very much.
Colleen
 
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