My personal committment and my questions about running and push ups...

banslug

banslug

Cathlete
Ladies-

First, I have bitten the bullet and signed up for a marathon for the first weekend in January 2006. I've been playing around with the idea for a long time, but wanted to do something to raise money for The Leukemia Society. I just picked up the phone yesterday, called, got the info, and signed up. The race is in DISNEY WORLD!!! I can't believe I am actually doing this. And not only doing this personal accomplishment, but also raising money for an excellent cause. (FYI...for those that don't know, DH passed away last September 25th from leukemia at the age of 32, so this cause really hits home for me.)

Question 1...where is the happy medium between training for a marathon and lifting weights. I surely don't want to give up on the weights. Can I or should I lift lower body at all while training, or will all the training runs take care of leg work?

Question 2...How often should you do push ups? Is every day okay? Every other day? I've been keeping them isolated to just my upper body weight days. Currently, I can do about 85 on my toes (in a few sets, of course), before I completely fatigue.

Thanks for letting me share and thanks for any insight you can shed on these for me!

Gayle
 
RE: My personal committment and my questions about runn...

Gayle

I am sorry about DH. How great to run for this cause.

I just ran my first half marathon in June and I am running another in September.

During the first training for my first race, I really concentrated on running and didn't do much weight work at all. Some upper body but not much.
For this second race I have added weight lifting for my upper body with no problem.
I had tried to add Legs and Glutes to my training, but found it too much. My legs were like 1000##s when I was trying to run. So I cut that out till the race is over.
I am running much better and after the race I will go back to adding lower body work.
I really didn't run much before all this race training so I'm just figuring it out as I go.
As they say...listen to your body; it will tell you what it needs.. :7

Good Luck!!!!

Michelle
 
Hi Gayle!

I don't have any answers for you, but I just wanted to say how sorry I am about the loss of your DH.

Good luck with your training and with the marathon.

Tammy
 
Gayle,

So sorry to hear about your husband. That's so very sad! I can't imagine what that must have been like for you.

I trained for and ran a marathon with Team In Training. It's a great organization. The race I ran in raised $10 million dollars for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

I would say keep up the upper body work for sure. The stronger you are and the more endurance you have the better.

As far as lower body work goes I didn't do any for my first marathon because I was afraid I'd over do it. I hadn't run longer than a 10K when I started training so I felt somewhat out of my element.

I am currently training for a marathon to be run October 1st and I'm doing freestyle weigth work for my lower body 4 to 5 times a week and working my core and upper body hard and heavy. The strength training is really paying off. I've been able to maintain between a 9 and 9 1/2 minute mile on all of my long runs. I've been doing some speed work and tempo runs too but lifting weights has made my entire body stronger for the long haul.

Have fun and good luck!!

:) :) :)
 
Gayle, I am runninng my first EVER half marathon in two weeks, September 4th, along the Manhattan Island in New York city, where I live, it is 14.8 miles, and it is been very intense, I used to do 5k runs and 5 mile runs, but I decided to do this for my own self acomplishment, I have been doing many many long runs, probably ten miles 3 times a week but that is all I did, my legs were tired sometimes so I rested 2 days, so finally I decided to go 14 miles on my own, as a training log, and it took me 3 hours!!!!! since I was just training alone, I felt so.... so lonely, on mile number 11 I hit the wall, my body shut off completely, I felt all my organs asking for a break, so I did a little walking and then I decided to keep going, when I got home, I took a shower and dropped in bed, for 4 hours my eyes couldn't opened, and my whole body was pulsing, after those 4 hours I opened my eyes and decide to eat something, I wasnt hungry at all, so the next 2 days I didnt do much, but ate like a horse!!!! it was out of my control, that was my experience, I was shocked and amazed how some women can do the IRONMAN, but now I am good, and I am back in my little fast runnnings, and just doing that, not spending energy in anything else, till the day of the event, since I know I may hit the wall, but the good news is I am not going to be lonely, and some friends and family are going to be there for me along the course, yeppeeee, this is my own experience, I think eating carbs and proper food for the run it is very important, and rest as much as you can, and just leave other workouts after your event, focus on running in a pace you are super confortable and keep it that way for long periods of time, a marathon is not a race, that is the good news just find your confort zone for your legs and heart.

Norma

http://www.geocities.com/norma123nyc/Mygreatjourney.html

http://www.lifetimetv.com/reallife/df/success/chavez.html
 
I'm so sorry about your husband. What a terrible loss.

As far as doing lower body work, I think people vary a lot as far as what they can handle. It rarely bothers me, but other people have to limit doing lower body work and/or use light weights. I find that doing lower body work consistently keeps my endurance level up.

Push-ups - I do them every other day to give my upper body a chance to rest. One of the most important things I do for running is working my core regularly - I find that a strong core is sooo important for running distances. Well, that used to be what I did - I'm an injured runner now and am not running at all.

I'm not an expert, though - maybe you could go to a running forum and ask more questions.

Good luck! Make sure you keep us updated on your progress and marathon!

Erica
 
Gayle...I am sorry about your DH...What am awesome commitment you have made! And for such a good reason. Running a marathon will be like nothing you have ever done before. I have always remember the many special people I have met in my marathons.

I have lifted weights since my late teens. Ran for about 20 years with some time off due to an injury. I also believe like Elaine weights for your upper body are good. Your upper body also fatigues in the last miles of a marathon so it is good to have strength there. As far as lower...well I always seemed to stick to every body part 3 times a week for most of my marathons. Cutting back lower the last few weeks before the marathon. But you do need to experiment to find what works. I wouldn't do push-ups everyday (85 is great!!). You will need alot of time for the training. If you have lifted for some time you won't have a problem continuing during your training. Just listen to your body.

Also check out the websites for great running forums with info..:

www.runnersworld.com
www.coolrunning.com

Hope this helps...:)..Carole
 
I just wanted to say YAY! Congrats!!! I'm also training for the Lasalle Chicago Marathon on Oct. 9th.

I'd love to run the Disney World one someday. That is sooo cool!!

I've been doing mainly low weight/hi rep weight workouts during training. That's what they recommend.

I'm so sorry to hear about your DH.

Good luck and please keep us posted.

:)
 
Thanks so much, ladies, for all the input. I keep going back and forth between committing for the half marathon or the full. I figure GO FOR IT! The Society has been very supportive and encourages run-walking whenever needed.

I have NEVER been a runner. I have always been an athlete on team sports, so this individual running 'thing' is all new to me. I got some great advice from here, and from the Team In Training coach so far, and I guess I'll jsut try things out as I go.

THANKS SO VERY MUCH!

Gayle
 
RE: My personal committment and my questions about runn...

Hi Gayle!

It was great to meet you at the Road Trip. I'm so sorry about your DH. I didn't realize you had suffered such a terrible loss last year.

I've been running and doing Cathe workouts together for quite a few years. I've run a bunch of half marathons, and I'm currently training for my first full marathon in November. Like the others said, I think it's really important to keep doing strength training for your core and upper body. Having a strong core and upper body will help you a ton when running long distances, since the upper body also fatigues. I'm not doing very many lower body workouts right now. Between running and the Cathe cardio workouts, my legs are usually getting a good workout. I usually do 2 upper body workouts a week (GS, PUB, Pure strength, CTX, etc) and then one full body workout a week (ME, MM, PH). I usually do my strength training on days I don't run, but sometimes I do them the same day.

You will find you are better prepared for running than you think. Cathe's workouts are fantastic for increasing your endurance and strength, so you are already well on your way to being ready to start training for a marathon. Cathe workouts complement running very well.

Good luck with the training!

Sherry :)
 
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