Yet another running question:

[elsie3]

My goal is to lose overall body fat and to decrease the size of my legs. I'm 5'2" with a Gin Miller build--but obviously not as lean. My legs are short and muscular.

I've been concentrating on building my endurance because I didn't run all winter. Since spring, I've been running 1 day a week and have built my time up to 1 hour 36 minutes (steady-state run). I'm not sure of my mileage, because I've been running on a path and can't track it in my car. The area where I moved is very flat--no hills whatsoever. I do not have a treadmill.

My question is this: Should I increase my time spent running (per session), or should I run for less time and concentrate on getting faster? I'm not training for a race or anything. I find it difficult to fit more than one run per week into my rotation. I also find it very difficult to do running intervals--I guess I need Cathe to motivate me. But I have been doing one interval workout per week.

Thanks for any advice,

 

[amyg]

Try doing both: one week, focus on an endurance run and increase the time by maybe 10% or so. The next week, go for interval runs or a shorter run but go at a faster pace.

That said, if you're running for 96 minutes at a time, I'd focus more on running faster so that you can change something to shock your body. Try running for 45 minutes instead, but at a pace at least 1min/mile faster.

You can also google "gmap pedometer" and switch to satellite view over the area you run, if you're curious how far you go.

There are itread and cardio coach mp3 audio workouts you can run to-- I think it is ITrain that has outdoor running interval workouts that might be perfect for you! Check them out at probably Itrain.com and I think the outdoor running ones (in the treadmill area of the website) are titled "outdoor".

 

[mrsmel]

Well, I'm not a fan of hour+ work outs, so a lot of times when I go running, I do the HIIT from the Body for Life book. Using a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being sitting on the couch and 10 going all out, do this:

2 minutes at level 5
1 minute at level 6
1 minute at level 7
1 minute at level 8
1 minute at level 9
1 minute at level 6
1 minute at level 7
1 minute at level 8
1 minute at level 9
1 minute at level 6
1 minute at level 7
1 minute at level 8
1 minute at level 9
1 minute at level 6
1 minute at level 7
1 minute at level 8
1 minute at level 9
1 minute at level 10
1 minute at level 5

It's only 20 minutes, but if you fit that into your schedule once a week, I guarantee you'll get faster. That's what I would concentrate on.

anne

 

[janie1234]

My goal is to lose overall body fat and to decrease the size of my legs. I'm 5'2" with a Gin Miller build--but obviously not as lean. My legs are short and muscular.

I've been concentrating on building my endurance because I didn't run all winter. Since spring, I've been running 1 day a week and have built my time up to 1 hour 36 minutes (steady-state run). I'm not sure of my mileage, because I've been running on a path and can't track it in my car. The area where I moved is very flat--no hills whatsoever. I do not have a treadmill.

My question is this: Should I increase my time spent running (per session), or should I run for less time and concentrate on getting faster? I'm not training for a race or anything. I find it difficult to fit more than one run per week into my rotation. I also find it very difficult to do running intervals--I guess I need Cathe to motivate me. But I have been doing one interval workout per week.

Thanks for any advice,

My legs are short and muscular too. I'm 5 feet tall I'm so jealous of your extra 2". I call them my man legs because my calves are bigger than my husbands. Holy moly 1 and 1/2 hours of running. That is a long time. My longest runs are 1 hour and 15 minutes (usually 6-8 miles). What has worked for me is a clean diet running 3 days a week and either butts and gutts or gym style legs once a week. Also to train me for my longer runs Imax 2 and Drill Max REALLY helped me out. I don't know why or the science behind it but it just has. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/ this is the website for tracking you mileage that the previous poster mentioned. I use it all the time. I have a garmin but my wrists are tiny and the garmin is pretty big but if you are able to run for that long a time frame I'd say your endurance sounds pretty darn good to me.

 

[andtckrtoo]

Running is an interesting sport. It's very hard on the body, but the way to help you run longer and/or faster is actually to add more runs. Keep your long run and just do what you're doing. Then during the week add another run or 2 (I think 3 days a week is really ideal for running - running one long run sounds like a great way to injure yourself, to me - others may disagree). During one of those shorter runs, do speed work (which can be run as hard as you can for a minute, then walk a minute - or go to a school and run a lap of the track fast, then take a lap slower - the idea is to run faster for short periods - over time you will run faster over all and actually be stronger). Once you're comfortable with the additional running, then start increasing you time on your long run - but by no more than 10% a week. I would actually recommend no more than 10% every other week.

 

[elsie3]

Wow! You guys are so helpful. I had no idea about the g-map pedometer. I'll check that out right now. And I will force myself to do some intervals.

I ran into my neighbor at Wal-Mart this morning. She saw me while biking on the trail I was running. She informed me that there was more to the trail (what looks like the end really isn't). She says there are some hills in the next section.

Helpful people make life so much better! Thanks everyone.

 

[lala1]

You´ve gotten great advice. Here´s my .02:
mapmyrun.com
is a site where you can sattelite your area and track how long your run is. It probably works just like the site that others are recommending. Another site is:
http://www.runningmap.com/

 

[elsie3]

Are there any mapping sites that will go cross-country? I tried the g-map-pedometer one, but it will only map where there are streets. I can see the trail I run on the sattelite view, but I can't map it. And the map is outdated because it doesn't have streets where there are now streets--so when I try to plot my street route to the trail, it has me going around another way because there isn't a through-street shown.

Thanks for your input.

 

[JeanneMarie]

We live in a very rural area with several streets that haven't been paved all that long (new subdivision roads) and the runningmap.com site that lala posted is the best one as far as being up to date!

Thanks for the link!!