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A year ago, I started running a mile five days a week, and have slowly moved up distance and pace. I'm doing weight and resistance training as well and cut out

A year ago, I started running a mile five days a week, and have slowly moved up distance and pace. I'm doing weight and resistance training as well and cut out most sugar and carbs, going high protein. The result has been transformational. Resting heart rate is at 60, blood pressure down, my clothes don't fit me anymore, and best of all, I feel better and can concentrate more. I wish I knew this in my teens. It's like a cheat code.

kirtakat 1y ago
Man - I knew this in my teens - I just didn't DO it.
bovermyer 1y ago
I started "running" a mile a week ago. I use quotes because I walk the first couple blocks to warm up and walk the last several blocks to cool down, and the entire route is just over a mile. On day 1, I jogged for a couple blocks at a time, walking for rest in between. I definitely walked more than I jogged. This morning, I jogged more than I walked, and almost jogged the entire distance between warm up and cool down. I haven't decided yet if I will then move to doing a second lap or if I will instead work on speed. Either way, the daily habit has been surprisingly enjoyable, even if I'm very out of shape. The progress is addicting.
- singlow 1y ago
  I was here about a year ago. Getting close to doing 5k 4 times a week, but the last 2k are more walk than run. I'm definitely more interested in getting endurance over speed, but both improve pretty steadily at this point. I guess once I'm doing 5k without walking I'll try to just increase pace. Pretty amazing how much better my quality of life is since exercising seriously for the first time in my late 40s.
- ch4s3 1y ago
  The cool thing about running and lifting weights is that you see a lot of progress early on. The path to a sub 30 minute 5k is all about getting out the door and consistently running a little more. Pretty much everyone who starts weight lifting has a moment a few months in where they go to lift a random household object and are shocked by how light it feels.
- nlarew 1y ago
  If you have the time I recommend working on distance first. Running farther is great for fat loss & cardio training and speed only really matters if you're trying to be competitive in races or have to squeeze your run into a confined time slot. I also find that adding distance makes it easier to improve time. If I can only run 1 mile, it's pretty hard to run that same mile but faster. BUT if I can run 3 miles, it's a bit easier to run 1/3 of my normal distance but focusing on pushing the pace.
  - igouy 1y ago
    We can try 10 yards faster and then repeat. As-long-as we gradually increase our effort. Somedays walk, somedays jog, somedays shorter, somedays longer — it's all good.
- 2c0m 1y ago
  I was you like 3-4 months ago. Part walking, part running. It was a tough start and I was extremely sore during many runs! Keep it up though. All of a sudden it all sort of comes together. I just ran 9 miles straight last week! I was shocked and so excited.
- BizarroLand 1y ago
  Don't push yourself too hard, especially if you are out of shape. I did the same thing but kept pushing harder because my muscles could keep up and I wanted to build up cardio endurance, but I didn't take into account my bones. Shin splints are no joke and will sideline you for months without warning. It takes several months for your leg bones to build up the compressive strength to deal with continuous high impact running. Even if your endurance can take it, take your time. Slow and steady wins the race.
  - bovermyer 1y ago
    As a result of your comment, I went looking into advice for beginning runners. This led me to understand heart rate zones and other related concepts. I've now dialed my efforts way back, since apparently I was pushing way too hard and didn't even realize it. Thank you!
    - igouy 1y ago
      (I did read your other comment.) Continue doing the walk / jog that you found "surprisingly enjoyable". Continue doing jog instead of walk when that feels OK to you, and walk or stop whenever you feel like it. Continue for a month. Long enough to learn what your body feels like with that regular exercise. Learn to distinguish routine tiredness from something doesn't feel right. Let how your body feels be your guide. Also, progress will be smoother if you also try to level-up with exercises designed to prepare for running. The best approach I've come across is "Running Rewired" by Jay Dicharry. I was lucky enough to stumble across it in the local library. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Running_Rewired/epZUDwAAQBAJ https://www.google.com/books/edition/Running_Rewired/epZUDwA...
      - bovermyer 1y ago
        Thanks for the tips, and yeah, I'll check out that book!
noman-land 1y ago
The cheat code isn't knowing it'll make you feel better. The cheat code is convincing yourself to suffer through it.
- Neywiny 1y ago
  Every day it gets a bit easier. But that's the key. You have to do it every day. - weird monkey from Bojack Horseman, paraphrased through my memory
  - vrosas 1y ago
    I loved that scene too, but something I wish I knew before I started my running/fitness journey is that, every day it does NOT get easier. You are going to have bad days. I remember running 3 miles and feeling great, and then trying the same run a few days later and feeling like crap - gassed myself half a mile in and either couldn't finish or finished at half the pace. I would get frustrated, wonder if I was even making progress, etc. In reality your progress is going to look like a stock price. Some up days, some down days, some very up and some VERY down days (or weeks or months) but over time the line WILL go up and to the right. I once apologized to my fitness instructor that I half-assed his workout that day. He just shrugged and said, "Eh, not every day's Christmas." I think about that a lot now. But yes, going out for a shitty run still counts as a run, and you have to frame your mind around how big of a success that was. You make the most progress on the days you have to fight the hardest and the days you break some speed or distance PR, the gains are minimal at best and destructive at worst. Happy running everybody.
    - scubbo 1y ago
      It's a classic "annoyingly-misleading wise-sounding statement", because there's an interpretation - which I think is the intended one - which _is_ correct; "every day [that you do it] it gets easier [than it would have been, ceteris paribus, if you hadn't done it that day]". So, on that down day where you get what feels like a bad result, you still got a better result ("it was easier") than if you _hadn't_ have trained the day before. Your environmental factors were pulling you down, but your accumulated training counteracted that. Your bad days are better than they would otherwise have been. But that's not as snappy for a cartoon monkey to say.
taeric 1y ago
It is amusingly frustrating to finally learn this. Trying to convince my kids of it, and they don't believe me. At all. Spouse is also dubious. Remarks that spending 20 minutes on a treadmill or out walking is actually somewhat hard to do. Not wrong, but it only gets easier if you do it. And then it starts to get a lot easier.
- misha599 1y ago
  Try convincing them with incline walking - feels less daunting than running and has helped me get going! And now as it's gotten easier I'm starting to feel a natural running bug to up my intensity.
  - taeric 1y ago
    Alas, I'm trying to convince them to put down whatever other distraction they have. That is a predictably difficult thing to surmount.
bityard 1y ago
Alright, so I'm open to ideas here. My problem is getting bored while running. When I'm in a good routine, I run on my treadmill indoors. (I can't currently run outdoors for reasons I don't want to get into at the moment.) However, after a few weeks, especially if work/family life is getting stressful, I tend to stop running just because I want to work on something more mentally stimulating and tangibly productive with my extremely limited free time. I have tried: - Movies/TV Shows: I'm hit-or-miss when it comes to enjoying these. The ones I don't care for are boring to watch. The ones I like, I tend to get engrossed in them and pay more attention to the screen than my workout and end up phoning it in. Plus I'm not sure there are enough of these that I can watch one or half one one every single day. (Bonus: I don't watch anything with ads.) - Music: I don't like most pop music, and the music that I DO like, I try not to listen to every day because I'll get sick of it that way and then I won't have any music to listen to when I want to listen to music. I can deal with high-energy EDM but 99% of it is not great, especially when binge-listening. Also I get tired of staring at a blank wall and so have tried finding live EDM performances to watch on YouTube. This is a lot of work and so far has worked okay but not perfect. - Podcasts: There are a LOT of podcasts that I want to catch up on, but half the time I want to stop and take notes because the advice or information being given sounds really useful or seems worth following up on. Maybe there are comedy podcasts out there that I wouldn't hate? - Audiobooks: I love reading but I have a hard time getting into audiobooks. Same issue with podcasts, I often want to stop and research topics and that would take me away from the treadmill.
- toolslive 1y ago
  I - load chess problems (look at a diagram before getting out the door) and try to solve it while running. Sometimes, I solve it the first 5min, sometimes I get frustrated because it turns out to be too difficult. - practice polyrhythms. you have a dominant cadence while running, now impose others on top of it.
- Sxubas 1y ago
  Try biking. I can't run due to a hip issue and it has been very fun for me.
  - 1y ago
DwnVoteHoneyPot 1y ago
Just to clarify, you only run 1 mile per day? You're seeing fitness gains from 1 mile? I'm not judging, that's 1 mile more than I do now. I'm just wondering if that's a useful technique vs. running longer a few times a week. I'm guessing it useful to get you in the habit. Also, lower risk of injury. I guess i can just try it myself, it's only 1 mile.
- itslennysfault 1y ago
  I'm not a doctor or any kind of expert, but I think consistency is pretty much always the best. A lot of people get stuck in a weird mindset of "it's only a mile why bother" ... but even just going for a walk every day is infinitely better than doing nothing. From my own experience, after 2020 threw me into a bit of a depression I gained a bunch of weight for the first time in my life. I decided I was going to "workout every day" but gave myself a ton of grace about what the definition of "workout" meant. If it was bed time and I hadn't done anything yet I'd just do a couple sets of pushups to "check the box" and go to sleep. I tried to do as much as I could every day, but still gave myself a pat on the back as long as I did ANYTHING that I could call a "workout" ... I lost the weight shockingly quickly and felt a lot better even though most days I was only working out for 10-20 minutes.
- elijaht 1y ago
  > I started running a mile five days a week, and have slowly moved up distance and pace Presumably more than a mile a day now

kirtakat 1y ago

Man - I knew this in my teens - I just didn't DO it.

bovermyer 1y ago

I started "running" a mile a week ago. I use quotes because I walk the first couple blocks to warm up and walk the last several blocks to cool down, and the entire route is just over a mile. On day 1, I jogged for a couple blocks at a time, walking for rest in between. I definitely walked more than I jogged. This morning, I jogged more than I walked, and almost jogged the entire distance between warm up and cool down. I haven't decided yet if I will then move to doing a second lap or if I will instead work on speed. Either way, the daily habit has been surprisingly enjoyable, even if I'm very out of shape. The progress is addicting.

singlow 1y ago
I was here about a year ago. Getting close to doing 5k 4 times a week, but the last 2k are more walk than run. I'm definitely more interested in getting endurance over speed, but both improve pretty steadily at this point. I guess once I'm doing 5k without walking I'll try to just increase pace. Pretty amazing how much better my quality of life is since exercising seriously for the first time in my late 40s.
ch4s3 1y ago
The cool thing about running and lifting weights is that you see a lot of progress early on. The path to a sub 30 minute 5k is all about getting out the door and consistently running a little more. Pretty much everyone who starts weight lifting has a moment a few months in where they go to lift a random household object and are shocked by how light it feels.
nlarew 1y ago
If you have the time I recommend working on distance first. Running farther is great for fat loss & cardio training and speed only really matters if you're trying to be competitive in races or have to squeeze your run into a confined time slot. I also find that adding distance makes it easier to improve time. If I can only run 1 mile, it's pretty hard to run that same mile but faster. BUT if I can run 3 miles, it's a bit easier to run 1/3 of my normal distance but focusing on pushing the pace.
- igouy 1y ago
  We can try 10 yards faster and then repeat. As-long-as we gradually increase our effort. Somedays walk, somedays jog, somedays shorter, somedays longer — it's all good.
2c0m 1y ago
I was you like 3-4 months ago. Part walking, part running. It was a tough start and I was extremely sore during many runs! Keep it up though. All of a sudden it all sort of comes together. I just ran 9 miles straight last week! I was shocked and so excited.
BizarroLand 1y ago
Don't push yourself too hard, especially if you are out of shape. I did the same thing but kept pushing harder because my muscles could keep up and I wanted to build up cardio endurance, but I didn't take into account my bones. Shin splints are no joke and will sideline you for months without warning. It takes several months for your leg bones to build up the compressive strength to deal with continuous high impact running. Even if your endurance can take it, take your time. Slow and steady wins the race.
- bovermyer 1y ago
  As a result of your comment, I went looking into advice for beginning runners. This led me to understand heart rate zones and other related concepts. I've now dialed my efforts way back, since apparently I was pushing way too hard and didn't even realize it. Thank you!
  - igouy 1y ago
    (I did read your other comment.) Continue doing the walk / jog that you found "surprisingly enjoyable". Continue doing jog instead of walk when that feels OK to you, and walk or stop whenever you feel like it. Continue for a month. Long enough to learn what your body feels like with that regular exercise. Learn to distinguish routine tiredness from something doesn't feel right. Let how your body feels be your guide. Also, progress will be smoother if you also try to level-up with exercises designed to prepare for running. The best approach I've come across is "Running Rewired" by Jay Dicharry. I was lucky enough to stumble across it in the local library. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Running_Rewired/epZUDwAAQBAJ https://www.google.com/books/edition/Running_Rewired/epZUDwA...
    - bovermyer 1y ago
      Thanks for the tips, and yeah, I'll check out that book!

noman-land 1y ago

The cheat code isn't knowing it'll make you feel better. The cheat code is convincing yourself to suffer through it.

Neywiny 1y ago
Every day it gets a bit easier. But that's the key. You have to do it every day. - weird monkey from Bojack Horseman, paraphrased through my memory
- vrosas 1y ago
  I loved that scene too, but something I wish I knew before I started my running/fitness journey is that, every day it does NOT get easier. You are going to have bad days. I remember running 3 miles and feeling great, and then trying the same run a few days later and feeling like crap - gassed myself half a mile in and either couldn't finish or finished at half the pace. I would get frustrated, wonder if I was even making progress, etc. In reality your progress is going to look like a stock price. Some up days, some down days, some very up and some VERY down days (or weeks or months) but over time the line WILL go up and to the right. I once apologized to my fitness instructor that I half-assed his workout that day. He just shrugged and said, "Eh, not every day's Christmas." I think about that a lot now. But yes, going out for a shitty run still counts as a run, and you have to frame your mind around how big of a success that was. You make the most progress on the days you have to fight the hardest and the days you break some speed or distance PR, the gains are minimal at best and destructive at worst. Happy running everybody.
  - scubbo 1y ago
    It's a classic "annoyingly-misleading wise-sounding statement", because there's an interpretation - which I think is the intended one - which _is_ correct; "every day [that you do it] it gets easier [than it would have been, ceteris paribus, if you hadn't done it that day]". So, on that down day where you get what feels like a bad result, you still got a better result ("it was easier") than if you _hadn't_ have trained the day before. Your environmental factors were pulling you down, but your accumulated training counteracted that. Your bad days are better than they would otherwise have been. But that's not as snappy for a cartoon monkey to say.

taeric 1y ago

It is amusingly frustrating to finally learn this. Trying to convince my kids of it, and they don't believe me. At all. Spouse is also dubious. Remarks that spending 20 minutes on a treadmill or out walking is actually somewhat hard to do. Not wrong, but it only gets easier if you do it. And then it starts to get a lot easier.

misha599 1y ago
Try convincing them with incline walking - feels less daunting than running and has helped me get going! And now as it's gotten easier I'm starting to feel a natural running bug to up my intensity.
- taeric 1y ago
  Alas, I'm trying to convince them to put down whatever other distraction they have. That is a predictably difficult thing to surmount.

bityard 1y ago

Alright, so I'm open to ideas here. My problem is getting bored while running. When I'm in a good routine, I run on my treadmill indoors. (I can't currently run outdoors for reasons I don't want to get into at the moment.) However, after a few weeks, especially if work/family life is getting stressful, I tend to stop running just because I want to work on something more mentally stimulating and tangibly productive with my extremely limited free time. I have tried: - Movies/TV Shows: I'm hit-or-miss when it comes to enjoying these. The ones I don't care for are boring to watch. The ones I like, I tend to get engrossed in them and pay more attention to the screen than my workout and end up phoning it in. Plus I'm not sure there are enough of these that I can watch one or half one one every single day. (Bonus: I don't watch anything with ads.) - Music: I don't like most pop music, and the music that I DO like, I try not to listen to every day because I'll get sick of it that way and then I won't have any music to listen to when I want to listen to music. I can deal with high-energy EDM but 99% of it is not great, especially when binge-listening. Also I get tired of staring at a blank wall and so have tried finding live EDM performances to watch on YouTube. This is a lot of work and so far has worked okay but not perfect. - Podcasts: There are a LOT of podcasts that I want to catch up on, but half the time I want to stop and take notes because the advice or information being given sounds really useful or seems worth following up on. Maybe there are comedy podcasts out there that I wouldn't hate? - Audiobooks: I love reading but I have a hard time getting into audiobooks. Same issue with podcasts, I often want to stop and research topics and that would take me away from the treadmill.

toolslive 1y ago
I - load chess problems (look at a diagram before getting out the door) and try to solve it while running. Sometimes, I solve it the first 5min, sometimes I get frustrated because it turns out to be too difficult. - practice polyrhythms. you have a dominant cadence while running, now impose others on top of it.
Sxubas 1y ago
Try biking. I can't run due to a hip issue and it has been very fun for me.
- 1y ago

DwnVoteHoneyPot 1y ago

Just to clarify, you only run 1 mile per day? You're seeing fitness gains from 1 mile? I'm not judging, that's 1 mile more than I do now. I'm just wondering if that's a useful technique vs. running longer a few times a week. I'm guessing it useful to get you in the habit. Also, lower risk of injury. I guess i can just try it myself, it's only 1 mile.

itslennysfault 1y ago
I'm not a doctor or any kind of expert, but I think consistency is pretty much always the best. A lot of people get stuck in a weird mindset of "it's only a mile why bother" ... but even just going for a walk every day is infinitely better than doing nothing. From my own experience, after 2020 threw me into a bit of a depression I gained a bunch of weight for the first time in my life. I decided I was going to "workout every day" but gave myself a ton of grace about what the definition of "workout" meant. If it was bed time and I hadn't done anything yet I'd just do a couple sets of pushups to "check the box" and go to sleep. I tried to do as much as I could every day, but still gave myself a pat on the back as long as I did ANYTHING that I could call a "workout" ... I lost the weight shockingly quickly and felt a lot better even though most days I was only working out for 10-20 minutes.
elijaht 1y ago
> I started running a mile five days a week, and have slowly moved up distance and pace Presumably more than a mile a day now