Running Advice Needed

[GIJane05]

Hello Everyone,

I am in need of running advice! I just started running. And it didn't go so well. I am trying to condition myself for the Marine Corps boot camp. I have to run 3 miles in boot camp, I have 31 minutes, but 21 minutes is perfect. That means I have to get a 7 minute mile. And I have to be able to run 1.5 miles in 15 minutes to start training. If anyone has any advice or suggestions please reply! Thank you all!

Take Care and God Bless
Poolee Mirela

 

[Greenriser]

Great. The right shoes make a difference.

 

[sandman]

How long before boot camp?

 

[GIJane05]

I leave on August 15th.

Poolee Mirela

 

[fallen^sparrow]

Don't get flustered worrying about numbers/paces/times at this stage. Start slow with a mixture of alternating walking/easy jogging/walking repeats. Jog easy till you feel yourself fatiguing and then walk till you recover... and then jog again etc. I would start with 15 - 35 minutes sessions for the first week and a half and allow your body ample time to adapt. Running places considerable stresses on your ligament/musculature so be sure you stretch well before hand... do a warmup involving walking and gradually picking up the pace... and naturally a good cool down and more stretching after. Running is all about listening to the cues your body is sending you... give it a couple weeks and you'll be jogging steady... and several more and you'll be ready to start "giddy^ups!" Make sure you get out every day though, even if its only for 10 minutes.

fallen^sparrow

 

[GIJane05]

Thank you so much for the advice!

 

[ed_m]

yup... whats he said

build up slowly or you'll just get injured.

 

[SeRapH&CheRi]

Don't get flustered worrying about numbers/paces/times at this stage. Start slow with a mixture of alternating walking/easy jogging/walking repeats. Jog easy till you feel yourself fatiguing and then walk till you recover... and then jog again etc. I would start with 15 - 35 minutes sessions for the first week and a half and allow your body ample time to adapt. Running places considerable stresses on your ligament/musculature so be sure you stretch well before hand... do a warmup involving walking and gradually picking up the pace... and naturally a good cool down and more stretching after. Running is all about listening to the cues your body is sending you... give it a couple weeks and you'll be jogging steady... and several more and you'll be ready to start "giddy^ups!" Make sure you get out every day though, even if its only for 10 minutes.

fallen^sparrow

Took the words right out of my mouth. What fallen^sparrow said.

 

[MrsGnomeCrusher]

Congrats, Poolee. You're wise to condition before going in. Do not just concentrate on your running, but dead hang and sit-ups. When's your ship date? I started out with one mile runs and then some sprints. What's your run time now? I went in thinking I wouldn't even compare to the rest of the women, but was quite shocked at some of the women who didn't do anything before enlisting. Let us know how much time you have until you ship and what's your approximate run time now?

 

[GIJane05]

Hello

And thank you for your replies. I ship out August 15. I have about 17 weeks until bootcamp. I am not a good runner at all, I am very slow, my mile time is about 9:30. Which is very slow. My hang is around a minute, which is pretty good, and my situps are 76 in two minutes. I can always improve in that area, but running is difficult for me. Thank you again.

Poolee Mirela

 

[fitmom]

Don't get flustered worrying about numbers/paces/times at this stage. Start slow with a mixture of alternating walking/easy jogging/walking repeats. Jog easy till you feel yourself fatiguing and then walk till you recover... and then jog again etc. I would start with 15 - 35 minutes sessions for the first week and a half and allow your body ample time to adapt. Running places considerable stresses on your ligament/musculature so be sure you stretch well before hand... do a warmup involving walking and gradually picking up the pace... and naturally a good cool down and more stretching after. Running is all about listening to the cues your body is sending you... give it a couple weeks and you'll be jogging steady... and several more and you'll be ready to start "giddy^ups!" Make sure you get out every day though, even if its only for 10 minutes.

fallen^sparrow

Also, get a swiss ball and ad a basic core program!
As the saying goes "Get in shape to run, don't run to get in shape!"
Grooviness to all of you! J

 

[We wanna see]

Hi, well i'm not an expert but i'm a keen runner and do it most days. The best advice i can give is take it slowly. Whatever you do remember to use your whole foot on the ground (i realise how stupid this sounds but its not). When I started out I got shin splints which now unfortunately will be with me for the rest of my days. Not a clue exactly what they are but they hurt A LOT!!! I would say run for ten minutes 3 times a week or more if u can, keep the same time each day, then every week add ten minutes.
Hope this helps.

 

[MrsGnomeCrusher]

I'm not sure if they still do this, but during boot, they divided everyone up in sqadability groups based on your run time. So you'd be running with a bunch of girls who had a similar run time that you do. Now that doesn't mean they won't push you and you will still have your formation runs with everyone. If they still do this, I wouldn't stress too much about it, but you should still be out there training. You want to try to get yourself in the best condition you can. The more your body is used to the work, you most likely will be less prone to injury. You still have a couple of months, but you may want to search the internet for a running/traning schedule that's focused on recruit training. I know I found a few of those back in '98 so I'm sure there's a bunch out there now. If you're dedicated, you can build your indurance and knock some time off of your run.

 

[D-Lisch]

This is all great advice. And don't get too worried about the small things. I've found that any improvement is a good one so focus on improving even if it's by tiny increments and you'll do fine.

 

[GIJane05]

I agree it is all great advice. Thank you everyone for the advice!

 

[zoink]

This is all for if you want to be sub 21, if just passing is your goal then you probably should be able to do 10 min. miles already.

Shoes. Do not skimp on this. Brooks Adrenaline is my personnel favorite but will set you back close to $100 dollars. You can find it at more specialized running stores, along with other upper end shoes. They are good for about 500 miles.

If you need something cheaper I have looked at the Asics Gel Koji, Saucony grid spy tornado (I think), and the Saucony grid stabilizer. The Gel Koji has the most similar features to a hundred dollar support shoe. All three can be found for around 50 dollars (Big 5 on sale).

I will describe a good support shoe.

It will comfortable from the moment you put it on. It should not bend at the arch at all. Many have a hard plate underneath the insole or plastic support around the arch. The bend point of the shoe should be right around the ball of your foot.

I do know people who can run in anything but there are very few of them

Start slow, but do not be afraid to press yourself, especial after you get a few weeks under your belt. If you feel shin splints coming, ice. If you really want to get serious (and sub 21 is fairly serious) soak your lower body in 50 degree water for 10-15 minutes after each run. This will reduce muscle soreness dramatically. If shin splints get worse do a no impact workout for a week or so: Aqua jog, elliptical, or bike, preferable in that order.

Also if you have the cash I would suggest Endurox. It is a supplement used by many college runners. Accompany that with the ice baths and pain goes byebye.

Seven minute miles are not that hard to do, especially if you can get running 30-40 miles a week... I do know girls who can reach that plain only doing 20.

There are many good workout plans on the internet. I would suggest varying your workouts.

This is what I would do… so you may want to tone it down a little, I really do not know what a girls body can take. This plan is for someone who already put some decent miles on there legs. The heart rates are estimates so do not take them as gospel.

Distance day. Work up to 50-70 min. Heart rate: 140-160.

Speed day (100-1500 meter repeats). Heart rate: 170-190. Worm up and cool down 10-15 min before hand.

A tempo (coaches all the intensity “comfortably hard”) work out where you maintain heart rate: 170 for 20-30 minutes. Worm up and cool down for 10-15 minutes.

One or two medium days 35-50 minutes. Heart rate: 140-160.

That is about five days worth of work outs, competitive runners usually throw in a race for one day. Run till you puke. Heart rate: right below heart attack.

Stretching has never been a big deal for me, but the best times is after a worm up and stretch a lot after the work out.

“Whatever you do remember to use your whole foot on the ground (i realise how stupid this sounds but its not).”

I might have to take issue with this if you can run without letting your heal touch the ground more power to you. If you run behind as many good distance runners (sub 19 girls and sub 16 guys 5k) as I have you will see that most of them do not let their heal touch the ground.

All of this is just my humble opinion.

Some links:
Shoes:
Brooks
Saucony
Asics
New Balance

Endurox

People smarter then me, and may tell you completally different things then what I have said:
www.letsrun.com

Sincerely,
zoink

 

[GIJane05]

Thank you so much Zoink. Greatly appreciated!

 

[dews]

Check out www.stewsmith.com . It is primariy for people who want to join the armed forces. It has a free running program and starts you off slowly. His books are also good.

 

[SDSUMarcus01]

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