To the runners out there

[Bni]

As I said in my previous post I am at the beginning of a run/walk program, or a chug/walk as I affectionately call it. I would like to know from the runners if that was the way you started or did you just run until you got tired and then walked, gradually increasing the running. I am still pretty heavy for my height (5'3" and over 200lbs) and it seems to be more difficult if I try to hold myself to walking 5min and running 1min. If I just run/chug until I get tired it doesn't take me as long to recover and I seem to be running shorter but more often. What do you think? I would also like to know what is good to eat before and after a run. I LOVE to drink water so that is no problem but I don't usually take water with me on my walks. Should I?

Bni

 

[allyphoe]

Caveat: I don't consider myself to be a runner by any stretch of the imagination.

I started out walking, and when I kept getting the urge to jog, I finally went with it. For awhile, I did "walk when you want to, jog when you want to." And then I switched over to "jog when you want to, walk when you need to." Which is sort of where I still am, but I usually run out of convenient jogging time before I hit the "need to," in part because I don't go that fast. (I can jog 2 miles in ~23 minutes, and not fall down dead at the end. But I can walk 2 miles in ~29 minutes, and maintain a reasonable conversation at that pace.)

IMHO, one of the reasons the C25K type plans have you start off with mostly walking and very little running is that they assume you're starting off with no experience walking or running. I could walk 3 miles in 45 minutes and 6 miles in under 100 minutes before I started jogging, so I was mostly trading distance for speed. If you aren't already a good walker, you'll want to be careful about overdoing things and potentially hurting yourself.

I just eat whatever I'd normally eat, when I'd normally eat it, but FitDay says a mile at the speed I go and the weight I am only burns ~90 calories or so. No special food needed for a 200-calorie workout.

And because the distance isn't far, and I don't jog in the heat of the day, I don't carry water with me. I do keep a 32oz bottle of water in my car, and the path I jog on has numerous "shortcut" routes; I'm never more than about 1/4 mile from the car, if I really need a drink.

 

[Bni]

Thanks for your reply

I do walk quite a bit. At my job I am on my feet all day and I was typically walking two miles about four times a week at a 20 min mile pace. It took me a full hour to walk the 3k at the end of March. I was concentrating more on distance than speed at that time. Now doing this run/walk thing I am obviously going a little faster. However I am concerned about getting hurt because my job requires me to be on my feet and to move quickly. I wouldn't want to get sidelined by an injury because I'm doing too much too soon. I'm taking it easy, my weight is also an obvious issue. This would be easier if I weighed less. I am out there though, so that will come in time.
Coming here is giving me a lot of encouragement, thanks!