How tall are you and what weight are you, Sugartits?

[Howmanheyman 26824]

I've gone from 79kg to 84kg in a month. It's coincided with both having 3 weeks holiday from work but also me starting to go to the gym and lift weights again. Difficult to tell if it's muscle gain or flab gain.

 

I'm guessing it's three weeks off but go with the muscle gain theory if that's your hunch.

[Kid Dynamite 5907]

Good luck gaining 5k of muscle with a few visits to the gym

[ClubSpinDoctor 0]

'Muscle memory', clever shit

[Meenzer 14053]

Second spin class since I started going again. I sense I ought to feel more wrecked afterwards, but then I'm working, breathing hard and sweating more or less constantly throughout (charming mental images here, I realise), so I'm not sure what more I can do really. Other than employ someone to actively punish me whenever I flag, perhaps.

[Meenzer 14053]

Oh and HF, what Gemmill says sounds sensible to me. Mind I've not really progressed beyond 5k yet this time round, mainly because even that's still a right slog. Ideally want to get a bit faster at that (which is happening, just veeeery sloooowly) before I think about distance.

[ChezGiven 0]

I did an hour and a half on the exercise bike yesterday and my thighs are killing me. Never had this sort of muscle soreness from this before but it was longer and a lot faster than normal. Is there a technique to exercise biking or cycling that might make my thighs sore? Foot position is what I've gleamed from google but am sure the cyclists on here might she some light.

 

I have to do the bike as my knees won't stand too much running but to be honest 5-7km 3 times a week should be more than enough to keep you fit. Don't over do it is the main thing as if you get an injury it can be months before you can start again and by then you've lost the habit and possibly the motivation. I had to take 2 months off last October and it was really hard to start again in December when it was freezing.

[Gemmill 34451]

Oh and HF, what Gemmill says sounds sensible to me. Mind I've not really progressed beyond 5k yet this time round, mainly because even that's still a right slog. Ideally want to get a bit faster at that (which is happening, just veeeery sloooowly) before I think about distance.

Bizarrely, if you read up on how to get faster at a fixed distance, the answer is to run slower, but for longer than that distance and it genuinely works. Don't get me wrong, I don't know much about the science behind this, but what I've gleaned is that running for a long time at a low intensity develops mitochondria in your legs, which in time allows you to run at a higher intensity over the shorter distance.

 

SO maybe try a handful of longer runs at a slow pace (seriously, embarrassingly slow), working your way up to 10k and then come back to a 5k and you'll find your times dropping.

[Gemmill 34451]

I did an hour and a half on the exercise bike yesterday and my thighs are killing me. Never had this sort of muscle soreness from this before but it was longer and a lot faster than normal. Is there a technique to exercise biking or cycling that might make my thighs sore? Foot position is what I've gleamed from google but am sure the cyclists on here might she some light.

 

I have to do the bike as my knees won't stand too much running but to be honest 5-7km 3 times a week should be more than enough to keep you fit. Don't over do it is the main thing as if you get an injury it can be months before you can start again and by then you've lost the habit and possibly the motivation. I had to take 2 months off last October and it was really hard to start again in December when it was freezing.

It's probably just cos you've cycled further and harder. If I go out on a really long ride, my legs are a bit sore the next day, and you'll probably find its not as bad next time.

 

If you prefer running btw, you should have a look at a book called Chirunning. It sounds like new age bullshit cos of the name, but it's basically just a running technique that will dramatically reduce your chance of injury and particularly knee pain. If you ever watch long distance races on the telly, the Kenyans and the likes of Mo Farah run in a completely different way to the rest of us - they lean forward from their ankles (if you pause a side view you could draw a diagonal line from their standing foot to their head) so that gravity is basically pulling them forward (they're perpetually falling forward and their legs are spinning beneath and behind them to keep up with them). What the rest of us do is run upright and reach forward with our legs, landing on our heels so that we're massively increasing the impact through our knees and hips (and slowing ourselves down by basically braking with every footstep) and over time injuring ourselves.

 

Here, let the bloke who wrote the book give you the lowdown:

 

 

 

There's the book by Danny Dreyer which does a pretty good job of explaining it, and there's almost certainly instructors in Paris. I had a session with a bloke called Nick Constantine in Tynemouth. Honestly when you eventually get it (and it only takes one session and a follow up), the difference to your running is incredible - all of the jolt and the joint soreness goes and you feel like you're gliding forward with very little effort (basically the falling forward thing rather than pushing yourself forward). People will probably scoff at the idea of having to be taught how to run, but give it a go, particularly if your knees have stopped you running cos you'll be back running with no knee pain in no time.

[Dr Gloom 19824]

I agree with Gemmill. Sounds like basic muscle fatigue rather than anything to do with technique. Probably just a result of pushing yourself harder than usual. I get terribly tight hamstrings when I overtrain, to the point I can barely walk let alone train sometimes

[Meenzer 14053]

Aha, interesting stuff that Gemmill. Running embarrassingly shouldn't be a problem.

[ChezGiven 0]

Thanks lads, I think it may have been too much over a few days too.

 

Will have a look at that chirunning is sounds interesting. It's massive ligament damage from when I was a kid, snapped and tore all of them off the bone. Was nasty so my left knee is a bit rickety nowadays. Got ibuprofen patches on my thighs this morning like a right Jessie.

[Meenzer 14053]

Chirunning... Denpressure...

[Gemmill 34451]

Aha, interesting stuff that Gemmill. Running embarrassingly shouldn't be a problem.

Aye if you picked one day a week to be your long run day and just gradually increased the distance and lowered the intensity, you'd find your times on your 5k days gradually coming down.

 

Chez that sounds a bit more serious than your average wear and tear (!) but I definitely think the chirunning would be beneficial just cos of the massive reduction in impact on your joints. Fucking ibuprofen patches though. Have you tried wrapping a scarf round each thigh - Alex swears by it.

[Gemmill 34451]

Chirunning... Denpressure...

 

Fuck you! The bloke is both Chinese AND lives in San Francisco. It was to be expected.

[ChezGiven 0]

I've stuck a wooly hat on to relieve the denpressure in my thigh-chi.

[Gemmill 34451]

A wise decision, grasshopper.

[Meenzer 14053]

Beavis and Butt-head have a lot to answer for.

[Happy Face 29]

 

Might be slow but consistency of pace is improving all the time. Like a goddamn metronome from half way last night. Couldn't have paced myself better on a treadmill.

[Jill 0]

Tried the whole "forward lean" type thing from that chirunning this morning. It seemed to go ok, although I probably looked like a colossal spacker. I was going to go to Newcastle Park Run but I couldn't be arsed to get the bus into town so just did about 3 and a half miles near home.

[Gemmill 34451]

As long as you're leaning from your ankles, you should have looked like a white Mo Farah. Leaning from your waist you'd have looked like you'd lost something and were in a real hurry to find it.

[Dr Gloom 19824]

14 stone 3. Heaviest I've been in over two years and yet I look mint.

[Jill 0]

As long as you're leaning from your ankles, you should have looked like a white Mo Farah. Leaning from your waist you'd have looked like you'd lost something and were in a real hurry to find it.

 

I don't think my running ever looks like I'm in a hurry. I'm slow as fuck regardless of the style.

 

At least it was windy enough yesterday to drown out the sound of me huffing and puffing as I was still sweating out Thursday night's cider intake.

[Tooj 17]

I know a few people on here have recommended Start Fitness in the past for getting advice when getting into running so I popped in on Friday.

Went in hoping to come out not just with a pair of running trainers, but also having been recommended them based on gait analysis done in-store.

Went up to one of their assistants and started a conversation telling him that I wanted to get into running but didn't know where to start.

All he did was ask me to take my trainers and socks off, had a look at my feet whilst standing and then just began to tell me that any of their "mid-range" trainers would do the job for me.

Really disappointed tbh.

[Christmas Tree 3997]

Should have kept your socks on.

 

[Gemmill 34451]

Sounds like he took one look at your feet, and immediately wanted you out of his shop.