Ok so over the past few weeks I've been working on getting in some sort of proper shape, I do this every so often, it usually ends in me completing a goal then getting out of shape again. So this year I set a few goals instead of just one. Main goal? Complete a full marathon. Step 1: Complete a 5k next month without finishing in the bottom 10. I've been dieting and exercising, I have never done both at the same time before, over the past few weeks I have gone from 365 pounds to 339, I expect after this month I may be sitting at 300. Please note that I do not have a problem with sticktuitiveness when theres a goal in mind, I will complete every minute of every day of this plan, unless something changes based on advice that I get. The middle of the pack times for the same 5k last year were 9 minutes per mile on average. I have run 10 miles averaging 10 minutes per mile before, that was last year. So this should be extremely doable. Heres the plan, give me some feedback please even though its not specifically for boxing. I am on day 2. *My heavy bag rounds utilize 1 minutes rest between each. Week 1: Day 1: Run 2 miles, any pace. Walk 1 mile. Day 2: Run 1.5 Miles, walk 1/2 mile cross-train on heavy bag for 4 3 minute rounds. Day 3: Rest Day 4: Run 3 Miles Day 5: Cross train heavy-bag 5 3 minute rounds Walk 2 miles. Day 6: Run 3 Miles Day 7: Rest Week: 2 Day 8: Heavy jog 300 meters, recovery(walking speed) jog 300 meters. Repeat 4 times. Jog (any pace I'm able) 1 mile. Focus is form and speed. Day 9: Cross-Train heavy-bag 5 3 minute rounds. Day 10: Jog 3 miles. Day 11:Active recovery, walk 2 miles. Day12: Jog 3 miles, heavy bag 4 3 minute rounds. Day 13: Rest Day 14: Heavy jog 300 meters, recovery(walking speed) jog 300 meters. Repeat 4 times. Jog (any pace I'm able) 1 mile. Focus is form and speed. Week 3: Day 15: Rest Day 16: Jog 3 Miles. Heavy jog 300 meters, recovery(walking speed) jog 300 meters. Repeat 4 times. Focus is form and speed. Day 17: Cross-train heavy-bag 5 3 minute rounds. Day 18: Run 3 Miles(Race pace) Day 19: Cross-Train heavy bag 5 3 minute rounds. 1 minute punchout drill, walk to recover. Day 20: Jog 5 miles Day 21: Rest Week 4: Day 22: Jog 3 Miles. Heavy jog 300 meters, recovery(walking speed) jog 300 meters. Repeat 4 times. Focus is form and speed. Day 23: Cross train heavy bag 5 3 minute rounds. 1 minute punchout drill, walk to recover. Day 24: Jog 5 Miles Day 25: Rest Day 26: Run 3 miles(race pace) Week 5: Day 27: I up it on the cross training here: Cross train heavy bag 12 3 minute rounds. 1 minute punch-out drill to finish, walk to recover. Day 28: Jog 5 miles Day 29: Rest Day 30: Jog 3 Miles. Heavy jog 300 meters, recovery(walking speed) jog 300 meters. Repeat 4 times. Focus is form and speed. Day 31: Cross train heavy bag 12 3 minute rounds. 1 minute punch-out drill to finish, walk to recover. Day 32: Active recovery, walk 2 miles. Day 33: Rest Week 5: Day 34: Race! Ok thats what I got, I should be able to handle this load without injury, question is, is it enough? Anyone see any flaws? I'm on day 2 completed and sitting at 5'11 height and 339 pounds weight wise. I have a 10 minute mile and a 12 minute mile so far with 2 miles done at 25 minutes(that sucks I know). My goal is to hit a 9 minute mile and sustain it for 3 miles. I have a marked off route, a heavy bag, a round timer, a stopwatch, and some running shoes. Thoughts?
Think it's great your making goals, but your definitely to organized, and OVERTHINKING things. 5 days working, and 2 days off is very good, but I highly doubt your gonna be able to stick to such a STRICT schedule. I mean you aren't working out for boatloads of time, or anything, but **** happens, some times you feel better some days, and making a schedule like that your gonna feel more like YOU HAVE TO DO IT rather than you want to do it.... You should really incorporate some swimming in there if you have access to a gym. Some jump rope, etc. Boxing will help your wind, but it's different than running. Only other thing I see is you need to start out a little slow. The first week your running 3 miles.....2nd week your running the same...3rd week you finally increase and JOG 5. Work your way up. Start at maybe running a mile, mile and a half...Next week do 2-2/2, next 3-3/2, etc.
There's a great tool on runnersworld that will spit out a training routine for you. It's really helpful. I admire your motivation. I'm doing my 4th 5k since July on Saturday and I keep saying I'm going to train for them and lo and behold the race creeps up on me and I haven't done any real race preparation. Your routine looks pretty good, just don't do too much too fast. Don't get stuck so much on 2 1/2 miles jog, 3 miles run etc...just jog for 30-45 minutes and jog until you need to walk and build up your fitness. Listen to your body, you'll know when you are over doing it. Good luck.
I actually thought this schedule was easy, I do the heavy bag so I can keep my cardio up while my legs rest and repair from running. I hit the heavy bag almost every day for 3 rounds just to be active anyway. I'm only a year out from last time I did 10 miles in just over 100 minutes, so I actually thought this was starting slow. I can't believe I run so slow now, I've always had a very short stride and work my ass off to make less than 10 minutes on a mile, im trying to increase my speed without killing my knees, Ive never had knee problems but don't want to start now.
Yes I'm 340 but please don't think i'm some couch potato, I'm the most active person I know I did the Forrest Gump thing last year and ran everywhere I went, 2, 5, 10 miles, didin't matter, and I never dropped below 350 pounds. This time around i'm dieting too, I think if I ever hit 250 I will be able to stay there. I can't imagine being under 250, id feel..small. The most out of shape Ive ever been was when I fought in toughman, 1 and a half rounds, and I was looking for the hit to go down to, puked like 5 times after the fight. I'd like to try it again in better shape
Never said it was really hard...It's just that MOST people if they were to write out an entire schedule on only there 2nd day of getting back in to it then they'd feel more of a HAVE TO attitude than they would a WANT TO attitude about doing it. Basically I'm saying you need to have FUN with it! Understand? I personally keep a schedule book of everything I'm supposed to do. I workout 5 days a week, and 99% of what I do is planned out, but I've also worked out consistently for like 5 years now. Even at that though I understand that nothing is perfect...Sometimes you'll be sick, stuff comes up, etc, but I pretty much always get my 5 days in, or i'll feel lazy (unless something really wrong). Whenever somebody first starts out, or back in to it I just believe they shouldn't be so strict, and enjoy themselves. I know you have an event coming up you need to train for so it's different in your case. Yeah, I pretty much understood you doing the heavy bag in between to rest your legs. I do the same thing with weight lifting. Upper body, lower body, upper body, lower body, etc to let it heal. Running is so hard on your body. I can run a mile under 6 minutes...I can max out the treadmills at my gym (12.5 is as high as it goes)...Even at that though I only windsprint a mile and a half once a week because it's just to hard on your body. Get most of my wind from swimming, boxing, and especially sparring. Especially since your heavier it's a lot harder on you. Losing some weight would make you a lot better though. I know you say if you were under 250 you would feel small, but your quality of life would be a lot better. Being 5'11 339 right now is so hard on your body. You should get down to 250, and really less. Besides, I know some people who lift, and if they were to lose that much weight they'd lose a lot of strength, but I take it you don't lift anyways so don't see what it matters. Even fighting that weight doesn't help your punching power much because speed=power. At 250 you'd be a lot quicker, in better shape, etc.
Join a local athlectic club. I'm down from 21 mins to 18 minutes flat in two months. I've done 4 races by myself, 2 of which are very flat and I enjoy running past everyone. The only problem is I've had my arse handed to me at proper meets, I get cained but it's the only way to improve. Got my first cross-country for my club this Saturday and know I'm gonna come in the last 5 if I'm lucky. Anyway join a local running club they will knock you into shape soon enough and it's easier to stay motivated.
at 340 pounds, you do need to watch how much running you do. It will be hard on your joints As your weight goes down, your times will drop quicker that a hooker's panties so don't worry about that Good on you for setting a goal. I know you will achieve it
Thanks for the encouragement folks! Completed my rest day today, but I accidently ended up running about 1/4 of a mile(adrenaline induced sprint) my lil bro and I were walking in the woods and got on someone elses property, they came running after us yelling, even though we had high powered rifles and a 12-gauge shotgun we hauled ass to avoid trouble, we knew we were in the wrong but still didint want any bull**** lol. Afterwards I was like "**** I wasent supposed to run today". I'll keep updating here, if nothing else I know if people are reading about it I'll be more likely to maintain it.
Finished a little more than three miles today, the fact that I can actually run 5k this early on is encouraging, now I just need to get faster. Anything I'm not doing here that could increase my time? Or is it gonna be practice+weight loss+stamina all the way? Also my friend who used to run distance in high school was telling me something about controlling breathing, something like two breaths per step or something. Any enlightenment on this?
............Opinions will differ on this I'm sure, but I wouldn't focus on speed work right now. You're carrying a lot of weight; big ups to you for losing what you have, that's terrific, and I'm sure that trend will continue. It's just that running very hard puts tremendous stress on your body. I'm thinking of the pounding your legs and knees and lower back will take. Speedwork affects those things in many that aren't carrying that kind of weight. I would just keep doing what you've been doing. As to the controlled breathing, eh.........I don't think there's anything to that. Just breathe naturally. The level of exertion will dictate to you the pace of your breathing, as it should. That kind of thing happens naturally. My advice is "steady as she goes."
Yeah, you sound like your doing great as for your exercising goes. If you were to drop weight more and more I think you'd be quite shocked at how much difference it'd make. I use to do a lot of running/ cardio. I slacked off a lot for a while so I could gain weight. I gained about 20 pds (mainly muscle as I hardly have any body fat), but my god was it a lot harder on my joints when running. I'm still fast, I'm still strong, but honestly at my size...and I'm not even that BIG, but as big as I am it'd be very harsh for me to run competively.
So should I make my diet more strict? I currently eat between 2000 and 3300 calories per day. I know I'm burning more than that. I even tried to do a cheat day the other day for metabolism and when I added it all up it came to 3500 calories. I know crash diets fail in long term weight loss, but for the sake of a better time in this event, should I maybe cut to below 2000 calories every day to drop weight and add speed? Or will the malnourishment hurt my speed and training performance more than the weight loss helps?