I'm a little late to this discussion... But I have a couple of pointers. I started running at 180 (went on to lose 40 more pounds and run a couple half marathons.... Yay RUNNING!).
The biggest help for me was before I started running, I started hiking, to build leg strength. Walking briskly on incline (work up a percent at a time) on a treadmill helped, too. This really strengthened up my hamstrings and calves and took the stress off of my shins once I started jogging.
If the back trouble you're having is lower back (I've had this... Ughh) it could be hamstring-related. I had a horrible case of SI joint paint/piriformis pain from not stretching my hamstrings sufficiently.
26.2, can you recommend a good hammie stretch? Mine are feeling really tight this week and I can't quite get into a position that stretches them easily (can't touch my toes etc).
I do the beginner's variation mentioned below with my hands at my sides, reaching for the floor. When I started doing this, I could barely bend over, so definitely ease into it. It may take a few months, but this has saved my life!
I had to copy this from the web as I don't have enough posts to do links, but if this isn't helpful, search for "parsvottanasana."
Parsvottanasana (Intense Side Stretch Pose)
Intense Side Stretch Pose is challenging not only because of the “intensity” of its hamstring stretch, but also because (in the full pose) the position of the arms and hands in Anjali Mudra behind the back. So this pose, actually a deep forward bend, not only gives a good stretch to the backs of the legs, but also to the chest, shoulders, forearms and wrists. Here though, since the mudra is so difficult for most beginning students, the pose will be described with the hands on the floor.
Step by Step
Start standing with your feet together. With an exhalation, step your feet 3˝ to 4 feet apart (right leg in front of the left). Rest your hands on your hips. Align the right heel with the left heel. Firm your thighs and turn your right thigh outward, so that the center of the right knee cap is in line with the center of the right ankle.
Exhale and rotate your torso to the right, squaring the front of your pelvis as much as possible with the front edge of your mat. As the left hip point turns forward, press the head of the left femur back to ground the back heel. Press your outer thighs inward, as if squeezing a block between your thighs. Firm your scapulas against your back torso, lengthen your coccyx toward the floor, and arch your upper torso back slightly.
With another exhalation, lean the torso forward from the groins over the right leg. Stop when the torso is parallel to the floor. Press your fingertips to the floor on either side of the right foot. If it isn’t possible for you to touch the floor, support your hands on a pair of blocks or the seat of a folding chair. Press the thighs back and lengthen the torso forward, lifting through the top of the sternum.
In this pose the front-leg hip tends to lift up toward the shoulder and swing out to the side, which shortens the front-leg side. Be sure to soften the front-leg hip toward the earth and away from the same-side shoulder while you continue squeezing the outer thighs. Press the base of the big toe and the inner heel of the front foot firmly into the floor, then lift the inner groin of the front leg deep into the pelvis.
Hold your torso and head parallel to the floor for a few breaths. Then, if you have the flexibility, bring the front torso closer to the top of the thigh, but don’t round forward from the waist to do this. Eventually the long front torso will rest down on the thigh. Hold your maximum position for 15 to 30 seconds, then come up with an inhalation by pressing actively through the back heel and dragging the coccyx first down and then into the pelvis. Then go to the left side.
This explains what to do in painful detail, but the important part for me was squaring my hips forward.
Please, please, please be careful! I don't want anyone to overextend or hurt themselves!
Height: Tall enough for my feet to reach the ground
Well I started a C5K (couch to 5K) 3 weeks ago, and I have NEVER been a jogger or runner! It takes time, start slow, and you do not need to run at 6,7,8,9mph to be a runner! I tried running at 6mph and thought I would surely die! Now I am closer to the 4.5-5mph jog and it is MUCH better!
Wow am i glad i found this thread, i too have just started jogging last week. The way i started was i quit smoking 8/9 month's ago, and while i was out on my walk one day i thought to myself i wonder if i can make it to that tree or that bench ect ect, Today was the first day that i jogged my furthest ever. I have been a walker for a few yr's now, I go as far as i can & stop catch my breath and start again, What alway's get's me is the dog, she look's at me like it's about time we started running,lol. I'm off to the runnery first thing in the morning need some new running shoe's.
IdealMuse,
You are such an inspiration. I am most impressed with your progress. I started at a weight only marginally higher than your current weight, and I am struggling to break the 4 mph barrier myself. I can do 3.9, but often I have to slow down to 3.8 when my shin starts bothering me. I also started having back pain, just the last week. I through in some incline, (increasing after each minute), don't know if that had anything to do with it.
Anyway, just wanted to say YOU ROCK, LADY!!!
Just an update. I did manage to run in a few triathlons this past summer (One had a run of 3 miles and one had a run of 6 miles) I did both with almost no walking. Of course we won't talk about how I got lazy and stopped after the summer and now I have to regain some of that progress... but I just wanted to put that out there for those beginning heavy. Even if you've never run before it's possible! My longest run last summer was for over an hour and a half!
Back to work now... I'm training for more Tris this summer one may involve a half marathon.
It's been awhile since I first posted on this thread and since then I've been running on the elliptical. I'm now up to 60 minutes and when it gets warmer (and as I loose more weight too) I'm ging to transition to tredmill and then the great outdoors.
It's been awhile since I first posted on this thread and since then I've been running on the elliptical. I'm now up to 60 minutes and when it gets warmer (and as I loose more weight too) I'm ging to transition to tredmill and then the great outdoors.
Just so you know that running on a elliptical and running on the treadmill or outside is completely different... BUT with perseverance and by starting very slowly with a program like the Couch to 5k, it can be done.... Keep up the great work...
True, they are different beasts (elliptical and running) but any cardio progress is going to help you become more prepared. It certainly can't hurt! Congrats!
Good job 
