i sorry claire... i completely disagree....l your body will first revert to burnig protein (MUSCLE) beofre it burns fat for fuel.... fa burning occurs when doig low intensity movement... think sleeping and eating a microwave dinner lol...... running out of glucose in the muscles is what runners call "hitting the wall" the fat burning theory is great in principle though..;... however you can avoide SOME muscle cannabolism by consuming riduculously klarge amounts of protein (this poses its own problems though)

i am in no way saying you cant run and do low carb......,.

Originally Posted by :
I think I'm "addicted" to running. When I don't run I get "snippy" and "short patienced" with people...what's going on???? It's like running makes me able to deal with stress better. Anyone else feel like that?

Absolutly! I get so restless if too many days pass between runs. But that first run after a rest feels SO good!

Originally Posted by :
l your body will first revert to burnig protein (MUSCLE) beofre it burns fat for fuel

Hmmmm...This makes sense too and explains why my body fat is higher. Now I'm confused. Fortunatly, for me anyway, I refuse to do low carb, I find balance just too important to me. To avoid muscle loss I've been trying to get more protein and lift heavier. Running does seem to give me a little of the skinny fat look in my mid section, which I've made me new mission to eliminate. But I want to do it without decreasing my running too much.

ETA: MK, did you check out NROL for Abs? I was wondering what you thought of it. A trainer at my gym told me that I was more advanced then the moves I was doing and was wondering if he was just a typical uneducated trainer or if maybe the program was a little on the easy side. I feel worked when I do it, but there is an element of easiness to it.

Joyfulloser - I think running is great stress relief physically, and for me it allows my mind to wander and often I work through problems or issues while I run. I find 3-4 times a week is perfect for me - doesn't allow the stress to build up too much between runs, but gives me some rest or cross training days as well.

On the low carb thing, I would imagine it would be hard to run distances on very low carbs, but I don't know where the threshold is. I think most of the run "aids" like Gu and Shot Bloks are high carb, as the body can use that quickly for energy. And of course there is the always-popular carb loading dinner the night before a distance run! My DH wants pasta for dinner before our big 5k on Saturday, so I'm humoring him. :) I personally feel better when I get most of my carbs from fruit, veggies and a small amount of whole grains like quinoa or whole grain bread, but I haven't run further than four miles so it remains to be seen what sort of carbs I will need once I start to increase that distance.

I had a great run this morning - at 5:40am, the weather was perfect - right around 47 degrees, very slight breeze, the sun was just starting to turn the sky pink. I went out with the intention of doing a slow two miler and ended up doing a slightly faster than expected 2.5 miles. I was definitely in the zone today! Let's hope that carries over to the 5k, though I am running that with my first-timer friend so I'll be going at whatever pace he wants. Can't wait to start "racing" again!

Originally Posted by joyfulloser:
I think I'm "addicted" to running. When I don't run I get "snippy" and "short patienced" with people...what's going on????:?: It's like running makes me able to deal with stress better. Anyone else feel like that?

I feel better when I'm active. It doesn't necessarily have to be running, it can be anything that is reasonably vigorous. Once I get moving, it just feels good. The endorphins kick in, I feel happy, invigorated -- and more in control. When I'm sedentary for a day or two, I feel sluggish and a little depressed.

I believe the human body was made to move .... it feels good and is good for us.

Originally Posted by mkroyer:
i sorry claire... i completely disagree....l your body will first revert to burnig protein (MUSCLE) beofre it burns fat for fuel.... fa burning occurs when doig low intensity movement... think sleeping and eating a microwave dinner lol...... running out of glucose in the muscles is what runners call "hitting the wall" the fat burning theory is great in principle though..;... however you can avoide SOME muscle cannabolism by consuming riduculously klarge amounts of protein (this poses its own problems though)

i am in no way saying you cant run and do low carb......,.

I think it depends on what you class as low intensity. I was told that if I am running in training pace (140-160bpm), that is classed as low intensity. However, when I do interval training I always eat a piece of fruit or some beans as a snack beforehand so I have some glucose to burn. I always thought if your heart rate is between 140-160bpm, that is low intensity, and 160+ is high?

You are right about the losing muscle if you do high intensity on low carb though. I'm slowly reintroducing them in the run up to the half marathon, so I can sustain myself through the long trainings.

Kudos for getting up at 4:30am to go running, I could never do that!!

ncueno-- havent looked at it..... i think i sid this before, i think you would hsve GREAT success with the regular, originall NROL (for men or women) it has strength building phases and fatloss....... lots of deadlifting, squatting, pushpressing, lunging, etc.....

No run today but I got up at 5am and cleaned the downstairs of my house. Too much tile (ie, the entire downstairs level) and living in the desert and owning a horse and four cats means the floors just get nasty after a day or two - let alone a week which is how long I slacked off this time around! I am so looking forward to the 5k tomorrow - it's been about a year since I last did one and I really miss the excitement of the race, even when it's a small one like this one (about 500 in the 5k and 700 or so doing the half marathon). Plus I'm doing it with my husband and a friend I work with and that's always more fun - we can celebrate and whine afterwards together! And the weather looks to be gorgeous tomorrow - possibly even a bit too warm, with a high of 76, but hopefully at 8am it won't have gone much out of the low 60's.

^Kudos to you for running in that heat. I couldn't do it.I ran on the treadmill when I was in the desert. Good luck on your 5km. Tell us how it went!

Originally Posted by MBN:
I feel better when I'm active. It doesn't necessarily have to be running, it can be anything that is reasonably vigorous. Once I get moving, it just feels good. The endorphins kick in, I feel happy, invigorated -- and more in control. When I'm sedentary for a day or two, I feel sluggish and a little depressed.

I believe the human body was made to move .... it feels good and is good for us.

I agree. I think exercising is addictive in the sense that it releases endorphines and you feel really good. That feeling subsides once you become lazy, and then you get tired.


---
Well after the first 5km that I ran (the last post), I ran another 5km two days later. It was a bit harder than the first one, probably because I was still pretty tired from it. I was so happy that I finally went outside for a run today. The snow and coldness has been preventing me from doing it, but today was above 0, and the roads were pretty clear.

I was surprised that I felt so good. All that treadmill running helped. I didn't quite do 5km, but I ran 2 miles. It was good for the first time out. I'll keep at it. I enjoyed running outside so much more than the treadmill. The sun, cool breeze....wow!

I found a really good website called www.mapmyrun.com in which I started mapping my runs and it calculates the distance for you. I'm doing a challenge to run 30 miles in 30 days. Also training outside for my upcoming 5km run end of May.

"Well after the first 5km that I ran (the last post), I ran another 5km two days later. It was a bit harder than the first one, probably because I was still pretty tired from it. I was so happy that I finally went outside for a run today."

I have done all my 5K training on the treadmill. I ran in my first 5K race on Sunday, which also happened to be the first time I made it all the way to 3.1 miles. The farthest I had ran was 2.5 miles before this. Two days later, I am still sore. I never get sore on the treadmill. I am not sure if it is due to running on cement, the increased distance, OR the fact that in all the excitement I totally forgot to stretch afterwards. Probably all three! So worth it though!

Well, I think I got my first injury:( I landed funny off a curb while running yesterday. I'm not sure what happened but I was turning to cross the street and my ankle twisted an I feel. I got up and kept going because I was so embarrassed. All the people waiting at the light were doing their darnest not to laugh, it was awesome. The pain subsided as I kept going, but when I got home my outside ankle had swollen to about the size of a golf ball. This morning it's still swollen and a little tender but not too bad. So probably just twisted, worst case a mild sprain. Just ST and yoga today so we'll see how it feels tomorrow morning. Other than that I had a good long run Sunday and am just 6 miles from 200 this year!

The 5k on Saturday was really fun, though it was definitely hotter than I expected - I wished I'd carried water instead of relying on the aid station, and I wished I'd worn shorts instead of 3/4 tights! But it was so much fun to run in a big crowd. DH and I finished together in 36:06 - slow but we both had issues (I was struggling with my need for water, his lungs were not working too well!). My friend in his first 5k left me in the dust and finished in 35:18, so I was really pleased for him. He's definitely going to do more runs. DH's friend who came from LA to visit won his age group - he smoked the course in 21:43 and was 13th overall, so we all had a good day. The half marathon was super fast - the winner did it in just over 1hr 15, and he was hauling butt as he came through the finish. That's a pretty good time on a flat road course, but this is a slightly hilly hard packed gravel course - there's very little paved trail, so I was mighty impressed! We're already signed up for another 5k on April 2, a road course this time, so I'm hoping to get my time down a bit.

I'm relegated to the treadmill for now as it's pitch black in the mornings when I would like to get out and run, but I plan on running outside on the weekends and possibly an evening or two. Now I've got the competitive spirit flowing again, I can't wait to better my times!

Jules - well done on your race! And well done on signing up for another.
ncuneo - sorry about your injury, but at least it should heal if you give it some time and probably better than having a pesky 'overuse' injury.

Off to work for me. Hoping to fit in a lunchtime run today although it could be a bit hot, which i suppose that's good for me, except then i have to sit around the office with a bright red face all afternoon!

Originally Posted by ncuneo:
Well, I think I got my first injury:( I landed funny off a curb while running yesterday. I'm not sure what happened but I was turning to cross the street and my ankle twisted an I feel. I got up and kept going because I was so embarrassed. All the people waiting at the light were doing their darnest not to laugh, it was awesome. The pain subsided as I kept going, but when I got home my outside ankle had swollen to about the size of a golf ball. This morning it's still swollen and a little tender but not too bad. So probably just twisted, worst case a mild sprain. Just ST and yoga today so we'll see how it feels tomorrow morning. Other than that I had a good long run Sunday and am just 6 miles from 200 this year!

I hope you are felling better , i can Imagen to be injury and not be able to run ( because I can't). The i don't want to is a different history.

I wish you a quick recovery ....

Jessica.

Originally Posted by ncuneo:
Well, I think I got my first injury:( I landed funny off a curb while running yesterday. I'm not sure what happened but I was turning to cross the street and my ankle twisted an I feel. I got up and kept going because I was so embarrassed. All the people waiting at the light were doing their darnest not to laugh, it was awesome.

Sorry to hear about that! I've had 4 ankle sprains in the past 2 years and I'm glad yours was a mild one. Be careful that it's healed up before you run on it again. For me, adding extra balance elements (single leg squats instead of regular etc) to my cross training workouts helps strengthen it.

Thanks for the well wishes guys! I went to the gym and did ST and yoga last night, it was looking pretty good and I iced it and elevated. It's still pretty swollen today. It looked good this am way down, but right now it's as big as it was yesterday again. It doesn't hurt unless I turn it too far, so I'm going to go to the gym tonight for a few miles on the treadmill and see how it feels. I have a brace so I'll used that to keep it from turning. I've promised myself to really listen to it, because I don't want to make the mistake of running on it too early, which I probably am doing, but never having had a sprain before I really don't know what the severity of my sprain is. I assume the lack of pain is a good thing...the swelling does concern me a little though. I'll be sure to ice it some more tonight. I just really don't want this to turn into a situation where I have to take several days or weeks off. Wish me luck!