SA Book & Challenge Lovers discussion

Since we've recently had some threads about health and fitness, I thought I'd post this here.

I'm not very good at running - I can go 10 minutes on the very best of days, but normally only 5-6 minutes - so I'm going to trying out this workout plan to go from walking to running: http://www.fitsugar.com/8-Week-Plan-G...

It escalates pretty quickly, but I'm going to work through it gradually, and stick with a step until I'm comfortable with it. I did the first one today (2 minutes walking, 1 minute running). That at least was really easy, and I managed 18 repeats over 54 minutes instead of 7 repeats over 21 minutes, at a 3% incline. Which amounts to 18 minutes of running, yay!

Will do the same step on Monday at a 4% incline, and then try moving on to the next step (2min walking, 2min run x6).

Has anyone else done a walking to running plan? Any tips?

I'm going to try and use my elliptical walker each day. Just a bit sick atm, so hopefully I can start next week!

That looks like a good plan Lauren. I did something like that years ago with a friend. We used lampposts as our measurement since we were running in the street and it was amazing how quickly we went from walking two lampposts, running two lampposts, to being able to run fair distances.

I started getting better at running last year by just gradually extending distance and speed (and I kept at a level where I was comfortable for quite a while). I was quite fit at that stage and first ran 2km at 6km/h for a month, then got that down to 2km at 7km/h for a month etc. it went well (I was going 4km at 8km/h after about 4 months)until I got a virus and I only got back to the gym this week. I started with 1km in 10min this week and hope to build on that again...

@Lu: I really like the elliptical. It's much easier on your joints than running, and feels less strenuous in general. I usually put the resistance up to 6 or 7. I want to buy one when we move back and exercise while watching movies or something.

@Carolien: Lampposts would make for useful measurements. I use the treadmill timer, but a timer would be impractical if I was running outside. I find that keeping track of the time helps as well, because the extra activity makes the time pass faster. Going to the gym gets a bit boring when you're doing the same thing in the same spot every day.

I'm running at 7km/h at the moment, and I covered 5.7km today, but I've only rarely managed to run a full km in one go without walking. Hopefully this plan will get me there. I'm quite chuffed about being able to run at an incline though (3-7%), and that makes me optimistic.

I'll do my best to start tomorrow! Will try and do 10 minutes :)

Let us know how it goes!

Did step 1 again today, but with 20 repeats over 60 minutes, at a 4% incline and 5.2km walking pace. So 1hr, 10min of exercise total, 20 min of running, covering about 6km. Didn't think I'd manage to do the whole hour when I started, but it felt better as I got into it. Will hopefully do that again tomorrow, and try the second step on Wednesday (2 minutes walking, 2 minutes running).

That plan looks similar to the C25K (couch to 5km) one which comes as an app and tells you when to walk or run. Personally I am not a runner and have no desire to although my coach seems to think differently, but he is a pentathlete. Good luck on starting the journey.

We had Eastern Cape champs for fencing tonight and I won my section. I was not expecting to do that well as I know my focus had been off for the last few weeks. We head to George for the next national competition first weekend in May, but before that I spend 6 days walking 120 km along the beach (PE to St Francis) to raise awareness for penguins. I think that will be enough exercise for the next couple if weeks...

Well done! Enjoy your walk, that sounds awesome. Do you have a website or something for donations?

Lauren wrote: "Did step 1 again today, but with 20 repeats over 60 minutes, at a 4% incline and 5.2km walking pace. So 1hr, 10min of exercise total, 20 min of running, covering about 6km. Didn't think I'd manage ..."

I did the first step yesterday. No idea how you manage 20 repeats, I'm sore after 7. Managed 2.15km at an avg speed of 6.15km and avg gradient of 3.6.

@Varla Fiona: Congrats on winning. Well done. I hope you do well too on the national competition.
That walk sounds awesome. Good luck on that one.

@Varla Fiona: Congrats, that's great! The beach walk sounds awesome, enjoy!

Fantastic news Varla!

@Carolien: I've been walking at a 3-7% gradient regularly, with a little bit of running, so I think I managed to train myself for that without intending to.

Today I did step 2 (2min walk, 2min run) at a 3% incline, with a walking speed of 5.5km and a running speed of 7km, and was surprised that I managed it fairly easily. I did 15 repeats over 60 minutes, which means 30mins of running. And that's the longest time I've EVER spent running in one session, even with the walking in between, so yay me! I covered about 7.2km, including my warm-up and cool-down walking.

Will do it again tomorrow, and then see how I feel about moving to step 3 on Friday.

Thanks everyone.

Carolien wrote: "Well done! Enjoy your walk, that sounds awesome. Do you have a website or something for donations?"

It is to raise awareness, not money. We team up with Penguin Promises who have the slogan We don't want your money honey, we want your love. You can make a promise to the penguins to live more sustainably at www.penguinpromises.com or find them on Facebook. There is also info on www.bayworld.co.za and our Facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/events/62940...)

Love the slogan. I'll show my kids the website and then we can talk all kinds of penguin things, and make our promises. It's a lovely idea.

Lauren wrote: "@Carolien: I've been walking at a 3-7% gradient regularly, with a little bit of running, so I think I managed to train myself for that without intending to.

Today I did step 2 (2min walk, 2min run..."

I'm away for work at the moment, so will only get to the gym next week again. I'll do step 1 again and the try the next one.

I'm still doing this, although it's only recently (last week maybe?) that I made it to week two. Running for two minutes at a time was pretty easy. I could do it for a whole hour at a 5% gradient and even have the energy for a faster run at the end. But as soon as I started running at 3 minute intervals I really struggled. I don't think I managed to do it for a whole hour, and eventually I just aimed for 6 or 7 repeats (24/28 minutes). It was still tough, but I wanted to move on, so now I'm doing 1min walk, 4min run for 25 minutes, 0% gradient. Don't know how I'll ever make it 30 minute runs, but maybe I can at least do 10-15 minutes.

How have things been with you guys? Did you try out your elliptical machine Lu?

I'm using mine. Just stop start stop start cause it is flu season for me and I don't like exercising when sick. I'm feeling better today, so will do 10 mins or so tonight :)

Well done and you'll make it Lauren, it just takes time. In my other life I was a fitness trainer. Now I cycle, although lately I've been lazy...

@Lu: Yeah, exercising when you're sick is just going to make you more miserable.

@Yolanda: Thanks! I'm trying to balance challenging myself with allowing myself to take it as slow as I need to.

I eventually got over my difficulties with running for 3 minutes at a time, and now I walk for 1 minute, run for 6 minutes, at a 3% incline, for 35 minutes minimum. Managed to do it for a whole hour the other day :)

Might not go for the whole 30 minute run as originally planned though. I was reading an article about walking while running the other day, and one of the tips suggested that it might be better to walk for one minute after running for 5-10 minutes, rather than just slogging on for as long as you can. So I'll try and push myself to 1 minute walk, 10 minute run, and see how I feel. That 1 minute walk makes things a lot easier than you'd think it would.

Well done. I have got out of routine so my coach is on my case again. At least summer is coming so early morning ocean swims will be back soon!

Oh wow, that sounds nice, so much better than running in a gym every morning!

Decided to sign up for our local Ocean Racing Series (1 km swim) to get increased motivation. Today was the first race, strong winds meant a slight change in route, but I finished it with a time of 35 minutes! Next race is in 2 weeks and my goal is to beat today's time.

Fantastic Varla!

That's awesome Varla!

I managed to reach my goal of running for 30 minutes straight. I didn't complete the whole 8-week programme, but one day I was pressed for time so I just decided to run for as long as I could, and I surprised myself by going the whole 30 minutes, plus a one and a half minute sprint at the end :)

Thanks for the support.

Well done on the running!

I started walking to work every morning. It's a 20 min walk. I've never really exercised. I'm a programmer, so I basically sit in front of my PC all day. This is the closest to exercising I get.

Hey, that's still something, and it's much better than nothing :) I love walking, sometimes because I just want to do something active but not too strenuous, and because it's great when you need to think.

I agree about the thinking part. I mostly just walk to clear my head. Sometimes I get so absorbed into a book, that I need to walk it off and remember what is reality and what is fiction.

Walking is great. I try and get a few beachfront walks or take my dog to the beach every week! Don't be discouraged because that is all you do, it is still loads better than not doing anything!

Thank you! I use to take my dog to the beach while I was living in Margate and both of us enjoyed it a lot. Now I go visit my friends to take their dogs for a walk, that I also do every now and again. It's good exercise and you get to catch up with a friend.

Ok so I'm now going to do this in earnest! I got my fibit coming and I'm going to track the hell out of it lol

Going to walk or go up and down my stairs or use my elliptical walker. One or all 3 a day. When my fitbit comes I'll work out how many steps I need to take a day etc. :)

Last week I walked 124 km for penguins (check out the facebook page or websites for penguin promises) and we used running as our relief when the walking got too much. I was impressed at how well I could run (thanks to mma fitness classes). Despite my blister covered feet, I'm planning to run my first race (only 3,5 km) on 1 May!!!

That's amazing Varla! I'm sorry I wasn't able to join you for a walk/run, but hopefully it'll work out better next time :)

Thanks. Next trip is more about holiday so I will definitely have more flexibility and time!

I do 4km 3 times a week