Hi there,
I am back on my feet after having given birth to a wonderful little boy call Tom, 10 months now.
I am planning to run 12km begining of may for the Marathon of Geneva. I want to run it between 45-55 mn. I am running once or twice a week and playing b-ball every wednesday (good for my cardio
!). My weight....64kg... but hope to loose still some weight (1m68).
So, all that to ask if someone can give me some tips for my training sessions for the weeks coming.
Thank you!
Christina
ps: sorry for my English
.... oh...by the way, I am 31yo
Comments
Hi Allison and
Although this has been a forum post with only the two of you participating, I am wondering if an analysis of Christina's nutrition and suggested changes might be interesting for others as well. So if you are comfortable with posting your food intake for the world to see ;-) maybe keep the topic going. There have been lots of "reads", which tells me there is interest.
Types of workouts
biking in my training
Thanks for your tips, I will take your good advices.
It s true that I can t find a way to run 3 times a week, but I am managing to run 2 times from next week. Then, I have set my hometrainer in my office, which means that I can bike once a week (while my son will have his nap..).
So my question is, what kind of work I should do with my bike. I thought doing 45mn at a good rythme (easy speed + I can still talk) so I can work the "fond" (in french), which I mean my endurance.
And yes, as soon as we can drop by BC, I will definetly find a moment to do a Club Fat Ass run! Hopefully next year!
Well skip the intervals then
websites
Check out Hal Hidgon's site for marathon training at: http://www.halhigdon.com/
Sibylle
You are on your way...
Sounds like you are already well on your way to accomplish your goal. Planning and goal setting is half the battle.
Being the mother of a toddler you should make sure that you set aside time for your regular training opposed to sneaking out when you'll find the time (you will not find time for a long time to come ;-)...) Look at your family schedule and negotiate times when you take off for your training. Hire a sitter if your partner/friends, mom/dad, in laws can't give you your break. Include time for stretching and a shower in your planned exercise time. Sounds luxurious, but you don't want to injure yourself because you missed out on the stretching. You may find that you are more injury prone because of loosened tendons, muscles and added weight.
As for the running. Not knowing your speed and experience it's hard to give specific advice. It maybe best to join a group that meets once or twice a week and then add another couple of runs on your own. Groups keep you motivated and add structure to your training. Adding some cross training, i.e bike riding or weights will help you keep injury free and prevent boredom.
I hope that helps. Good luck and remember, if Mama ain't happy nobody ain't happy!!!
ready to go...
Thank you for answering my message.
Yes, I am pretty ready to run (even ran a little run in december...5km...) and I really respected my body. I mean, I waited a little bit with listen to it, not to injure myself or go to fast on sports.
Anyway, finding a group for running..well, here is not Vancouver! Ahahahah!! But I found a little path that I can run with the stroller and is about 40minutes long. So I wanted to know if you know a website with some good tips for running?
Thank you Sibylle and I can t wait to wear my Fat Ass t-shirt during the marathon!! I won t forget to take a picture and send it to you!
Bike workouts
Bike workouts can be as simple or as complex as run workouts. Start off with a decent warm-up... 5 to 10 minutes should suffice if you are doing shorter less intense sessions. Then incorporate some strength and speed work. A pyramid is always a good way to do that (which is increasing the intervals in length: 30sec, 1min, 2min, 3min, 4min, 5min and then decreasing again... 4min, 3min, 2min, 1min, 30sec). You can also do long tempo-ish intervals (5min+) or super short intense ones.
Fast means that you are turning the pedals over quickly. If you are riding a stationary bike at the gym or if your bike has a cadence measurer - you should see 100+ rpms depending on your current fitness level and comfort on the bike). Strength means that you are pedalling slowly because you have a lot of tension on the pedals - but do keep it above 60 rpms to save your knees (again - this is how many times your pedals turn in one minute as indicated by your cadence sensor.) You can also working in standing tall, standing but with your bum back just hovering over the seat, and even hand weights.
Hope that helps. Let me know if you need more specific advice :)
need more precisions...
Hey Allison,
Thank you for your answer! But I still need some precisions.
First of all I have my own bike on my "home trainer" at home, but I don t have a cadence measurer. It shouldn t cause me any trouble as I know "how to bike"...specially for my knees!
Then I didn t understand a couple of things. The pyramid work out:
The intervals are supposed to be done how? I mean, around 60rpms or 100rpms (strength or fast as you explain me the difference)?
Then between the intervals, I am probably supposed to have some time to "rest" (probably keep on biking but the fast way). How long? 1mn? 30sec?
Thank you Allison and I am waiting for you answers so I can start my specific training! I also bought some cross coutry skiing (skating) to go train the weekend...but you know what? We don t have snow this year in Switzerland (whole Europe)!!! The Alpes are soooo naked! It s just crazy! Yesterday 14 degrees here! I wished I could be in BC this year..
More precisions it is then...
Sorry I missed that first bit. If you are comfortable gauging your own cadence, great! Your cadence and tension depend if you are focusing on developing speed or strength. For the rest periods just pedal easily and slowly on an easy gear. It's just to keep your legs moving. But if you go too hard on the rest, you won't have the kind of quality you'll need for the efforts. Here are a couple examples for you then...
Speed
W/U - 5min easy. 5x (20sec fast/40sec easy), 2min easy.
MAIN SET - 2x (30sec fast/30sec rest, 60sec fast/60 sec rest, 90 sec fast/90 sec rest, 120sec fast, 90sec rest, 60sec fast/60sec rest, 30sec fast/30sec rest).
C/D - 5min easy, 5min really easy.
Muscular Endurance
W/U -Start on a fairly easy gear. Increase by a little bit every minute until you reach 10 minutes. This will take some playing with but it should feel fairly hard by the end. Try to keep the same pedal cadence. Then do 5 minutes fairly easy with some standing to loosen up your legs.
MAIN SET - Pedal on a fairly easy tension for 1min but harder than you had it at the beginning of the workout. You are essentially doing the same thing you were in the warm up. When your having difficulty turning the pedals over at a reasonable cadence, stand up, turn up the tension and hold it for one minute. Then rest 5 minutes and repeat the process but start one little bit harder.
C/D - 3x (20sec fast/40sec easy). 7mins easy spin.
Strength
W/U - 5mins easy. 5x (20sec fast/40sec rest)
MAIN SET - 4x (1min standing, 1min slide [essentially this is where you stand, slide your bum back and hover over the very back of the saddle], 1min very easy sitting). 10x(60sec hard/90 sec easy).
C/D - 8min easy.
Endurance
Just get and ride - keep it so that you can still hold a conversation. You can do some intervals but keep it all moderate. You want to keep your heart working but not exerting. This is a good workout to read a book or watch tv or listen to music or a book on tape - it's a good time for some extra Mummy time :)
Merci
Thank you for your wonderful tips! GREAT! I can't wait to start my program tomorrow! I will fly on my runs!
Another tricky question that I have and that you might give me an answer. It's about nutrition. I kind of know what to eat or not, but as a triathlete, tell me how to eat during everyday so I can have some reserves for my sport and also be able to loose some weight (I still have 4kg to loose
I know that it s difficult to answer to that general question, but you might give me some good tips.
MERCI
Nutrition
Hey there Christina,
Thankfully I am a nutritionist as well ;) Here are some tips for sports nutrition:
- The biggest meal of your day should be breakfast, followed by lunch, followed by the smallest meal, dinner (most people have this backwards)
- Think about grazing rather than eating 3 big meals - eat every 3 hours or so
- Try to eat carbohydrate, protein and a little bit of healthy fat with each meal
- Watch the amount of calories you get from liquids - switch to green tea or roobois or something you like to drink that is healthy and calorie free if you can
- If you have a sweet tooth, try stevia (bought at health food stores)
- Replace unhealthy snacking with healthy snacking or a different but enjoyable activity
- Always have chopped veggies or washed fruit on hand for quick snacking
- I like substituting salted steamed edamame beans with salty snacks like chips
- Eat whole grain, try to replace wheat with rice, oats and quinoa
- Eat lean sources of protein - the less legs the better
- Recognize that food is a social and enjoyment thing too and do not think of dieting or restricting - just developing better food habits!
If you'd like something besides general tips, send me a review of all the things you eat over the next three days (without implementing these tips first) so I can get some idea of some of the things you could be doing differently.You are my mentor!!
I couldn't find anbody better than you to answer to aaaalllll my questions!!! Waoooo!!! And a nutritioniste too!
I am difenitely taking the opportunity to use your knowledge and send you my "eating program" for these three days to come. I am gonna write it down on a paper, so I will not forget anything of it. Then, if you have time, I will take your advices!
If you can send me an email so I will have your own e-mail address (mine is on the fat ass website) to send you my eating program...I don t think everybody will like to read about it...
Thank you for all your answers and have a nice week!
Contact Form
The contact form Allison is referring to is a function in your profile that you can set. It allows other users to contact you via email without showing your email address. So far, I haven't heard that members got spammed with it, so it seems a good option.
Thanks Allison for all your input. I've been following your exchange ;-)
Sibylle
I got it!
I got it! I didn t know I had to "activate" my email! I just did it! And I am sure Allison's tips are pretty usefull to a lot of people! She's really giving me complete answers! Thank you Allison! For the moment I am putting down my nutrition...not really healthy actually....
I got it!
I got it! I didn t know I had to "activate" my email! I just did it! And I am sure Allison's tips are pretty usefull to a lot of people! She's really giving me complete answers! Thank you Allison! For the moment I am putting down my nutrition...not really healthy actually....
Your account does not seem
Your account does not seem to be accepting emails. Am I looking in the right place? You might be able to just look me up and send it to me in an email over the account/contact section... I'm not so good with this stuff ;)
No worries - happy to help :)
Alli
should work now...
My contact info should be active now so you will be able to find my email! Can't wait to see what I should change in my nutrition...even if I actually probably know.... Weather crazy here sunshine and 11 degrees! Birds are singing pretty early the mornings...crazy!
You rock mamma!!
I sure it is not as bad as you think. The other huge thing is the 80/20 rule. If 80% of the food you eat is good fuel for your body and you are active, you can handle the 20% of not so good you through into it :)
Thanks for your kind words. I look forward to working with you on this. It is good experience for me too - I just recently got certified and am mostly just doing talks at the Running Room right now...
Alli