Runners wanted

If you guys don't already know, I am a runner. I was wondering if anyone else here ran, and if so, what do they run?

Personally, I am long distance. The mile in track is short for me. I prefer nice, long runs(about five or six miles) across town. The funny thing is, as soon as you put me in an event lower than the 800, I die. I can run up to seven miles no problem, but a 200? Forget it. My throat closes up and I have an asthma attack, even though I'm not really asthmatic.

My coach knows I can't sprint and finds it funny to put me in short events like the 400. I come in last and he gets to yell at me. lose-lose

Js.

Start on this web page:

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/energy.htm

And read through it and the links to training specific energy pathways. Your issue is that your muscles aren't trained to hold very much ATP, Creatine, and Glycogen, so the short-duration runs wear you out quickly. The other problem is that training distance runs trains your slow-twitch fibers mostly and you need to train your fast-twitch fibers.

WARNING: SCIENCE ALERT

Look at the training regimen for 100m runners and you'll notice that they run very short distances (20-40m) multiple times and even shorter for shuttle runs. This is because they are training their muscles to use ALL of the stored ATP quickly so that they have to adapt and learn to store more ATP. They are basically training their cells to grow more mitochondria. The other side of this is that in order to replenish the cells as fast as possible, their heart has to beat at peak pace to move the glucose into the cell as fast as possible. As the cells learn to hold more ATP, the heart, likewise, slows down during the same training because glucose isn't needed as bad. This also exercises the cardiac muscle, forcing IT to learn to hold more ATP.

Likewise, 200m, 400m, and 800m train those specific pathways. Since you are trying to run 800m races, you will be training your Lactic energy pathways and your Anaerobic-Glycolytic pathways.

acsempronio wrote:Start on this web page:

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/energy.htm

And read through it and the links to training specific energy pathways. Your issue is that your muscles aren't trained to hold very much ATP, Creatine, and Glycogen, so the short-duration runs wear you out quickly. The other problem is that training distance runs trains your slow-twitch fibers mostly and you need to train your fast-twitch fibers.

WARNING: SCIENCE ALERT

Look at the training regimen for 100m runners and you'll notice that they run very short distances (20-40m) multiple times and even shorter for shuttle runs. This is because they are training their muscles to use ALL of the stored ATP quickly so that they have to adapt and learn to store more ATP. They are basically training their cells to grow more mitochondria. The other side of this is that in order to replenish the cells as fast as possible, their heart has to beat at peak pace to move the glucose into the cell as fast as possible. As the cells learn to hold more ATP, the heart, likewise, slows down during the same training because glucose isn't needed as bad. This also exercises the cardiac muscle, forcing IT to learn to hold more ATP.

Likewise, 200m, 400m, and 800m train those specific pathways. Since you are trying to run 800m races, you will be training your Lactic energy pathways and your Anaerobic-Glycolytic pathways.

Found this really helpful. I'm not trying to do sprints, but anything that will help me would be great. Coach doesn't do much to help, just yells that I'm a cream puff and that I have weak lungs. And weak ankles. And weak arms( OK, that's true). Not to mention weak legs, chest, and feet. I'm pretty weak, apparently.

mickdude2 wrote:If you guys don't already know, I am a runner. I was wondering if anyone else here ran, and if so, what do they run?

Personally, I am long distance. The mile in track is short for me. I prefer nice, long runs(about five or six miles) across town. The funny thing is, as soon as you put me in an event lower than the 800, I die. I can run up to seven miles no problem, but a 200? Forget it. My throat closes up and I have an asthma attack, even though I'm not really asthmatic.

My coach knows I can't sprint and finds it funny to put me in short events like the 400. I come in last and he gets to yell at me. lose-lose

I too am in track and I too run long distance. The top events for our middle school track team are the mile and 800 which I run. Sometimes I hate track though because I ran a 5:40 for the mile and came in 5th.

lordgonk wrote:

mickdude2 wrote:If you guys don't already know, I am a runner. I was wondering if anyone else here ran, and if so, what do they run?

Personally, I am long distance. The mile in track is short for me. I prefer nice, long runs(about five or six miles) across town. The funny thing is, as soon as you put me in an event lower than the 800, I die. I can run up to seven miles no problem, but a 200? Forget it. My throat closes up and I have an asthma attack, even though I'm not really asthmatic.

My coach knows I can't sprint and finds it funny to put me in short events like the 400. I come in last and he gets to yell at me. lose-lose

I too am in track and I too run long distance. The top events for our middle school track team are the mile and 800 which I run. Sometimes I hate track though because I ran a 5:40 for the mile and came in 5th.

5:40 is not bad. that's about where I'm at, and I usually come in around mid-end of the pack(out of give or take 15 kids). In a good day, I'm at around 5:30/5:45. A bad day would be 6:00+. Ah well

mickdude2 wrote:If you guys don't already know, I am a runner. I was wondering if anyone else here ran, and if so, what do they run?

Personally, I am long distance. The mile in track is short for me. I prefer nice, long runs(about five or six miles) across town. The funny thing is, as soon as you put me in an event lower than the 800, I die. I can run up to seven miles no problem, but a 200? Forget it. My throat closes up and I have an asthma attack, even though I'm not really asthmatic.

My coach knows I can't sprint and finds it funny to put me in short events like the 400. I come in last and he gets to yell at me. lose-lose

Sounds like you might have a breathing issue, you shouldn't get your throat closing up..

Shorter races are a lot more intense to the body, as to do well you push it extremely hard, longer races tend to be more about pace and endurance.... though the ability to sprint finish in long races is becoming a must really.

You should try doing a fast jog for the sprints (or a pace your happy with).. then slowly get faster each time you do it. This should make your body more used to it and might help.... might still loose, but least you wont have an asthma attack....

not sure what i ran for the mile... around 6:00 maybe a little faster/slower ..... but that was like 9 years ago now....... and haven't really done any running since.

dynamole wrote:

mickdude2 wrote:If you guys don't already know, I am a runner. I was wondering if anyone else here ran, and if so, what do they run?

Personally, I am long distance. The mile in track is short for me. I prefer nice, long runs(about five or six miles) across town. The funny thing is, as soon as you put me in an event lower than the 800, I die. I can run up to seven miles no problem, but a 200? Forget it. My throat closes up and I have an asthma attack, even though I'm not really asthmatic.

My coach knows I can't sprint and finds it funny to put me in short events like the 400. I come in last and he gets to yell at me. lose-lose

Sounds like you might have a breathing issue, you shouldn't get your throat closing up..

Shorter races are a lot more intense to the body, as to do well you push it extremely hard, longer races tend to be more about pace and endurance.... though the ability to sprint finish in long races is becoming a must really.

You should try doing a fast jog for the sprints (or a pace your happy with).. then slowly get faster each time you do it. This should make your body more used to it and might help.... might still loose, but least you wont have an asthma attack....

not sure what i ran for the mile... around 6:00 maybe a little faster/slower ..... but that was like 9 years ago now....... and haven't really done any running since.

Heres the scary thing: I'm not asthmatic. My throat doesn't close up, I just start wheezing. I can't take an inhaler, either, because it's prescription. The first time it happened, one of my team mates(who is asthmatic) shoved me on the ground and yelled to breathe slowly. It worked, and I got out of 5 more 200's.

LOL you havent been running for like a week because you "rolled your ankle" as you tend to "hurt" your ankle around track season each year :P, but anyways seeing as though you have that "handicap" (yes I too realize at this point that these "quotes" are abused) you should just bike with me :D (doesnt put as much stress on your ankle if you don't go on too rough hills/ general terrain, which in my opinion is the fun part, but nonetheless we should go biking sometime.

JAMESTHEJRAGON wrote:LOL you havent been running for like a week because you "rolled your ankle" as you tend to "hurt" your ankle around track season each year :P, but anyways seeing as though you have that "handicap" (yes I too realize at this point that these "quotes" are abused) you should just bike with me :D (doesnt put as much stress on your ankle if you don't go on too rough hills/ general terrain, which in my opinion is the fun part, but nonetheless we should go biking sometime.

I've been running for three weeks and rolled my ankle, keeping me out for three days. Besides, I don't have a bike. I run where I want to go, and can run just as far as you bike(albeit a little slower)

"You can't run away from your problems forever."

no offense, but you cant run everywhere i can bike... Although i cant bike through thick woods and stuff where you could run.... and possible be met by a pedo bear....

I run I just never seem to do it. I'll probably run soon or start track.

Kevo235 wrote:"You can't run away from your problems forever."

Depends, if you kill yourself then that's sorta like running away, as your problems weren't sorted and any new problems that might occur won't be your problems.... (i don't recommend doing this though)

JAMESTHEJRAGON wrote:no offense, but you cant run everywhere i can bike... Although i cant bike through thick woods and stuff where you could run.... and possible be met by a pedo bear....

You could run anywhere a bike can go.... might not be safe to do so, but you could do it...... and don't pretend you don't like the pedo bear....... also if you do run in the woods......watch your step as we all know what the bears do it the woods..