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Other/Mixed Thoughts on running

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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As I’m getting old I want to be able to keep increasing strength, keep mobile and as pain free as possible and be able to continue for as long as possible with an active life. I like to walk a lot, I have two dogs, and until the Covid 19 crisis struck I did HEMA twice a week. I want to be able to resume HEMA as soon as it re starts but also want a bit in reserve to deal with emergencies should they arise.

OK - Cool. HEMA looks like hard work!

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are"

Maybe part of you knows that running is very important. Perhaps take the crawl, walk, jog approach?

Build a base of crawling, walking, mobility, strength and gentle running drills... ease into it and injuries may not crop up - I believe you can learn to enjoy running, just gotta go slow enough first (at least that's what i've found)
 
I dig the Altra's, all are zero drop with a wide toe box and they have 3 levels of cushion depending on your preference.

Innov8's have a zero drop and a 4mm drop. Both excellent choices. Barefoot for running is WAY over rated. Better to be barefoot at home and thin sole shoes ( e.g Vivo barefoot) 90% of your up right time than running barefoot for a couple of hours a week...
 
How necessary do you think running is to overall fitness - can you be considered fit if you can’t run?
I hardly run - a few blocks once every few weeks, if that - and I consider myself fit. But fit is in the eye of the beholder. At age 65, I can do everything I want to and my doctors say I’m unusually healthy for my age - good heart health, clear coronary blood vessels, good blood pressure, low body fat, good strength, take no medicines. I walk, strength train, and swing kettlebells. Whatever else running might do for me certainly isn’t something I’m aware of needing.

-S-
 
I hardly run - a few blocks once every few weeks, if that - and I consider myself fit. But fit is in the eye of the beholder. At age 65, I can do everything I want to and my doctors say I’m unusually healthy for my age - good heart health, clear coronary blood vessels, good blood pressure, low body fat, good strength, take no medicines. I walk, strength train, and swing kettlebells. Whatever else running might do for me certainly isn’t something I’m aware of needing.

-S-
Certainly now that I am no longer a police officer I seldom NEED to run. I suppose it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that an emergency situation might cause me to need to run but I think my kettlebell training should enable me to do that. The more I think about it the more I am convincing myself to just rely on the methods of training that I enjoy and don’t injure me like running seems to do.
 
When in doubt I have found Mr. Ciampa pretty reliable:


The entire article is good but for the purposes of this thread I would point to the return to running portion. For my part, the poison is in the dose. During the early years of my coaching career I would join my distance people in a morning run. When we were finished I had fruit and juices waiting for us. As time went on the athletes got faster and I was no longer able to maintain pace and form I rode a bike in order to check on them. Nowadays road running is not much of a factor, simply too much pounding on the knees and ankles. I'll be 64 this Tuesday and am content to perform my "volume" running around a half-mile grass path my father-in-law planted around a parcel of farm land behind our home. Even then I spent a considerable amount of time training at MAF to strengthen an aerobic base. With the weather in Ohio not to my liking during the winter (at least where volume running is concerned) I suppose the decision to limit volume work is based on the fact that I can't count on the elements cooperating on a consistent basis. If it's decent during a given stretch I can warm-up and cut loose (so to speak) for 800m and feel stimulated. Sometimes it can be 1-2 miles but only if I am confident that I am aerobically prepared.

There are times in the spring/summer when I have completed to "Return to Running" program in its entirety. Sometimes I get started and after a few sessions I am sure that I can run 30+ minutes and change my approach. I tend to gauge the role of running in terms of how I feel the rest of the training day and the day after. If I feel energized and refreshed that's enough for me. Quality of life and knowing that I can turn it on if necessary are my barometer. As I've said before everyone has to determine how much water and fertilizer they need. So many times we search for too much, our body will tell us.
 
When in doubt I have found Mr. Ciampa pretty reliable:


The entire article is good but for the purposes of this thread I would point to the return to running portion. For my part, the poison is in the dose. During the early years of my coaching career I would join my distance people in a morning run. When we were finished I had fruit and juices waiting for us. As time went on the athletes got faster and I was no longer able to maintain pace and form I rode a bike in order to check on them. Nowadays road running is not much of a factor, simply too much pounding on the knees and ankles. I'll be 64 this Tuesday and am content to perform my "volume" running around a half-mile grass path my father-in-law planted around a parcel of farm land behind our home. Even then I spent a considerable amount of time training at MAF to strengthen an aerobic base. With the weather in Ohio not to my liking during the winter (at least where volume running is concerned) I suppose the decision to limit volume work is based on the fact that I can't count on the elements cooperating on a consistent basis. If it's decent during a given stretch I can warm-up and cut loose (so to speak) for 800m and feel stimulated. Sometimes it can be 1-2 miles but only if I am confident that I am aerobically prepared.

There are times in the spring/summer when I have completed to "Return to Running" program in its entirety. Sometimes I get started and after a few sessions I am sure that I can run 30+ minutes and change my approach. I tend to gauge the role of running in terms of how I feel the rest of the training day and the day after. If I feel energized and refreshed that's enough for me. Quality of life and knowing that I can turn it on if necessary are my barometer. As I've said before everyone has to determine how much water and fertilizer they need. So many times we search for too much, our body will tell us.
The poison is indeed in the dose in almost everything....
 
How far? How fast?
I dont know to be honest. Maybe 30 minutes, whatever distance that is. I dont know about speed, I would say whatever speed as long as both feet leave the ground. Or maybe slightly faster than walking, otherwise you would walk.

If you were not able to walk, would you ask that sort of questions? How long or how fast you should be able to walk? Or would you consider that you should be able to walk and correct whatever is wrong?
 
If you were not able to walk, would you ask that sort of questions?
?

My question was posed because there are those who think that if one cannot maintain a certain pace that you are not a "runner." That is an opinion that I reject.

I agree that circumstances occasionally require us to run and those who cannot are indeed likely to be compromised in some significant way and also likely to face other issues in the future. If I came across as attacking you please understand that was not my intent, you answered my question and you do not need my approval to have a stance on the matter. We are wonderfully made and built to walk but it's reasonable to expect that we can turn it up a notch when need be. Running is a gift and a joy. The fact that some people might consider my fifteen minute two mile pace unworthy gets under my skin but I understand that wasn't what you were saying. Truth be told there is quite a history of accomplished distance runners in my family, I just don't happen to be among them.
 
my doctors say I’m unusually healthy for my age - good heart health, clear coronary blood vessels, good blood pressure, low body fat, good strength, take no medicines. I walk, strength train, and swing kettlebells.
This is good stuff, Steve. I’m 40 now, and would love to say the same at 65. What does your weekly walk, strength, KB program look like?
 
I think sprinting is good, walking is good, rucking is good, carrying stuff is good, crawling is good.
But jogging... Based on my own experience and for example OS stuff, I don`t think it`s the best way to train your body for the results people usually try to gain from "running".
 
This is good stuff, Steve. I’m 40 now, and would love to say the same at 65. What does your weekly walk, strength, KB program look like?
Thank you for the kind words, @Sean Mulcahy.

Walking: I live near the edge of the downtown area, what we call the CBD or central business district, small town about 25,000 people in New Jersey, and most of my walking is for practical purposes: the grocery store, the bank, the dry cleaner, and that sort of thing. I take the opportunities as they arise to lengthen my walk some days, e.g., my walk to my favorite grocery store is about 3/4 of a mile, but if I go the long way, then it's about a mile longer. I walked to a doctor's appointment last week, which was about 1-1/2 miles each way; I walked to return something we'd borrowed from someone else in town a couple of days ago, and that was a mile or two each way. So I typically walk most days, usually a couple of miles, sometimes I miss a day or two, and some days I'm up to 5 or 6 miles. Sometimes my wife and I will walk to the next town up, have a cup of coffee there, and walk home, usually a weekend for that.

Unless I'm short on time, I don't "power" walk but rather the opposite - it's a time when I like to be as relaxed as possible, looking to undo the tensions of sitting at a desk or piano or whatever else, and I often do Buteyko reduced breathing practice for part or all of some of my walks.

Strength and kettlebells: It varies, sometimes with a focus on an upcoming powerlifting meet, and I cycle things in an out of it, e.g., I was working on my "skin the cat" and my front lever on the rings for a while, now I'm working on pullups where I use one hand but only a finger or two of the other hands - I guess you'd call those "assisted one-arm" pullups/chinups. I'm currently bench pressing and have a bench-only meet in December, and I'm also trying to get back to something of a barbell squat. If I don't have a particular plan, I tend to deadlift a barbell, 75% 1RM or so, for 10-20 total reps per session, 3 times a week, plus some overhead lift - might be a kettlebell press, might be a barbell press.

On alternate days, I do getups and kettlebells swings without a big plan, varying the volume, the weight, the format.

I take days off as I feel I need to and as the rest of my life allows.

I weigh myself every morning.

-S-
 
I weigh myself every morning
Steve, you weigh yourself for any specific reason?

Lately I measure my waist most days, and sometimes my hips as well. I dont compete at a weight class, so for body composition I think that waist measurement is very valuable. That, and I dont own a scale.
 
Steve, you weigh yourself for any specific reason?
Oh, I don’t know. Habit, I guess. Maybe it’s hereditary - my father, who didn’t compete in any sport, also weighed himself every morning.

-S-
 
I've seen the advice to only weigh yourself once every month or so but I never bought into it. I've found it's easier to make adjustments if I catch it right away rather than wait until the weight has been sitting on me for three weeks. The longer it's there, the harder it is to lose it seems.
 
The scale won't tell you what's what. Try a tape measure around the waist at the umbilicus. A height to waist ratio of greater than 2. For those that don't like to jog, try the Rockport 1 mile walking test.
 
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