Long time lurker, minmal poster. Made some pretty good progress over a few years. I’m a FFB and lift 3xweek. Have been using various CW programs.
I’m currently training for a half marathon and I’m worried about losing muscle. Before anyone says eat more, I eat about 1500 more cals on running days, and have a shake after I finish.
The problem is some workout days I’m too damn tired to get a decent workout in. When this happens I just go compound and do what I can.
[quote]icedpete wrote:
I’m currently training for a half marathon and I’m worried about losing muscle. Before anyone says eat more, I eat about 1500 more cals on running days, and have a shake after I finish. [/quote]
At least, you weren’t crazy enough to aim for the full marathon.
Half a marathon should be a walk in the park if you’re not aiming to be among the first ones to finish. You’ll probably lose some hard-earned muscle during this period but the good news is that you can easily put it back due to what’s commonly called “muscle memory”.
My advice is to supplement with plenty of Glutamine, and keep the lifting heavy in the gym to force your boby to keep as much lean mass as possible. Shouldn’t be too hard since you’re not dieting or anything of the sort.
[quote]lixy wrote:
icedpete wrote:
I’m currently training for a half marathon and I’m worried about losing muscle. Before anyone says eat more, I eat about 1500 more cals on running days, and have a shake after I finish.
At least, you weren’t crazy enough to aim for the full marathon.
Half a marathon should be a walk in the park if you’re not aiming to be among the first ones to finish. You’ll probably lose some hard-earned muscle during this period but the good news is that you can easily put it back due to what’s commonly called “muscle memory”.
My advice is to supplement with plenty of Glutamine, and keep the lifting heavy in the gym to force your boby to keep as much lean mass as possible. Shouldn’t be too hard since you’re not dieting or anything of the sort.
Best of luck,[/quote]
Thanks - I might give the glutamine a shot, I don’t take supps except fish oil/whey but hey that’s just food.
I should add that I’m by no means a real runner as such. I’m just doing this as a bit of a challenge and as a charity thing. Be happy just to do a reasonable time.
I’m having a problem doing heavy squats/deads etc. Normally my favourite as I’ve got ok legs (I actually have pretty good legs and lagging arms - can you believe it!), but man is it hard to squat heavy then run 15km the next day.
I’ve been doing overhead squats/front squats instead, but they just dont feel the same.
Try using Surge after/during weight training and your runs, this goes a long way with recovery. Also use creatine (Mix 5g into each Surge serving) you could also try greens+ its certainly very useful for recovery and energy.
Otherwise just try and eat a bit more, an extra TBSP of peanut butter in your pre-bed meal goes a long way…
I’m currently training for a half marathon and I’m worried about losing muscle. Before anyone says eat more, I eat about 1500 more cals on running days, and have a shake after I finish.
[/quote]
I think that extra eating will result in more fat storage rather than less muscle loss. Of course if your just doing 1 half marathon then maybe you can get away with it.
Get plenty of rest, do less volume, keep the intensity up.
Why are you running 15k after doing heavy legs?
It also gets quite annoying hearing everybody talk about how much muscle they are going to lose without telling there size. If you are not a bodybuilder size 45 minutes of aerobics is not going to make you lose all your muscle. It might make it a little more difficult to gain but its not going to dissapear.
The main thing to worry about when adding heavy mileage is injury. Specially if your heavier than an average runner. If this is the case, what is the point of you doing heavy leg work the day before Running 15k. Plus the amount of time your trying to run it in is important. If you just want to be able to complete it, you don’t have to run every day, or not as far.
I am very much a victim of loving to train, and will go out and do everything I could everyday. But when I’m being smart, and intent on accomplishing a task I do it the smart way. Write out your goals, try to increase in stages, and you will be more successful.
How far off is the half-marathon? You don’t have to run super long distances to train for one of those. You could do shorter, higher intensity cardio two days a week and only one slightly longer run once a week. The shorter, high intensity sessions aren’t going to eat up muscle…and one longer run a week isn’t going to do it either.
Plus, let’s bear in mind, you don’t train for a marathon (or a half marathon) by running one.
My experience with combining running and weight lifting has been good. I run three miles, three times a week, and I lift heavy three times a week. I’ve been at 220 lbs for two years on that regimen, and don’t feel that I have “sacrificed” any muscle. Just eat well, and I think you’ll be covered.
PS: Although it has nothing to do with muscle, don’t forget to add some type of joint protection (i.e; glucosamine) to your supplementation. Your joints will thank you.
[quote]mapwhap wrote:
How far off is the half-marathon? You don’t have to run super long distances to train for one of those. You could do shorter, higher intensity cardio two days a week and only one slightly longer run once a week. The shorter, high intensity sessions aren’t going to eat up muscle…and one longer run a week isn’t going to do it either.
Plus, let’s bear in mind, you don’t train for a marathon (or a half marathon) by running one.
My experience with combining running and weight lifting has been good. I run three miles, three times a week, and I lift heavy three times a week. I’ve been at 220 lbs for two years on that regimen, and don’t feel that I have “sacrificed” any muscle. Just eat well, and I think you’ll be covered.
PS: Although it has nothing to do with muscle, don’t forget to add some type of joint protection (i.e; glucosamine) to your supplementation. Your joints will thank you.[/quote]
In preparation for OCS, I’ve been running about 20-30 miles a week. The furthest we’ll have to run at OCS is 4-5 miles. The USMC physical fitness test is 3 miles. So why am I running so much? Just like everything else, the more you do it, the more simple it becomes. I’ve gone from a 21 minute 3-mile time to a low 18 minute time.
Just like Pavel’s Grease the Groove method; the more you do something, the more efficient you’ll become at performing the task…as long as you don’t burn yourself out.
My girlfriend races half marathons, she does 2 weight sessions a week, 1 upper, 1 lower, the lower is usually followed by a complete day off. weighted circuits are also incorporated, in place of a third weight session.
she supplements whey after both runs and weights, good multivitamin, and glucosamine for joints.
she really doesn’t loose much muscle mass whilst doing this, she keeps most of her runs below an hour until a couple of weeks before the comp, where she adds a 1.5hr run once a week. for 2-3 weeks, leaving 2 weeks to taper before the race day. it seems to be the best way to do it with minimal weight loss.
I agree with the earlier post that 1500kcals over in running days is a little excessive, however if your body fat is still ok doing this then carry on.