I had been holding off on running hard until I had gotten over 20 pullups, and 100 crunches since it's always been hard for me to develop upper body strength (hockey goalie for many years, which just works your legs). I'm now comfortably over 20 and 100, so now it's time to work on getting down the run time. I had still been doing some light running (3 miles twice a week at more of a jogging pace) in the mean time so I'm not exactly at ground zero, but pretty close. Just for reference my last 3 mile time was around 26 minutes, of course I was just cruising and it was done on some rather large hills (refer to below description).
Here are my questions-
I live on a pretty large hill (800ft elevation), every direction I go is downhill with at least a 10-25 (yes it is actually 25 in spots) degree grade for 3/4 mile+ in each direction and then it has the tendency to go uphill again in alot of spots. Meaning no matter what I am finishing up a steep hill. Is it good to run big hills like this, or is putting to much strain on my body? Should I run on the local gravel track instead?
Is running on the road (asphalt) bad for you?
Any advice for someone just starting out to avoid injurys/shin splints/etc. in the long run?
Diet? I have a crazy metabolism, so everytime I start running hard I lose weight. That is despite taking in alot of calories to begin with, so I can only assume I'm eating the wrong stuff.
Whats the verdict on trail running? When the snow clears I have miles of dirt trails around my house.
I'm applying for 2010, so I have a year or more. Obviously my long term goal is sub 18 when I head off to OCS, but my more short term goal is to get around a 21 for my intial PFT, which looks like it will be 3-4 months (leaving me with a 282). Don't let the 26 baseline throw you off though, I would estimate pushing on a track it would be more like a 24.
I've looked most of this stuff up, but it's always nice to have first hand advice based on your constraints.
Thanks in advance,
Mike
Here are my questions-
I live on a pretty large hill (800ft elevation), every direction I go is downhill with at least a 10-25 (yes it is actually 25 in spots) degree grade for 3/4 mile+ in each direction and then it has the tendency to go uphill again in alot of spots. Meaning no matter what I am finishing up a steep hill. Is it good to run big hills like this, or is putting to much strain on my body? Should I run on the local gravel track instead?
Is running on the road (asphalt) bad for you?
Any advice for someone just starting out to avoid injurys/shin splints/etc. in the long run?
Diet? I have a crazy metabolism, so everytime I start running hard I lose weight. That is despite taking in alot of calories to begin with, so I can only assume I'm eating the wrong stuff.
Whats the verdict on trail running? When the snow clears I have miles of dirt trails around my house.
I'm applying for 2010, so I have a year or more. Obviously my long term goal is sub 18 when I head off to OCS, but my more short term goal is to get around a 21 for my intial PFT, which looks like it will be 3-4 months (leaving me with a 282). Don't let the 26 baseline throw you off though, I would estimate pushing on a track it would be more like a 24.
I've looked most of this stuff up, but it's always nice to have first hand advice based on your constraints.
Thanks in advance,
Mike