My wife is trying to lose some weight and get in shape. She’s done the Pilates thing, etc. But her best friend decided to run in a half marathon, and thus began running on a regular basis to prepare. She (the friend) just ran her first 5K this weekend.
The quick weight loss and health improvement for the friend has been pretty quick and dramatic. So my wife says to me - I have never been able to run, even when I was young and super slim, it hurts my ankles and knees. But I want to see if I can try.
I assume the reason it hurt her knees and ankles are 1.) because it hurts everyone’s knees and ankles when you start, and 2.) she did not have good shoes.
So - first question is what kind of shoes should she get, what should she avoid, and general running shoe advice. Don’t want to spend a fortune, but also want to make it as pain-free as possible. She’ll probably start out with fast paced walking, break into the occassional jog, back to walking, etc. until she can do more and more of the running and eventually all running, then continue from there.
Any other advice would be welcome. I used to run a lot, but never on any competitive level and never really got “into” it the way a lot of people do (and haven’t run in a long time, so I’ll probably get back into it with her.)
Love to start on our nice expensive 5 year old Schwinn treadmill, but we blew some kind of electronics in it (as in, smoke from the bottom) and I don’t have a clue where to get it fixed or how much it would cost.
It doesn’t hurt everyone’s ankles and knees enough to make them stop. So take it easy at first to see if she is prone to ankle or knee problems. And get shoes at a 2 for 1 sale. One of the pairs will be a loser, and the other one will be a winner, or not, but they will have different weaknesses and fits and changing shoes can help keep you from having an injury related to running a lot.
Well I use Nike shoes, but I’m sure any shoe that fits well would work. I do suggest a dedicated running shoe with some sort of cushioning (air or gel or whatever). I also suffer from knee and back pain and I made the shift to only running on non-paved surfaces, that has helped me out a lot. I also do a lot of biking and even some rollerblading to mix it up to avoid the pain.
Go to a specialty store that does shoes for runners. The staff will (or should) be knowledgeable (sp?) enough to look at her feet, gait, etc, and recommend a few different pair of shoes to try. Then she tries some different ones on and runs around, and you get the pair that feels best. Of course, if you’re just starting, any shoes would probably work.
Running on a treadmill is not like running outside. Outside requires more effort. I’d suggest doing at least some training outside if the goal is to run a 5K/10K.
Walking is also good. Results are slower in coming but it’s a lot harder to injure yourself walking than it is while running.
Weight bearing exercise is important for women to build and maintain bone strength. But running is so brutal, and when you talk about injuries you have to consider them as a when and not an if.
Your wife has the right idea in that starting slow is a good way to do it. Runner’s World has a whole section for beginners, which is probably better than a lot of the advice you’ll get.
Definitely get a her a good pair of shoes and socks. It’s the only real investment you need to make, and it’s well worth it. I say this as someone who ran in crappy, worn out walking shoes for years, and felt the difference when I started using real running shoes.
definately go to a running store for the first pair. they will watch her run, present her with shoes choices. never buy based on color, looks, or price. it should all be about feel.
suggest starting on one of the walk to run programs. mixes walking with running. good for building up body, ligaments, tendons, etc for the stresses of running.
nothing more boring than doing laps in a pool, that’s for sure.
I bought a real running shoe for the first time a few months ago. It made walking, jogging, and running easier. I immediately noticed that I did not land as hard as before stepping on the pavement, and that there was some springy bounce assisting me to take the next step forward.
Go to a specialty store that does shoes for runners. The staff will (or should) be knowledgeable (sp?) enough to look at her feet, gait, etc, and recommend a few different pair of shoes to try. Then she tries some different ones on and runs around, and you get the pair that feels best.
I went to a running specialty store for new shoes a couple months ago. I explained how I was just starting, and my wife didn’t want me to spend a fortune. They put me on a treadmill, then brought out a reasonably priced pair of shoes meant for my gait. It made a world of difference in comfort & strain, totally worth the extra effort.
I went to RunOn!, a local running store in Dallas, and they did all of the above, an ended up with a pair of Asics that were $90. It was like night and day compared to the running shoes I had previously bought on my own from Foot Locker, and not because my old shoes were bad – they just weren’t stiff enough in the right places for the way my foot flexed when it struck the ground.
As someone who frequently injures his feet in various places (high impact sport with a lot of jumping & frequent falling) I cannot overstate the value of taking a couple days off from running (even extra walking if reasonable) whenever you do stress out your feet. Your body will greatly thank you.
I find that reading is an excellent auxiliary sport for downtime, preferably with my feet propped up on something soft.
EDIT: Not exactly parkour, but my fellow Austinites seem to enjoy it: http://xpogo.com/ NASA did some sort of study on the health effects, and they ranked it as one of the most efficient forms of exercise possible. You use almost every muscle in your body, with the legs obviously getting most of the benefit. Of course, it tends to injure as well…
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[li]Stay OFF the treadmill as much as possible. Even though they give a good cardio workout, they do not prepare one for outdoor running, and more often than not, generate false progress perception. The difference is HUGE!
[/li][li]The sneaker suggestions are accurate, except for getting soft/gel inserts. Every running insert I’ve seen or used is rigid, almost hard-as-rock plastic, to deaden impact.
[/li][li]Find someone who knows how to run and learn how your feet should land on the pavement. This is very important for long distance running.
[/li][li]It’s rare for someone to lose weight without a diet change. See other (flame) threads on this. She’ll probably gain wieght without a diet change (from a shift of fat to muscle).
[/li][li]As others mentioned, running is brutal on the joints. It’s said a person can be a regular runner for about 10 years before having (noticeable) joint issues.
[/li][li]Buy/lend her an iPod so she doesn’t get bored beyond belief. Running is boring.
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Everyone else is right, she must go to a specialty store and get shoes that match her feet and the ground she’s running on (hard or soft, dry or wet). There’s really no way around this, and you should expect to spend at least $100. Running socks are a good investment, too – they provide additional buffering and prevent her feet from slipping around in the shoe.
Don’t want to spend a fortune, but also want to make it as pain-free as possible. She’ll probably start out with fast paced walking, break into the occassional jog, back to walking, etc. until she can do more and more of the running and eventually all running, then continue from there.
Yes, that’s a good idea. She definitely must not try to meet some deadline (“I’m running half a marathon in a year!”) because unless she’s very athletic already, that’s a great way to overtrain and get injured. She shouldn’t even try to run daily, it’s very important that the body can fully recover between runs because it’s really very stressful. She should be able to avoid injuries that way. Also, do some stretching and warming up before running.
Another suggestion: she may need to do some weight training to get strong and resilient enough to stand the stress of running in the first place. When I started out I found that running and weightlifting seem to “feed” each other. Running also gets harder during long weightlifting pauses, as if the body “forgets” how to deal with physical stress. So that’s perhaps an idea if she has difficulties making progress.
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If the goal is losing weight, then I would go for the treadmill. The treadmill is much easier on the joints and you get the cardio you need to lose the fat. I lost almost 30 pounds that way.
Don’t start running in Chuck Taylor All-Stars like I did and ruin your knees. My knees give out long before my endurance does now, and I’m pretty much limited to soft tracks or treadmills (which still hurt after about mile 3).
Just in case you missed it the first dozen times, follow the above advice. If the store is serious they will have you try on multiple shoes (in my case almost a dozen) and watch you stand, walk, then run in them. I bought two pairs of the same shoes because I was so happy with them. I thought I had an injury that was causing pain while running but it just turns out I didn’t have the right pair of shoes on.
