Running and Weight Loss

I know that many people enjoy running for the competitiveness, achievements, and pure enjoyment, but there are plenty of people that run to stay in shape and lose weight.

That is not the reason I run, I actually have to make sure to eat enough and get enough calories to properly fuel myself. But for those of you who main goal is weight loss and better general fitness here is a post for you.

An important thing to know is that you body burns fuel (that Big Mac you just ate) differently depending on how you exercise. Most trainers and people workout and try and burn as many calories as they can in a given time, so it is recommended that you do high intensity workout, get your heart rate into the fat burning zone (about 65%-80% of your Max heart rate). A good way to get an estimate is by taking 220 minus your age to get your Max Heart rate.

(220)-(my age)=Max Heart Rate

200 - 25 = 195

By being in your "Target Heart Rate" or fat burning zone optimized the amount of calories you are burning the most calories at a given time. This means that if you are below or even above this zone you are not burning the most calories. So make sure if your goal is to burn calories you get in and stay in that target heart rate zone. A good general rule to make sure your in the right zone is if you have to take a breath while talking and speaking a full sentence you should be close.

For example is you are on the treadmill and you can say out loud. "My name is Jordan and I like to exercise because I like to eat pizza." without having to take a breath you need to kick it up a notch, but if you need 3 o r 4 breaths to say that sentence out loud you are probably going a little too hard.

One thing that many people do not know is that when you are in your zone 1 heart rate your body actually burns fat directly. When you are in you THZ you are burning the most calories but they are the energy stores(carbs) in your muscles and liver. So if you burn 600 calories during your workout great, but just make sure you are not eating 800 calories as soon as you are done, otherwise you are just replacing the calories you burned. Be warned though you actually lose more weight by refueling after a workout with carbs and protein, than if you were to not properly refuel.

So why don't people just take it easy and exercise in their zone 1 HR and burn direct body fat? Well, it takes about 30 minutes for your body to "warm up" and start burning fat and then to actually burn any significant amount of body fat you would have to exercise for 2-4 hours in your zone 1 HR to see significant results. Not a problem if you are training for an Ultra marathon where that is all you do 6 days a week is run in your zone 1 and 2 for 3 hours a day. I even managed to lose 3lbs, this was after running 4 marathons earlier in the year.

In conclusion if you have the time and energy and want to burn that body fat all you need to do you go for a few 3 hour jogs 4-5 times a week.

Cold weather running:

Tips for Cold Weather Running:

• Make sure to stay hydrated: Even though you may not sweat as much and feel thirsty you are still losing a lot of fluids. Remember that when you can see your breath in the cold you are losing that much moisture every breath.

• Staying warm: Yes, it is important to stay warm but remember that your body warms up roughly 10 degrees fahrenheit once you are warmed up. You should be slightly cool when first start running.

• Make you warm up and cool down inside: Especially cooling down. When its cold outside you cool down fast as soon as you stop running, so make sure to get inside soon after your run.

• Keep a look out: With daylight saving time coming up and the daylight already fading fast make sure you are carrying a headlamp and wearing reflective gear if you are running near traffic. Do no assume that any cars see you.

RUNNING WILD: Motivation

Here is a great post from a friend's blog. Certainly motivating. Enjoy!

RUNNING WILD: Motivation

Quote of the Day:

"It is simply that we can all be good boys and wear our letter sweaters around and get our little degrees and find some nice girl to settle, you know, down with...Or we can blaze! Become legends in our own time, strike fear in the heart of mediocre talent everywhere! We can scald dogs, put records out of reach! Make the stands gasp as we blow into an unearthly kick from three hundred yards out! We can become God's own messengers delivering the dreaded scrolls! We can race black Satan himself till he wheezes fiery cinders down the back straightaway....They'll speak our names in hushed tones, 'those guys are animals' they'll say! We can lay it on the line, bust a gut, show them a clean pair of heels. We can sprint the turn on a spring breeze and feel the winter leave our feet! We can, by God, let our demons loose and just wail on!"

Great Quote from a Great Book "Once a Runner" by John Parker Jr.

(PR) Personal Records

At this point I think that I am going to call it a year. I don't think I am going to enter any more races this year. I have had a lot of fun running the ones that I did and set PR's (Personal Records) in my Marathon, 25K, 50K and 50 mile distances. The biggest record being the Marathon because I have only ran one each of the other ones once. Next year I think I'm going to go for quality over quantity. 2009 was a year of a lot of races and I had a blast, I raced 203.7 miles this year and a considerable amount more in training.

2010 I think I'm going to focus in on more PR's, I have never ran a 10k or Half Marathon and haven't done a 5k since really high school. I think that while I am still young and able to have the time to really focus in on the marathon I'm going o try and maximize my potential in that race. I figure that I can switch over to the ultra marathons when I'm older. Dean Karnazes didn't start really running until he was 30 and most of the top ultra runners are in the mid 30's to early 50's. I think I will try and focus in on my marathon time and use some short races 5k, 10ks, Half Marathons to tune up for those races.

The only thing that will be tough is that I really started to enjoy the trail races especially the ultras. I mean where else can you get the chance to see 50 miles of some of the most beautiful countryside in MN in one day? I will also miss getting to know more about the Ultra marathon community, it is definitely a different and diverse group of people and not very big, understandable, so they seem to be a pretty close knit bunch. Marathoners on the other hand are a whole different breed, sort of the speedsters of true distance running if you will. Note that I consider the marathon the shortest "distance" race. For now I will be cutting back the miles and ramping up the weight training, I really believe that the work that I did last winter in the weight room really help me to be injury free and able to run the amount of races that I did.

On that note here is a good article from Runner's World about how to work towards that new PR. Enjoy!

Magic Mile Repeats at Runner's World

Charitable organizations from RunnersWorld.com

As the cold weather moves in, earlier than usual here in MN, it gets a bit tougher to find the motivation to run. One thing that always helps me is running for a purpose, and often times it is for a personal goal which is a great motivator. If you are still in need of more motivation running for a cause and to help others is a great reason too. There are plenty of opportunities out there to do so, see article from Runner's World, and if there isn't create your own ask people to sponsor you for a charity in your next race, there are tons of ways to incorporate running into a worth cause.

Charitable organizations from RunnersWorld.com

Running Art

Here is an interesting article that I found in the NY times. I know that some of your have seen the workouts that I have posted from my Garmin GSP watch. It records my route and maps it to google maps. Well people are taking that to a whole new level. Enjoy!

The Big Draw of a GPS run:

Quote of the Day:

Here is a great quote that is a really great response when people ask about why you run, especially so many races and the Ultramarathons.

"A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for." - William Shedd

Twin Cities Marathon 2009

Despite, one hectic week of traveling, presentations and recovering from a hamstring injury I did run the Twin Cities marathon. As I was sitting on the plane Friday evening I was sort of doubting whether or not I really wanted to go through with it. I know I was in good enough shape but still have some questions about my hamstrings and was simply exhausted from all of the traveling. When I got home I have to help move all of our furniture into our new apartment, so less then ideal circumstances for preparing for a marathon.

I did end up running the race and it went a lot better then I expected. I actually felt great for the first 18 miles or so and was on pace to beat my personal best up until then. But the last 6-8 miles I dropped off quite a bit from 6:20 to 6:35 minute mile pace to 7:00 to 8:30 minute mile pace. I am also paying for pushing that hard and potentially not fully recovering form the 50 miler and all of the above mentioned activities.

The Twin Cities marathon is always a great race and a lot of fun. You get to see a lot of both Minneapolis and St. Paul and its as close to a home field advantage as I can get. Being that I now live in the Minneapolis area and I went to school in St. Paul I used to run many mile up and down the last 1/3 of the course and now I currently run most of my miles on the middle 1/3 of the course.

Here are the results and you can see my pace results from my Garmin watch.

Chip Time:2:56:24

Overall Place: 205

5k Split: 20:26

10k Split: 40:58

Half: 1:25:26

30k Split: 2:02:02

20 Mile Mark: 2:11:14

Avg. Pace 6:44

Garmin Connect -
Activity Details for
Twin Cities Marathon 2009