Must Do Road Work; Get Stamina!

I remember back to when I was working out to be a kick-boxer and I got a trainer. He told me that if I wanted to learn how to box, I was going to have to do the road work in the morning. What I asked? I had to run a couple of miles before work and then after work – do the two hour kick-boxing workouts!

You see if I did not do the road work, my trainer was not going to train me in the finer points of pugilism! What would the point be to learn the motions but not be able to deliver? Yes there is something to be said for learning a skill but having the stamina to hang in there for 10 rounds is something else!

The reason I bring this up is I have been injuring myself a lot lately again and I have been having to figure out creative ways to workout. In this post I will highlight my progress as well as my new found love of road work. My stepdaughter turned me on to some runner’s mapping websites I will also highlight. Here is an overview of one of the mapping websites.

That was pretty snazzy huh? I was running about one and a half miles a night – four to five nights a week but I was looking for a way to increase my metabolism. I added on to my run slowly at first and worked up to three miles (I mapped the run to verify)!

The only problem as I mentioned is I have a habit of overdoing it. I jog slowly but soon I wanted to run into the hills for some extra calorie burning and ended up running over four miles and had to limp back home! I had to give jogging a break for a day. I tried swimming in a small pool and got somewhat of a workout.

I am already laying off of bag work because I think I broke my right hand (again). I am too impatient to wrap my hands before pulling on the gloves even though it would only take five extra minutes! So I am finding myself in the position of dealing with injuries.

I have since worked back up to my three mile slow jog about five nights a week and have promised myself that I will not blow it again!

After my hand heals some I will cut down the miles and integrate some bag work but one thing I am pleased with – I am steadily losing weight (fat)! I have taken off a couple of pounds a week for the last two weeks. My goal is only one and a half pounds a week so I am doing ok.

I am guessing that my runs are burning about 400 calories a night (x 5 nights) and burn about 2000 calories a week. I am also guessing that I eat about 500 less calories than I need a day so I am burning about 3500 calories through diet - a week. That should put me at a pound and a half lost a week. Here is another running website overview.

The cool thing about what I am doing is when I get to where I want to be, I plan on eating more and exercising about the same! What you might be thinking? Yes I am planning on eating what I am eating now but just increase each serving some to make it about even. That along with keeping up my exercise should work well.

I am finding that I really like to run and I am having a hard time stopping myself from doing longer runs. My one worry is if I start the long distance running is I will become gaunt looking. Some runners don’t eat enough and end up burning muscle… that accounts to the sickly thin look that some runners have. I need my muscle so I have to guard against the urge to become a distance runner.

So thats what is new for me. I’ve added an hours run – five nights a week and that along with eating a little less, the fat is slowly melting off!