Fifteen years regularly. When I don't, I feel badly. When I do, I feel jazzed. Its hard on your knees and feet. My doc told me to cut back, so I did. Now I'm running about fifteen miles a week, just to keep some level of fitness.
Troy

Sadly I had to hang up the running shoes a couple years ago. At 46 my knees and back threw in the towel. I can go for a month or two but then the pain really started and I was reduced to cripple like status. Now I go to the gym more, swim once in a while, go for walks with the wife, and ride a stationary bike getting my HR up to 165 for 30-40 minutes.

Be careful with running and avoid concrete. The treadmill machines at the gym have a bit of "bounce" which is easier on the joints (but boring as hell to run on). Many local colleges have newer tracks with some sort of rubber coating that provides some give. I really liked running on the beach, wet sand 3/4 of the way then full soft sand the last 1/4. Sadly even that would ruin my joints.

I used to jog,but haven't for years. Now as I get older I started to walk, then in a month or so, I'll start to jog again. I NEED to get back into better shape. My knees and such are still in good shape so maybe I can do it again. Jogging is a state of mind, you have to do it, and as you do it gets into your mind. Running gets your spirit in good shape, as far as I know.

My dad started running soon after I was born, ran his first Bay to Breakers when I was 1 and was marathoning (starting with SF) when I was 3. By the time he stopped marathoning when I was 12 or so he had 20+ marathons under his belt, all sub-4. The guy is 70 now and still gets in 20-25 miles a week.

His advice on pace: "Start out slow, then ease off."

I had been running about 2 miles a morning and recently switched it up and its kind of fun.

When I get to the gym I run on a treadmill for 10 minutes I start with a brisk walk for 2 minutes, then a light run 2 minutes then a full run for 2 then back down.

I then lift weights.

Then I finish with another run, this time 1 minute jog to warm up, then an all out run attempting to get my pulse rate up to my peak and keep it there for more and more time as I can stand it, at first it was only 2 minutes, now I am up to 3 minutes, if I cannot go anymore I back it down, recover, then amp it up again. I try to keep this up for 7 minutes.

The first week, I thought I was going to throw up, I actually ran outside and got away from everyone,.... just in case.

This really kicks your butt, its really intense, I like it a lot. I do not have time to go out and run miles and miles so this is working for me now.

I run 1.4 miles every morning. Early before sun up.
I like it, so do the dogs. If you have a dog, you will have to do it every day.
They will not give you a rest.
Check out this site, it will tell you the distance of your route, the calories burned, all kinds of cool things.
http://www.mapmyrun.com/

I use mapmyfitness.com with the 'distance' app for the iphone.

Best advice, as many have said, is start slow and build up distance slowly. Also, don't worry if you need to walk a bit some days. As The said, you don't want to do this for two weeks and burn out. Long-term sustainable exercise will benefit your health the most. Heck, even a brisk walk for 30-45 minutes a day is much better than nothing!

This formula has kept me fairly consistent for several years even through periods when I would miss a few days here and there. When I started I weighed 200++ and had trouble with a mile; I now run 25 miles a week and ran a 6:04 mile last Saturday - pretty good for a big-framed 42 year old guy, IMO.

FWIW.

BTW, if you have a 3G iPhone, the RunKeeper app is great. Distance, pace and calories burned logged and it'll put your route on a Google map.

cool site, I knew the internets was good for something!

Here's a route from mapmyfitness.com

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/view_route?r=924123846310681286

Here's my profile which shows a bit more.

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/user_profile?u=722187893941

Makes the workout more fun.

I run 12-18 miles a week; been doing it for 20 years. My wife is a marathon runner and she has more stamina than me, but I can outrun her up to 10 miles.

Buy the best shoes money can buy and they'll take care of your ankles, knees and hips. Be cheap and you'll have to replace joints.

Here's what RunKeeper gives you:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1238466428.jpg

+1000 on the book - "Younger Next Year"

My wife brought it back from a meeting where she heard one of the authors speak. I'm slowly reading it because it really says to put the book down and go out and DO IT. Chris Crowley autographed it under this statement: " Mike, you gotta do this stuff"

I've been mixing it up - I like biking and have been doing lots of great trails on a bike I deserve to upgrade now. I also swim and have even run a few times. Strength training seemed illogical for sore joints - but they expalin that it heals them! I'm a doc and I learned that from this book.

The book is funny and gives you the incentive to get going. Getting a heart rate monitor is given top priority. I find that running raises it to about 155 and it stays there - an efficient workout. Although its better to train at lower levels for fat buring etc.

Good luck and I hope we all get in better shape.

Mr Dayton, or anyone else with tendonitis, ice works great, or even more effectively, ice massage for 3-4 minutes, then heat(not hot, maybe heating pad on low type temperature, tub of warm water works well) for a minute then ice massage. I paper cup full of water in the freezer makes a handy hunk of hielo(ice, gringo) Peel back paper to expose as needed. Repeat to total 20 minutes, start and finish with cold. Very effective. Heel lift will help with Achilles tendonitis too.
Back on Topic

Get a bicycle

Stretch more than you do now. Way more, #1 cause of injury in my experience.

Buy good shoes if you must run


and lay off the donuts, eh?

Tim Horton, un ami sur la route my fat ass

You make a good point though. If you don't like it, you won't want to do it. That is why normal, healthy people always want to have sex all the time. Speaking of partners, if you have a dog or a fellow human that is expecting to go, you are more likely to do so; guilt, it works.


DO NOT RUN ON CONCRETE

It is a side"walk" and that is all it is good for

The one thing that inspired me most was 4 words someone said to me when I was complaining about going to the gym and running (b/c to be honest, for the most part, I don't enjoy doing it).

Those 4 words really resonated with me, because in our mid 40s, we start to see friends dying off at 60, or being so hopelessly out of shape at 45 that there is almost no (realistic) hope of ever getting back in shape in this lifetime.

If you think about it, the percentage of 45 year old American men who could run, reasonably briskly without stopping, for even 2 miles, is probably very low. They can't now, and realistically never will be able to in their life (they ain't getting any younger).

Anyways, the 4 words were:

"Be thankful you can."

Wife ran 3 seasons all through college and coached in grad school. Me? I'm a skier and biker. I only want to run if whoever chasing me is bigger or meaner.

I wish I could - I really should - but its so durn boring! I mountain bike, usually keeping ~165 bpm average over the ride. It takes 1:30 or more for me to feel like I got a workout. Running a 25-30 minute 5k really kicks my rear.

Running for half an hour makes me want to swerve into traffic just to make it interesting. Trail runs are more stimulating, but it's still a struggle.

(evidently I'm a wannabe runner)

Thanks for the info. I will try this for sure. I thought I was being a pansy and simply kept running as my heel pain increased and now I hobble around for the first few steps whenever I get up out of my office chair, etc.

Also, the suggestion for good shoes is very important. I can actually feel when my shoes are going. I start getting some slight pain in my hip joints. New pair of shoes and everything is back to normal.

still at it. progressing very slowly. 2 weeks downtime due to bad seasonal allergies. i will go for a big increase tomorrow. 3 miles.

thanks for all the tips.

I've tried to run once or twice in my life. Mostly it was a "I think I'm about to have a coronary or my heart is going to explode out of my chest" experience. I was bringing my shoes along with me when I traveled, etc. For six months I kept it up, but I hated every single last second of it. And my knees hurt, my Achilles tendon felt like it wouldn't move, I'd get a side stitch that felt like labor, I was wheezing and gasping for air like a fish out of water - did I mention I hated every second of it? Probably lucky to run 2 miles. Worst 20 minutes of my life. As a college kid, I used to do the Davis Double Century (bike ride, 200 miles in <24 hours) in 12 hour times, rode 50 miles a day - so I know what it feels like to be in great shape.

Last year I bought an elliptical trainer - liked that reasonably well. But fell off the horse after 5 months. I'd like to find something I like and stick with it. So far I'm really lucky with genetics as I eat and drink like a man on death row and am within a couple of pounds of ideal.

I have yet to find a training regimen that I can stick with - other than 6oz glasses of wine like the Cahors I'm drinking right now...

don! you're causing me physical pain...i stopped drinking, for now. been 2.5 months.