I am a freshmen girl, about 113 lbs, 5'3"... I would like to join my cross country team.


I am just wondering, what are good ways to "get used to" running long distance and what are some ways for me to stay healthy (diet, excersises other then running, etc)???

The only way to get used to running, well, is to run [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif[/IMG]

As far as staying healthy, cover your bases with your diet. Sustained areobic training will burn a lot of calories, so make sure your taking in plenty of complex carbs.

The biggest obstacle will be overtraining and dropping your immune system. Talk to your coach (I'm not a runner myself), and he/she can maybe give you more nutrition tips. Supplemental vitamin C and E would be a basic start.

Mike is correct, you need to start running. If your running long distance you might want to avoud the "Atkins" style dieting. You need all the carbs you can hold without becoming obese. Had a friend who used to run long distance and the night before he competed he would eat large amounts of pasta to store up his carbs. He still was skinny as a rail from all the running. Your going to have to figure out your own diet with the help of your coach since it is different for everyone, in the mean time just eat healthy. Not because I'm a MA but I love Sushi and spicy Korean food! Good luck.

[This message has been edited by schanne (edited 09-08-2004).]

Haha. I'm a little against supplements because I believe if you take care of yourself, you dont need them.

As for diet, I think I did good up until right now: Todya for Breakfast: Gumy bears and an energy bar(long story).. Lunch: Raw Broccoli and carrots w/ fat free ranch...right now: SUBWAY! *Mwahaha*

[QUOTE]Haha. I'm a little against supplements because I believe if you take care of yourself, you dont need them.[/QUOTE]

This is true provided your not doing a lot of exercising, whether it's running or weight lifting. The more active you are the more nutrients your body needs. In order to get these nutrients you need to either eat more or take supplements. If your trying to maintain or loose weight eating more isn't a good alternative. If you doing cross country you don't want to put on weight, unless your under weight.

A low carb diet isn't what you want since you do need the carbs for energy. You need to find your resting metabolic rate(RMR) and your daily caloric needs. I take it your in high school. So your 14-15? At 5'3"/ 113lbs your not under weight. Your body mass index is 20, at 19.1 you are considered under weight and 27.3 is over weight. Your RMR is about 1372 and your daily caloric needs will be about 2399 with the amount of running and cardio you will be doing for cross country. If the number of calories you take in each day minus what you burn equals 2399 or in that range you will maintain about the same weight. If it is more you will gain weight and vise versa. So it depends on what you want to do. Regardless of if you want your weight to go up, down or stay the same you have to eat healthier. My experience has been eating 5 times a day is much better than three times a day. This would be three decent, healthy meals with two snacks in between separated by about 3 hours. This will help keep your blood sugar levels in a healthy range so your body doesn't start taking it's nutrients from your lean muscle.

The only way to prepare for a lot of running is to run a lot. You can do other cardio exercises to help with endurance but you need to run in order to condition your body for running. Here is the schedule i used when i started regular weekly training.


WEEKS #1, 2: 2 miles/day, 8:30 pace, M/W/F (6 miles/week)

WEEK #3: No running. High risk of stress fractures.

WEEK #4: 3 miles/day, M/W/F (9 miles/wk)

WEEKS #5, 6: 2/3/4/2 miles, M/Tu/Th/F (11 miles/wk)

WEEKS #7, 8: 3/4/5/2 miles, M/Tu/Th/F (14 miles/wk)

WEEK #9: same as #7, 8 (14 miles/wk)

There is a second part for the run but it shouldn't be started until you can do 14 miles a week. Hope this helps.