maintain half decent muscle mass but train for a half marathon also? opinions.

[richglanzav]

hey dudes i'm running in a half marathon (13 mile) event in 9 weeks time so i have to get my exercise and diet routine sorted by the end of the week as i ain't bothered about winning it (there's no chance of that) but i don't want to be a straggler at the back either.

at the moment i am 13 stone and do mainly weight training at gym. i'm not massive or anything but i'm not a weed either lol.

i do the occasional run for about 2 and a half miles now and again which i find pretty tough but i run it at an approx 7 minute per mile pace so over 13 miles obviously i wouldn't try to keep that pace. but i would be doing significantly more cardio than normal. will this burn away my beautiful superman like muscles?! lol or can i maintain a bit of both?

 

[rosso321]

Alright man, I was told dunno how TRUE though running more the 30 mins U start too loose ur muscle then so yes possibility

 

[richglanzav]

ah right, i was kinda hoping a diet plan could sort it so i dont lose anything

 

[Chris@CCM]

Up the kcals (carbs) try and drink bcaas as ur running should be fine mate, just try and eat the the amount if kcals ur burning on top of ur days intake of food

Eg if u eat 3000kcals now and u burn a extra 1000kcals then eat 4000 that day easy lol

 

[richglanzav]

ah right cool man, thing is i actually want to gain muscle in the long run. but this half marathon im running and trying to raise money for british heart foundation so i want to do decently well lol. as soon as ive done it ile be back on the weights.

 

[pilgrim_fgau]

you want to be training your type 1 muscle fibres, ie slow twitching, so longer periods of training, you will be doing this as you keep increasing your training distance. To help maintain muscle mass, you also need to keep your type 2 fibres active, ie fast twitching, so keep at resistance training a few days a week.

Good quality slow release carbs will help, so plently of oats, blend them up and neck them, as soon as you get up and for the next few hours aim for 300g of oats before the marathon, than will help give you around 1200cals of slow release energy on top of anything else you had in the morning. A whey shake with glutamine and HMB would also help spare muscle.

be sure to get a good meal in after your training and the marathon, but im sure you already know most of this if your weight training for mass already

good luck with it anyway

 

[weeJohn]

Its all about your heart rate when you are running. If you keep it within s certain band then you will burn fat, to high and you burn muscle. Look into aerobic and annerobic state, get yourself a heart rate monitor.

 

[davehart]

Try to do more circuit training if you've not got time for a long run as that can help cardio. You know the kind, over a 400m stretch run for 100, walk for 50, jog for 200 and run for another 100.

 

[wickedep]

Up the kcals (carbs) try and drink bcaas as ur running should be fine mate, just try and eat the the amount if kcals ur burning on top of ur days intake of food

Eg if u eat 3000kcals now and u burn a extra 1000kcals then eat 4000 that day easy lol

^^^chris is spot on! up your calories and BCCA's while you train!

 

[Paul_JJ]

I would increase the distance tbh, slow down, but increase the distance, otherwise you will show good results for some time at the start line - probably for half an hour, but then end up somewhere at the back because your body didn't get used to it. And Running good and muscles -) One of those topics - How to save on Fuel while driving faster? I used to run 14 km in the past, very slow over an hour of running, but hey I made it to the finish -))))

Also as already mentioned the heart beat is important -) but hey the oxygen supply is even more important, we consume 9 times more oxygen while running!!! So that means - the way you breath - how often, how deep, etc is VERY important!