When to run while training for climbing and working?

I need to loose a couple 20 or so pounds, Dam office job. Currently I am already down about 5-10 pounds in about 2 months without cardio and only climbing 3-5 days per week. But to help with endurance and to loose weight a little faster. My current schedule is something like follow for during the week (Mon-Fri). I only planning to run for 25-40mins/2-3 miles.

8:30am-9:30am Wake up
9:30am-6pm Drive to work and Work
6pm-7pm Eat and Drive to Climbing Gym
7pm-10pm Climb (Mon, Tues, Thurs)

Should i run in the morning while i am half awake before work? Im worried that this may hinder my climbing later in the day.

Or should i run after climbing, my only concern here is the lack of energy after climbing for 3 hours.

What do other people do to get cardio and cut some weight while balancing life?

Can you bike commute? Works well for me and a lot of my friends.

On the days your not climbing go for a run. You said you climb 3-5 days per week. that leaves 2-3 days running per week. that should be a good start.

Running in the morning has always been my MO. It spikes your metabolism (think weight loss) and will eventually begin to amp you up for the day ahead. If I am climbing local (less than an hours drive from my house),I'll factor in a run either pre- or post climbing. Hope that helps.

I say morning. From the time you leave your house you seem to have a very full schedule.
30 mins running in the am would really amp your overall workout.

Morning is a great time to get that run in. Another time might be lunch, if it's possible where you work. That's long been a favorite for me, a quick 30 minute jaunt at lunch. I seem to eat less (because I tend to eat a quick, small lunch while stretching after my run) and it really gets me moving for the rest of my day instead of "parking it" in a chair for 8 hours a day.

Based on your stated schedule...

Run 20-25 min. 2-3 times a week (Mon, Wed, Fri). Also, consider lunch time runs. (Early mornings don't work for me...)

By all means, don't do too much too soon - a sure way to injure yourself and/or quickly burn-out. Give your legs and lungs plenty of time to adapt (2-3 months). Be patient....

Chris Duca wrote:Running in the morning has always been my MO. It spikes your metabolism (think weight loss) and will eventually begin to amp you up for the day ahead. If I am climbing local (less than an hours drive from my house),I'll factor in a run either pre- or post climbing. Hope that helps.

this is right on... one thing, you list a big chunk of time as "climbing" 7-10? how much of that time is climbing? might want to cut out one of those days to do a real 3 hour beat down workout were you spend all 3 hours working every muscle? Might want to find a local running group (this can help a lot)either trail/road? Also, think about running trails if you can, the time will fly and really the best part about running is the hills!

Most importantly make all the changes lifelong maintainable! Good luck and have fun.

run barefoot

It depends on you. I like getting my cardio done in the morning, especially since I sit at a desk most of the day. Wakes me up. Are you running outside? Treadmill?

This is my treadmill workout:
20 minutes warm up at 5.5 mph- 1% incline
3 minutes 7 mph at 2% incline
2minutes at 6.5 mph at 4%incline
1 minute @ 6-6.5mph at 6& incline
1 minute @ 7mph at 0% incline
do 3-4 times

then finish off with 1% incline for 12 minutes at 6.5-7mph
then warm down.

I also like doing the versa climber. This is when i can't get out to run. I'd rather run the trails around my house or do the Incline.

One question, do you really need to climb 3 times a week, especially if you're climbing on the weekend? Also, someone raised the good point of whether you're actually climbing the whole time during that 3 hrs. You're definitely benefit more from dropping 10 lbs. than climbing 3 vs. 2 times a week, so given the amount of time you're already climbing, weight loss and overall fitness should be the priority.

Re running, studies show that runners get injured less when they exercise in the afternoon vs. morning. Also, the NY Times recently had an article that stated that people exercising in the afternoon were able to get the heartrates higher with less perceived exertion (thereby permitting a better workout) than when they exercised in the morning.

Personally, I'd mix it up more. Go biking, mt. biking, etc. Sometimes your climbing actually benefits from climbing less. The amount you're climbing, you're an injury waiting to happen.

Chris Duca wrote:Running in the morning has always been my MO. It spikes your metabolism (think weight loss)

+1

I live in Chicago and commute 27 miles to work by toll way to biking to work is out of the picture. I would also need to own a bike for this.

Running barefoot is dangerous in Chicago you know rock, glass, cars, dog poop, and needles.

I live Chicago and I am 4-7 hours away from rock, and I don’t always climbing every weekend I am targeting for 1-2 weekends a month on real rock, with a couple of longer trips here and there.

When I climb for the 2-3 hours I will do laps on the auto belays for endurance if my climbing partner can’t make it. Last Thursday I did around 36 laps on a 30’ wall, so then climbing was around 70-80% of the time, i.e. 30 mins climbing, 10 min rest, and repeat. If my climbing partner is there we will work harder routes and climbing is around 30-40% getting about 10 routes in on the 40’ walls around my max.
Currently my onsite limit is at 5.10b. So climbing lap days I will do climbs ranging from 5.7 to 5.10b, with less than 2-3 routes at 5.10a routes and the majority of the routes around 5.8-5.9. During this I focus a lot on just staying on the wall and not pumping out during the climb. I know if I am pumping out that I need to drop it down a grade or two. I really want to keep the 2-3 hours of climbing 3-5 days a week.

I live by the following for climbing training to prevent injurie.
-Endurance Day = High Lap count & low intensity routes
-Power/Strength = Low climbing Lap High Intensity routes.
-No more than 2 climbing days in a row.

Looks like everyone is hitting cardio in the morning I will try that. Last time I did that I started out too fast and ended up with runner’s knees… That kind of sucked. I will probably use one of those beginner running guides so I don’t to start out too quick.

Im hoping with running in the AM and climbing at night with lots of sleep and good food I can shed the weight kind of fast 2-3 pounds a week?

JLP wrote:It took me awhile to realize that fitness and weight are not the same thing at all. Climbing doesn't make you very fit. It just makes your forearms strong. If you want to loose 20 lbs, you'll have to fix your diet. A 6 mile run just burns a couple cliff bars. You've probably eaten the equivalent of several 100 too many to take on 20 lbs. So, good luck with those miles if all you plan to do to loose weight is run. Also, most people just eat more after taking on more exercise. As Horst points out, the quickest climbing gains are through dropping weight.

This is right on. Diet is WAY more important than exercise, in general, for weight loss. The metabolic boost of a run in the morning is puny compared with the results you would get from eating 4 to 6 small, equal, healthy meals a day.

foodconsumer.org/newsite/No…

journals.lww.com/acsm-essr/…

sportsmedicine.about.com/od…

associatedcontent.com/artic…

Is there a shower at your office? I also have a busy schedule and this has worked out well for me. Remember you should be running for at least 45 mins to actually get real benefits for weight loss. Try 45 min runs 3 x / week think monday wednesday friday = run days and every other day = climbing days. And make sure you give yourself at least 1 full rest day where you aren't doing anything.

On a side note if you are new to running you may have to build up to training for this amount of time. Also if you are new to running you don't want to be running without at least one day in between other wise you will be heading down the road to a leg injury faster then climbing more than 2 days at a time.

It's all about gettin' BIG!

http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/HIIT.html

jp.physoc.org/content/575/3…

findarticles.com/p/articles…

Read these (or at least their summaries/conclusions). You may decide that you have time for 15 mins of sprint training a week instead of 3 or 7 hours yogging. Even with much much less volume, sprints burn more fat and give you the same endurance gains as traditional long and slow running. Plus they make you faster.

Some question how this is possible. I haven't seen a good answer to that, only consistent findings in studies. The best theory I've seen is that sprints induce a physiological response that causes muscle to be preserved more than normal while burning fat as the primary fuel source (all exercise actually causes muscle to be burned for energy to some degree (eat protein after all exercise)). More total calories may not be burned in sprint training, but those that are tend to come from fat, resulting in better fat loss. You may burn more calories going for a 45 minute jog, but many of those additional calories will come from burning off muscle tissue - no bueno.

Of course, if you go and jog/climb for 12 hours in the mountains, you will probably burn more fat than 4 minutes of sprint intervals. But if you gotta choose between a 45 minute run and 4 minutes of all out effort, I'll take the sprints. Less wear and tear on your knees and hips too (insert barefoot running plug here).

Look up sprint intervals, hiit training and Tabata intervals to learn how to build up to doing sprints.

why would you look for advice like this from a bunch of gumbies? take it from a hard man boulder jockey(read not fat trad climber) that the way to go is not eating anything. i get all of my nutritional requirements from flinstones gummy vitamins and guiness. I run 5 miles a day on top of this, and watch the Lord of The Rings Trilogy to get me amped.
One Cannot simply campus dyno into mordor!
-Boromir

I think running is a great way to supplement climbing. If you are training for climbing, though, you have to make sure that running is secondary to climbing. That means that if you are planning on climbing hard over a weekend, don't let your running take energy away from climbing. Run after you are already worn out from climbing, not before.

As for losing weight, I think waaay too much focus is placed on this in the climbing world. Being fit is much more important that being light. Just try to do something active 5 days/week and make sure to eat well. I am a big fan of The Zone diet. Look it up.

Above all, be sure to be selective regarding the kind of advice you get. Consider the source. It is much more important to follow a rational, common-sense training plan, than one that is over-the-top and unsustainable.

sunder wrote:I need to loose a couple 20 or so pounds, Dam office job. Currently I am already down about 5-10 pounds in about 2 months without cardio and only climbing 3-5 days per week. But to help with endurance and to loose weight a little faster. My current schedule is something like follow for during the week (Mon-Fri). I only planning to run for 25-40mins/2-3 miles. 8:30am-9:30am Wake up 9:30am-6pm Drive to work and Work 6pm-7pm Eat and Drive to Climbing Gym 7pm-10pm Climb (Mon, Tues, Thurs) Should i run in the morning while i am half awake before work? Im worried that this may hinder my climbing later in the day. Or should i run after climbing, my only concern here is the lack of energy after climbing for 3 hours. What do other people do to get cardio and cut some weight while balancing life?

Dude... you need to get up earlier and on days you don't go to the gym, head to bed earlier too. 8:30am isn't early to wake up. Unless you can't adjust your work hours, you should try opening up more time in the mornings.

I find exercising in the morning easier to be motivated for, especially once you get into it. After your run you'll feel more recharged to start your day. You'll also need to keep your heart rate up for 40min rather than 25min at a time...even 60min is best.

As said by others, the most important thing in the equation is a healthy diet. My wife and I also like to make our lunch meal the largest (if we can) and try and eat dinner before 6pm, limiting pasta, rice and bread and instead eating more vegetables and a decent portion of meat. If I ever climb at night I like to make a small shake afterwards with banana and honey to help give the body something to "nibble" while I sleep.

I too work full time and go to school. My current schedule is wake up at 5:15 ride my horse when it isnt raining. Otherwise I wake up at 630. Head to work. Run 5.5 miles at lunch and shower. Work till 5. Climb at the gym for 45 mins. Go to school (630-930pm) then head to climbing gym after if I did not climb before class for an hour to an hour and a half. You can fit running in if you want to. I end up climbing 3 nights a week and climbing outside most weekends.