1 year out from surgery.

A couple of months ago I stopped running long distances and started doing high intensity interval training for 20 to 30 minutes a day while focusing on strength training. This may sound crazy but I have managed to gain 15 pounds of muscle and honestly have never felt better in my life. I have not had my body fat tested but am still in 31 jeans and a large shirt which is the same as when I was at my lowest weight. I hadn't weighed myself in a long time but had my 1 year follow up with my doc today and he gave me a puzzled look when he saw my chart. He was very happy with the gain as well when I told him how I switched up my workouts. This is not to slight the endurance athletes we have in this forumn at all , I just wanted to throw this out there if there are some just starting out and are not comfortable with the endurance side. I am still going to do a half marathon this year just to prove to myself that I can. I also want to thank all you guys for all the support and info given over the last year to help get where I am.

This is the first time I'm visiting this website so I'm not sure if what I'm doing is correct. 

I'm 3 1/2 months out from surgery and have so far lost 60lbs.  I have excess skin now hanging from, and around, my mid-section.  My question is, when you first started running, did you have a problem with / how do you keep the excess skin from "flopping" ??  Though I'd like to start running, I'm embarassed by that sound, so right now I'm just walking on the treadmill.  It has been suggested that maybe if I get a pair of bicycle shorts and wear those under my gym shorts it will stop the "flopping".  Is that what's normally done ??  Or wrap my abdomen with a few 6inch ace wraps ??

a lot of people wear bike shorts, or other kinds of compression garments to hold down the floppy parts.  It's kind of like a sports bra for your belly.  Do what feels most comfortable for you.  You can google the brand name "under armour" to see shorts and tops that people wear.  Compression garments have many practical uses besides holding skin in place - most athletes wear them for their warmth in the winter, and to wick the sweat away from your body in the heat.

These items can usually be purchases in any sporting goods store, and often Walmart and Target have them too.

Congrats on your muscle gain!

You make an excellent point about us endurance freaks.  There are many ways to be fit and healthy, and many other kinds of physical challenges.  What you are doing is awesome, because YOU FEEL GREAT.  No reason everyone should become a marathoner or a triathlete... we need the variety around here!

Congrats Nate! What a year it has been for you.... I got down to 199 and decided I looked sickly, as I began training for ULTRA Distance Running, I gained about 20-25 pounds and my body fat % DROPPED! when I ran the 76 miles at Rocky Raccoon, I was at 225 10.5% Body Fat and felt great. I will be a lot faster at a lower weight, but how I feel is more important than what the scale says!

congrats!
went to see my surgeon who did my rny last July 28th. I weigh in at 140.5 today. I have lost 177 lbs and my bmi is at 23 percent. He also said that I gain muscle mass. Usually many lose muscle mass in such a big weight loss. He said that I gain like 7 lbs in muscle mass. That what ever I am doing is building muscle. I am not losing any muscle mass at all :)

  He said my body fat has gone dramatically too. Hooray. There is much body fat left. Just some hanging skin but not as bad due to I do strength training 3 times a week. Today I did walk/run 13 laps, 200 crunches, 100 push ups on the ball, cr...ossramp for 65 min, walk/run 13 laps, crunches 200 on ball, walk/run 13 laps. then went shopping. So I had a busy day with dr appt, then workout then to the store. Finaly got home after 1 this afternoon. I didnt' get in a long workout like I did yesterday. Yesterday I got 4 miles today I got only 3 miles on the track. We will see what happens tomorrow. I am training for a 5 mile run on Oct 2nd for childhood obesity. Never done one before let alone done any running until recently. When I start walk/run on the treadmill and now moved it into the inside track.

Wow, that's wonderful! I think it's great you did what worked best for you, and I'd love to see those bulging muscles!
Congrats!
Jan

Nate, those HIITs are pretty awesome things if youcan handle the fatique and soreness thereafter.  NotDave turned me on to them a couple of years ago from the Men's Forum/Board and I have used them to  help build my speed and breathing recovery.  They are great for building up faster and also for the stop and go running around needing in officiating football and basketball.  

I also noted most more formal run training programs have a sprint day in there at least once a day in addition to some interval or fartlek runining to improve speed and distance endurance. 

Sprint training is also getting more attention recently in a number of venues as the world is taking noticing that track sprinters (of varying distances) and football WRs and RBs espcially are getting more and more ripped and conditioned.  They are good workouts but definitely butt-kickers for sure.   I don't envision myself ever going farther than a half, maybe 1 marathon just to say I did it somewhere in my future but it does take time to tran distances.  Of course when yo get to that level of skill and speed, it doesn't take as long as it takes me now, I just haven't gotten there yet. I had gotten to 5-6 as my daily run becuae I was doing it in less than 60 min.  I'd love to get back to that and HHIITs are part of my program, just not daily.  Hadn't thought of doing it that frequent for the results you are sharing.  Thanks for the update and congrads on the results.

It is good to rock the boat occassionally with fresh ideas.

You are right about them being butt kickers. Back in the spring I was running 6-8 miles a day and honestly 20 minutes of going all out feels a lot harder than the long run. I have to take a day or two off to rest my legs because they get very sore from it as well.

i say why not both :)

while i'm not planning to do any ultra-marathon running events, i still love endurance racing, i also love sprints and interval workouts.  and i agree, intervals will kick your butt, and studies have shown that interval training can be the most effective method of fat burn out there (especially running intervals).  i also have been focusing on the weight training, and have definitely put on some mass and i too feel better than ever.

cograts nate on your success, it's been a very successful year for you.