# How much walking/running is considered an acceptable fitness level?



## Deartist7 (Sep 28, 2014)

Hi everyone!
This is kind of a "getting back on it after a looooong break" type of question.
I'm an amateur XC racer, 23 y/o. Stopped training (Joe Friel's books guidance) around March due to surgery for thyroid cancer. I was doing OK in races, my weaknesses were always endurance, leg fatigue, consistency, that kind of stuff.
Recovered in a couple months, focused on riding often (due to impatience, I probably rode too hard and too short with crap recovery in between). 
Then, got mauled by college, rode less and less, had to travel for treatment, and that leads me to this day: haven't ridden in weeks, got treated, and while still weak and recovering from the effects of the treatment, I can start doing exercise slowly.

So I figured out I'd go out for a few walks and do a little sightseeing...and man I just realized how weak my legs are. I mean, it's not a surprise. I always thought I had weak leg muscles. I got into cycling because football and running (probably with bad technique) caused me shin splints and a lot of pain in general. 5 years into cycling I never did weight training, or did running, or even went for a walk, it's always been just cycling.

On occasions, I walked my dog for half an hour and I could feel the soreness the next day.

So, as it's often the case with me, I start re-evaluating things, and since I have a long way back to a competitive level in XC racing, maybe I should start right at the beginning.

I have a fitness tracker that helps me with tracking steps. I did around 10,000 yesterday, a good number for a healthy adult, apparently. My legs were shot today, but still working, so I went for 8,000 this afternoon.
Now I walk funny and I'm prone to tripping. I'll probably rest up a couple days and shoot for around 5,000 a day for a week, and build up from there. 

Thing is, I really don't know how to mix it up with cycling in this early stages, or if I should mix it at all. God knows my bike needs a service anyway. Any tips?
I'm sure I can build up nicely until my legs can take a decent hike and still feel ok the next day but as always, I want to know everything I can. Also, as far as weight training goes (perhaps bodyweight is better for now), now seems like a good time to add some structure as well.
Then comes running, which I'd love to do since none of my friends do cycling but most of them enjoy a good run and well, you start to feel a little bit left out sometimes, so I'd love to be able to go for a quick run every now and then and still have some semblance of leg stability the next day. But of course,that's a goal for later.

Thanks in advance.


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## LMN (Sep 8, 2007)

Returning to training is always tricky after injury or illness.

Good rule of thumb for order of increase:
1: Consistency: # of workouts per week
2: Duration : length of workouts
3: Intensity

So in your case you are looking to in the short term increase your ability to do any physical activity. I would start with frequent but relatively short walks and then gradually increase from there as they get easier to handle.


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## smartyiak (Apr 29, 2009)

Out of curiosity, why don't you lift any weights? Not talking about bodybuilding, Crossfit, HIIT or anything intense like that. But a basic program of light weights and "body weight" (like pushups and weightless lunges) exercise can do wonders for your basic fitness until you're back to full riding strength.

D'oh...read to quickly...I see where you wrote about weight training. I think you're on the right track...and I'd just youtube something. You might like doing HITT stuff...but at your own pace. Then pickup the tempo as your fitness improves. You can find plenty that don't require any weights...or nominal weight.


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## flyninjasquirrel (Apr 27, 2018)

Deartist7 said:


> Hi everyone!
> This is kind of a "getting back on it after a looooong break" type of question.
> I'm an amateur XC racer, 23 y/o. Stopped training (Joe Friel's books guidance) around March due to surgery for thyroid cancer. I was doing OK in races, my weaknesses were always endurance, leg fatigue, consistency, that kind of stuff.
> Recovered in a couple months, focused on riding often (due to impatience, I probably rode too hard and too short with crap recovery in between).
> ...


My recommendation would be to start seeing and/or get recommendations from a physical therapist or sports medicine professional. They specialize in rehabilitating people recovering from medical issues. I'm not sure what treatment you received (chemo, radiation, or both), but it sounds like your treatment has really taken it out of you. This was made apparent in your comment that you are walking funny and tripping after 18k steps, which I find unusual. I think it would help if you had advice from a medical professional lest you injure yourself. You might even be able to get it covered by insurance with your medical history.

As you regain strength check out a program like Dialed Health which is tailored to riders. He uses gym equipment, kettlebells, TRX, etc, but you could also use his band and bodyweight workouts, or do the workouts with very light weight or bodyweight at first.

I am a physician BTW. Good luck with your recovery.


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## Deartist7 (Sep 28, 2014)

LMN said:


> Returning to training is always tricky after injury or illness.
> 
> Good rule of thumb for order of increase:
> 1: Consistency: # of workouts per week
> ...


Thank you. I'll start here for sure.


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## Deartist7 (Sep 28, 2014)

flyninjasquirrel said:


> My recommendation would be to start seeing and/or get recommendations from a physical therapist or sports medicine professional. They specialize in rehabilitating people recovering from medical issues. I'm not sure what treatment you received (chemo, radiation, or both), but it sounds like your treatment has really taken it out of you. This was made apparent in your comment that you are walking funny and tripping after 18k steps, which I find unusual. I think it would help if you had advice from a medical professional lest you injure yourself. You might even be able to get it covered by insurance with your medical history.
> 
> As you regain strength check out a program like Dialed Health which is tailored to riders. He uses gym equipment, kettlebells, TRX, etc, but you could also use his band and bodyweight workouts, or do the workouts with very light weight or bodyweight at first.
> 
> I am a physician BTW. Good luck with your recovery.


I'll check those programs out, specially the bodyweight ones. I always walked away from committing to a program or stuff like that out of wanting to do my own thing and avoid paying for knowledge but I think it's the right time to change that mindset.
And after years of "doing my own thing" and confusing the hell out of myself, I'm ready to just be told what to do and sleep peacefully haha.

My treatment was just iodine I-131, but the process required me to be in a hypothyroid state before treating and while the first half leading up the treatment didn't feel too different from normal, now it has taken it's toll on me. But I should feel better as the time passes and my TSH levels are back to normal, everything now just feels exacerbated.

I still think my question about leg strength stands because I already felt weak even before I got diagnosed, and I'd hate to get back to cycling carrying the same problems as before.

Cheers!


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## cyclelicious (Oct 7, 2008)

Daniel Lieberman shows in _Exercised_, the first book of its kind by a leading scientific expert, we never evolved to exercise. We are hardwired for moderate exertion throughout each day, not triathlons or treadmills. Drawing on over a decade of high-level scientific research and eye-opening insights from evolutionary biology and anthropology, Lieberman explains precisely how exercise can promote health; debunks persistent myths about sitting, speed, strength and endurance; and points the way towards more enjoyable and physically active living in the modern world.

*Hate Working Out? Blame Evolution*



> On a recent Saturday morning, my dad and I walked our dogs to the local basketball court to see what a persistent "thump-thump" noise coming from that direction was all about. Instead of basketball players, we found a fitness "boot camp," where a gaggle of people in bright, tight clothing did squats and lunges and burpees in different stations, all to the same beat.
> 
> "People are weird," I said.
> 
> ...


*EXERCISED
Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding*

Aren't we all? Lieberman's inquisitiveness as both a researcher and a fitful fitness adherent allows him a distinct vantage on the subject, not just that of a curious layman (like Bill Bryson in "The Body: A Guide for Skeptics") or alarm sounder (like Gary Taubes in "The Case Against Sugar"). Instead, Lieberman, drawing on his expertise and knowledge of the way evolutionary forces work, takes ideas that have been spun and spun again, often based on shaky information, and cracks them open.

For example: Is sitting the new smoking? Not really. Of course 150 years of machines assisting humans in everything from walking upstairs to opening doors has meant we burn fewer calories in a day, but the act of sitting is not nearly as lethal as that of inhaling burning tar into your lungs. On the flip side, standing desks won't save us. Instead, fidgeting, which burns calories and promotes blood flow to arms and legs, may help.

Another example: Should we really work out to look like our caveman ancestors? Not if you know what they actually looked like. They certainly didn't resemble bodybuilders, because that wouldn't have made any sense. "The ability to lift above your head something twice or more your body weight is a bizarre, dangerous feat that probably had little practical value in the Stone Age," Lieberman writes. Instead, cavemen probably looked more like the current Hadza hunter-gatherer tribe, based in Tanzania, a tribe that Lieberman has studied extensively and lived among himself. They're strong but lean so as not to waste calories on activities that do not contribute to acquiring food. Fueling glamour muscles would never make the cut. Strike those paleo diets too, which he calls illogical.

Sure, Lieberman pokes fun at the pomp and circumstance of a typical Iron Man competition, but he also explains why humans can be really good at exercising for long periods of time. We're not fast (even goats are faster), but we have endurance. We can keep running because of our ability to expel heat through sweat and just exhaust our prey. The same holds for running a marathon after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112 miles. We may not be all that fast, but we have a singular ability to just keep going.

Lieberman mostly avoids getting too technical for nonscientists, and scatters the book with odd or fun details to keep the narrative moving along, as when he writes of treadmills that they are "loud, expensive and occasionally treacherous, and I find them boring." Then he goes the extra step (so to speak), and shares that in Victorian times treadmills were used to "punish prisoners and prevent idleness. For more than a century, English convicts (among them Oscar Wilde) were condemned to trudge for hours a day on enormous and steplike treadmills" - a grueling punishment that almost anyone who has used a treadmill can appreciate.

In addition to exorcising myths and detailing what kinds of exercise we're good at, as well as why these particular activities matter for our physical well-being, Lieberman also gives us permission to be kind to ourselves if we'd rather not bother. It's not that we're weak or lazy or failing at life if we don't want to get up and run a 5K; it's simply that burning extra calories is not something that humans as a species have ever had to do before. In fact it was generally a terrible idea when we all lived like the Hadza, when lost calories could mean death.

So what works? It's not especially complicated, and Lieberman outlines the science behind his prescription of a mix of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, strength training and high-intensity interval training. This is probably the best bet for most of us. He also looks at how exercise can help with diseases like obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular conditions, Alzheimer's and cancer. (He includes Covid-19 in a section about respiratory tract infections and other contagions, but his guidance is almost a year out of date since this section was edited in March 2020 - his recommendation to wash our hands and stop touching our faces seems almost quaint.)

Most important, Lieberman doesn't judge those who find exercising difficult, even after knowing that they should be doing it, because exercise still isn't all that fun - and I say that as someone who has run multiple ultramarathons without anyone demanding that I do so.

"Part of the problem is the distinction between 'should' and 'need.' I know I _should_ exercise to increase the probability that I will be healthier, happier, and live longer with less disability, but there are numerous legitimate reasons I don't _need_ to exercise," he writes.

Happily, there are ways to get your mind and body past the fact that exercise can be unpleasant. Listen to something else during a workout; make exercise a game; train with others in a group. Those boot campers might have looked silly to me, but they had the right idea.









Hate Working Out? Blame Evolution (Published 2021)


Daniel Lieberman’s “Exercised” looks at evolutionary biology to explain what might be the most appropriate workout regimen for our bodies.




www.nytimes.com


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

My own cancer treatment did a real number on my body. There are still effects I'm trying to deal with 11yrs after the fact.

When I was allowed to start exercising again, I got into a couple different training programs. I hired a personal trainer to do work in the gym with weights. I was also working with a different trainer on a running program to build up to a 5k.

Look into Cancer to 5K - Free Exercise Program for Cancer Survivors | Ulman Foundation for the running side of things. I was one of the first remote participants they had.

I was able to ride through this time, but riding didn't really address the physical losses that I experienced during my own treatment. Lifting weights and basically learning to run again DID, however. I ended up building up to a half marathon in a few years. My knees got punished hard for that, though, and I don't think I'll ever be doing anything more than a 5k again. But these days, I've got no problems doing strenuous all day hikes in the mountains.


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## Velobike (Jun 23, 2007)

cyclelicious said:


> Daniel Lieberman shows in _Exercised_, the first book of its kind by a leading scientific expert, we never evolved to exercise. We are hardwired for moderate exertion throughout each day, not triathlons or treadmills. Drawing on over a decade of high-level scientific research and eye-opening insights from evolutionary biology and anthropology, Lieberman explains precisely how exercise can promote health; debunks persistent myths about sitting, speed, strength and endurance; and points the way towards more enjoyable and physically active living in the modern world....


Spot on!

That's been my belief all along. Book ordered.

I like the term glamour muscles. I don't have those yet I'm able to shift heavy weights. 

Ride single speed...


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## streem26 (Apr 14, 2016)

I used to have a weight set, rack , bench, barbell and dumbells - got rid of them because it just wasn't exciting, at all. Now, I let cycling and running work my legs, and I do a bodyweight routine for core and upper body strength and muscle building. Also, I found keeping a weekly diary and monitoring my progress made a world of difference


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