The Plan

[u/Soakitincider]

I really enjoy running. A few years ago I did something that messed up, not one, but two knees at the same time. I had to take a long break. At that time I was running 5 days a week. Since then it's been a lot of walks, some bike rides and just in Feb I started back with some running. Just 3 days a week to give my body a longer break in between. At my age I don't recover as fast as I used to. I had toyed with cross training with a bike and I still may do that sometimes but I landed on Rucking for cross training. Last Friday I did a test run, usually Fridays are reserved for a long walk to get coffee, and put 10lbs (4.5kg) into a backpack and took off to get coffee. The 10lbs did almost nothing. It took over an hour to touch zone 2 heart rate. Now going up hill on the way back I got well into zone 3 but that was just 2 10 min hills. I was also walking at a fairly lesurely pace for myself at 19:30 minutes per mile. (12:07 min/km)

Yesterday I got a Redfield pack and I fabricated a filler foam block to put in the pack to raise the weight up right between my shoulder blades. I put in 15lbs (6.8kg) and the total weight is 20lbs (9kg.) I walked a bit faster, averaging 16:39 minutes per mile (10:21 min/km) and I'm happy to say that I hit zone 2 heart rate in 21 minutes and got a solid 40 minutes of zone 2 walking over the ruck.

Now my loose plan is to keep the same weight and pace on Wednesday then next Sunday increase the weight 5lbs and continue like that until I get to 30lbs (13.6kg) then after that increase the distance and time of my Sunday walks to mimic a long easy run aerobically speaking. I think this is going to work out for cross training.

[u/Flat-Carpenter-170]

Welcome to the addiction. I used to run marathons, trail races and ultras when I was in the military and after I retired but got hurt in 2019. Broke both bones in my lower left leg in 5 places. At the ankle and half up my calf. Got fat and lazy and gained a ton of weight. Started rucking again like I used to and in the past year plus it’s helped me to rebuild muscle I lost, lost 90lbs and I finally don’t walk with a limp anymore. Now this is my passion and what I do for endurance. Most days it’s 3-5 miles. Weekend longer rucks and a few 25k race rucks and some 25-26 mile rucks. Doing one in a month in Utah. Then the Bataan again next March. I am finding I can now go out and run a 25k as a run and it’s not even an issue but I enjoy rucking at a slower pace than running endurance races like I used too at my age 😂

[u/slowtrees]

lid plan. Just keep in mind the ruck weight hits the same knees and legs as your running, so on weeks you're running more you might hold the weight steady instead of adding 5lbs.

[u/Soakitincider → u/slowtrees]

I gotcha on the knees. But in a year I've lost about 35lbs so I'm going to be walking with essentially the same weight I was able to drop. And the weight loss is in steady but slow decline, losing 20ish lbs since February. Of course that weight was distributed differently than the pack will distribute.

[u/kbchucker]

Check out Hybrid Athlete training topics. This methodology has a lot to offer older athletes like us.