Jogging in the mornings

Question
QUESTION: I would like to incorporate a jog into my already busy morning schedule. I'm a 15 year old freshmen in high school and I play basketball and I would like to increase my stamina so I can spend more time on the floor and less time breaking. I usually wake up at about 6:30 and get to school starts at 7:45. I have gym class every morning except Tuesday, we usually take a few laps around the school building (which is small) and occasionally play a sport but nothing extreme. This last about 50 minutes every morning (more like 40 considering the dressing out). Also every afternoon after school lets out (3 o'clock), me and a friend head over to the rec center where we hoop for little more than an hour and a half (until about 4:50), we usually run a game against varsity which is physically rough as well. I get home do my homework and usually get to bed about 10 or 10:30. I guess my first question is, is that extra jog going to be too much? My dad thinks so and asked that I get professional advice. I feel that it would help me feel better throughout the day and how me stay on the court longer. My second question is: Should I eat before or after the jog and what should I eat? I usually have just a large bowl of cereal (I know it's not healthy, and I'm willing to stop.) Next, how far/long should I jog? How early should I wake up? Should I get to bed earlier to help me feel better? What kind of warm-ups should I do before jogging? What should I wear during the colder weather?

I may be forgetting a few questions (if the above isn't already enough though).

ANSWER: A gym class in the morning and two good basketball workouts after school, plus an extra running workout, I don't think you're going to be in danger of overexerting yourself. The only time you should be worried about this is if you are doing something like running 90 miles per week, working out 5 times per day, hitting baseballs for 2 hours each day... stuff like that. But with all this basketball and a little of running, you getting really tired is the worst that can happen.

As far as the endurance you are trying to build, basketball requires a very different stamina ability. If I ever try to play some 1 on 1 in the gym during my regular training week, I find that my long distance training doesn't do much for my endurance moving back and forth, to and fro, all over the court. I'd say that the best training for this endurance is simply playing that 1 on 1 in the gym. I guess if you are really just crazy ready to start running, don't just run for x amount of minutes. Do something that will benefit you more like running hills, doing horses (suicides) down the court, doing interval sprints.

Look, key here is protein. Sure, you are going to need some good quality carbs like pasta (quit eating junk carbs like chips and white bread), but after your afternoon basketball workout, make sure you can intake some good protein at least an hour later. You want to make sure when you go to sleep at 10:00, your body is recovering for the next day. As for general dieting, if you want specifics, I can give them to you. But to make this short and sweet, you know what is bad and what is good. Cereal is just sugar on top of milk. Make sure that all of th e food you eat has a meaning. SIMPLE carbs, protein, nutrients(fruits, veggies), fiber. Eat right and your body will be better, recover faster, and feel really great. Your body will literally feel awesome.

We don't know just what it does, but without proper sleep, our bodies stop working properly. Make sure you KNOW how much sleep your body needs, and get it. Don't be lazy, listen to your alarm go off 200 times, sleep longer than you need to; don't get too little sleep. KNOW YOUR BODY.

Over all, I think if you just wanted to run for general fitness, it goes a long way if your goal is to be in just plain badass athletic condition. Running in the morning while everyone is driving to school, trying to wake up, feeling like crap, can put you on a mountain and is the perfect start of your training filled day. Moderate stretching will be good enough, and what looks good is some small/skinny shorts (not baggy or fat) and a small shirt. If it is too cold for this, just dig up an under armour long sleeve, and some gloves if you want. Ooh yeah and if you really want to look good, put on a pair of big long white socks...
Good luck with your training, and feel free to ask about anything more specific.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I'm going to try my first jog in the morning, I'm trying to get in good athletic shape. I'd like to know some more specifics on dieting (not like going on a diet; you know what I mean). I hate to publicly admit it but I don't eat very well, I honestly don't like any fruits and only a few vegetables (corn, string beans, potatoes and a few others). I generally don't eat very much junk food like chips. My soda drinking has increased since I started high school, but I've started bringing a reusable water bottle and that helps me stay away from them. I do eat lots of wheat products, cereal (usually 2 bowls a day) bread (wheat, on sandwiches and other things); and lots of meat products: chicken or beef. Honestly my diet is very poor, if I told you that I eat the way I do and you looked at me you would probably think I'm lying. I'm guessing that has to do partly that I'm still growing and that if I keep it up I'll grow into it and become unhealthy. I just need to grow up and eat right and stop being whining about the food my mom prepares (which isn't top notch healthy either). I want to know what types of things I should be eating, I know that certain amounts of wheat and meat are good for you but I'm pretty sure I'm going over them. What kind of things could I ask my mother to prepare? I eat small amounts of things throughout the day instead of 3 sit down meals, what kind of snacks could I bring along to satisfy throughout the day that are also satisfying to my body? How much milk should I drink? (my dad gets on to me because I'll go through a gallon every day and a half). I really don't understand the food labels on the back of what I eat. I know that you're supposed to have about 3000-3200 calories a day. What do all the other things mean? Which are good? Bad? I do know some things are relative to the amount of work out you do a day and some vary upon your dimensions so I'll give you mine. Male, 5'8", little less than 160lbs, and I can fit my fingers around my wrist (with ease; although there is not much room to spare). Thank you for your reply.

Answer
Good. If getting in shape is your goal, forget about what I said about the sprints. First you need to lose weight, I didn't know that.
So for your morning jog, I'd fit in as much steady running time as possible if I were you. Your goal is to lose weight, not specifically train, so all you need to do is keep a good steady pace.

Let me tell you this. I can lose 7 pounds in 1 day and 1 night. If you want to dive into this, and really lose your weight as quickly as possible, there is one nutrition rule you need. No carbohydrates. When you run for 40 minutes, your body burns your glycogen storage (carb storage) in your liver, with alot to spare. It takes a good 2 hours or so to burn all of your glycogen. So if you replenish your carb storage every day, you aren't going to be burning fat. Sound crazy? Well the fix to this cycle is no carbs. If you do all of your running and  b ball workouts, and you don't replenish your carb storage, by the second day your body won't have any glycogen storage left, and it will immediately start burning fat. Every bit of work you do, even walking to class, you'll be burning fat. It's like dieting on steroids. Instead of your results being subtraction, it's going to be exponential.

If you want to take this path, like I said, almost NO carbs. Your main food will be fruits, veggies, and protein like milk, cheese, tuna, and nuts. Look on your food labels, and you'll realize real quick, almost all of the foods you eat are going to be wiped out. Because they're all wheat products. Of course all fruits, veggies, and protein are going to have a little bit of carbs, but that is okay.
I doubt you will want to choose this path, but if you do, remember that you'll lose weight faster than you ever thought possible.


Now for the nutrition lesson.
If you eat right, like I said, you're going to live longer and live better. The things you are eating today are killing your body. God didn't make our bodies to live off of refined sugar, vegetable oil, and enriched bleached wheat flour.

Things to eat:
Protein: Milk is good, but you're drinking too much. Just a cup a day will let it do it's job with the calcium and nutrients. Tuna is the best protein around, because it has little fat, and is packed with protein. Nuts like cashews and peanuts are good fibrous protein.

Carbohydrates: You want to get your carbs from fibrous breads, like wheat bread, and drum semolina (pasta.)

Fiber: Fiber is necessary for your digestion. You get fiber from your fruits, veggies, and breads. If you want to understand what fiber is, go outside, find some good tree bark, grass, leaves, and eat them. So look at white bread. Is it going to have any of this "fiber in it? No.

Fruits: Packed with nutrients, they give you good natural sugar, and balance out your diet if you're staying away from refined sugar.

Vegetables: Also packed with nutrients. The main job of vegetables really is just nutrients. You have to get them from somewhere, or else your body will be malnourished and get sick all over. And no, a centrum will not do the job. Just a tip, if you get used to V8, when you drink it, your body feels so clean afterwards, like you're on top of the world. Good veggies that I eat are green beans, black eyed peas, pinto beans, corn, peas...

Stay away from:
OIL. Vegetable oil is in almost everything you see today, and for one reason. It tastes good. It also raises your cholesterol, blood pressure, clogs your blood vessels, weakening your heart, is very fattening, and makes you feel like crap after you eat it. Who knows what else it does. Try putting vegetable oil on a washcloth. See how long it takes you to get it out. Or put some on a piece of paper, and watch it transform the paper's ingredient list from paper into paper, vegetable oil. If you can't get that oil out of that washcloth, what do you think it's going to your intestines and body?

Sugar. Good ol' refined sugar. Take a beet, extract all the juices out of it, process the juices, and strip them of every last nutrient and natural fiber, and you have a crystalline substance called sugar.
Sugar Raises your blood pressure, clogs your arteries, literally eats up the cartilage in your joints, cripples your immune system, upsets the mineral relationships in your body, causes premature aging because of how it hurts your body, and is super fattening. You'll see sugar on your ingredients lists as sugar, sucrose, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, and a few less common ones.

Starches, like enriched bleached wheat flour, are a HUGE part of your diet. Unfortunately, it has no nutritional value, and turns straight into fat. Other starches include things like potatoes, white rice, white bread, any bread that doesn't have fiber, is going to be just white flour.

Cokes. Half sugar and half caffeine. You already know what sugar does for your body, and caffeine, it speeds up your heart unnecessarily, which is very unhealthy.

So look on your ingredients lists, and know things like eating nacho cheese in your cafeteria, is just eating oil. Look at the vitamins it gives, the fiber. All of the above information can be applied just by looking on your ingredients list.  
You are right about your moms food. The general idea everyone has stuck in their heads that moms cook healthy, often isn't true at all. White rice, white flour, sugar, salt overload, tons of spices and artificial flavoring, all that really is just as bad as the potato chips and poptarts you are bringing to school. I remember when I started eating healthy when I was 15, my mom and my dad flipped out. You have to upset family in the process, but if you stick to it, eventually they'll see that you are in fact making smarter decisions than them, and it's just something you have to do. You grocery shop for your own foods maybe once per month, and make them yourself, eat them yourself. I had to bring my meals to school every day, and had to explain to everyone what "that sh**" was. Just tell them that they're going to die at 45, and they'll shut up. Good luck with your eating healthy, I know I must seem like a machine after this massive reply, but I hope it all helps.