I've been taking stimulants for the last 5 years and often have trouble jogging when I'm on the medication. I get tired very easily and my muscles become sore and stiff. Although I've never smoked, the feeling I have is similar to what a heavy smoker describes when trying to exercise. Does anyone know about stimulants' long term effect on the cardiovascular system or muscle fatigue?

I have no answer for the longterm effects, but I am an avid jogger and cyclist and I have had the same problem. I find it better to run or ride once I wake up and have not taken my meds yet. The feeling comes and goes and I think that it is more or less in my head because I train with a heart rate monitor and my heart rate has stayed consistant throughout the workout.

I'm with cranky on this.

I didn't actually begin to play with this until I accidentally went for a LSD (long slow distance) run and had forgotten to take my meds.

My heart rate was lower than expected and I had more juice to spend on the run or so it seemed. I too use a heart rate monitor to train. It seems like my meds cost me a bit and on days where I want to "perform", I'll lose the meds or run before taking them.

Depending on how hard you are working you shouldn't be stiff or sore or that tired if fitness is what you are after.

Be careful to go out slowly enough that you can maintain an ongoing conversation. If you are working harder than that you are into the "anaerobic" range and you won't be seen the same quality of benefit as if you slowed down to a conversational pace.

If you work between 60% and 75% of your maximum heart rate, you'll be working plenty hard enough to make huge gains in a short period of time. The 60% range favours fat burning and the 75% range is more focused for cardio gains.

Working at that pace for 40 minutes three times a week will soon begin to show you that you are doing it "right". You'll maybe begin to notice your resting heart rate falling. Mine fell 20/bpm over a few months.

The "easy day, hard day" principles are essential. Stress, recover and repeat is the way you get stronger. Start well below your threshold and advance slowly and deliberately toward your goals. A general rule that seems to work for many is to advance your time or mileage by no more than 10% a week and then take a step backward every fourth week. If I'm feeling weak, stressed or vulnerable to injury I do not hesitate to miss a run or back way off the throttle. In the past I've been known to drive myself into the ground and it's no fun. Meds have been a big help in the "pause" necessary to make better decisions in this type of thing.

Warming up often is a very big help in avoiding the pains of exercise. Stretching "before" working out is now not recommended at all. Your muscles are cold and stretching weakens the muscle. I stretch afterward when I'm nice and warm. I am not running today, so I spent a bit of time stretching before I got out of bed today. The weekend was hard on my legs! :D When I warm up deliberately, I do so for about ten minutes.

If you are working you should be well hydrated. This too will help you to recover well. If you are working out for more than an hour, the addition of carbs might help too. Once I had begun to run for two hours and more, I learnt to come straight into the house and down a couple of cups of chocolate milk. This had the biggest impact on how my legs recovered from long runs of anything I've tried. Apparently after a long workout, your body is particularly well predisposed to replace depleted glycogen reserves in your liver and muscle tissue. It's most effective before twenty minutes have passed since you stopped, but continues until the 40 minute mark or slightly more.

Hope this helps you some. Please keep us posted.
Cheers! Ian.

Simulants. Could you list some? (Name of Simulants.) And could try and quantify the effect that it has on your running? I don't think I have this promblem, as a high school cross country runner, who (has recently started track). But doesn't have anything to compare it to. Just curious mostly.

Here's everything you might need to know (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stimulants). :)

I am a cyclist and have noticed a huge decrease in my energy levels on my bike. I take Adderall XR and it really decreases my appetite. I think I'm just not eating enough. Before the Adderall, I would self medicate with carbs, and those are the perfect cycling fuel. Last weekend I went for a ride and bonked at the top of the first climb. I ate a "gu" and quickly recovered enough to keep going. Then, I ate a cliff bar about 2/3 of the way into the ride and was able to finish well.


Could appetite be your problem?