Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

Soldato
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Ok, so first 'slow' run complete.

Thoughts:

- Felt like I ran at a pace where I could easily have held a conversation without any difficulty.
- Finished without feeling at all out of breath, and without feeling like my heart rate really went up much at all.
- Ran for 10km in what would roughly be my previous marathon pace (5:17km).
- Felt like I could easily have done same distance again if I wanted to push on, but stopped at 10km.

From what I've read, my max heart rate should be about 181, which would make zone 2 (70-80%) anything between 127 and 144?

According to my watch my average HR was 147, so still too high, despite feeling like my pacing was really slow.

Currently not able to drop any money on a proper HR monitor, so either have byto go the watch or do things the old fashioned way for the time being.

What do people think of the above? Try same again tomorrow, see how I feel? Try slowing down further?


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Associate
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Blimey, that all sounds complicated :)

I have a load of them in garmin connect. Modify if required on my phone before the run, sync watch, go run and obey watch!

Ok, so first 'slow' run complete.

What do people think of the above? Try same again tomorrow, see how I feel? Try slowing down further?

-

Sounds to me like the pace was good - like you say, you could hold a conversation easily. Optical HR monitors are unreliable so I'd go by how you feel. I'd do the same again!

Cheers
 
Soldato
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I'm starting to get into my own head about this whole HR thing now!

My resting HR is around 45 so what i'd class as nice and low.

This is a graph of this mornings run, with my HR and pace. The run was mostly pretty flat other than a slight hill around 0.5 miles in (Seen by the pace drop off and slight HR elevation)

6wJkBQ2.png

I pretty much immediately jump from a normal HR up to 140, where it steadily climbs until it plateaus around the 165 mark. The last mile was a little faster and i was trying to consciously increase cadence so that probably explains the last rise in the last mile.

At no point during that run did i feel like i was over exerting myself, it just felt nice and relaxed! Contemplating buying a HR strap just to compare, but then there's another part of me that says not to get too focused on numbers.

Also what was interesting, was i weighed myself before my run and was 100.6kg

Drank some water and went for the run and when i cam back i had a SIS rego shake thing to just get calories in more than anything and so in total from waking up i probably drank about 800ml of water and yet i weighed myself after and was 99.9kg

This suggests i lost around 1.5kg of sweat on the run assuming 1ml = 1g

That feels like a LOT of sweat for a short and easy run!
 
Soldato
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I would imagine there's more to consider then just loss due to sweat. The energy you've 'burned' is basically a conversion from stored energy (body mass) to kinetic energy (movement).
 

SPG

SPG

Soldato
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I may be mistaken but the loss is fluids, any other loss happens while you are sleeping.

My god my running is so slow compared to you whipper snappers, I am 49 with a resting heart-rate of 45-48 according to my Garmin, Lactate threshold of 158 (ish) waiting for a nice day to do this hell test again.

So my zone for 80/20 is 135 when working to this on the treadmill on Tuesday this week i was sweating like a Bomb cyclone called Dennis and could just about hold a conversation.


bSENPeA.jpg.png
 
Soldato
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I may be mistaken but the loss is fluids

Yeah you're both right. I just had a quick Google and it is slightly more complicated as I suspected, but the end result is that vast majority of any weight loss is through water/fluids (sweat).
 
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Soldato
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Yeah you're both right. I just had a quick Google and it is slightly more complicated as I suspected, but the end result is that vast majority of any weight loss is through water/fluids (sweat).

8am I was 15st 3.2lbs... did a Parkrun and went the gym... 11am I was 14st 13.1lbs!

(Parkrun was just my second run, but beat my previous best outdoor 5k by almost a minute. Ave HR was 169, which is very high for me though, so I guess I was pushing close to the limit)
 
Soldato
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Does anyone else struggle with niggles when running slow? I can push a 5k without pain (well, you know what I mean) but every easy run makes my left calf twinge. I’m guessing my form turns more to a shuffle when I’m going slow, breaks down a bit and I put a different strain on my Achilles / calf
 
Soldato
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The first 5 days of my 'easy' runs feel like they've gone ok so far. Have been sticking to a comfortable pace for holding a conversation and just enjoying being out for each run.

Day 1 - 10.4km, 55:02, 5:17/km
Day 2 - 14.13km, 1:17:49, 5:30/km
Day 3 - 4.5km, 23:46, 5.16/km
Day 4 - 14.14km, 1:18:00, 5:31/km
Day 5 - 16.19km, 1:30:18, 5:35/km

Day 3 was severely time limited, but tried to stick to same level of effort throughout and not push the pace.

Have definitely enjoyed all the runs and never really felt tired. My calf was a bit tight this morning but no problems during today's run. Feel like I could probably do 14-18km fairly comfortably most days at the sort of pace I've been running above. Plan is to get out for at least one more similar run tomorrow night.

I'm still working through 80/20 book, so would appreciate any feedback on my first few days and suggestions for where to go next. Main thing I've not yet figured out is when to start adding in the 20% higher intensity portion and how best to do this. Should it be 20% of every run is at higher intensity, or some other mix throughout the week, so long as it only totals 20% of total mileage? Also not yet sure what intensity the 20% should be at, presumably not quite 100% race pace.

Best thing I've found so far has been mostly psychological. Normally I'd go out for one or two 'hard' runs and feel like I've earned a day or two off, which could easily become 3 or 4 days off. Now I've been just enjoying getting out and slowly racking up some miles, knowing that each day isn't a 'win' in itself, but the repetition of sticking with it every day is what will pay off.
 
Soldato
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Did a half yesterday, The Baldock Beast" and it was ugly, high winds that were great on the way out but terrible on the way back in, driving rain then the sun came out a mile into the finish, 2:02 was my time but thoroughly enjoyed it

Much more than full marathons which consume your life and are hard work :)

Looking for my next half now
 
Associate
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I'm still working through 80/20 book, so would appreciate any feedback on my first few days and suggestions for where to go next. Main thing I've not yet figured out is when to start adding in the 20% higher intensity portion and how best to do this. Should it be 20% of every run is at higher intensity, or some other mix throughout the week, so long as it only totals 20% of total mileage? Also not yet sure what intensity the 20% should be at, presumably not quite 100% race pace.

To me the first week looks great. Most importantly you are enjoying the running and it feels easy. If it were me I'd keep that volume for a few weeks and adjust it upwards towards your target weekly goal gradually. Only then would I introduce the intervals. Increasing volume and tough sessions at the same is a good way of getting an injury. In answer to your question of what the 20% looks like, its answered in the book but basically no - don't make 20% of each run hard. Most of your runs should be easy throughout. When ready, make one of your weekly runs a dedicated interval session and make sure to follow it up with a couple of days of easy running again.

Did a half yesterday, The Baldock Beast" and it was ugly, high winds that were great on the way out but terrible on the way back in, driving rain then the sun came out a mile into the finish, 2:02 was my time but thoroughly enjoyed it

I was outside in Baldock at the time of the run and some of the rain was epic - hats off to you, that's a great time for those conditions! I could barely see it was so heavy at one point!!
 

SPG

SPG

Soldato
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Got up Saturday ready for a steady 10k and a park run... opened the curtains made coffee and played COD for an hr before hitting the treadmill. It really is treadmill weather.

Still i love Monday`s rest day :)
 
Associate
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I must look at ways that I can modify my ancient cheapo treadmill to so stuff automatically.

Thinking perhaps a Raspberry Pi that is set up to press the buttons for me and maybe even and Ant+ receiver. Could potentially adjust speed according to HR etc.

Then again... maybe I could just go outside :)
 
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