Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

been getting a bit of an odd strain on my left leg after running, in between the shin and calf on the outside of the leg, so not really sure what is causing it.

so i decided i might as well start using the foam roller i bought a couple of years back in combination with foam roller app

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.solidjade.foamrollerondemand

also downloaded stretch HD app

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sportsmedstudio.stretchhd

hopefully these will help sort this issue out, or are there better apps you guys use?
 
Pulled muscle or something on rave last Friday. Bit of a pain after running. Ibuprofen gel and off i go :D
 
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small update :)
 
Roll on Nottingham half marathon! Have moved back up to my student house in Nottingham and have been training hard the past month or so.. managed a 10 mile at a pace of 7.38/mile yesterday :D Aiming for under a 1.40 come race day.
 
I've recently been getting sub 28 min 5Ks, 27:30 is my PB. So I stuck the time into Google to get a feel for the pace and some poor sod got destroyed on one of the Runners World forums having set 27 mins and asked the dreaded question - is this a good time.
I know it's not exactly fast compared to some but there was no reason for people writing in things like 'dead slow' and 'not even my warm up pace'.
Some serious willy waving in there (or fat slobs waving keyboards perhaps). I like it on here. More encouragement and sharing of ideas as opposed to competitiveness and self indulgence.

Made me feel a bit crap having read it just hours after feeling elated I'd set a PB!

Rant over!
 
Psycho Sonny said:
is strength work 100% necessary or only if you have an issue, injury or bad technique?

e.g. do people like mo farah do strength work?

i do deadlifts and squats as well as a host of other isolated stuff, but that is for gaining muscle mass, improving posture and strength more than helping my running
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I know you posted this weeks ago now, but 100% required regardless if injured or not. Weak hips is what causes the vast majority of injuries in runners. a lot of this is because the majority of runners don't do any strength or conditioning work.

It's impossible to apply a one rule for all regards weights and strength work but a once or twice visit to the gym to do some work for any runner will only be beneficial.

Mo Farah does a hell of a lot of strength work in answer to your question. Heavy weights, low reps to build strength but also a lot of biomechanic specific work. Search Google/Youtube for Galen Rupp gym workout and watch that, it's similar to the sessions the Oergon Project runners all do via Salazar.

Squats and deadlifts etc, be careful. These exercises take a lot of weeks and routine before your body can handle and recover from quickly. I injured my peroneal tendon from doing squats and not bringing my mileage down to accomodate this recovery wise.

No idea what sort of level people here train at or how many miles per week you run etc but off basis in my training I am doing 65/70 miles a week in this phase before winter that's with 3 sessions and a long run per week and the rest in between being steady or recovery runs and I do a back/lats/tri/shoulder session Monday AM, chest/legs session Thursday AM, a 60 minute core session on Sunday PM and I am doing 10/15mins core strength work with medicine ball and usual situp, pressup, planks etc every other weeknight. In my example there is no mass gain because of weekly mileage which is a good thing, but for someone only doing 30 miles a week and doing what I am in the gym it would maybe result in a bit bulking up over time which isn't ideal if your actual focus is running.

Hopefully helps a bit. Sorry for long post, fire away with questions etc, happy to help out here and this posts a bit all over the place.
 
xdcx said:
I know you posted this weeks ago now, but 100% required regardless if injured or not. Weak hips is what causes the vast majority of injuries in runners. a lot of this is because the majority of runners don't do any strength or conditioning work.

It's impossible to apply a one rule for all regards weights and strength work but a once or twice visit to the gym to do some work for any runner will only be beneficial.

Mo Farah does a hell of a lot of strength work in answer to your question. Heavy weights, low reps to build strength but also a lot of biomechanic specific work. Search Google/Youtube for Galen Rupp gym workout and watch that, it's similar to the sessions the Oergon Project runners all do via Salazar.

Squats and deadlifts etc, be careful. These exercises take a lot of weeks and routine before your body can handle and recover from quickly. I injured my peroneal tendon from doing squats and not bringing my mileage down to accomodate this recovery wise.

No idea what sort of level people here train at or how many miles per week you run etc but off basis in my training I am doing 65/70 miles a week in this phase before winter that's with 3 sessions and a long run per week and the rest in between being steady or recovery runs and I do a back/lats/tri/shoulder session Monday AM, chest/legs session Thursday AM, a 60 minute core session on Sunday PM and I am doing 10/15mins core strength work with medicine ball and usual situp, pressup, planks etc every other weeknight. In my example there is no mass gain because of weekly mileage which is a good thing, but for someone only doing 30 miles a week and doing what I am in the gym it would maybe result in a bit bulking up over time which isn't ideal if your actual focus is running.

Hopefully helps a bit. Sorry for long post, fire away with questions etc, happy to help out here and this posts a bit all over the place.
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cheers for the info

im not a long distance runner i do something like the below

Day 1 - 2.5K and weights
Day 2 - 5K
Day 3 - weights
Day 4 - 2.5K and weights
Day 5 - 10K
Day 6 - rest
Day 7 - rest

i play it by ear though, if im tired i wont do any weights at all, some times i skip day's here and there too.

20K a week average, which is nothing tbh compared to some guys who do that in 1 day.

i recently just started back on the weights, and tbh have been focusing on upper body more than anything.
 
Domo said:
I've recently been getting sub 28 min 5Ks, 27:30 is my PB. So I stuck the time into Google to get a feel for the pace and some poor sod got destroyed on one of the Runners World forums having set 27 mins and asked the dreaded question - is this a good time.
I know it's not exactly fast compared to some but there was no reason for people writing in things like 'dead slow' and 'not even my warm up pace'.
Some serious willy waving in there (or fat slobs waving keyboards perhaps). I like it on here. More encouragement and sharing of ideas as opposed to competitiveness and self indulgence.

Made me feel a bit crap having read it just hours after feeling elated I'd set a PB!

Rant over!
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I wouldn't pay too much attention to what other people say with regards to pace. It's not as though you're trying to make a living out of it, is it? As long as it's not your job to win races, who cares how long it takes you to run 5k? The most important thing, at least in my opinion, is that you stick with it. The only way to get faster is to keep running, after all - you'll never improve if you give up. I agree that some people are overly harsh, but that's the downside to the internet - unpleasant people see anonymity as a license to be rude.

It occurred to me this morning that I've signed up to do a 10k race in 11 weeks, and I did absolutely no running in July. I went out for a 5k jog this morning and it felt fine, albeit slow. I'm not sure how realistic my goal of cracking a sub-50min 10k is given that I'm only just now starting to train, but at least I have something to aim towards.
 
Saundie said:
I'm not sure how realistic my goal of cracking a sub-50min 10k is given that I'm only just now starting to train, but at least I have something to aim towards.
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A sub 50min 10k is my goal to complete before the end of the year as well. Should probably say was my goal as annoyingly I'm injured and won't be able to run for a few more weeks!

Any ideas on how quickly times can realistically be improved? I've downloaded some plans for training for a sub-50 10k that completes in 12 weeks and as soon as I'm fixed, I'll be out 3-4 times a week with a couple of nights of cross training as well.

Do people tend to see their times fall fairly quickly with that kind of training input? I know it depends on what the training is, but it'd be nice to hear peoples experiences!
 
I set myself a sub 25min 5k time by year end, just a hint over 27 at the moment. I don't really care that its not a fast pace, 18 months ago I was 23.5 stone.
 
LOAM said:
I set myself a sub 25min 5k time by year end, just a hint over 27 at the moment. I don't really care that its not a fast pace, 18 months ago I was 23.5 stone.
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gonna aim for the same i think my current PB is either 26:38 or 27:38, can't remember.

18 months ago i was doing 5K in 50 mins lol.

i doubt i will ever hit sub 20, but if i ever hit sub 25 it will be a great achievement personally.
 
Took nearly a whole minute of my 5k PB yesterday at colwick parkrun, getting closer to my 25min target.
 
LOAM Nice
Well i some leg pains yet again after rave :P
DJ competition one on 19 of july was basicly empty. So me and 2 other chaps went mental with whole dancefloor for us. Started dancing 1am went off dance floor at end = 4am.
So pulled something from jumping all over the place :D
Then i recovered and had 2 days off running last week before NEXT RAVE.
Thank god people showed up and place was packed this time. So with limited space i did killed myself off.

Anyhow Walking time for me to get my legs recovered after 2 raves in 3 weeks hehe.

Still doing 30-40 minutes of gymnastics every day :)

jsm0.jpg

Last time scales showed me BMI of 22 with weight of 66.2kg

Very happy with where i am at the moment considering i lost 3.5 stone this year :)
 
You're insane Zed, unconventional to say the least lol.

Took another 9 seconds off 5k pb yesterday, need another 1min 24 seconds by the end of the year.
 
LOAM said:
You're insane Zed, unconventional to say the least lol.

Took another 9 seconds off 5k pb yesterday, need another 1min 24 seconds by the end of the year.
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how often do you run per week?

and do you just stick to 5K?

i may just stick to 5K from now on tbh, and 2-3 times per week, as the legs have really been feeling it as of late.
 
We do the following;

Saturday - 5k parkrun race (run to / from start so the days total is actually 8k)
Sunday - 5k treadmill
Monday - 15-20k long run around our local area
Wednesday - sweatshop 8-10k depending on route.

I don't really have a preference though. I do some biking as well on the odd time between runs and we take a full week off every 10 week's.
 
LOAM said:
We do the following;

Saturday - 5k parkrun race (run to / from start so the days total is actually 8k)
Sunday - 5k treadmill
Monday - 15-20k long run around our local area
Wednesday - sweatshop 8-10k depending on route.

I don't really have a preference though. I do some biking as well on the odd time between runs and we take a full week off every 10 week's.
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i'm just trying to gauge where i am going wrong.

i want to improve my 2.5K time by 1 minute and my 5K time by 3 minutes.

i seem to be getting slower now lol after constantly breaking PB's.

i used to run a lot more, so now im thinking i need to go back to 5 times per week instead of 3-4.

but i have been hitting issues with muscles, and now needing to stretch which i never had to before. all of this has started after adding weights back into my routine, but i have also stopped drinking as much water i have noticed too.

going to increase water intake for the next week, back to what it was and see how it goes.
 
What really kicked things off for me/us was getting some hills in the run route, our Monday night run is 3 x 6k laps of which at least 1.5k is quite steep. Sweatshop does 1 run in 4 solely hills, its murder when you first start but it makes a massive difference to flat timed races.

When did you last rest?
 
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LOAM said:
What really kicked things off for me/us was getting some hills in the run route, our Monday night run is 3 x 6k laps of which at least 1.5k is quite steep. Sweatshop does 1 run in 4 solely hills, its murder when you first start but it makes a massive difference to flat timed races.

When did you last rest?
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i've been resting a lot lately due to the issues popping up.

i took nearly 2 weeks off about a month back as i thought it was getting too much.

i now sometimes take up to 3-4 days off every 2 weeks because of big events such as weddings, birthday party's, etc.

but i seemed to fair better when i wasn't resting at all. but back then i wasn't also doing weights to the same degree i am now.
 
Had some fairly decent runs recently. Set some personal best times as well:

5k - 23:30
10k - 54:30
15k - 1:26:30

Not spectacular times by a long way, but I'm pleased with them! Got the half marathon in october, feeling quite confident :).
 
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