Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

The Darkness,

I've just requested the weekend off work for Windermere so it looks like I'll be doing it again the second time round this year.

My time was around 4:40:xx but my current marathon PB is 3:55:xx so I'm hoping to see a decent improvement.

My half-marathon PB also stands at 1:38:xx just now but I'm doing another in early April, hoping for sub 1:30. :)

And the recovery run, oh yes. :D
 
IndigoGorilla said:
The Darkness,

I've just requested the weekend off work for Windermere so it looks like I'll be doing it again the second time round this year.

My time was around 4:40:xx but my current marathon PB is 3:55:xx so I'm hoping to see a decent improvement.

My half-marathon PB also stands at 1:38:xx just now but I'm doing another in early April, hoping for sub 1:30. :)

And the recovery run, oh yes. :D
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Awesome, I have no idea how tough it's going to be as it's my first, but I'm enjoying the training. Sub 4 hours would be amazing but as you mentioned I will just try to enjoy the experience :-)

Hope to see you there!
 
At work so don't have time to read the whole OP, could anyone give me a run down if what i'm about to do tomorrow is any good?

Thinking of trying interval running (I think it's called that?). Basically running for 60 seconds then walking for 60 seconds etc.. Would this be a good start just to break me in?
 
Endomondo and probably other apps have interval training programs. You can use theirs or adjust to suit your own running goals. Very useful, plus it connects to MyFitnessPal for tracking food/exercise.

 
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Start with as you mentioned to begin with then and as you improve increase the running sections and reduce the resting time.

I've seen a few plans recommend training solely based on time on your feet as well rather than having to worry about covering a certain distance too. Depends on what your aims are and what you want from your running.

I'd stick to time on your feet for now and as you run more you'll notice you can cover more distance in the same time eventually and without the resting too. :)
 
MrMarvelous said:
At work so don't have time to read the whole OP, could anyone give me a run down if what i'm about to do tomorrow is any good?

Thinking of trying interval running (I think it's called that?). Basically running for 60 seconds then walking for 60 seconds etc.. Would this be a good start just to break me in?
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That's the gist of the many couch to 5k programs out there. One of the most popular ones is Cool Running's, which I used to get myself into running a couple of years ago.

On another note, my willpower broke yesterday and I ordered a Forerunner 620. It should hopefully arrive tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the quicker satellite locking and wireless syncing, but mainly I just wanted a new toy :$
 
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Saundie said:
It arrived this morning, so I'll give it a test this weekend on my long run.
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Yeah, please give us a wee review from the weekend and then maybe an update next week once used a few times? I have a 405CX and it's getting a bit ropey now so looking at a replacement soon and might as well take the plunge on the 620 due to the amount of use and abuse my watch gets I ideally need the best I can get.

Heard the Wifi transfer on it is useless in one place, then another palce someone said it's great. Also seen a few other moans and groans about it in amongst the people saying it's prefectly fine and having no issues. So some first hand info would be much appreciated dude.
 
MrMarvelous said:
Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated.
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My biggest tip if just starting out would be to not give yourself a hard time at the end of it. When I started I could only run 2mins and then walk 8 (I was 22 odd stone thought and only did 10 mins a day). Its easy to feel that you are failing at it during the early days because progress can be initially slow but before long you've lost a shed load of weight and are looking at half's and marathons and are 100% fully addicted!

Stick with it!
 
xdcx said:
Yeah, please give us a wee review from the weekend and then maybe an update next week once used a few times? I have a 405CX and it's getting a bit ropey now so looking at a replacement soon and might as well take the plunge on the 620 due to the amount of use and abuse my watch gets I ideally need the best I can get.

Heard the Wifi transfer on it is useless in one place, then another palce someone said it's great. Also seen a few other moans and groans about it in amongst the people saying it's prefectly fine and having no issues. So some first hand info would be much appreciated dude.
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I went for a run with it this morning, so I can give you my initial impressions. The first and most critical thing for me is that it got a satellite lock within 10 seconds - I hadn't even got my gloves on before the little "RUN" notification appeared. Last night I set up the included HRM and a shoe pod that I used with my Forerunner 210 - I figured I may as well use it, seeing as it's already in the sole of my shoe. This morning they were both picked up by the Forerunner 620 without delay - as soon as I pressed the button to switch from standard watch mode, the sensors were paired and ready to go. Another nice feature over the 210 is the ability to set the backlight duration - I run early in the morning which means running in the dark most of the year, and being able to set the backlight to stay on constantly is a very useful in my view.

As for the wireless transfer, admittedly I have only used it once but it worked flawlessly. In fact, I think it uploads automatically as soon as you save your activity (assuming you're within range of your access point). When I pressed the connect button after saving my run it told me that there were was no file to upload, which initially made me think that it'd lost my run, but looking on Garmin connect revealed that it had already been uploaded. The USB cable for the Forerunner 210 could be quite fussy and usually took me several attempts to get connected, so I am delighted to be liberated from having to connect the watch to the PC every day. That said, the USB cable for the Forerunner 620 is much easier to connect to the watch - it seems that Garmin have learned from their previous designs and have incorporated a magnet into the clip, so it aligns itself to the little gold connectors on the watch. As an added bonus, the magnet is powerful enough to hold the cable against the side of my case, so I won't accidentally run it over with my chair - sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference ;)

I've made this morning's run public so you can see the sort of data you get from the watch;

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/431549549

If you're able to ignore the fact that I am the slowest runner in the world, some of the data is quite interesting. Hopefully it'll give you some idea of what to expect if you get one. I will post an update on how I'm getting on with the watch in a week or so, but for now, my initial impression is a positive one.
 
The Darkness said:
Looks interesTing. Out of interest, what do you do with the cadence and ground contact data? I've never gathered this data and don't know what I would do with it if I did.
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Cadence is a useful measurement as, combined with stride length, it determines how fast you run. Basically, your cadence is the number of strides you take per minute. My cadence is on the low end of the scale, and my stride is short, hence my low speed. The Garmin site describes the relevance of the data in this way;

Garmin has researched many runners of all different levels. The data values in the red or orange zones are typical for less experienced or slower runners. The data values in the green, blue, or purple zones are typical for more experienced or faster runners. Less experienced runners tend to exhibit longer ground contact times and lower cadence than more experienced runners. However, taller runners typically have slightly slower cadences and slightly higher vertical oscillation
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With this data, I can be reasonably confident that I'm not wasting energy pushing myself upward instead of forward (vertical oscillation). I'm not sure how to interpret my ground contact time, beyond the fact that Garmin deem it to be good. I think the usefulness comes from building up a pattern - looking at it from the perspective of a single run doesn't tell you much, but seeing a trend can tell you how you're progressing. As you can see from my run yesterday, I have a long way to go ;)
 
So I'm training for the marathon by heart rate zone and time. Basically I measured my resting rate first thing in the morning, and max rate by doing a beast of an interval session. The theory being that by knowing my exertion I won't over exert and injure myself...

This morning did a long easy run, keeping heart rate around 65% for 1hr 45 mins. Worked out at 13 miles. Feel tired this afternoon; hoping recovery run tomorrow helps!
 
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