Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

I figured that these fees were par for the course these days. The two 10k events I did in November/December were £18 each. The Richmond half is £24, and the Croydon is £20. Entry to the Edinburgh marathon cost me £55, and I've got flights and accommodation on top. I decided that I may as well spend a few days up there, which means it's costing me about £425. I use these events to motivate myself to keep running. When I don't have an event to train for, I get lazy and stop running, so I see these events as a necessary evil.

On the subject of the Forerunner 620, I have made some further observations in the few weeks I've been using it. The first is that you need to make sure you have the HRM strap tightened properly, because having it sliding up and down your torso has an adverse affect on the vertical oscillation and cadence readings. It makes sense when you consider it, but I didn't think much of it until I got some really odd data during this morning's run. A couple of times it recorded a vertical osculation of about 50cm; it also recorded a cadence of 255 at the time, which I find highly dubious.

I received an email this morning reminding me that there are only 16 weeks until the Edinburgh marathon. It doesn't feel like enough time to prepare!
 
The Tatton Yule Yomp 10k in December was £15, with a T-shirt as an extra cost if you wanted it. The goody bag was actually good though. Roberts Bakery spsonsor it, so you got a loaf of bread, packet of fruited teacakes and some chocolate crispy cakes :D

When I ran Edinburgh in 2011, we made a long weekend of it. Rented a really good 4 bedroom apartment not far off George Street ; note to self : don't pick accommodation on the 3rd / 4th floor of a building with no lift after a marathon again.

The Amsterdam half marathon in 2012 was as much as a seeing a new city as pacing my other half round her first half.

My "dedicated" training plan for the York Marathon in October will be 16 weeks, I just plan to be whole lot fitter than I am now at the start of the plan!
 
You know, I was so wired after my run that I forgot to mention my other observations on the Forerunner! I'm delighted to be able to report that the wireless uploading has been faultless. I was surprised a few days ago when it seemed to take several minutes to upload, only to discover that a firmware update had been downloaded as well. Installing the firmware update went smoothly, I think it took about five minutes in total.

Unsurprisingly running the back light constantly was proving to drain the battery really quickly, so I've instead changed it to come on when an alert is displayed instead. It means that I can still see my lap time (I set it to auto-lap every kilometre) without having to charge the watch every couple of days. I've managed to get through a full week between charges as a result.

Oh, and one other thing; the race predictor is a massive tease. It reckons I could do a 22 minute 5k (my current PB is 27 minutes), and the prediction of a 47 minute 10k is just outright mockery. I know it's based on the watch's guestimate of your Vo2 max, but it's still quite amusing.

#Chri5# said:
My "dedicated" training plan for the York Marathon in October will be 16 weeks, I just plan to be whole lot fitter than I am now at the start of the plan!
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That's what has me worried; I only started running regularly again three weeks ago, and I can just about knock out a few 10k runs a week :S
 
#Chri5# said:
How much is the GNR now? It doesn't make in obvious on the event page. I ran it a few years back and enjoyed it (loved the atmosphere).

I don't mind a technical t-shirt, though I've got a huge pile of them already.
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Its £50 quid. I've entered the ballot, fingers crossed i get in
 
Not cheap but it is an iconic race. We were just about to hit the Tyne Bridge when the Red Arrows came over :cool: Thought there was too much "traffic" to go chasing PBs.

We stayed in a Travelodge near the Metro Centre and they didn't do a decent breakfast (soggy croissant anyone?). So we smuggled a microwave into our room so we had the essential bowl of porridge :D
 
Wow, you guys are a lot more tolerant to these race fee's especially with hotels and travel on top to make it even more expensive. I was ranting and raving the other week because I had to pay £55 for a hotel room in Edinburgh for one night which I thought was expensive, if I had to pay an entry fee as well I would have just told them I wasn't doing it. Not worth it.

Saundie, the HRM that comes with the 620, can it go pretty tight? I forget what watch/HRM you had before the 620 to compare but my HRM for my 405CX doesn't go tight enough for my liking, on smallest it's still wanting to slide down so hopefully this new one can be adjusted smaller still.
 
I'd much rather pay lower race fees and I'd never do the Great Manchester 10k at £38. My entry for the Yorkshire Marathon was £42 which, IMHO, confirms the 10k is silly money.

I do appreciate that if you want to the big races (like the GNR), supply and demand for places says you have to the pay fee. That said, I'm not in a hurry to enter the GNR again as races closer to home are cheaper if just wanting to race (rather than make a weekend of it)
 
xdcx said:
Wow, you guys are a lot more tolerant to these race fee's especially with hotels and travel on top to make it even more expensive. I was ranting and raving the other week because I had to pay £55 for a hotel room in Edinburgh for one night which I thought was expensive, if I had to pay an entry fee as well I would have just told them I wasn't doing it. Not worth it.
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It seems to me that there's not really much choice if you want an event with proper timing chips, drink stations etc. Edinburgh will be my first marathon, and to be honest the only reason I'm doing it is because I didn't get a place for the London marathon. Running a marathon this year is an important aspiration for me; I wanted to do it before I turn 30. I doubt I'll ever travel that far again for an event, but as a one off it's not too bad. I'll continue to do the local 10k and half marathons, as they're rarely more than £25 each.

xdcx said:
Saundie, the HRM that comes with the 620, can it go pretty tight? I forget what watch/HRM you had before the 620 to compare but my HRM for my 405CX doesn't go tight enough for my liking, on smallest it's still wanting to slide down so hopefully this new one can be adjusted smaller still.
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I have a 40" chest and it looks as though you could tighten it by another three inches at least, if not slightly more.
 
£20 -10k
£40 - Half-Marathon
£50 - Marathon

That's the most I'd be willing to pay to do either of those distances. 10k and half-marathon both including travel but depending on the marathon I wouldn't mind paying an extra £150-200 on top for travel and accommodation if one I'll most likely only do once and making a weekend of it. Examples being London (done), Berlin, Amsterdam or even Edinburgh.

In other news though I'm starting to feel better about my running now, seem to have more motivation to actually get out and go now. Starting with the short distances for now but often and will start doing my long runs again soon.
 
To sum it up, this entire XC season has cost me less than £80. And that includes 7 races thus far including the BUPA XC in Edinburgh and therefore share of a car and a hotel room. It also includes the £5 team bus fare and entry for nationals upcoming at Falkirk at end of February.

Then I could easily go and have to spend that same amount again isntantly on 1 pair of more bloomin trainers! lol
 
Well, although I haven't received a confirmation email yet, the entry fee has been deducted from my bank. I'm presuming I've got a GNR place... fingers crossed.
 
16 miles this morning, and incredibly windy. Managed to compare a couple of lap times into and against the wind on flatish ground and was amazed the wind was making over a minute per mile difference.

Tired now
 
SAM81 said:
Well, although I haven't received a confirmation email yet, the entry fee has been deducted from my bank. I'm presuming I've got a GNR place... fingers crossed.
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Same here, had £59 deducted from my bank account which is £50 entry fee and £9 for the technical tee. So think I'm in. Apparently they are sending the emails out tomorrow to let you know if you've been successful or not.

Now to fit in some running training to go with the ridiculous amount of cycling I have to do this year!
 
Also had my £50 GNR taken from my acccount but no email as yet. Entered it as a spur of the moment thing without thinking about transport or accomodation from Leeds.
 
COYS said:
Also had my £50 GNR taken from my acccount but no email as yet. Entered it as a spur of the moment thing without thinking about transport or accomodation from Leeds.
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I received my successful email this morning about 8am.

From GNR Facebook Page

Good morning. All of the Great North Run ballot emails have now been sent. If for any reason yours has not landed in your inbox we do have a ballot checker facility.

www.greatrun.org/ballotcheck
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So I'd check online.

Yeah I'm coming from London to do mine, will try and get a cheap first class train return when they go on sale 12 weeks before, first class is preferred on the way back as trains are meant to be rammed!

Reckon I'm going to stay at one of the uni halls with http://www.nirvanaeurope.com/, looked at Travelodges and they were £189!!!
 
I got myself the white/orange Garmin 620 with HRM on Sunday. I took it out for a spin on my run last night and then also this morning in the pouring rain. Really liking it, screen is much nicer and easier to use in the dark and on the move and it's just amazingly light and smaller than my old 405CX.

It picks up satellites MUCH quicker although the 405CX for me was never slow, but any speed increase here is welcomed either way. And I can tell you the GPS is MUCH more accurate..... Where I start at my house it always used to go slighty awol and start me somewhere in the next street but both runs the 620 has been spot on.

I wore the HRM and got it to log everything for a run just to see what it gives on Garmin Connect, made this one public so anyone interested can see the data it gives - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/446872327

The cadence, V02 max stuff etc it does, I am still not sure of. I can't see how it can be that accurate. But will give it a few uses to see what data I get back over a few runs. I won't use this data very much at all either way.

Problems now. Nothing much at all. Garmin Express Fit which is the software you download and install to communicate with the watch on your computer, it has downloaded the 2.50 firmware update, I have applied it twice in the software and both times says it installed fine, then on the watch when I take it off the USB connection it says I have a firmware update which will taker approx 3 minutes to instal.... It's failed twice now. Also, on the watch when I select WiFi so that it will auto upload my runs when I get home over Wifi, it just says "setup using Garmin Express Fit", and there is no options at all in the software to do that..... I haven't spent enough time on that side of things, so I am sure it's all there and do-able but it's not exactly transparent and in your face easy.

So overall, I am happy with it. Mostly because the weight and size decrease, and because the screen is so much better. As for it being worth the £360, absolutely no chance in hell! I had a £50 voucher towards it, plus a sneaky discount from where I bought it so I had to spend £260 from my own pocket, which I still think is too much for what you get here. But at the end of the day, I use a Garmin a hell of a lot and if it lasts me 3/4 years it is a sound investment and worthwhile.

Now, I have a VGC Garmin 405CX with HRM, ANT stick, charger and USB cable for sale ;) I'd rather sell outwith eBay to a good home so if anyone wants pics, details etc, feel free to give me a shout. Otherwise I'll need to go to eBay and the timewasters that live there!
 
I found the wireless extremely easy to set up. After installing the Express FIT software, I simply connected the watch to the PC via USB,the Express FIT software detected the watch and asked if I wanted to set up wireless connectivity. I selected my wireless access point, clicked "add" and that was it. The only slight issue I've had with it since is that it tried to download the 2.50 firmware a few times and failed, but I think that was because the battery was low, as it succeeded the third time after charging.

As for the cadence data, I've found it to be pretty consistent with the data I got from the shoe pod with the Forerunner 210. As I have a foot pod I decided to use it with the 620.

Also; damn I wish I were as fast as you :)
 
Saundie said:
I found the wireless extremely easy to set up. After installing the Express FIT software, I simply connected the watch to the PC via USB,the Express FIT software detected the watch and asked if I wanted to set up wireless connectivity. I selected my wireless access point, clicked "add" and that was it. The only slight issue I've had with it since is that it tried to download the 2.50 firmware a few times and failed, but I think that was because the battery was low, as it succeeded the third time after charging.

As for the cadence data, I've found it to be pretty consistent with the data I got from the shoe pod with the Forerunner 210. As I have a foot pod I decided to use it with the 620.

Also; damn I wish I were as fast as you :)
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Weirdly, my firmware update just worked on the 3rd attempt as well... Hmmm.

Also, I read the booklet again, it says you need to have an activity on the watch in order to setup wireless, the option was certainly not on the software last night after my run but now that it has uploaded my 2nd run, the option to add an AP is there and I have done it. So a little glitch if anything, it's uploaded both my runs instantly via USB so after training tonight will see if it just bounces it straight up when I get in range of my AP :cool:

Ahh, it might be fairly more useful than I thought then if it's consistent with the footpod as at least with the pod it could be a lot more accurately measured. So that's a positive. I won't be so skeptical of it in this case!

Although, on that run I linked I checked the HR %'s and it says my average was 81% of my max, so it thinks 151 is me at 80% effort? lol. I think that gonna take a few runs to adjust itself, if I am at 80% of max on that easy run then something seriously is not right with my heart!! :p
 
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