Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

Just entered my first half marathon, 17th May in Chester. Never ran more than 10k up till now so best get training
 
I've been struggling with my heart rate being what I consider high for the pace I'm running at. Thought it might be due to lack of fitness, as I had to take the best part of 6 months off due to tearing my calf. I'd also not really been able to ramp up the mileage since then, been restricted to around 6 miles a week, as anytime I ran any more my calf would pull.

Finally had a proper think about it, and realised I had probably gained a bit of weight during the injury. Bought some scales yesterday.... I'm 200 pounds. No wonder my heart rate is so high, when I was running 30 miles a week I was 175 pounds. I'm actually going to have to calorie count to loss around a stone. Hopefully that'll be enough to allow me to add more miles.
 
As your mileage goes up your weight will come down, to be fair, 200lbs isn't that heavy really unless you lack muscle mass and you are a pair of skinny legs with a big belly

Use mfp to track your kcals in and the weight will drop in no time
 
what's your current HR/Pace?

At 10 min mile, to 9.40 min mile, pace after 3 miles my heart rate is hitting around 172-175 bpm. I'm 38, so the guestimate max heart rate is 182. Resting heart rate is still fine, high 50's/low 60s.

My previous experience, when fitter/lighter is that it was around 140-145. My heart rate would normally get up to that range when pushing the tempo, or after a very long (12-15 mile) run.
 
Use mfp to track your kcals in and the weight will drop in no time

Installed, and in use for the last couple of days. January I've always been teetotal, so I normally lose weight during it anyways. Just this time the starting point is much higher, so I think that weighing myself, and paying more attention to diet is going to have to become part of my life style.
 
I ran a mile on a treadmill this morning. It's insane how happy it can make you when you have been out injured so long, completely unable to run a step. Don't take all the miles you can put in for granted because when it is taken away from you, it is horrendous.

I missed out on the tail end of summer having to pull out of a BMC 3000m I got a place in, missing the quick 10k I was putting all of my work towards where I know a big PB would have been, and have now of course missed out on much of the XC season and therefore selection and a chance to run again at the Edinburgh XC this weekend (See Mo Farah has snubbed Scotland yet again also). So yeah, running sure is amazing, until it is awful and ruins your life. Enjoy it when you can and never dread those stinking 5 miles in the rain/wind/ice/snow at 6AM because one day, 1 week or 5 years from now you might be waking up and thinking all you want in life is to run, and you cannot.

/depressingramblings

Good luck and all the best with the comeback, hope it goes well. :)

After reading this today I made sure I went for a run this evening. Didn't want to do anything particularly long in either distance or time so did a hill reps session.
 
Good luck and all the best with the comeback, hope it goes well. :)

After reading this today I made sure I went for a run this evening. Didn't want to do anything particularly long in either distance or time so did a hill reps session.

Thanks dude, glad I helped with the motivation to get out tonight ;)
 
Your welcome, and sometimes it just needs a little perspective and push to get there and remember why you do it.

Never regretted going for a run in almost 5 years of running. :)
 
Finally got some new shoes, just some More Mile London Pro Strikes for £25 from Start but at this point anything would be an improvement on my ~3 year old Karrimors. Should try them out at some point soon, been hesitant to go out with a broken arm but now i need to get it moving anyway.
 
Just completed the Great Winter Run round Arthurs seat in Edinburgh. This is the race that got me into running just over a year ago and I wanted to go back and have another bash.

Given me recent injury problems and the crazy weather (strong winds and snow :() I was pretty pleased to knock 5mins 10sec off my time last year. Didn't quite get under 24minutes like I had wanted to (24:18) but its an improvement and I have something to aim for.

Just need to wait for the feeling to come back in my face and toes!

/Salsa
 
Well done Salsa, always good to knock time off, over 5 minutes is brilliant as well. :) And as you say, you now have an aim of sub 24:00 and can go from there.

I've managed to have a solid week last week and have started well this week as well. Only ran three times in the three weeks over Christmas.

Last week was 4.1 miles Tuesday, hill reps Wednesday, 6.5 miles Thursday and 12 miles Sunday.

Started this week with 6.1 miles yesterday and 6 miles this evening.
 
10 miles last night, longest I have run in about 4 months. Felt really good but I can feel it in my legs today. First day back doing hills tomorrow since I fractured my foot 4 months ago, hope the weather (and my foot) hold out!

/Salsa
 
Had my first 'fast' run of my training plan last night, 5 miles @ 9:03/mile and a new PB by 54secs, really happy with that!

Ran my longest distance on Sunday (7.5 miles @ 1hr16) since knee issues back in October as well. So far so good. Sports Therapist has really helped!
 
2nd day barefoot training today. ran a little further, about 1k. i didn't realize i slid my feet across the ground that much, you really have to lift your feet off the floor so it doesn't hurt your soles. skin is changing on my soles, feels a little burny but good.

also got some bikila evo shoes the other day. went for a run in them for about 30 minutes and i was in a really good running mood and ended up doing some sprints. it was so much fun running as fast as i can until i hit top speed then repeating. it felt like i was flying, dat wind rapture. i was running so fast felt like i was going to take off. these shoes are so grippy.

54 secs well done that's great. really makes your week doesn't it when you smash an old PB like that.
 
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Well it's very controversial, running barefoot is like marmite but it works for me, gone from 25 minute 5k to 20 minute in 6 months and I never ran before then (I'm up to 20k a week now). Not had an injury yet, and yes I know I've just guaranteed myself an injury saying that.

It sucked the first six months because I had to constantly fix my form. I'm still working on it because I've only actually done two runs barefoot so whilst I've gained a lot of strength in my feet I've not gained much feedback from my soles to the way I'm landing and controlling my muscles/form.

Even if you don't want to run barefoot it's good to run a few miles a week barefoot to help your form as it's self teaching. Proprioception.

This first article is a good read about how shoes affect the soles.
http://www.humanbodyusermanual.com/blog/how-not-to-transition-to-minimalist-shoes
http://www.scienceofrunning.com/2010/01/first-big-study-on-barefoot-running-in.html
 
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going for a triathlon this summer, the run is only short but its getting off the bike and running straight away uphill is what gets me, any tips on training for this? (I did the same triathlon last year and the the run was my worst bit as it came last)
 
Brick sessions. Go out on your bike for a normal distance training ride, put it in the house/garage etc and then go straight out for a run. Only way realistically of adapting to the feeling of going from using one group of muscles to another.

You'll naturally be tired anyway having done the swim first followed by the cycling.

A couple of other things to be aware of are using your legs to much when swimming as well and using a gear to high on the bike as I find this fatigues your upper legs quite a bit. A higher cadence on your bike (harder in terms of aerobic management) could help with tired legs and give you a better start on your run.

How do you feel your training went last year?

And good luck of course. :)
 
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