Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

Good result indeed considering the ITB issues!

Next race for me will be Leeds 10k on the 12th July. PB searching! Training has been good off the back of the marathon. been around the 35miles a week mark last week and increasing.

Anyone else got anything looming?
 
I'm running the Dovestones 10K tomorrow evening, local off-road race. Not expecting a PB at all due to the terrain so I'll be happy beating a competitive friend who's also running and putting a good effort in.

Not managed to get back into consistent mileage since the marathon unfortunately so hoping this race will get me back in the mood to get on it again. I've a fair few other races booked but need a key race again to get me motivated!!!
 
Race went reasonably well in the end. 44.34 which is over 4 minutes off PB pace but considering the terrain and conditions it was never about the time anyway. Just happy to put a good effort in, race against a few good friends and enjoy something a little more scenic than doing another road race. As it was local I also made an effort to try and remember the route so I can use it as a training run in the future. Came 20 out of 201 in total so happy with that too.
 
Can someone help me with an odd calorie count from todays run please?

Garmin is saying that my ~6mile run this evening I burnt 224 calories, the odd this that this calorie count is nearly half my usual calorie deficit for a run of that length.

Tonights run: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/787465917

Past run: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/761289186

What gives? Haven't changed anything on my watch (Forerunner 610), HR was ever so slightly less but not enough to make that much of a difference.

Something is wrong but I'm not sure what. The only change is that I've linked my MyFitnessPal account to my Connect account.
 
Can anyone offer some advice on how to train to accommodate hills at half marathon distances?

Did the GNR last year and really struggled with the elevation aspect. I thought my training runs had mimicked the profile of GNR reasonably well but within the race itself, the hills completely sapped my energy.

I'm doing it again this year and have an aim to run under 2 hours (last year 2 hours 10 minutes). Only started training 3 weeks ago with a schedule that looks something like

Monday - rest day
Tuesday - HIIT run (not sure on the specifics of this yet, have HRM so will work towards HR Zones)
Wed - Plyometric session
Thurs - rest day
Friday - pace run
Sat - Rest day
Sun - Long run

Last year I didnt really train with any science behind it all and really struggled to make the distance because of this. I'm hoping the above will a. prepare me for running at the pace I want to and b. prepare my body for the hill parts of the race

Thoughts on the above? Will the HIIT and plyometrics help with the hill parts of the race?

Spent the last few weeks just getting back out on the road and doing some short and medium length runs... this morning I ran 7 miles at 9.12 which is close to where i was this time last year

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/789737616
 
SAM81 said:
Can anyone offer some advice on how to train to accommodate hills at half marathon distances?

Did the GNR last year and really struggled with the elevation aspect. I thought my training runs had mimicked the profile of GNR reasonably well but within the race itself, the hills completely sapped my energy.

I'm doing it again this year and have an aim to run under 2 hours (last year 2 hours 10 minutes). Only started training 3 weeks ago with a schedule that looks something like

Monday - rest day
Tuesday - HIIT run (not sure on the specifics of this yet, have HRM so will work towards HR Zones)
Wed - Plyometric session
Thurs - rest day
Friday - pace run
Sat - Rest day
Sun - Long run

Last year I didnt really train with any science behind it all and really struggled to make the distance because of this. I'm hoping the above will a. prepare me for running at the pace I want to and b. prepare my body for the hill parts of the race

Thoughts on the above? Will the HIIT and plyometrics help with the hill parts of the race?

Spent the last few weeks just getting back out on the road and doing some short and medium length runs... this morning I ran 7 miles at 9.12 which is close to where i was this time last year

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/789737616
Click to expand...

Long time to go till September.. personally I'd enter some races to break up the training... 10ks are good but if you can find a local 10 mile that would be perfect
 
SAM81 said:
<snip>

Thoughts on the above? Will the HIIT and plyometrics help with the hill parts of the race?

Spent the last few weeks just getting back out on the road and doing some short and medium length runs... this morning I ran 7 miles at 9.12 which is close to where i was this time last year

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/789737616
Click to expand...

I put myself a training plan together last summer to target the York marathon. I'd planned 16 weeks but made it 19 weeks to allow for some easier weeks when away on holiday.

My corner of Cheshire is pretty flat, so Tuesday nights became TNT - Tuesday Night Training. Easy 1km warm up down to the local playing fields and then hill reps up/down the grass banks. I started with 6 reps up/down the longest slope, followed by 10 short, sharp reps on a much steeper slope. Some nights I would also then do pyramid sprints round the footy pitch:

Sprint 1 side, jog the next 3
Sprint 2 sides, jog 2
Sprint 3 sides, jog 1
Sprint 4 sides

Then an easy jog home again. Generally every 2nd week I would up the number of reps on the long hill until I was at 20 (ish as I'd forget how many I'd done between 10 and 15, so might have done 21 or 22!). You end up with Garmin tracks like this :D

EaWzqNBl.jpg

The sessions went:

PGuVprP.jpg

I ran the Chesterfield Half Marathon as part of my build up for York. That had some challenging climbs in it (though the course description claimed fast and flat - hmm!) but I felt very confident about going up and down the hills. The hard nights of 20 long reps were 30 to 40 minutes on the hill, so even a 1 to 2km climb (5 to 10 minutes) was well within my training. Took five minutes off my HM PB that day, even on a course much tougher than Liverpool (my previous PB).

End result was that, along with a much improved race nutrition plan, I took 47 minutes off my marathon PB in York :D

HTH!
 
#Chri5# said:
I put myself a training plan together last summer to target the York marathon. I'd planned 16 weeks but made it 19 weeks to allow for some easier weeks when away on holiday.

My corner of Cheshire is pretty flat, so Tuesday nights became TNT - Tuesday Night Training. Easy 1km warm up down to the local playing fields and then hill reps up/down the grass banks. I started with 6 reps up/down the longest slope, followed by 10 short, sharp reps on a much steeper slope. Some nights I would also then do pyramid sprints round the footy pitch:

Sprint 1 side, jog the next 3
Sprint 2 sides, jog 2
Sprint 3 sides, jog 1
Sprint 4 sides

Then an easy jog home again. Generally every 2nd week I would up the number of reps on the long hill until I was at 20 (ish as I'd forget how many I'd done between 10 and 15, so might have done 21 or 22!). You end up with Garmin tracks like this :D


I ran the Chesterfield Half Marathon as part of my build up for York. That had some challenging climbs in it (though the course description claimed fast and flat - hmm!) but I felt very confident about going up and down the hills. The hard nights of 20 long reps were 30 to 40 minutes on the hill, so even a 1 to 2km climb (5 to 10 minutes) was well within my training. Took five minutes off my HM PB that day, even on a course much tougher than Liverpool (my previous PB).

End result was that, along with a much improved race nutrition plan, I took 47 minutes off my marathon PB in York :D

HTH!
Click to expand...

Excellent, looks like exactly what i need. Thanks for posting
 
I'm umming and arr'ing over getting a gps watch, but I want it to be used for cycling too. Current requirements are built-in HRM, and compatibility with strava. The ability to hook up a cadence sensor on the bike would be super pro.

Any recommendations? The TomTom MultiSport Cardio w/ HRM is looking good, but at over £200 I'm wondering if an Android Wear smartwatch might be an alternative?
 
Did a 14.5m long run this morning (liekly nearer 15m, my fitbit app caused android to crash! Terrible terrible app). I tried to keep a lsow pace but worried about it being too slow, took around 2hr 15 minutes with a mix of rough forest rails and roads, plenty of hills. I was already feeling my legs by mile 5 which was disappointing (perhaps too many miles earlier in the week), but i didn't slow down much despite the hills at the end. Definitely felt tough at the end but reasonably pleased.


Just trying to build my weekly millage and LR distances gradually over the next 5 weeks, then I need to be following a marathon training plan. I hope to be doing 45mpw with long runs to 16 miles at the start of training, but don;twant to push myself too far too early.


As part of this I have changed from 3 runs a week of 8-11 miles to doing 4-5 runs a week with varying distances from 3/4 to 8-10 and then the 1 long run. Some of them are really just 3 miles at a very slow pace as a recovery run, most of the others are 4-6 miles at an easy pace except one which is faster (at Lactate threshold), and the middle long run is a little slower than a hopeful marathon pace. this way I get a variety of running, and my weekly millage can build up much faster. I should also reduce injury risk since most runs a short and easy, the pace is rarely high.


Still don't know what marathon training plan I will settle on. Lots of different opinions regarding how many days a week, how long the long runs should be, how much race pace running to do, any speed work.
 
Fuggan said:
Have a look at the Runner's World Smart Coach page.

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/racing/runners-world-smartcoach/3057.html
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That is a nice link since it gives you the different paces, will bear it in mind thanks.

My issues are that there are so many contradictions out there. Some authors suggest running 5-6 (or more) runs per week with the rational that if runs are easier you need less recovery time, can clock up a higher MPW. it is easy to increase MPW by simply adding a mile or 2 here and there, if you have to miss a session (sick/work/weather) you don't loose much percentage of your MPW, it can be less intimidating going for 2x 4-7 mile runs than 1x 10-12m runs,mif you need a day to revert you may have pushed things too fr or too fast, a recovery run after a long run can be benefitial, shorter runs are easier to fit into work-life schedule befor breakfast, in lunch break, after work, before rain comes etc., you can practice different things (easy, long, tempo, LT, HIIT, hills, fartlek) etc, etc. Other proclaim the benefits of 3-4 days week in that for a marathon it is endurance you need to build so fewer longer runs are needed, you get more rest days so can recover better, psychologically there is much less work load since you have lots of off days, you have more flexibility because if there is bad weather/work/life issue you are only fitting 3-4 workouts into 7 days, it is easier to schedule around work-life, more time for cross-zit or Other low impact fitness, they claim lower injury, less likely to overtrain, less likely to hit a mental wall.

Same goes for things like distance of long run. Some say no more than 16m because it is just too damaging to muscles and skeletal system, soem say 26-30m (even if there is some walking) So you can guarantee finishing the distance, most Go for some middle ground at 20-21m but that is before you hit the "wall".

Then there is the pacing issue. Many are fans of the 80-20, with 80% of the runs very slow! others go for higher speed work out, or race pace runs! or speed work. Some say you have to do medium length runs at race to be able to increase endurance at that pace and get used to that speed. Many it her demand much slower speeds in almost runs.
 
You could spend so much time reading training plans that you'd never get out to run :D

I think the key is to listen to your body and use plans as guides, not utter gospel. I ran 3:48 in York last year. I averaged 3 runs per week over 19 weeks. A lot of the training plans will have you at 4 or 5 runs per week for a 3:45 marathon. Sunday mornings were generally my LSR and I've banged on about my weekly hill rep session above. Other than that I ran based on how I felt and what else was going at work / home (eg how tired I was and how much free time I had).

Pace is another minefield. My only comment on that is that when if I tried to run a very slow LSR (like some of the plans call for), I felt like Quasimodo with a pulled hamstring.

I've waffled on about my weekly hill / speed sessions a few posts back - mix things up, you don't want to hate running before the marathon!
 
1st run today since leaving the Gym a few months ago, 4.5km according to strava - but about 50/50 jogging and walking. Aiming for solid 5k first before moving onto a 10k event in autumn I hope.

Always made excuses about not being able to carry stuff/phone etc, but got a flipbelt and it's perfect for me. No more excuses now :p
 
Scottland said:
1st run today since leaving the Gym a few months ago, 4.5km according to strava - but about 50/50 jogging and walking. Aiming for solid 5k first before moving onto a 10k event in autumn I hope.

Always made excuses about not being able to carry stuff/phone etc, but got a flipbelt and it's perfect for me. No more excuses now :p
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Good stuff.

After recently breaking my headphones, I've been running without music. I really thought I'd hate it but on the contrary, I've found it's helped me concentrate on my breathing a hell of a lot more.

Since I started training with a little more thought, I've noticed some good improvement on my pace on longer runs. I think the HIIT and plyometrics have helped massively.

8 miler this morning faster than I was able to do for the whole of last year

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/803333002

and a 5 miler at 8.49 earlier in the week

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/800063665

I'm hoping for anything under 2 hours for the GNR, so my pace isn't too far off that and I'm confident the current training program should get me there.
 
Really starting to suffer in the heat of summer now. 29*C when i started at 6:30AM this morning, 32*C when I finished at 8:45. The humidity as well is a killer, 92 when i started. Weather warnings are ut this week for heat index alerts over 110*F.

I hate the summer!
 
With Garmin having a partnership with Nikeplus now, has anyone successfully managed to get Garmin connect to sync with nikeplus?
Linked the two yesterday but nothing has gone through at all, even after two runs.
Sent a few tweets but nothing so far, just wondering if anyone had any luck?
 
Since Garmin updated Garmin Express I've been unable to get it to sync with my accounts for both Garmin and Strava. Keep having to download the files using Garmin Training Centre and then upload manually which is quite a pain.

On a more positive note though ran a 5 mile race this evening I did last year and managed to run just over 3 minutes faster which I'm very happy with. :)
 
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