Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

I'm looking for a bit of advice because it’s really hard to know where I'm at. Starting getting into running (albeit treadmill stuff while at gym.... trying to lose some weight) I found myself actually enjoying running quite a bit. Been at it for nearly 1.5 months now.

Currently able to run 2k in just over 16mins... I have no idea if that is good or not. One of my friends said that apparently to join the army as infantry you need to be able to run 2.5k in 12mins 45 seconds. So that is my goal to aim for sounds like a good enough target to aim for :p. When I first started I was lucky to manage 2k in 20mins so I’m a bit pleased with my progress so far.

But been thinking of trying to do a 10k or 5k "official" run. Just not sure where to start really. What sort of times should be looking at and how to train for it ? When I do the 2k on the tread I do about 2mins "fast walking" then the rest running. I will admit I do sweat a fair amount after the 2k. My legs ache a bit afterwards but after a bit of stretching generally they feel completely fine afterwards.

I don’t train with anyone just on my tod in the gym. Music really helps though I tend to zone out when running if I’m honest, there really is something strangely “relaxing” about just running listening to some music. Weight is dropping which is helping I guess and my diet is good.

Any advice would be great :) or am I just over thinking it all too much lol :p
 
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Have a look at maybe doing something like this - http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

If that looks like something you think you could manage then get stuck in to that training plan and then sign up for a local parkrun (if there's one near you) which is basically a free weekly 5k timed run. You can find out more about this here: http://www.parkrun.org.uk/

Once you've got a couple of those under your belt, start looking around for a 10k plan and there you have it.

I wouldn't worry too much about pace for the time being, just getting the miles in is the key I think. :)
 
Definitely do a parkrun.

The one I take part in has so many different abilities that nobody would feel out of place. They are well organised and it's nice to be timed over the same route consistently.

It helps that my local one (delamere) is a rather nice run anyway!
 
Itchytrigg said:
Well done guys, I'm finding it a struggle when we get really humid days. I made my longest run on Sunday but the humidity as I hit about half way was nasty.

However, it meant I could test out the first segment of my planned 1/2 distance, once I hit the top of that hill it's pretty much all down hill to work.
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I don't think you know what it like.

Been upper 20s and 95% humidity here for weeks! Or I can run later in the day in the mid 30s's and 70% humidity.

It rained yesterday while I was running but ti made absolutely zero difference to how wet my tshirts are. Literally I get home, stands outside and wring a couple of cups of water out of my over-priced sports shirt.


I've been in saunas that felt cooler and more refreshing than a sumemrs day here!
 
Quick update:
I signed up for the a full Marathon in November and about to sign up for a praxtice half end of August.
Training is going OK. My weekly miles are around 50 right now, longest ru is out to 16.25miles.
My week usually looks like this:
Sunday: 6 miles easy or tempo.
Monday: 12 miles MLR, soemtimes with a progressive finish
Tuesday: 6 easy, sometimes some crossfit at the end.
Wednesday: 10 miles, Interval training, 5x0.5 miles with 0.25mile jogging recovery. I try to keep a good pace to get up to he 10 miles.
Thursday: rest or 3 mile recovery
Friday 15-16mile LR at comfortable pace.
Saturday: hiking/mowing lawn/cross-fit


I'm please with the progression in getting up to 50mpw and the long runs to 16m. In general my body feels very tired and i feel much slower than when i started. The interval training is nice to know what it is like to run at speed but often my lefts I still have DOMS so the laps aren't that fast.

It is probably just psychological but I feel back in may I had no issues running 10 miles at 9min/mile, now that speed seems quite tough when am used to slower paces for the long runs and easy/recovery runs. It also feels daunting to finish the 16 miles and know I have 10 more to go.. It is not like I am limping the last mile, I will often try to make it the fastest mile of the lot, but once I pass 10 miles there is just a lot of general muscle and joint stiffness/ache.
Nothing like anything is injured, just a feeling that the body is being worked hard.
I take this to mean I shouldn't push myself much harder until my body adapts better I just hope that over the next couple of months I feel myself run a little faster and complete the LRs with a little more ease. Or maybe marathon trainign is suposed to be like this!

I know I can run faster but I am trying to keep my HR in check and have my body used to running slower with more fat.
 
So I managed my fastest 1K, 1Mile and 5K today, 5K was just under 31 minutes so knocked another 2 minutes off.

I'm hitting a bit of a wall at about 2K when I start to get a stitch down my right hand side (any tips on how I can get over it? Or will that just be something that sorts itself out over time as I put more miles in?) but then mixed it up today with interval training with 90 seconds running and then 60 seconds walking which seemed to help a lot. It also allowed me to try running at a higher speed to see I could hack it longer.

I think some more weeks of this type of running will help me to increase that initial run to get to 3k consistently. I may even start doing 90 seconds running then 30 seconds walking to just try and keep the pace up.
 
I have struggled with stitches in the past, still do from time to time and I think they're a bit of a random one. Mine usually crop up down my right side when I'm really going hard.

Things to try:
- stregthen your core
- allow plenty of time for digestion before your run, depends on the size and macronutrient composition of your meal but a good rule of thumb is 100 calories/hour
- focus on your breathing more, consistently exhale when one designated foot hits the ground.
 
I made it

Was woken up around 5:15 so had breakfast then went back to bed and set off around 6.30. It's a hell of a way to wake yourself up but not so sure I'll be doing it again. Last mile was quite hard on my legs.

Legs are not feeling too tight right now, will try and make sure to get up from the desk on a regular basis to stretch out.
 
Good effort, I can't run in the mornings - I've tried it a few times but it's not for me :p


Does anyone have any suggestions on stretching before a run? My groin seems to suffer the worst the day after, but legs etc are usually fine.
 
I generally don't do any static stretching before a run as stretching is telling your muscles to relax (not what you want before a run). What I do do are a few dynamic movements like: lunges, squats, side lunges, high knees, bum kicks and that sort of stuff.
 
As Fuggan said, you want to be doing that stretching out after a run. I use to do it before and it made no difference, then reading advice on here and other places got me into better practices.

Not that I've needed to often, but for groin I think its best to sit on the floor, feet together and gentle push the knees out and down to stretch the inside of your legs.

I usually use my first 1k as a warmup, slightly lower pace and get my breathing right before I then up my pace for whatever I'm trying to do.
 
Scottland said:
Good effort, I can't run in the mornings - I've tried it a few times but it's not for me :p


Does anyone have any suggestions on stretching before a run? My groin seems to suffer the worst the day after, but legs etc are usually fine.
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Stretch after the run.

This is what I tend to do based on lots of reading/research:
* Run slowly the first 2miles, perhaps even walk the first 0.5-1m.
* when finishing the run walk another 0.5m, stretching arms and controlling breathing.
* stretch legs when still warm after walk.
* try and do some short walks for the rest of the day,be it just walk to the furthers at toilette in house/office.


If you have a specific pain then best to slow everything right down. Have a longer slower warm up. If you get pain during the run, slow down, walk even, if the pain persists walk home.
 
I think there's a lot more to say on the subject of stretching. There seems to be a growing body of evidence that so called "cold stretching" of muscles before exercise actually increases your chance of injury, and even that static stretching afterwards isn't as effective as just using a few dynamic stretches - leg swings, chest stretches, side bends, body rotations, arm swings and the like. Completely contrary to the cool running link in the OP that would have you believe that more stretches, more often and for longer are the way to go. Thing is the evidence on this gets updated so often and there's a lot of conflicting results, but i'd expect to see more discussion of it in here. Until there's a definitive study i'd say the best approach is to try a few different methods and find what works best for you personally.
 
I think there is now a good consensus that static stretches when cold are at best useless, and most likely detrimental.


Static stretching after a warm up is great for increasing flexibility but it probably has little benefit wrt injuries. I did Taekwondo for nearly 10 years and the stretching got me doing full on box splits and the like after a few years. All sadly gone now.
My anecdotal evidence though suggests that such stretching increases injury risk because there is less restraint on the muscles.
 
It was a little cooler this mornign, good timing for my interval training.
5x0.52 miles (in around 3m40s) and 0.25m slow jog inbetween.
With warm up and a temo run at the end I did around 11 miles in under 1hr 30.



Felt great, except by mile 7 my nipples were ablaze and my t-shirt streaked with blood. :-(


Had to rip it off and than the next 4 with blood dripping down my chest. I've been working from home topless to recover.

Strange how I suffered so badly today, must be a combination of interval traiing and t-short material. Yesterday was 10 degrees warmer and way more humid, I was soaking wet within 15 minutes yesterday. Monday was almost as hot as yesterday when I did nearly 13 miles.


I've ordered some body glide, but any other tips or techniques to avoid this torture?
 
Haha, jesus christ that sounds brutal. Reminds me of when I lost my head with a pair of headphones on a long run once, that's another story. As for nipple issues, pick up a big box of these next time you're in Boots or the like:

mzPcI2u7-WRrjZhwEsnyHxA.jpg
 
Will see what is in the pharmacy tomorrow.
Wife gave me some 'nipple butter' she used when nursing our baby.

I was looking something like this:
https://snowballsinwinter.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/youthinkdotcom_3185100_171636.jpg


I think my enighbour cursed me. He asked me last week what I do to prevent runners nipple because he got it bad after his long run, blood on shirt, intense stinging. I made fun of him and told I have nipples of steel because I don't get runner nipple. Then the next few runs I started getting a very slight irritation in the last miles but nothing much at all, until today.
 
So after doing the Leeds 10k a few weeks ago in 49:02mins (from a previous 58min PB). I decided I'd try something more longer distance so today I did the Saltaire Shaker (www.saltaireshaker.com) which is a part off road 15km run.

Anyway I did it in 76:16mins!! :) and the course had a great big hill in the middle around 8km into the race before some very rocky woodland off road running, which I wasn't expecting at all (having not looked at the route and only deciding to do the run 2hours before the race start time).

Now whats puzzled me a little after I've had a more in depth look at my pace splits/ was that I was only a little faster over the 10km race, when I divide my 15km race pace by 10km.

My question is, should I not be much slower over longer distance? Since I've only done 2 10km races and now this 15km run. I'm still trying to get use to setting my run pace and always get to the end of the run feeling I've still got something left in the tank and could/should have gone quicker :(. As I'm a little nervous about going all out in the first half and almost dying by the end lol
 
I'm only a beginner but I think you don't see big difference between a 10k and 15k run, but hills and off-road should make you slower.


As an example I ran 7miles Saturday at an easy pace trying to keep heart rate under 150 and I ran around 8:57 mile on some relatively hilly roads. This morning i ran 7 miles on forest trails and my times is around 10:20 a mile and my average heart rate is higher. However, Part of that is the GPS is underestimating my distance on forest trails.

I'm also trying to get used to paces but what I have learned is that for longer distance races most of your training runs should be at a relatively slow pace. I've read that soemthign like 80% of your weekly miles should be at around 1 minute or more slower than your intended race pace.
That applies to marathons but my understanding of the reasoning would make me think it is important for moderate distances like 15K. If you push yourself so hard you can barely finish a training run then the training could be too hard and will liekly cause injury or wont increase performance optimally.


I put your race time into here: https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/calculator
And for 15K it says 1:15:58, so about what you ran. Saying that, is based on experienced athletes, you might be able to knock a 2-3 off your 10k
 
Feeling incredibly guilty... and fat :-/

Not run in over a week and have fallen off the diet wagon! Back at work tomorrow so I WILL RESUME NORMAL ROUTINE! :(
 
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