Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

Hi,

Due to elbow injury in November, i've been confined to running which i've always kept to a minimum due to my poor knee's.

I've been upping increasing my distance by a mile each week and currently on 9 which i complete in a fairly good time.

I seem to have a lag between 4 and 6 miles before picking up the pace again.. My aim to is to a half marathon in May that I have my sights on. The only problem i have is my joints ache like mad but otherwise, very pleased.
 
GiraffePencils said:
^ this (the training one, not the response to me)
I injured my foot over-training/hill sprints.
upped rather suddenly, suffered the consequence
Click to expand...


You think that adding a 5 mile run doesn't add much more stress if you are used to running up to 15 miles regularly, but if you run 25-30 miles a week then an extra 5 miles run is a big 20% increase. its all to easy to keep adding 10-20% increases in weekly millage with no physical issues, until 1 day you blow you knee out. The issue is compounded if you add days of running, you might go form 4 days a week giving 3 days recovery and typically 1 run sandwiched by a recovery day and no more than 2 consecutive days, to having 3 consecutive running days and much less recovery time. Like weekly millage, running more days a week doesn't directly increase injury risk, in fact it may reduce it because each run is likely less stressful, but quickly adding days and miles increases risks substantially.

While there are some problems with the underlying research, this article is very enlightening:
http://www.active.com/running/articles/a-surprising-way-to-reduce-your-risk-of-running-injuries
A 2013 study by Danish researchers found that among 662 runners training for a marathon, those who ran less than 30K per week were injured more than twice as often as were those who ran 30 to 60K per week. Those who ran more than 60K were not injured any more often than were those who ran 30 to 60K per week.

A 2014 study published in the Journal of Science and Medicine and Sport reported that within a group of 517 recreational runners, those who ran the least were injured most often. Other studies have produced similar findings.
Click to expand...
 
Admiral Huddy said:
Hi,

Due to elbow injury in November, i've been confined to running which i've always kept to a minimum due to my poor knee's.

I've been upping increasing my distance by a mile each week and currently on 9 which i complete in a fairly good time.

I seem to have a lag between 4 and 6 miles before picking up the pace again.. My aim to is to a half marathon in May that I have my sights on. The only problem i have is my joints ache like mad but otherwise, very pleased.
Click to expand...

If your joints ache like mad then you are liekly icnreaisng millage to fast, which you liekly are because you are increasing your miles by 1 mile a week. That isn't a big increase but you aren't giving time for your body to adapt. You should hold the increased millage for about 3 weeks before increasing again. It takes time to get to higher miles.

the other thing is as i said in previous posts, keep your speed down. You say you are doing your miles in a good time which is a red flag to me. A beginner mistake that I fell foul of was to always try to run hard and look for increase paces week on week. If you are increasing your millage AND increasing pace then your injury risk is much higher, your sore joints are a warning.

Sore muscles is one thing, that is actually a good sign that you had a hard work out, as is feeling shattered, but joint pain is a bad sign.



Make sure when you are running you can easily hold a conversation without labored breathing. If you run by yourself talk to yourself but loud for a minute every so often or sing, o get your phone out and call someone o you don't look weird. Faster running has benefits, but much less than you would think and the benefits can be seen much later in training. Beyond increasing your injury risk, fast running is also simply not effective training for a half or whole marathon, see my above posts.


It is something really hard to get used to, it feels awkward to run that slow, I frequently fail to follow my own advice, and often feel the consequences.
 
D.P. said:
If you are worried about injuries then I definitely wouldn't do any intervals or speed work, and in general keep paces slower than suggested b various pace calculators.

Weekly millage is actually only very slightly correlated with injury incidence until the weekly millage gets very high, e.g. 90+ miles per week. Injury risk is more strongly correlated with:
  • Poor Technique/form
  • Poor shoes/worn out shoes, badly fitting shoes
  • Over-training, insufficient rest and recovery periods
  • Fast pace running, intervals, tempo runs
  • Increasing millage or days running too quickly


If I was worried about injury then i would drop all speed work, slow down, and very slowly increase weekly millage to allow adaptions to occur that will strengthen bones and joints. I probably also wouldn't worry about racing a marathon and instead spend a year increasing base millage. But I really like having a goal so I probably wouldn't head that last piece of advice! But seriously, running too fast and any form of intervals puts far more stress on joints and bones. you want well placed, light foot-steps maintaining good form and posture, correct cadence and good foot strike. People can run 100 miles in a single race and get little more than DOMS, running 100 miles over 6 days is much less stressful. Ultrmarathon achieve that by running slow.

You get a triple whammy improvement going slow :
1) Slower speeds means shorter strides and less vertical oscillation which reduced impact forces.
2) You don't get so tired to maintain better form which reduces stresses
3) Most of the adaption required to do well in a marathon occur at slow speed, such as increased capillary formation, improved ability to metabolize fat, increases in mitochondria, improved slow-twitch muscle density.
Click to expand...

Yeah, increasing mileage too quickly is exactly how I ended up with this leg pain in the first place :P

You're right, of course, but I'm not going to go overboard on intervals or anything, will stick to Daniels' recommendations for max percentages of weekly mileage spent in each zone. One internal running season a week doesn't seem crazy and has a lot of benefits, will probably do some cycle intervals on the trainer too which is much less stress on the joints. There are cycle training plans for people with limited available time based pretty much entirely on intervals.
 
Something else to consider is hill-based intervals on a treadmill - you get your heart rate up but don't get the impact of flat-intervals and you don't have the disadvantage of downhill running with its extra impact. Plus it develops a lot of leg strength which can reduce injury risk.
 
IndigoGorilla said:
If it's the first run in a while I don't see the need to be running anymore than 5K and don't run too quickly, make sure you feel like you can hold a conversation and take walk breaks if you have too.

The basketball and 5-a-side will help a little at least too. Let us know how you get on. :-)
Click to expand...

Well, that was hard work :D My choice of route was probably quite bad for my 'test the waters' run. First mile is on a slight decline and the last mile is a slight incline.

My own ego, stupidity or the hill got the better of me forcing me to do the first mile a little too quick hindering the rest of my run. A few walk breaks had to be used. The main reasons being my lower back giving me some stick and the amount of saliva I produce when running is just silly. Any tips for preventing this? Felt like I had a lot of phlem but it seemed to just be in my head as nothing was coming up.

All in all, good to test the water and I know to pick a flatter route for next time and set a pace I can hopefully stick to.
 
I feel like I'm falling apart....
So I've started today with pain in the arch of my left foot.
It's not the first time I've felt it, but it's the worst I've felt it.
I'm not sure what to do about it, someone suggested buying off the shelf insole.... something tells me I should see someone....
though tbh I'd like to not spend too much money right now haha
 
I got in a a decent long run today, wanted to take it easier but they are forecasting a foot of snow tomorrow and freezing rain Saturday so I might not get out for a few days.

16.3mi 2:16:46 8:21

Mostly was quite easy, at he half way make I start feeling a strange sensation in my left knee but it soon faded. had that last week so it is soemthign to keep an eye on. Mile 13-15 felt really good but then the last mile suddenly got much hard, calves started to cramp and I got a stitch.



Overall very happy with the run and makes me more confident for a May 1st marathon. Will keep my weekly long run at about 16 miles for the next weeks but will slowly lengthen one of my midweek runs to 13 miles. At some point I might add intervals back in but i'm more concerned with getting in some good runs.
 
Running the Snowdonia Trail Marathon on Sunday 24th July so started hill training on Thursdays now. Tonights session was repeats on a local hill which is fairly steep. 150ft+ and 10% gradient.

Ended up at 6.2miles in 51:21 @ 8:13 miles per minute average. 1500ft of elevation in total. :)
 
That is a good pace for the climb.

I do a lot of ski mountaineering, under good conditions I could do about 2000ft an hour but over a shorter distance like 3 miles. On my recent trip to Utah it was more like 1200-1600 an hour over about 4 miles.
 
Last edited:
Went to the local running store and I've been running in size 8.5 shoes for about 5 years when I should have been in size 8. I also have orthotics which were for size 8 and they've not helped given that they're too small for the shoe. So ended up buying a pair of Brooks Ghost and they feel great.

So I've signed up for the gym again and went on the treadmill to do a couple of miles before work. Then after work I went to my running club and did 3.7 miles with them. I've done a few sessions running 2 miles on my own so figured I could handle the planned 5k with the club.

I think I might have overdone it going to the gym in the morning as my leg/knee started getting sore around 2.5/3 miles in and it's a little sore today. I've got a Park Run tomorrow so I'll go to that but not sure I'll be able to run the whole way. I figure I'll take my 1 year old daughter and jog with her in the pram and see how I get on.

More stretching tonight and over the next two weeks, I'm determined to be ready for the 10k on 7th Feb but really need to make sure I don't get ahead of myself and try too much. Such a fine balance.
 
Golden rule, as soon as you get any acute pain, even slight, stop running and walk home (and if it still hurts when walking call up a friend/uber for a lift)
You have to differentiate between fatigued muscles/DOMS/tired feet and an actual joint/ligament type pain, the former happens when you train hard.

Also, if you felt a little joint type pain and then taken a day or 2 off and are heading out for a next run, keep the pace even slower than you would expect. Not only will that reduce the chances of re-injury, the slower pace will help you listen closer to what your body is telling you. When you run fast adrenaline, heavy breathing, fuzzy brain/tiredness all conspire to make you less sensitive to subtle warnings and even pain. When I finished my marathon last November I ended up with a micro fracture in the foot but didn't feel it in the slightest until hours afterwards, just due to the adrenaline and pushing myself so hard.




-----------------------------

It was forecast to snow 10-16inches here today so when I woke and it was still dry and put on my running shoes and headed straight out in the -8*C, gloomy and windy murk. Thought I would do about 6-8 miles before the snow would start to settle but it didn't until the 10 mile mark. I had planned on doing 6 miles with 12-13 tomorrow but with the snow that simply won't happen, and stupidly the gym said they are closed today and tomorrow due to snow so no easy way to make up the miles. Thus I continued until 10 miles but ran everything 15seconds slower than my slow pace. Jumped in the shower, 10 minutes later the ground was covered in 1/4 inch snow, and it's piling up deep now.

10.2miles, 1:28:05, 8:34/mile

45miles for the week so far, will see what I can do at the weekend. Can't believe the gym will be closed
 
I went to a Parkrun today expecting to walk a bit as my leg had been sore from Thursday night.

So I started off what I felt was slow and it was just over 11 min miles which is quicker than I was doing on Thursday. Felt fine after a mile so pushed it up a bit for the second lap and on the last last I got up to 9:38 /mi which I'm really pleased with.

Finished the 5k in just under 33 mins so not my quickest but not too far off. And considering I'm coming back from injury, I'm really happy with how today went.
 
Today was a 40 minute spin on the trainer then a 6 mile run at 7:35/Mi. I find it tough starting the run after cycling but after a mile or 2 I somehow settle in. Wouldn't have been able to do much further though as I could feel my energy going, not bad for only a single crappy wheat free pancake (I might eat the house now)
 
Spent 2.5 hours shoveling snow just to see the starting area filled in again. About a foot deep and snowing hard, drifting in the wind. Power keeps flickering as well!
Gym is closed until monday supposedly.

Might get out on my old x-country skis.
 
Managed to get a Tomtom runner multisport plus accessories for £60 on ebay, should be with me tomorrow!

Will be good to not have to run with a phone and being able to see my pace very handy.


Need to book some more races, anyone done Amsterdam Marathon?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom