Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

Went for a fast 4 miles yesterday (lunch break, felt good so figured "why not"), averaged 6:54/mi and got my 3rd best 5k with 20:35 (best was 20:19 set July last year).

Slightly disappointed as I thought I was going to break that 20 minute marker, but considering I actually only decided to go for it after my first mile at 7:03 and an old couple blocking the path so I had to stop, wait for traffic to clear, then overtake in the road (CLEARLY that was 35 seconds alone :P), I'm pretty happy.

Will try and take my self to the parkrun soon, I'm positive I can do it :) then I can get back to long run work as I'm thinking of taking the Reading 1/2 which is about 2 months away.
 
Long run of the week: 18.2mi 2:28:00 8:07/mi 851 ft ascent HR 157

My 2 year old was sick so this was done with almost no sleep. Feet were hurting at the start but once warmed up it was OK until about mile 14 then I progressed the pace a little which kept things manageable in a kind fo weird way. E.g., if you run slowly you think it should be easy so when it starts to get hard it is mentally tough, but if you pick up the pace a little you expect it to be harder and psychologically it feels easier. At least I often find it easier to push faster at the end of a long run,, and I think my form improve if I speed up compared to trudging along. part of it is likely just the change in pace generating new stimulus which makes it feel like a different activity. No doubt various hormones also change in response to harder work which make fatigued legs less of an issue.

My heart rate was all over the place today though. Could be the lack of sleep, could be I am coming down with the sick bug my 2 year old has, or over-training? Very spiky when viewed on a graph. The high HR was climbing hills and the low when going down them so it makes sense, but I was really trying to keep a more constant 150HR but it would swing form 145 to 160 at the slightest change in pace or grade. Even when it was well over 160 my breathing was very calm and I could have an easy conversation and I never felt like I was working hard.

Anyway, an early night and a rest day tomorrow.
 
Pretty happy for my longest run in about 3 months. 10.1 miles @ 7:37, kept trying to force myself slow at the start but as there was a slight downhill as well it wasn't happening.

Even with a 20mph headwind for the first 6 miles felt pretty good, and on the way back the wind died down so didn't get the tailwind :(, no matter still held a good average and last 4 miles actually averaged 7:29.

Pretty certain I'm going to have some DOM's to moan about later, but don't care as this makes me feel like I've not lost too much endurance in my down time.
 
Itchytrigg said:
Pretty happy for my longest run in about 3 months. 10.1 miles @ 7:37, kept trying to force myself slow at the start but as there was a slight downhill as well it wasn't happening.

Even with a 20mph headwind for the first 6 miles felt pretty good, and on the way back the wind died down so didn't get the tailwind :(, no matter still held a good average and last 4 miles actually averaged 7:29.

Pretty certain I'm going to have some DOM's to moan about later, but don't care as this makes me feel like I've not lost too much endurance in my down time.
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nice one :) I always do better with a quick start - even though negative splits are meant to be "perfect"

I did a park-run (was pacer week this week) - but legs were feeling heavy and not springy - no idea why - just about kept with the 19 min pacer - but dropped off towards end - to my slight frustration I managed 19'16 against a PB all the way back in December 2013 of 19'13 ... so close - but there is always next time.

still - I'll take 6th out of 520 :)
 
Itchytrigg said:
Pretty happy for my longest run in about 3 months. 10.1 miles @ 7:37, kept trying to force myself slow at the start but as there was a slight downhill as well it wasn't happening.

Even with a 20mph headwind for the first 6 miles felt pretty good, and on the way back the wind died down so didn't get the tailwind :(, no matter still held a good average and last 4 miles actually averaged 7:29.

Pretty certain I'm going to have some DOM's to moan about later, but don't care as this makes me feel like I've not lost too much endurance in my down time.
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Well done, that's sounds like a good run so hope you don't suffer too much for it. Typical of the wind though, it rarely feels like you get the benefits after struggling against it for most of the run.

Buckster said:
nice one :) I always do better with a quick start - even though negative splits are meant to be "perfect"

I did a park-run (was pacer week this week) - but legs were feeling heavy and not springy - no idea why - just about kept with the 19 min pacer - but dropped off towards end - to my slight frustration I managed 19'16 against a PB all the way back in December 2013 of 19'13 ... so close - but there is always next time.

still - I'll take 6th out of 520 :)
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You've got some quick pacers there, ours typically go to about 22 minutes for the fastest at the moment. Good result though and 3 seconds is really nothing, it's a slightly quicker line through a corner or not having to steer round a slower runner. Good luck for beating it next time.

Just done my longest run for a while today at 19km (or 11.8 miles if you prefer that) so still building up for my half marathon in March, not the fastest but quite a lot of elevation in there (at least a lot of hills for London anyway) so feeling pretty good about that. Also did Parkrun yesterday but as a local club had their junior trials it was pretty crowded so the start was a complete write-off, according to my watch my run time for 5km was about a minute quicker than the recorded time - if that was right and I can repeat it I should be on to smash my PB.
 
Thanks, and buckster that's quick, very impressive.

Good work Semi-pro, always nice to see progress especially for a PB :)

No signs of DOM's yet except a slight tenderness in the thighs, maybe that break didn't do me as much harm as I thought it might have.
 
Looks lile everone had a good weekend running. Some very fast times there!

Saturday I did a tempo run. 4 mile warm up, 5 mile at lactate threshold (about 7:05 a mile with hills), 2.4M cool down. 11.5 miles at 7:44.

Today was a medium long run, 15.2 miles at 8:10 a mile, 800ft ascent.

An easy day tomorrow is in order.
 
An easy one this morning: 8.8mi 1:13:38 8:20/mi I was happy with the pace considering I was keeping my HR right down.

Then went to the running store and got fitted with a new pair of Brooks Ghost 8s. Hoping for added cushioning.
It is funny that I always thought running was cheap but looks like I will have to go through a $120 pair of shoes every 4-6 weeks.
 
D.P. said:
An easy one this morning: 8.8mi 1:13:38 8:20/mi I was happy with the pace considering I was keeping my HR right down.

Then went to the running store and got fitted with a new pair of Brooks Ghost 8s. Hoping for added cushioning.
It is funny that I always thought running was cheap but looks like I will have to go through a $120 pair of shoes every 4-6 weeks.
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:eek: every 4-6 weeks? My £40 pair are still going a year on...thought to be fair I do need to replace them, getting some sore areas on my feet, but still you're getting through them super quick...
 
unless you are doing crazy miles - new pair every 4-6 weeks ?

I do at least 600 miles on each pair of my trainers, across different brands.

the trainers then go for gym, treadmill wear etc - so I'd reckon I get easily 6-8 months or more outside running then further time inside on them
 
I'm doing 75 miles a week at the moment, and it is suggested to get a new pair every 300-400 miles. I went in to the running store because I have been getting migrating foot pains, a 10 second look at the shoe and the guy said I simply need new shoes. Its was the first time I really looked at the bottom of them and I could only agree, lots of the softer tread had warn down to some harder rubber and I felt pretty stupid for not noticing earlier. Gave me the same model shoe as I was using (but 2016 model) and asked me to run around the block. The difference was night and day between the cushioning. I've simply warn it down, and that is very visible when looking at the sole.
He said the shoes I was using (Saucony ride 7) were excellent but had a softer rubber than some others. I ended up getting Brooks ghost 8 which also felt very good and he said I should see and extra 50-100 miles on them.


I will have to have a closer look at my training logs, I might have got 500 miles out of them and I had the last pair since October but that included only a couple weeks running before a Marathon taper, several weeks doing nothing and then gradual mile build up, then nearly 3 weeks doing nothing again. Going forwards I'll probably need a new pair in 6 weeks. The guy has a PR 2:21 marathon and said he need new shes every 3 weeks training for a marathon, which is why he works in a running store!


I wont throw my old ones out, they will be used for the gym and walking. I managed to pick up my last pair of Ride 7s for $70 because they were on close out sale.
EDIT: Checking the logs I did 592 miles since October 18th, no wonder my feet were hurting. Can't wait to get out tomorrow and see what the new shoes feel like. If i get the same miles out of this pair then I'll a new one in about 6-7 weeks depending on my training. I'm suppsoed to increase to around 85 miles a week but I'm dropping one of the training days and adding a few miles elsewhere.
 
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Well when you put it like that! I know you get a lot of miles in just never crossed my mind how quickly it can all mount up. I looked at mine again this morning...the toes and heals have pretty much worn of all tread too and I'm probably at about 600 miles on them.
 
GiraffePencils said:
Hmm, I don't thing that's reasonable.
I've worn the tread off plenty of shoes, and a couple I've worn straight through the sole in ~7months
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Probably depends on the brand. I wear Brooks Adrenaline GTS and i've always managed to get at least 2k miles out of each pair. It usually take 500 or so miles to break a pair in.
 
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