Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

D.P. said:
Shade is your friend, go topless, and just ignore pace and just run real easy. Your heart rate will begin increasing rapidly at normal easy pace so you will have to try and slow down further.

The good news is that running in the heat gives you similar advantages to altitude training by increasing red blood cell count.
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Thankfully the cloud cover came in just before I went out. Wasn't too far off my usual pace and I did take a more hilly route than normal, I've had my watch on the heart rate screen for a long time now to make sure I work to that rather than a pace. Knowing it helps in the long run is what's keeping me going when it gets like that.

Shamrock said:
I've entered the London Marathon ballot. I'm keen to see what I can do in a marathon without a swim and cycle before it!
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I entered as well, kinda scary thinking how much I'm going to need to step up training if I get in. Good luck for October!
 
Shamrock said:
That's aiming low. I would be looking to do sub-3 hours! (with a lot of training required)
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Go big or go home I guess. :D
From what I've seen you typically loose abut 20 minutes on your open time but a lot depend on how you handled the biking and nutrition. However, it gets exponentially harder to cut every minute once you get close to 3 hours. I know people that go to sub 3:20 shape within 18 months and then spent 5 years working towards sub 30, shaving off 1 minute at a time, lots of set backs and disappointing results in between.

But I think you could do if you totally dropped all biking and swimming and slowly ramped up to 70-80 mile a week of structured training.
 
70-80 miles of running per week?! Fair enough if that works for you, but I think that's too much volume for me personally.

My mate who ran 2:21:47 at London and is competing in Kona this year doesn't run that much a week.

Quality over quantity.
 
Shamrock said:
70-80 miles of running per week?! Fair enough if that works for you, but I think that's too much volume for me personally.

My mate who ran 2:21:47 at London and is competing in Kona this year doesn't run that much a week.

Quality over quantity.
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Your mate is incredibly gifted. You have to realizeca vast majortybof people will never ever by able to go sub-3hours however long and hard they train because they simply don't have right genetics. They spend years and years and years working at a goal which is simply beyond their reach.

When it comes to marathons, training volume and consistency over a period of years is by far the single most important factor in determining outcome. Number of long runs. Length of long runs, speed. Types of work out quality matter very little compared to volume. Which is why pros do 150 miles a week or more. With a lot if running at 8:30 a mile when they can do a 4:30 a mile for a marathon.

It isn't about your at all. Absolutely about quantity. This is pretty much fundemnrtL to any srious training plan with stacks of real world empirical evidence. Quality miles should be limited to 10-20% of weekly volume max, and often less works better. You can do extremely well never doing any quality workouts at all. I know lots of people that clock 60-100miles a week at 9 min a mile but will crank out a 18minute 5k, 36minute 10k etc.

I follow a forum for people running under 3 hours, a majority will consistently run 70-100 miles a week to hit such a goal. There are freaks that get there on 35-45 miles a week but they are very rare exceptions with incredible genetics.
 
I've entered the London Marathon Ballot as well. I've never run a Marathon before, only up to halves. I just want to do one once to say I've done it. I don't really enjoy long training runs over 2 hours. I'll be aiming to do it in 3:45 to 4 hours if I get in.

My weekly mileage isn't very high at all really between 25km and 35km. I'll increase this if I get into the Marathon, but happy with that amount as I don't want running to consume all my spare time.

Currently working on hitting a sub20 5km I'm down to 20:13 seconds!
 
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I'm currently around 40 miles a week in the lead up to a half end of September. If I get selected in October I think I'd try to bring that up to 50-60. I just don't think I could clear enough time for more.

Whilst putting in the miles is important for endurance, it's just as important they are good quality miles, make them count. No point doing 80 miles a week if you just coast the whole time, you need that 20% at high intensity to build the pace/strength.

This is of course just my casual observations of my own performance and based on 0% science!!
 
Not quite as impressive as marathons, but I've just finished week 3 of couch to 5k (it's taken a tad longer than three weeks) and its going well. I think I felt better after last night's run than I did after the first week, so that's good.
 
toasteh said:
Not quite as impressive as marathons, but I've just finished week 3 of couch to 5k (it's taken a tad longer than three weeks) and its going well. I think I felt better after last night's run than I did after the first week, so that's good.
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Well done. I'd suggest not worrying about comparing yourself to other people too much or what they've done and certainly not when you're just starting - see the progress you make compared to the you of a month/6 months/a year ago and use that as motivation. If later you decide you want to compare to other people then that's up to you but I think at the start it's all about achievements for yourself.

To everyone hoping to get into the London Marathon - good luck with the ballot placings, I missed the window this year so it'll have to wait for another year. I'm still running, have a couple of potential club runs coming up but there's the fast people whose times will count and then I'm somewhere behind as a sort of backup. I do have a 10km and half marathon in October to train for though.
 
semi-pro waster said:
Well done. I'd suggest not worrying about comparing yourself to other people too much or what they've done and certainly not when you're just starting - see the progress you make compared to the you of a month/6 months/a year ago and use that as motivation. If later you decide you want to compare to other people then that's up to you but I think at the start it's all about achievements for yourself.
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I never worry about comparing myself to other people, or I'd not bother with a training log for weights either :P
 
Can anyone recommend a decent running jacket? I'm looking for something fairly lightweight that will provide some protection from wind/rain. Keeping completely dry doesn't bother me but i'd like something better than a short sleeve shirt. Happy to spend around £50.
 
Faustinooo said:
Can anyone recommend a decent running jacket? I'm looking for something fairly lightweight that will provide some protection from wind/rain. Keeping completely dry doesn't bother me but i'd like something better than a short sleeve shirt. Happy to spend around £50.
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I have one of these I use in the winter

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/kiprun-evolutiv-jacket-id_8367682.html

It's ok in light rain and keeps the wind off the vents are good when you get warm to let air flow in. I think it's been updated as I don't think mine has a hood.
 
Ordered a Forerunner 230 with the view that I'll guilt-trip myself into running more rather than just cycling all the time :p

Going to be starting slowly next week. Haven't properly thought out a training plan (or indeed ultimate goal yet, though marathon sounds like a good start) but I'll probably start off with several sub 5k runs initially just to try and get my legs to start to adjust. Aiming for 3 a week to begin with, slowly ramping up the distance. I need to expand my stretching/mobility routine to incorporate more running-specific stuff too.
 
Best of luck FrenchTart. Your cycling fitness will help cardiovascularly so as you say it's a case of building the muscles slowly and then going from there. If 5K is the aim then it will be worth looking at doing a ParkRun on a Saturday morning. There's so many in the Manchestet/Greater Manchester area it's rude not to.

Ordered myself a new watch as well. Went with a Suunto Ambit3 Peak HR as wanted a watch to use for swimming as well as cycling and running as well. Should be here early next week.
 
So im a larger lad...been running for 6 weeks and really getting into it. I'm really struggling to find some half decent trail running trainers...im flat footed so ideally something suitable..any recommendations?

My and the towns first park run tomorrow in Brighouse...very nervous lol.

Edit

Im running 5k in about 31-32 mins asthma dependent. Im not going to make a fool out of myself am I ?
 
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