Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

I've just got my Garmin Vivoactive set up but im wondering how people use their gadgets as i feel a bit all over the place.

I used both the run log on my Garmin watch and also set it going with the MapMyRun app on my phone.

The results are pretty consistent which bodes well, although the calories burned shows as 489 in one and 579 in the other which isn't a big deal. The annoying thing is that both have then mapped through to the MyFitnessPal app so it looks like i've burned over 1000 calories.

I like the analytical detail which MapMyRun shows but at the same time i'd like to use my watch to record my heartrate. Maybe i can just unlink MFP from one of the logging apps.
 
I've just got my Garmin Vivoactive set up but im wondering how people use their gadgets as i feel a bit all over the place.

I used both the run log on my Garmin watch and also set it going with the MapMyRun app on my phone.

The results are pretty consistent which bodes well, although the calories burned shows as 489 in one and 579 in the other which isn't a big deal. The annoying thing is that both have then mapped through to the MyFitnessPal app so it looks like i've burned over 1000 calories.

I like the analytical detail which MapMyRun shows but at the same time i'd like to use my watch to record my heartrate. Maybe i can just unlink MFP from one of the logging apps.


It sometimes had this problem because I link my garmin to my strava account but sometimes liked to use Strava running on my phone while also using my Garmin watch. Ultimately I just use my Garmin watch now (920XT).

As for the calories, trust the garmin watch with a heart rate monitor above all else. I would also multiply the calories by a factor like 0,7 if you are really concerned about calorie counting. Heart rate based calorie estimation is the most accurate but is still now great. Apps like strava simply use a fixed calorie burn for distance (and sometimes speed) but ignore how hard you actually worked to generate that movement, e.g. running u a hill or on trails is far harder.
 
Sad news

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-37929631

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-37917703


Two Teenage girls from Aldershot athletics club died after being hit by a car whilst out running. The driver has been arrested on suspicion of drink driving.

Stay safe make sure you've got your hi-viz on.

Sad. A pedestrian was hit by a car n an exact spot that i frequently run along. A typical stupid American lack of side-walk scenario. There is about 2 miles of side-walk, a few hundred yard without any unless you cross the road but there is no pedestrian crossing, and then you can get a another few miles of sidewalk. APrt form theat one section it is a great place to run and joins up several parks and nice running neighborhoods so I do it a lot.

Although now I tend to make a longer diversion aroudn that place now. There are spray painted markings form the police showing the body location and car skid-marks etc. Depressing stuff.
 
19.31 at parkrun this morning. Happy with that, two weeks after my marathon and my second run this week after taking a week off and resting for a change. Went to Congleton (near Macclesfield). 3 laps around a mere on a nice path, really flat course too.

What's everyone else got planned for the weekend?
 
19.31 at parkrun this morning. Happy with that, two weeks after my marathon and my second run this week after taking a week off and resting for a change. Went to Congleton (near Macclesfield). 3 laps around a mere on a nice path, really flat course too.

What's everyone else got planned for the weekend?

Well done on the time, sounds like quite a pleasant course. I volunteered this morning and it varied between pretty wet and absolutely chucking it down - I thought they might have problems with not having enough volunteers but actually there were way more than usual. :confused:

Just back from a cross country race now. Wet, muddy, hilly - I really enjoyed it.

Just finished my first park run after 2 months of c25k. Managed 26:27 which was at least 2 mins faster than I expected. Pretty chuffed and off to a beer festival in a bit. :)

Excellent, hope you keep up the running and enjoy the beer festival too.
 
This morning's workout was 1x26.2 miles at GMP - 3:01:34 . Very happy with the time on a tough course with a strong head windon the long up hill. Started pacing for around 3:02:30 so very happy to be a little ahead. Very even splits. Very bad .muscle pain at end but feeling great now
 
You ran a marathon yesterday morning? That's a great time!

Yep, Richmond. VA Marathon, 98th outbid 4056 finishers and 23/261 age group.

Very even splits and well paxed ocerall. I knew I didn't quite have sub-3 in me but wanted to leave myself with the possibility if a miracle happened but I didn't have enough in me by Mike 20 so just tried to hang on. Good job because a bunch of people that were pacing for sub 3 pulled ahead of me at mile 18 but I passed almost all of them by the finish. A neighbour was one of them, finished 10 behind me in the despite building a 1 minute lead.
Second half was 35 seconds lower than 1st which is good considering the first half had the iwbd behind us and a drop of 300feet while the second half had 700ft or so of climbing and a strong head wind in the worst uphills
 
How long were you preparing for that race? Did you use the provided nutrition or go with your own stuff?

I have 5 months to train for a sub-3 attempt. I'd settle for a good for age though which is 3:05.

I started running seriously may last year. 1st Marathon was the same course last November 14th in 3:27, 2nd was May this year in 3:13, then 3:01 yesterday. I started this cycle at he end of June although I was running from middle of May slowly building millage back up.

There is a big difference between 3:05 and 2:59. At these speeds it becomes exponentially harder. For the life of me I can't imagine where i could have gained the missing 100 seconds on that course course.


I wouldn't worry about a goal pace until about 4-6 weeks before your Marathon. Race a glad as hard as you can and see what kind of time you get. You can't train to a goal without a time machine, you can o ky train by your current fitness and the rate of change I'm fitness is highly variable.

If I remember right you haven't done an open maratgon but your IM shows good mental endurance and potential. In which cass I would totally relax, do a training cycle and just see where you end up. Pacing is really hard so it will really help to get some practice before going for something bigger. Even 2-3seconds a Mike.toi fast for the first 20 miles might see you fade massively or worse.


I used my own gels, I never use anything new on race day. Gastrointestinal issues are really common when running a marathon,unlike cycling the constant churning can really make you feel.sick. You need to train with the gels you plan to use on race day or.risk feeling sick. I drank water from some aid stations but also took a watereblt with GU Roctane. That is unusual for running that fast, no one else did. It is a pain but it is really hard to drink water from.plastic cups at 6:50 pace. Also they offered Powerade but I prefer my GU. I could train with powerade to help eliminate risks. They only offered gels at 2 locations but I ate 1 before starting and consumed 4 on the course.
 
Initially though you meant home made gels :) - maybe that is possible

what is your technique for pacing - do you map it out before hand with way-points and some allowance for inclines/descents and watch then tells you of deviations ?
seem to be climb at 25k on Richmod VA marathon.


(The sad Aldershot runners case does not appear to be down to any runner safety issue see - incident on pedestrian crossing.)
 
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Initially though you meant home made gels :) - maybe that is possible

what is your technique for pacing - do you map it out before hand with way-points and some allowance for inclines/descents and watch then tells you of deviations ?
seem to be climb at 25k on Richmod VA marathon.


(The sad Aldershot runners case does not appear to be down to any runner safety issue see - incident on pedestrian crossing.)

Some people do make their own gels, mostly ultra runners who might go through a kilo of the stuff in 30 hours etc. But I'm happy with GU.



The most important part of pacing is getting a realistic goal pace. By far the biggest problem is people going way to fast at the start and then suffering later in a death march. They then totally ignore the feedback their body gave them and put their bad experience down to poor training/weather/feeling sick/hills at the end/not their day. In the first 7-8 miles hundreds of people passed me despite the fact I started right at the 3:05 pace group team, Over the last 1 miles I passed hundreds of runners.

You need to do at last one half-marathon about 4-6 weeks before the race, and doing a second half or a 10 K earlier helps. You can use that along with how well various key training runs such as Lactate Threshold runs and fats long runs to help make a prediction. There are many online calculators that can give you a conversion, but they are tuned to runners averaging over 70 miles per week with many years experience.

When it comes to the race you want a fairly even effort all factors being equal. That means you need to slow down on the uphills. On th downhills there is temptation to bank time but it is more important to bank energy. You can bank some time, no need to force yourself too slow, but use the down hills to recover, lower your heart rate a little and save energy for when it matter.

An ideal paced marathon has close to even splits, slightly negative. That is the 2nd half is slightly faster than the first, assuming both halves have the same topology. On Saturday's race the 2nd half has a lot more hills and the the 1st half has a big downhill at mile 8. That makes a negative split a lot harder. But my pace plan was still to ensure the first half was run at a very comfortable pace. Going a few seconds a mile too fast over the first easy 10 miles would cost me dearly over the last 6-8 miles - as witnessed by the hundred of people who passed me earlier only to crash and burn once they had to content with the hills and wind in the middle. You are much better getting to mile 6 1-2 minutes slower than planned than 30-60 seconds faster than planned. You can always make up time at the end of a a marathon, you can never make up for the burned energy of a badly paced start.


I did some homework before racing. looked at the map, especially the inclines, looked at google earth, drove the course and looked at last years data on Garmin to see where my Heart rate increased. I printed a pace band which i looked at just a few times to check I wasn't too fast. You can download some course specific pace bands that take into account the hills, but these are fairly pointless IMO. You need to run the hills based on effort not pace. A hill later in the course will have a bigger impact. You need to keep your heart rate under control on the hills, regardless of whether your watch is saying you are going 30 seconds too slow.

If you have paced correctly with a smart goal then somewhere in the last 10K you may be able to increase the pace, or collapse just passed the finish line like i did Saturday. If you do it wrong then you can loose a huge amount of time, suffer massively and get to the finish knowing you screwed thing up.

Over the last 10K you need to really fight the pain. One mental trick is what I call fishing. Imagine casting out a fishing line to the next person in front and then try to slowly reel them in. I imagine pulling in a line or rope one hand over the other as I very slowly pull in the person and pass them. Line up your next victim and try again. This passes some of the time and helps you escape the pain and the signals form your brain telling you to stop, it increases your pace just a little, and gives big mental rewards as you count up how many people you pass running. try to keep good form, head up. Visualize yourself crossing the finish line and no matter how bad it feels there is no way on earth are you going to slow down now.
 
Massive congratulations on your time D.P. Impressive and exactly where I'm looking to be next year if not a little quicker (sub2.55-3.00). Your training always seems to be so consistent and it's very methodical what you do as well, well deserved. You remind me of one of my running mates who's pretty similar in his approach and always does well because of it. Long may it continue. :cool::):D
 
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Massive congratulations on your time D.P. Impressive and exactly where I'm looking to be next year if not a little quicker (sub2.55-3.00). Your training always seems to be so consistent and it's very methodical what you do as well, well deserved. You remind me of one of my running mates who's pretty similar in his approach and always does well because of it. Long may it continue. :cool::):D

Thanks. Consistency is the key really to the marathon. You can't cram training in the weeks before or trick your way to a fast finish time. A common mistake is to do minimal training for half the year and then decide to train for a autumn Marathon, which basically means you start form where you left off the year before. Instead if you can build on each cycle then you can jump higher and higher.

Well done D.P. - that's a great time and it's clear that your approach to training is paying off for you.

Its really no secret. The training mostly follows what is Prescribed in Pfitzinger's book "Advanced Marathon" but I incorporate ideas form Daniels book "Running Formulae" and other scientific-based training plans. I make sure easy is easy, hard is hard and there is never too much hard running. Most of the necessary physiological adaptions occur at easy running speeds.
 
DOMS almost gone by today. Now to force myself not to run much! Been enjoying a new swimming pool with hot-tub and steam room. Maybe a short 3-4 mile stroll this weekend is on the cards. Feeling fantastic overall.
 
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