Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

[D.P.]

Typical, I went out for my last run before the race and managed to stack it! A car startled me by turning without indicating and I stopped suddenly, rolling my ankle and grazing my knee.

Ankle now feels bruised and swollen.

RICE. On race day you will have to see how you feel. Adrenaline will help a lot but you need to be careful not to push through too much pain and cause serious injuries. I did soemthign similar last September in a cutback week just before a half. Was going on a veyr easy run and rolled my ankle coming off a curb bcause at the same time a car startled me. It still hurt on race day morining a few days later, but once the gun went off I didn't feel a thing. The next day it was very stiff and I lost a few days training

 

[Shamrock]

I've got another day of healing so hopefully it will improve enough in time.

Although, I tried a short jog to the end of my street this morning and things weren't promising.

I just can't believe that after 4 months of training it all goes wrong two days before the race with a stupid tumble!

 

[semi-pro waster]

Shamrock: Hope the recovery works for you. It must be very annoying but I can only suggest you don't try to force it too much, it would be worse to do more damage and keep yourself out for longer.

chris4652009, good luck with the marathon tomorrow. The conditions look kind so enjoy it and that goes for anyone else from here running Brighton.

New parkrun PB for me at Crystal Palace today in 19:41, still broadly going in the right direction even though I'm increasing the distance of my long runs and had a 4(ish) mile race on Thursday.

 

[D.P.]

If it doesn't feel good then you should consider looking for another marathon held in the next week's to months.


This kind of thing always scares me, or just being really sick. Friend has been training really hard for the last 6 months inorder to Boston Qualify but got sick as a dog a few days before hand.

 

[Shamrock]

Well, that was a complete disaster!

All the icing seemed to pay off so my foot felt good enough to run on and I started the race.

Things were seemingly going well with consistent goal pace for the first 14 miles. I was actually running conservatively, following the 3h pacer. Then it all went horribly wrong. I started cramping up in my hamstring and couldn't hold target pace anymore.

Then it got even worse, despite me taking on whatever fluids and carbs I could. I started to get all over body cramps in my calves, hamstrings, abs, pecs and biceps. It was incredibly painful and I couldn't run properly. Annoyingly, I wasn't feeling too fatigued but I simply couldn't run through the cramps! Pace dropped further as I was constantly stopping to stretch out. A spectating sports masseuse even helped me out haha.

In the end, I practically crawled over the line with a disappointing 3:26:40. I'm really disappointed after putting in so much training. Seeing slower people running past you because you can't use your muscles was also disheartening.

Cramp can **** off.

 

[semi-pro waster]

Sorry to see that it didn't go well for you Shamrock, sometimes there's not much you can do if your body starts to mutiny on you. Here's hoping for a better run for you next time but well done for finishing anyway.

chris4652009: I hope you had a more enjoyable experience on the day.

 

[Shamrock]

Thanks. I'm trying not to be too hard on myself but after 4 months of blood, sweat and tears it's upsetting not to see it pay off. What's more tragic is I ended up running slower than my normal training pace! Not only that, it was only 17mins quicker than my Ironman marathon which was after a 3.8km swim and 180km bike in hotter conditions.

The splits illustrate it all nicely.

 

[Indigo]

What a bugger, gutted it went pete tong for you Shamrock. The pace was looking good and consistent until after mile 14. Depending on your triathlon plans it'd be worth finding another marathon in the next few months anf trying again, no doubt at all that a sub 3 is very much on the cards for you when fit.

 

[D.P.]

Sorry about that Shamrock. Don't dwell too much on the race. Pick yourself up and look for another Marathon, building on your current fitness. Such cramps are hard to prediction, they aren't usually form lack of electrolytes though, despite what the likes of Gatorade would want you to believe. You have some pretty aggressive splits (but pretty even) so it is possible you more or less bonked, a little early and it doesn't sound like it but you have a CV fitness higher than your run fitness so its possible you were burning through your glycogen very fast.But bonking is more total exhaustion than physical muscle pain/cramping.

Way to tough it out, looks like a good punishing with those splits. I'm scared I don't suffer something similar at the end of the month. this training cycle has gone very well for me, best yet, I fitter than i expected to be at this point in time, but sometimes the **** hits the fan in a race as long as a marathon. An experienced friend also cramped up yesterday, he has run maybe 10 Marathon and slowly worked his way down form 4:40 to 3:10. But the last 2-3 Marathon and IM he has just cramped badly between miles 10 and 20. No discernible reason. Yesterday he tried to race conservatively as he is in the middle of an IM cycle but still just cramped badly.

 

[Shamrock]

Thanks guys. I think I'll be laying off the running for a while and get back on riding my bike and climbing rocks.

I can understand calves and hamstrings but it was just bizarre that I was getting cramp in my hips, abdominals, biceps and pecs... from running.

 

[chris4652009]

Brighton Marathon was awesome..finished in the 7500 out of 20604 runners with a time of 4:44mins. Was in the top half of my age group 40-44 and 5400 male out of 12494

The run was great, lovely sunny day..lots of drink stations and run through shower points plus residents with hoses and water sprayers so it was no problem.

A really enjoyable experience, I'm feeling very proud of what I've achieved after being, in the words of my PT "This guy a year ago was in terrible shape and fitness (sorry mate) but has completely turned it around!"

Set a goal, smash it, repeat


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Edit to add: Just saw your post Shamrock, really sorry to hear that, I hope you overcome your issues and get back to it.

 

[Shamrock]

Sounds like you had a more enjoyable time than me, congrats and well done!

This morning I'm barely able to move. Every muscle that was cramping yesterday now has severe DOMs without the delayed onset part!

 

[chris4652009]

Sounds like you had a more enjoyable time than me, congrats and well done!

This morning I'm barely able to move. Every muscle that was cramping yesterday now has severe DOMs without the delayed onset part!

Thank you and ouch


I'm now switching my training to more strength based, starting with getting back to bootcamp three times a week (I'd sacrificed that time slot and all other spare time for running in the six months prior to the Marathon), then once I have a good strength base it'll be onto weights and stuff.

I'm not going to drop running but I will cut it back to prob just the one very hilly 10mile local loop every Saturday morning (I really enjoy starting the weekend with that).

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Edit to add (for those that wonder what my training and MPW etc has been):

I Started getting fit last spring, in the words of my PT "This guy a year ago was in terrible shape and fitness (sorry mate) but has completely turned it around!"
I have been running 20 very hilly miles week since last summer, then from January I added into that a 20+ mile very hilly run on a weekend morning once a month

I live on the top of a steep geographic plateau in a rural area, it appears to have been the perfect training ground.

Still no muscle stiffness or aches & pains other than feeling super tired. I have been staying as mobile as possible since Sunday.

The pics I took on the day

 

[chris4652009]

Any of you guys doing Southampton Marathon ?

 

[Shamrock]

I wrote a blog post about Brighton. More of a whine really.

http://lmreilly.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/brighton-marathon.html

 

[neilw]

Any of you guys doing Southampton Marathon ?

I'm doing the Half. Two laps of my home town doesn't really appeal to me!

I'm currently taking 5 days off running, I feel like I need a rest. I did a 10miler in Salisbury at the weekend and took an easy pace on purpose, but still found it hard.

I'm going down to Bournemouth on Saturday to do ParkRun followed by a quarter Marathon along the coast. I'm not going to race it, Just treat as a long slow run.

 

[chris4652009]

Well, it looks like my nutrition, training and post Marathon were all spot on....no ache, pains or even DOMS at all this week.

Went out for a easy 6.5k last night, felt nice and steady until I got home and looked at data...Much to my surprise three new PRs popped up

Fastest Mile.
Fastest Km.
and a sector PR too.

It feels nice that I'm no longer "Training for Marathon" and I'm free to run whenever and however and for as long as I feel like now....I'm no longer tied to 20miles per week and a 20miler once a month.

Plan of attack now is hit fitness bootcamp hard again as doing my first OCR in May

 

[FrenchTart]

Just went out for a very short test run to see how my knee is after all the rest and physio. It was okay I suppose but not really sure it is better. Hard to know if I'm being paranoid or if it's actually still a little achy. I'll try it for something longer soon to see if it plays up.

 

[semi-pro waster]

Well done chris4652009: enjoy the feeling of freedom, no doubt you'll sign up to something again soon.

Shamrock: hope the recovery is going well.

FrenchTart: it's probably a tricky balance trying to work out if a slight ache is entirely normal or a sign of a recurring problem, just ease into it and hopefully it'll work out ok.

I had my first ever timed 5km on a track at the weekend, running 12.5 laps isn't the most entertaining thing ever but it wasn't quite as boring as I feared it might be. I did manage to run 18:38 so it's my first time under 19 minutes for the distance, the fact that the winner lapped me twice and had been finished for over three minutes by that point is not one to worry about. It was an enjoyable experience anyway and good fun watching some of the other track and field events. I then did almost 22 miles on the Sunday for my easy long run and that wasn't my smartest idea ever, really tough when my legs hadn't recovered properly from the day before and it was surprisingly sunny despite the weather forecasts. Glad I've done it though, I'm now only planning to do one longer run and a few medium distances before tapering.

 

[wallofsound]

Am sure this has come up before, but what are people's recommendations for running watches. Mainly want to track pace / distance. Not having to have my phone on me whilst on a run for music etc. is preferable but not essential. Quick googling seems like the TomTom cardio + music might fit the bill, any thoughts? The cheaper the better as I've not been into running long. Thanks.