Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

I had 2 aims.

1. Finish the run
2. Be Under 5:00

I succeeded in (1) but not (2). Keep telling myself it was due to the heat etc. However, I know that I went too fast for probably the first 10k (approx 6:45 / km average) so that will be one thing for me to learn how to overcome this time :-)
 
You will never know what you are capable of until you pass the finish line. For my first marathon I had a sub 4 goal time that I thought was optimistic but turned out I handled the training well and finished in 3:27.

I think it is important to realize that you can't train around a goal, but can only train around your current fitness. It seems obvious, but e.g. I can't do a sub-2:10 marathon by training like an Elite, I can only do the runs at the pace my fitness allows. But too many people have a time goal which they translate into a pace and then do training paces arund that goal pace. That leads to injury.

Your heart rate, perceived mental effort, and how well you recover from runs dictates what your training effort needs to be. At a beginner level, that easy training pace will hopefully increase every few weeks in any case.


About 4 to 6 weeks form the Marathon it is useful to do a 10k or half-marathon in order to gauge fitness. From that you can get a good goal time that is realistic (although be aware the online pace estimators assume closer to 70mpw training volume).
 
Ian_Eb said:
I had 2 aims.

1. Finish the run
2. Be Under 5:00

I succeeded in (1) but not (2). Keep telling myself it was due to the heat etc. However, I know that I went too fast for probably the first 10k (approx 6:45 / km average) so that will be one thing for me to learn how to overcome this time :)
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The most important use of a running watch is to force yourself to go slow enough at the start of a watch. I fixate on my watch during the first 4-5 miles of my Marathon, especially that first mile when there is so much adrenaline, everyone is charging out and you feel amazing. That first mile has to be the slowest.
 
Having now done it wrong, I will be taking far more notice of it in future. I went with a friend and we were very aware of going too fast and kept an eye on the km times and tried to slow down but obviously, once you have finished the km it is already too late. I have a better feeling for speed/pace now than I did then so I am aiming for a better planned run this time :-)
 
Ian_Eb said:
Having now done it wrong, I will be taking far more notice of it in future. I went with a friend and we were very aware of going too fast and kept an eye on the km times and tried to slow down but obviously, once you have finished the km it is already too late. I have a better feeling for speed/pace now than I did then so I am aiming for a better planned run this time :)
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Even when you get more experienced it is very hard in a race to go the right pace without staring at your watch. Not only the excitement, adrenaline, fresh tapered legs, but subtle things like since you are running in a crowd of people the visual perception of pace is much slower as your optic flow is distorted, which is an important feedback since your legs are of no use at this stage.
 
Has anyone got any ideas on how to track treadmill runs with a iphone? I would like the data to sync to my phone, and be relatively accurate. I have a Nike+ but Apple seemed to just drop support for it so it is useless, it worked well too. I am wanting something that is hardware to connect to my show lace.
 
why are running socks Compression based ? except for summer socks ?

at the moment im just wearing normal socks as i go straight out after work
 
squarepusher said:
Has anyone got any ideas on how to track treadmill runs with a iphone? I would like the data to sync to my phone, and be relatively accurate. I have a Nike+ but Apple seemed to just drop support for it so it is useless, it worked well too. I am wanting something that is hardware to connect to my show lace.
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Something like stryd should work well. I would assume it has iPhone support.

Otherwise just use something like strava and enter the details manually after you have finished.
 
For the odd occasion i use the treadmill i set my Apple Watch to "Indoor Run"

It's not 100% accurate but it's not usually hugely off and you can always fix the odd entry based on the treadmill readings. As above just manually entering the activity into Strava might be the best option though. Depends what you want to track.


Not sure what happened to me yesterday, went out for a short run and after about 1.5m i felt really dizzy/light headed. Alternated walking/jogging for a bit as couldn't build up rhythm. Then got near home and took a country lane thinking it would take me in the right direction. As i was plodding along i decided to take off my base layer and after that i felt mostly ok and was able to finish the run. Must've been overheating or something like that, ended up doing about 5.5miles

Having recently bought a few decent items of running clothing it's really made me appreciate the difference between something like UA/Ronhill compared to just buying the cheapest tops from Sports Direct. Especially from a compression layer point of view.
 
Goals by the end of the month to run 6min for a mile, currently at around 7.45min, lot more in the tank but lung to to be brought back from the dead.

Bit of training for the 60m also, weird combo you may think but I was a bit of a sprinter in school, trying to bring back the glory days.

Ambitious?
 
Got a bit of an unexpected ParkRun (5k) PB on Saturday, Ran 19:17 which has taken 15 seconds off. I now have the confidence I can go sub19, with a bit more prep and a warmup.

I was very relaxed in the first two km's. I've been able to pick up the speed significantly in the final kilometer the last few I've done, to well under a 6min mile, before on 5km PB attempts the final km has been a real struggle.
 
neilw said:
Got a bit of an unexpected ParkRun (5k) PB on Saturday, Ran 19:17 which has taken 15 seconds off. I now have the confidence I can go sub19, with a bit more prep and a warmup.

I was very relaxed in the first two km's. I've been able to pick up the speed significantly in the final kilometer the last few I've done, to well under a 6min mile, before on 5km PB attempts the final km has been a real struggle.
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How long have you been training?
 
jsmoke said:
Goals by the end of the month to run 6min for a mile, currently at around 7.45min, lot more in the tank but lung to to be brought back from the dead.

Bit of training for the 60m also, weird combo you may think but I was a bit of a sprinter in school, trying to bring back the glory days.

Ambitious?
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It is a weird combination as you're mixing an extremely short distance with more of an endurance based run, however as you're starting out you might well find that you can get some decent results with both ends of the spectrum so to speak. Moving from 7.45min mile to 6min mile does seem quite ambitious in that timeframe but I don't know how close you are to your current limits so best of luck with that.

neilw said:
Got a bit of an unexpected ParkRun (5k) PB on Saturday, Ran 19:17 which has taken 15 seconds off. I now have the confidence I can go sub19, with a bit more prep and a warmup.

I was very relaxed in the first two km's. I've been able to pick up the speed significantly in the final kilometer the last few I've done, to well under a 6min mile, before on 5km PB attempts the final km has been a real struggle.
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Well done on the new PB, that's a good chunk of time to take off. You don't say explicitly but it reads as if you've run a negative split whether you intended to or not, that's often a good way to do it rather than going out fast then just trying to hang on.
 
Well 7min mile this morning, plenty more in legs but lungs wow they are not in good shape, maybe smoking for 20 years has something to do with that.
 
semi-pro waster said:
Well done on the new PB, that's a good chunk of time to take off. You don't say explicitly but it reads as if you've run a negative split whether you intended to or not, that's often a good way to do it rather than going out fast then just trying to hang on.
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spits where 4:00, 3:45, 4:11, 3:55, 3:26 so all over the place really, but this is most likely due to the inclines on the course

There are gains to be made in km3 where there is an incline, the last 1500m is heading back down that incline.

I have a 10k on Sunday, it's given me confidence, that sub40 might be a possibility.


jsmoke said:
Goals by the end of the month to run 6min for a mile, currently at around 7.45min, lot more in the tank but lung to to be brought back from the dead.

Bit of training for the 60m also, weird combo you may think but I was a bit of a sprinter in school, trying to bring back the glory days.

Ambitious?
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For that mile attempt, I'd look at running 400m reps at just above goal pace (aim for between 85 and 90 seconds per rep with 60-90-second recoveries. I'd run between 8 and 12 reps. This will help you get a feel for the pace to need for a 6min mile.
 
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So what are you actually doing? Just going out and running one mile? How often are you doing that?

You'd be much better slowing down and running longer distances, to build up your lungs a lot more. Then you'll be more prepared for when you want to start increasing pace. Have a read of some of @D.P. 's posts. it's one of the things he always preaches. Volume is the most important factor.
 
Marvt74 said:
So what are you actually doing? Just going out and running one mile? How often are you doing that?

You'd be much better slowing down and running longer distances, to build up your lungs a lot more. Then you'll be more prepared for when you want to start increasing pace. Have a read of some of @D.P. 's posts. it's one of the things he always preaches. Volume is the most important factor.
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You could be right. I'm running one mile around 4 times a week with a parkrun on saturday.

I really can't stomach longer distances, mentally or physically atm.

I need to bring my insides back to life, I think they may have died.

I'll go for 6.30min tomorrow.

That's still only 19.30min for 5k if you times by three.

Just realised there is not a word for timesd/timsed or is there?
 
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