Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

Hi all

Good to read some of the replies on here - glad people are feeling motivated to keep fitness up.

I started running towards the beginning of this year a little more seriously, rather than a way of warming up in the gym. Due to closure of the gyms, I've just started road running. Thankfully, it's very quiet around here at the moment an very flat.

Some things I'm struggling with are:
  • Knees - many injuries and generally poor knees
  • Shin splints - these seem to be easing off a little though
  • Blisters - I've got good fitting shoes and good socks, but just seems to struggle on the pads of my feet
  • Technique - unsure if there's a particular running technique I should be using
I thankfully spent decent money on a pair of Brookes this year, and they're great. I've also made sure I'm tying my shoes using the heel lock lacing.

If anyone could advise on the above, I'd be very grateful :-)
 
Maybe worth considering for me too, as I always seem to tweak my calves on uphill sections, like yesterday.

Doing the usual ice and ibuprofen routine in preparation for tomorrow and if I'm good to run, I'll just go with that idea of doing a "flat" 5k with little elevation changes.
 
D.P. said:
Good training. The thing is when you run a high volume of easy runs you can often feel like your legs are a little dead and get the perception that you are slowing down but this is mostly just from accumulating fatigue, as well as normalization of a faster pace or lower HR. To really see the benefits you have do a taper and enter a race. You really just have to trust the training.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I have definitely noticed that my most recent easy runs are now not far off matching previous times where I was pushing much harder on same routes. But now I'm finishing and not feeling like I'd pushed at all (other than uphill sections). Also enjoying being able to go out for a few days in a row and not really be feeling too drained, although have noticed the accumulative effect after several days of back to back running as you say.
 
It's funny how the brain affects motivation. Having 3 weeks of heavily reduced running seems to have really mess with motivation.

The first 2 weeks i was itching to get out but limiting myself to only a few easy runs per week, now just starting the 4th week and i feel like i can't be bothered. My head feels better and think i'm mostly recovered from concussion so want to start increasing frequency/mileage but struggling with motivation to actually get out.

Forced myself to get up this morning and once i'm out i'm enjoying it, just that getting myself up out of bed early is the struggle. That'd stopped before this injury.
 
I always struggle with the first few mornings when i try it. Once I am up, it is fine and after a few days I seem to be able to get up easily enough.

I have been doing the Garmin Coach fro 10k these last few nights and it has been interesting. Last night ended up at 9.4km in 1:05. When i last did 10k (Sat?) it took 1:03.

The difference is that on Sat, it was all at around 6:30 - 7:00 / Km.
Last night there were a bunch of fast bits interspersed with walks. There was an 800M Walk, 4 x 3 min walks and 2 x 5 min warm up/downs. So i am thinking that 10k in < 1hr is at least doable for me soon (Best was something like 1:01:40 i think)
 
Ian_Eb said:
I always struggle with the first few mornings when i try it. Once I am up, it is fine and after a few days I seem to be able to get up easily enough.

I have been doing the Garmin Coach fro 10k these last few nights and it has been interesting. Last night ended up at 9.4km in 1:05. When i last did 10k (Sat?) it took 1:03.

The difference is that on Sat, it was all at around 6:30 - 7:00 / Km.
Last night there were a bunch of fast bits interspersed with walks. There was an 800M Walk, 4 x 3 min walks and 2 x 5 min warm up/downs. So i am thinking that 10k in < 1hr is at least doable for me soon (Best was something like 1:01:40 i think)
Click to expand...

Garmin coach ramps up pretty quickly.

I'm on Jeffs plan with a goal to do 10k in 45min. its a 13 week plan and I'm 4 weeks in.

My new shoes arrived and I went out last night with the target of breaking some of my Strava records (I've only used Strava for 6 months properly since I started running again)

I ended up breaking my mile with a 6:44.

I was about 10secs behind my 1k I ran a 4:03. I felt like I had put a shift in after my mile but my HR still didn't go beyond 173 which is baffling.

After this I did my 6x800m all within goal pace which is at 4.30/km

So was a good run. The new shoes feel very different but feel pretty quick.

I do like the variety in my runs on the Garmin plans.

Wait till you get to speed repeats! I had 8x800m at faster than goal pace last week (4.12/km) that felt brutal!
 
Looks like me tweaking my calf was the best thing to happen as it forced me to try a flat 5k today.

Ended up doing 3 miles exactly at a pace of 9:27 per mile which trumps any other run this year. From cardiovascular point of view felt basically the same and ended up with exact average heart BPM as on the other run with downhills and uphills.

Except lack of downhills felt much better on the shin splints and no uphills felt much better on the calves. While I'm still very much in Fatty McFatty stage of my weight loss, probably best stick to flats.
 
Looking at the next day on this coach plane shows it to be hill repeats.

Any idea on the scale of hill I should be looking at? It seems to only be saying 15 seconds followed by a 1 min walk and then 15 sec downhill, so presumably I am looking at just up and down any local hill i can find? or does it really not matter at this stage, given that it is just 15 seconds? Am I overthinking it :-)
 
I just use a road which goes over a railway. I can almost get to the top in 15 secs. There isn't much else suitable near mine unless I want to do the sand dunes.
 
I have done a couple of the Garmin plans now, started from scratch with the 5k, Olympic Triathlon and the half marathon. The 800m interval sets are a killer as you say :) As for hills try and find something with a decent gradient about 400-500m Long.
 
The one i am thinking of near here is almost exactly 100m in length with 5M of ascent in that distance.

At this early stage it is only doing 15sec hills so I think that will do for now. I have a 1km ish option for later on.
 
neoboy said:
Looks like me tweaking my calf was the best thing to happen as it forced me to try a flat 5k today.

Ended up doing 3 miles exactly at a pace of 9:27 per mile which trumps any other run this year. From cardiovascular point of view felt basically the same and ended up with exact average heart BPM as on the other run with downhills and uphills.

Except lack of downhills felt much better on the shin splints and no uphills felt much better on the calves. While I'm still very much in Fatty McFatty stage of my weight loss, probably best stick to flats.
Click to expand...

I always found the downhills brutal on my quads when i was heavier as i ended up loading them up loads to try and tackle gravity and hold myself back.

Great time though, just remember to try and not focus too much on times and listen to your body rather than trying to break records every outing :)
 
I always found the downhills brutal on my quads when i was heavier as i ended up loading them up loads to try and tackle gravity and hold myself back.
Click to expand...

Just goes to show that we heavier runners have to work so much harder for slower results :-) Going up hurts, Going down hurts, Going on the flat hurts a bit less!
 
Quads is probably one area I didn't struggle with, so phew :p

Can't wait for Brooks to get here though, the flat section is an old railroad track so prettty hard surface and can easily be done in road trainers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom