Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

I bought one today too :) not sure about size yet though - feels a bit big on my wrists :( not sure what to do with it

did manage a decent run tonight though - my longest ever - 15km :) - 1hr25

absolutely shattered now
 
Fusion said:
Good effort! Training for anything in particular?
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thanks

and no :( just trying to get as fit as I can

down 4 stone so far - about right weight now - was shocked looking at a photo from 2 years back earlier today - dramatic difference

305 went back - was just too large for my wrist :( - felt like running with my old dive computer - and I found buttons too stiff

think dispite some mixed reviews 405 is only alternative, as not prepared to pay 280 odd for the updated 410
 
Glad to finally be able to contribute to this thread. I'm a keen cyclist, and can ride my bike for pretty much as far as I like. Running however, well, pathetic would probably be the closest word to describe my efforts. Never could run distances, poor at pacing myself, poor form, just, ****. Complete ****. I've put off trying to give it a go for longer than I care, so with a birthday approaching tomorrow, I decided it's a good marker to start and hopefully see it through.

Missus desperately wanted to start and fortunately a friend also did. Really hoping with all of us driving it along we can keep the routine going. Went for a gentle run just to see what kinda fitness levels we're all at. 2km (which I really did not think I could even do half of), in 12 minutes, but with a couple of minutes break at 1km. Didn't really feel like I was pushing myself too hard, just as I say, to get a rough idea where I'm starting from.

Luckily I have a very nice route where I am running along the sea front, so no excuses there! Distance between piers is 1.5 miles, so my first target is to comfortably run one leg without feeling completely trashed, upping it to both legs and steadily increasing the distance. Have a nice handy app on my phone tracking all my routes by gps, rough speed, etc. Nothing scientific just to keep a better record than me scribbling things down. Wish me luck! :)
 
Pacing yourself can be quite hard to begin with and its easy to blast out at the start and gas quickly. Until you can run between piers in one direction without stopping then slow your pace down more. It will feel like you are hardly running but you will find your times will actually be quicker with a constant slower pace than with a quick pace and stopping halfway through for a rest.

Once you can run the 1.5 miles without stopping, you cam start increasing the pace or, alternatively, up the distance. 3 miles is practically 5K which is a nice distance. Do this without stopping and then start increasing the pace.
 
Richie said:
Pacing yourself can be quite hard to begin with and its easy to blast out at the start and gas quickly. Until you can run between piers in one direction without stopping then slow your pace down more. It will feel like you are hardly running but you will find your times will actually be quicker with a constant slower pace than with a quick pace and stopping halfway through for a rest.

Once you can run the 1.5 miles without stopping, you cam start increasing the pace or, alternatively, up the distance. 3 miles is practically 5K which is a nice distance. Do this without stopping and then start increasing the pace.
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Cheers for the advice :)

What is a good schedule when starting out? I've set a provisional Mon/wed/fri to see how I'm getting on and how quickly/slowly I progress.
 
TBH I wouldn't set a distance based program to begin with but do a time based program e.g. run for 30 mins setting the pace so that you can maintain it for 30 mins without stopping. Once that is achievable, increase the pace (which inherently increases the distance) until you are happy with your progress.

This gets the body accustomed to a constant workout of 30 mins.

A reasonable goal to begin with is 5K in 30 mins then start to bring the time down by increasing the pace or, alternatively, up the distance by 10% a week and tray and get a 60 min 10K (without stopping) and then bring the time down.

Bear in mind that your distance will dictate your pace eventually as you wont run a half marathon in the same pace (min/mile) as you would a 5K as you could blitz a 5K at 7:30/mile but your half marathon might be 10min/mile just because of the distance.


I guess others will come along with more experience than me but that's how I would start. Time based run i.e. 30 mins irrespective of distance until you get used to running and then, eventually distance based e.g. 10K with the aim of besting your previous times.
 
Richie said:
TBH I wouldn't set a distance based program to begin with but do a time based program e.g. run for 30 mins setting the pace so that you can maintain it for 30 mins without stopping. Once that is achievable, increase the pace (which inherently increases the distance) until you are happy with your progress.

This gets the body accustomed to a constant workout of 30 mins.

A reasonable goal to begin with is 5K in 30 mins then start to bring the time down by increasing the pace or, alternatively, up the distance by 10% a week and tray and get a 60 min 10K (without stopping) and then bring the time down.

Bear in mind that your distance will dictate your pace eventually as you wont run a half marathon in the same pace (min/mile) as you would a 5K as you could blitz a 5K at 7:30/mile but your half marathon might be 10min/mile just because of the distance.


I guess others will come along with more experience than me but that's how I would start. Time based run i.e. 30 mins irrespective of distance until you get used to running and then, eventually distance based e.g. 10K with the aim of besting your previous times.
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Interesting, didn't think about doing it time based. I almost certainly could not run 5K in 30 minutes though. I'd be surprised if I can even keep moving for 30 minutes at the moment!

Will give it a try on Monday. See how far I cover :) Will report back!
 
Reporting back with the second attempt. Ran for 26:44, covered 4.77km according to the GPS, averaging 10.70km/h. That's pretty much one pier to the next and back again, near as dammit 3 miles. I could have ran for 30 minutes I think, but once I was back where I started I stopped.

Had much better luck pacing myself today. Stopped with the more short sharp breaths and took more deliberate longer breaths which seemed to help a lot. Was very surprised I kept going for that long. Longest I've ever ran in one hit was probably only 5 minutes or so, if that.

Just going to make sure I can do this consistently and then concentrate on getting my times down, then upping my distance.
 
I remembered tonight why I hate gyms and treadmills these days. I'm away for work for a few days and the hotel has a "gym" so I packed my stuff. I put gym in quotes as it consists of two treadmills, one bike, one x-trainer and one rowing machine. Still, better than nowt I guess.

Anyway, I had to stop running after 30 minutes as I was in danger of flooding the room (eeewww). I ran for two hours last Sunday and sweated less. The machine claimed a speed setting of 10 was 6 min/km - it felt far harder than 5 min/km on the road :confused:
 
Had a slightly better and worse outing today. Worse, only ran for 23 minutes, 4.3km. Better, kept the same pace throughout (did have a slight slowdown in my previous 27min 4.77km), slightly quicker average of 5:14/km. To be honest I think I was just a little under nourished and tired.

I've thought that maybe my first plan of 3 miles Mon/Wed/Fri may be a little too big a step up from 0 miles Mon/Wed/Fri. I've thought now I should do 3 on the monday, 1.5 on the Wednesday then back to 3 on the Friday, get a good rest over the weekend? Sound sensible or should I just stick it out and I'l manage?
 
Adrianr said:
Had a slightly better and worse outing today. Worse, only ran for 23 minutes, 4.3km. Better, kept the same pace throughout (did have a slight slowdown in my previous 27min 4.77km), slightly quicker average of 5:14/km. To be honest I think I was just a little under nourished and tired.
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Do you take anything pre-workout? I have around 30g of dextrose (glucose) mixed with water beforehand and find this helps a lot with energy levels.
 
I just have a drink of 50% fruit juice and 50% water

managed my 10k tonight in 50 minutes

PB for me

freeeeezing though - need long sleeves and GLOVES !!
 
Only you can tell if you need to worry about using things like dextrose or these gels as its dependant on your own body. Personally I normally don't take anything before I go out especially if its only 30 mins or so as you're out and back in again quickly.

I would say once you get to the 60 mins+ then sure but it's a personal thing. It may make things easier but since when were workouts meant to be easy....
 
Adrianr said:
Just a bottle of lucozade. Think it's worth using dextrose instead?
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Dextrose is really cheap. Myprotein do 2.5kg delivered for around £12, so a 30g serving is around 14p. I agree that it comes into it's own when running over 30 minutes, particularly if you're running for 45 minutes or more.

I'm not sure I understand the argument about it being made "easier" by taking it though- surely you want to fuel your body in the right way for optimum performance? Any advantage that you can give yourself is a good thing.
 
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