Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

Fusion said:
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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I didnt explain it very well. For races etc then I understand and maybe I am just old fashioned but my thinking was if the exercise is hard work then your body will improve quicker. However there is then the argument of using this stuff (dextrose or gels etc) allowing your body to work out for longer and getting improvement there....

Guess my opinion on the matter is up in the air now :o
 
sid said:
The map quality of the garmin training center is very poor and makes me wonder if the GPS is any accurate at all?

[IMG=http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/816/trainingcenter.jpg][/IMG]

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What do you guys think of that? Its supposed to be hyde park there
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I suppose it depends on whether you've run on roads etc - Garmin center was ok for my run as it was all on reasonably large roads - so was quite clear - I know theres been a lot of criticsm when they moved from Google Maps (which i think would have been a lot better for your run) to Bing for maps - that said there are lots of free (and paid) similar online sites which will take the downloaded data from the Garmin - one may suit you better.

really pushed myself on my 10k tonight (3rd of the week) - was a bit of a headwind for quite a way which was annoying as it sapped my energy, but managed to complete in 48 mins 45 - which for me is a PB

so thats 52 mins, 50mins, and 48m45 this week - so getting there - felt like on todays run I would have struggled to have gone any faster though - I felt relatively flat out (for me)
 
Got back from Paris last night having done the half marathon there on Sunday. Did it in 1.55 - was my first half and I'm pleased with the time. My target was to be under 2 hrs. I know 1.55 isn't fast but happy with it given the fact that I haven't been running long. I also beat the mates I went with so delighted with that ;)

Was a really nice atmosphere there. Loads of music and people getting involved.
 
Well after a few weeks of running I have slowly been stepping up the distance and am now running around 3k in around 18 minutes which is a massive improvement for me.

I am slowly bringing the time down which is fantastic and I am noticing that I can run for longer without feeling as tired or exhausted.

I am still finding the last kilometre tough so mix it up with a minute of walking and then a minute or two of running but feel that in a week or two I should be able to run it all.

I have found the Nike+ stuff fantastic for keeping me motivated and its good to track how quickly I am progressing.
 
Ran the silverstone on Sunday, boring run but can tick it off. 1.37.02 on my GPS 1.38.17 officially. Unfortunately it was one mates birthdays on Saturday so we went out Friday night and got back in Saturday night at 3am, thankfully I had a lift to the race but wasn't in a very good state for running.
 
Skidder said:
Got back from Paris last night having done the half marathon there on Sunday. Did it in 1.55 - was my first half and I'm pleased with the time. My target was to be under 2 hrs. I know 1.55 isn't fast but happy with it given the fact that I haven't been running long. I also beat the mates I went with so delighted with that ;)

Was a really nice atmosphere there. Loads of music and people getting involved.
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excellent - well done - would love to do a half marathon sometime in the future - not sure if i'm mentally strong enough though

thought I'd pushed myself extra hard tonight - strides felt longer, and slightly faster (I haven't my new GPS watch yet)- but got home and same as last run 50 minutes :( - still fastest for me (on par) so far - so not too bad (10k)

any tips for getting faster ? it includes a long hill up and a long hill down (relative I live in Essex ! - so no big hills as such) - should I go for longer strides or faster stride pattern ?

I'm doing 2-3 sessions in the gym as well - with some interval speed work - so that should help I suppose - I do a 1.5 k warm up, then 2.5k of interval work, 1 min @ 11.2k, 1 min @ 16.5k - the 2.5k of these intervals lasts about 12 minutes. I then do 35 minutes of weights, then another set of the 2.5k intervals. i actually find the interval work harder than my 10k runs - it really pushes my heart - well feels like it anyway

:)

one other positive I've been able to go down to "clipped" short hair finally - I've always wanted to go shorter on top -and always crept a bit closer at the hairdressers, but at my previous weight I was worried I'd look a bit like a thug, now that I've lost 4 stone, and face is much thinner, short (no. 4-5 or so) - I can get away with - I cut my own hair - and saving about £15-20 a month in the process.
 
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davetherave2 said:
Well after a few weeks of running I have slowly been stepping up the distance and am now running around 3k in around 18 minutes which is a massive improvement for me.

I am slowly bringing the time down which is fantastic and I am noticing that I can run for longer without feeling as tired or exhausted.

I am still finding the last kilometre tough so mix it up with a minute of walking and then a minute or two of running but feel that in a week or two I should be able to run it all.

I have found the Nike+ stuff fantastic for keeping me motivated and its good to track how quickly I am progressing.
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well done - keep it up - its a great feeling when you can actually feel you are getting stronger - so thats great. just keep going and going and going and you'll get even stronger.

others more qualified than me can maybe comment better, but try mixing up some things in your run, so perhaps do some walking intermixed with faster runs, interval style early on in your run as well (every couple of runs or so) - just so your muscles don't get a good range of different types of workout
 
Did 7.26 miles in 1hr 5 mins this morning which equates to 6.70 mph. Felt so good, I feel that I'm starting to move up a league in performance, efficiency and running style (based on my own standards). As usual I didn't try to race, just went at a comfortable, economical pace.

Going to keep upping the distance in future and start taking dextrose mixed in my water while I'm out for an energy top up. Onwards and upwards!
 
Just got back in, quite pleased with myself I must admit. Back in London so no nice beachfront to run along, but not a terrible route from my flat in Marylebone to Regents park, round that (saw a couple of camels at the zoo, heh) and back to the flat, 6.72km, 34 minutes 40 seconds. Huge step from my last top distance of 4.7km. Felt really good today, probably could have kept going. Had to slow a couple of times for road crossings but kept jogging on the spot so I don't feel like I cheated too much.
 
well done :)

all this running seems to have lowered my HR somewhat ...

wandering round the house with my new 305 Garmin (HR strap works on this one ....) and its reading 47 !!

on my wife it read 82
 
blizzard ??!!

my new 305 is working perfectly - and it didn't half push me a bit harder on tonights run, and thus managed a PB :)

set it to annoy me if I got under 5min/km speed - and I could see my HR wasn't as high as I'd really expected - therefore that gave me confidence to push harder

averaged around 145 odd round most of run, last few k (mostly uphill) I was up to 152-155- and then only during final sprint was I in the mid 160s

overall though 48 mins (PB for me - previous PB was 50 mins) - and actually watch reckons slightly further than I thought - rather than 10k - it was 10.35k

not too bad then :)

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72635959

btw for £100 I highly recommend the 305 - could do with it slightly smaller - but other than that - nigh on perfect for the money
 
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are there any exercises which I can do for my shins/ankles?

I find that cycling + cross trainers improve my quads but the muscles around the ankles hurt the next day.

any tips?
 
Richie said:
Aye... Didnt stop snowing till gone 3pm up here yesterday. Come today and you would never know it had snowed at all :(
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Where you from?

Does anyone else LOVE running in the rain?

Just been for some hill sprints, makes me remember why I dislike using the treadmill! :)
 
So how much does everyone run in a week?

Found another nice little route that works out as just a little over 3k door to door. Benefit being it's easy to fit into my day, and it's not out of reach to do a couple if I feel like one in the morning and another in the evening. Question is, is that really enough? Is it advisable to run every day?
 
Adrianr said:
So how much does everyone run in a week?

Found another nice little route that works out as just a little over 3k door to door. Benefit being it's easy to fit into my day, and it's not out of reach to do a couple if I feel like one in the morning and another in the evening. Question is, is that really enough? Is it advisable to run every day?
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You need rest, but saying that most professional runners will run everyday. If your just starting, don't over do it. You will get bored with injuries and stop it.

Slowly but surely.
 
sid said:
The map quality of the garmin training center is very poor and makes me wonder if the GPS is any accurate at all?

[IMG=http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/816/trainingcenter.jpg][/IMG]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

What do you guys think of that? Its supposed to be hyde park there
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The mapping on Garmin Training Centre isn't particularly great. Have you taken a look on the online version, 'Garmin Connect'? The maps are better on there. As someone already stated they use Bing maps these days, rather than Google, but they are still way better than the Training Centre ones.
 
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