Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

[Shadowness]

As it was a bit mucky yesterday, I took my On Cloudflows out for the first time in a while. They feel MUCH firmer than the Pegasus 37s, and almost feels like running barefoot compared to the Vaporflys!

Still really impressed with how well the 37s are holding up after 300 miles, and how comfortable they still feel.

 

[dwarf]

I think the On Cloudflows are designed to be firm, certainly more so than the Vaporflys. From what I can see they are designed to be light and responsive for middle distance races and speed work rather than a cushioned daily trainer like the peg 37 or a plush marathon super shoe like the vaporflys. I'd use them for your speed sessions and stick to the pegs for easy runs.

 

[div0]

As alluded to above, I ran 4,400km last year.

Assume you mean 2,400km (46km per week)?

Thanks for the other replies. I was previously running close to 19 minute 5k and 40 minute 10k, so would hope I can get there again.

Guess I maybe need to schedule something to try and find out.

 

[Merlin5]

Don't know what to do guys. This pain on or over the bone at the top of each leg is still with me after a week. I can walk ok but it hurts to jog and a bit uncomfortable if going down steps of a stair. I don't mind jogging through it, it's kind of bearable but don't know if I'd be doing more damage. It's of course difficult to visit a doctor at the moment and it's one of those things a doctor would need hands on to see what the issue is. What do I do? Just stay away from jogging until it goes?

 

[SPG]

Take some time off from jogging, but do some daily active stretching don't focus on the knee as such but hips, hamstrings and core work. Min 20mins a day.

 

[dwarf]

Assume you mean 2,400km (46km per week)?

Thanks for the other replies. I was previously running close to 19 minute 5k and 40 minute 10k, so would hope I can get there again.

Guess I maybe need to schedule something to try and find out.

Oops! Yeah 2,400 km. Personally I found the sub 40min 10k harder than the half marathon. Sounds like you should be able to achieve sub 90 for sure.

Don't know what to do guys. This pain on or over the bone at the top of each leg is still with me after a week. I can walk ok but it hurts to jog and a bit uncomfortable if going down steps of a stair. I don't mind jogging through it, it's kind of bearable but don't know if I'd be doing more damage. It's of course difficult to visit a doctor at the moment and it's one of those things a doctor would need hands on to see what the issue is. What do I do? Just stay away from jogging until it goes?

Yeah, if it's still hurting then you'll risk doing more damage. Try to give it another week.

 

[Andyt_uk]

Don't know what to do guys. This pain on or over the bone at the top of each leg is still with me after a week. I can walk ok but it hurts to jog and a bit uncomfortable if going down steps of a stair. I don't mind jogging through it, it's kind of bearable but don't know if I'd be doing more damage. It's of course difficult to visit a doctor at the moment and it's one of those things a doctor would need hands on to see what the issue is. What do I do? Just stay away from jogging until it goes?

Sounds like too much too soon. As suggested, stretch daily focussing on hips/glutes/hamstrings - plenty of routines on youtube. Also, best not to waste a doctors time with this. They would likely only refer you to a physio anyway and a lot of those take self-referrals (NHS physios are awful in my experience, best to find someone local and pay instead).

 

[Merlin5]

Take some time off from jogging, but do some daily active stretching don't focus on the knee as such but hips, hamstrings and core work. Min 20mins a day.

Yeah, if it's still hurting then you'll risk doing more damage. Try to give it another week.

Sounds like too much too soon. As suggested, stretch daily focussing on hips/glutes/hamstrings - plenty of routines on youtube. Also, best not to waste a doctors time with this. They would likely only refer you to a physio anyway and a lot of those take self-referrals (NHS physios are awful in my experience, best to find someone local and pay instead).

Thanks. The stretching exercises for hamstring, glutes and hips will be good for my hip discomfort. So 20 to 30 minutes? But I presume they won't help my front of leg/under the knee pain and I have to let that heal itself?

 

[Shadowness]

Possibly. I had a nasty pain in the side of my knee, which I think was the classic tight IT band causing issues.

I put a lot of effort into stretching, and did quite a bit of yoga too. I've never had an issue with this again.

The next issue was my hip flexors, but again, stretching/yoga has completely fixed this.

And if it wasn't the stretching, I've no idea what else it could be!

 

[SPG]

The body componsates for anything that is wrong automatically so your manky knee could well be a symptom of your manky hip and your body is making your knee work harder in way it's not designed for working.

Basically bodies are crap but also very clever.

 

[Earth[Tera].bin]

As it was a bit mucky yesterday, I took my On Cloudflows out for the first time in a while. They feel MUCH firmer than the Pegasus 37s, and almost feels like running barefoot compared to the Vaporflys!

Still really impressed with how well the 37s are holding up after 300 miles, and how comfortable they still feel.

I've had a pair of cloudace for a while now,almost in new condition sadly. Tried running in them but there's too much cushioning, they're okay for walking but I overpronoate and end up with posterior shin pain if I do a lot of running in them. Contrary to running in my Merrell vapors which whilst basically over priced plimsoles seem to eliminate the pain, as long as you avoid large bloody stones.

 

[AndyCr15]

Thanks. The stretching exercises for hamstring, glutes and hips will be good for my hip discomfort. So 20 to 30 minutes? But I presume they won't help my front of leg/under the knee pain and I have to let that heal itself?

As I know you're near me, I can recommend these guys - https://www.oakleighphysio.co.uk/

They are who my workplace use, I think I've been two or three times (for multiple sessions each time) over the years and have always been pleased with them.

 

[D.P.]

Don't know what to do guys. This pain on or over the bone at the top of each leg is still with me after a week. I can walk ok but it hurts to jog and a bit uncomfortable if going down steps of a stair. I don't mind jogging through it, it's kind of bearable but don't know if I'd be doing more damage. It's of course difficult to visit a doctor at the moment and it's one of those things a doctor would need hands on to see what the issue is. What do I do? Just stay away from jogging until it goes?

Don't jog through it. Take some time off running. If it is Ok walking or cycling do that instead.

You can try in a week, if it still hurts then wait another week or 2. Once it stops hurting you can try and start up running again, but super slowly. 1st day about 10% of your typically daily run, even if that means 5 minutes or less. Then next day nothing, then the day after 15-20% of your normal daily run, next day as rest. etc. The moment something seems to get worse take another week off.
For most running injuries, a few weeks off and then a very slow re-build works out.

 

[Merlin5]

Possibly. I had a nasty pain in the side of my knee, which I think was the classic tight IT band causing issues.

I put a lot of effort into stretching, and did quite a bit of yoga too. I've never had an issue with this again.

The next issue was my hip flexors, but again, stretching/yoga has completely fixed this.

And if it wasn't the stretching, I've no idea what else it could be!

Does sound like stretching is key! I did stretch before my last run but obviously not enough of it and I didn't include hip flexors.

The body componsates for anything that is wrong automatically so your manky knee could well be a symptom of your manky hip and your body is making your knee work harder in way it's not designed for working.

Basically bodies are crap but also very clever.

Yeah, that could be what's happened.

As I know you're near me, I can recommend these guys - https://www.oakleighphysio.co.uk/

They are who my workplace use, I think I've been two or three times (for multiple sessions each time) over the years and have always been pleased with them.

Reasonable prices actually, £45 for an assessment and treatment and they say they're open because they work with the NHS. I'll give it another week and if still the same I'll book an appointment. Thanks for the recommendation, Andy.

Don't jog through it. Take some time off running. If it is Ok walking or cycling do that instead.

You can try in a week, if it still hurts then wait another week or 2. Once it stops hurting you can try and start up running again, but super slowly. 1st day about 10% of your typically daily run, even if that means 5 minutes or less. Then next day nothing, then the day after 15-20% of your normal daily run, next day as rest. etc. The moment something seems to get worse take another week off.
For most running injuries, a few weeks off and then a very slow re-build works out.

Thanks D.P., sounds like a good plan to me. Yeah, typically I've jogged for 30 to 50 minutes so yeah, 10% or about 5 minutes sounds right. I think I should do some walking for now though, that'll be ok and will still let me burn some more calories.

 

[Martynt74]

Ran the other day and tried really hard to run on my forefoot. Not sure if it's just because it's not my usual style, but it felt bizarre and feels like it took a lot out of my calves vs normal running. I think thinking back, i was probably more running on my toes leaning heavily forward rather than actually running on my forefoot. The only real benefit was my cadence was pretty high!

I wouldn't say i heelstrike and probably run more on my midfoot than anything, but wanted to try something new to see if running more forward had any benefits.

(Should note that this was a very slow run)

 

[Ian_Eb]

I know what you mean. I am fairly sure I land more to my heel than I should.Will have to concentrate on making sure I don't let my foot extend too far forward in future and see how it goes.

 

[dwarf]

I've been trying to increase my cadence this week. Managed to go up from 165 to 178 by listening to a metronome. It's not too bad if you've got a podcast on at the same time as it blends into the background after a while. The issue now is that my heart rate has gone up from 142bpm to 152bpm. This is out of my zone 2 so I need to get this down. I am running a bit faster with this higher cadence but it's very difficult to run any slower and keep the cadence up. I think I'll try to stick with it for a while and see if my HR settles down, otherwise I'll have to go back to plodding along.

I have found the higher cadence gives you a lot more momentum. My foot is barely on the ground for long and feels like it's constantly rolling into the next step rather than settling into each step before pushing off like I was before. It's hard work to keep up though, my muscles are sore in different places than usual so I guess I must be building up the strength to deal with the faster foot turnover. Hopefully it's worth it in the long term as it should result in 6% to 9% increase in speed if my stride length remains the same. That's like wearing 2 pairs of vaporflys

 

[Martynt74]

I've been trying to increase my cadence this week. Managed to go up from 165 to 178 by listening to a metronome. It's not too bad if you've got a podcast on at the same time as it blends into the background after a while. The issue now is that my heart rate has gone up from 142bpm to 152bpm. This is out of my zone 2 so I need to get this down. I am running a bit faster with this higher cadence but it's very difficult to run any slower and keep the cadence up. I think I'll try to stick with it for a while and see if my HR settles down, otherwise I'll have to go back to plodding along.

I have found the higher cadence gives you a lot more momentum. My foot is barely on the ground for long and feels like it's constantly rolling into the next step rather than settling into each step before pushing off like I was before. It's hard work to keep up though, my muscles are sore in different places than usual so I guess I must be building up the strength to deal with the faster foot turnover. Hopefully it's worth it in the long term as it should result in 6% to 9% increase in speed if my stride length remains the same. That's like wearing 2 pairs of vaporflys

I've always found this when trying to increase cadence. My HR goes really high.

I'm odd in that my resting HR is in the 40-45 range which is very low, but as soon as i do anything it flies up. Walking puts it around 110ish, and even the easiest of easy runs puts it at 140-150. It makes HR based running difficult as i can run at 160bpm whilst barely breaking a sweat and then if i'm absolutely killing myself on sprints i only end up at 175ish at max so it's like i barely have any ceiling space.

I'm in the market for some new trainers. I might give those Nike Pegasus ones a go. I've never tried Nike before but i could do with something heavily cushioned due to my size/weight.

 

[dwarf]

I'm in the market for some new trainers. I might give those Nike Pegasus ones a go. I've never tried Nike before but i could do with something heavily cushioned due to my size/weight.

What brand are you used to running in? I might be able to suggest something similar from them if you don't want to risk going over to Nike.

 

[div0]

I'm not sure how easy it is to self diagnose your strike pattern.

On the flat, I 'feel' like I probably heel strike more than I should, but if I look at the tread wear on my shoes after several hundred miles, it's mainly at the ball of my foot, with not much wear at the heel.

When running uphill, I am very much on my toes, to the extent my heel doesn't usually contact the ground at all.