Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

I didn't bother with a more expensive Gore-Tex version, when weather gets bad enough water always finds its way into shoes anyway as far as I figured with my limited experience.
 
jsmoke said:
Training going well. I'm going to try a 6min mile next, ideally 3x 1 mile, don't think I'll make 6mins for each, but I'll try.
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If you're only doing 25 minute 5k's at the moment, 3 x 6 minute miles sounds far too ambitious. 6 minute miles is too fast for your target pace (20 min 5k) as well, so it seems even more unlikely. I understand the desire to push on, but that sounds like a fast track to injury.
 
planty said:
If you're only doing 25 minute 5k's at the moment, 3 x 6 minute miles sounds far too ambitious. 6 minute miles is too fast for your target pace (20 min 5k) as well, so it seems even more unlikely. I understand the desire to push on, but that sounds like a fast track to injury.
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You could be right but I ran 23min 5k tonight, felt really good at end. I was a runner at school and my lungs are starting to come back to life. I ran around 4.30 mile at school so it should be in there still somewhere.
 
jsmoke said:
You could be right but I ran 23min 5k tonight, felt really good at end. I was a runner at school and my lungs are starting to come back to life. I ran around 4.30 mile at school so it should be in there still somewhere.
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That may be so, but 23 minutes is still a long way off 6 minute miles. If you're gonna do a 3 x 1 mile session then 7 minute miles seems like a better target pace at this stage - 3 hard, consistent efforts would do you more good than 1 max effort and 2 poor ones. Obviously it's up to you though, good luck!
 
planty said:
That may be so, but 23 minutes is still a long way off 6 minute miles. If you're gonna do a 3 x 1 mile session then 7 minute miles seems like a better target pace at this stage - 3 hard, consistent efforts would do you more good than 1 max effort and 2 poor ones. Obviously it's up to you though, good luck!
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No, I take your advise, your more than likely right. Thanks.
 
Dammit. Runners Need had a pair of NB Hierro trail shoes in my size in the sale for £75 down from £125. With my discount that would've made them £37.50. I've wanted to try them for a while as they seem a great balance for road/light trail with lots of cushioning but also a bit of grip.

Didn't hit buy, went to buy them last night and they were gone :(

It's been a weird year. I've only bought 2 pairs of trainers this year due to low mileage (January and then July), whereas i'd usually have been on about my 4th pair by now.


Have got confirmation that the run in Spain i was eyeing up is going ahead next March. It's only 15 minutes from my parents place, and at €48 it's a bargain
https://www.mychip.es/en/evento/perimetral-a-benissa-21


Also found the above website has quite a few events in the local area i'm going to keep an eye on
 
I managed to run my first half marathon yesterday at Windsor after starting running just over 6 months ago. Really pleased to have got through it - it was much harder than any of the training runs I did. Admittedly, I only trained up to approximately 18km so perhaps that's part of it. I think i'll have to start training longer distances more regularly.

Ended up with 2.08 so my target for my next one is to get closer to 2, and perhaps eventually one day under 2. Really pleased to have got through it and there's a massive sense of accomplishment after having struggled through 5/6/7/8/9/10km not that long ago. :D
 
daz said:
I managed to run my first half marathon yesterday at Windsor after starting running just over 6 months ago. Really pleased to have got through it - it was much harder than any of the training runs I did. Admittedly, I only trained up to approximately 18km so perhaps that's part of it. I think i'll have to start training longer distances more regularly.

Ended up with 2.08 so my target for my next one is to get closer to 2, and perhaps eventually one day under 2. Really pleased to have got through it and there's a massive sense of accomplishment after having struggled through 5/6/7/8/9/10km not that long ago. :D
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Nice one, congrats on completing the distance. It's very satisfying to go from the shorter distances feeling like hard work to them becoming just stepping stones onto something longer.

It's interesting that you say you found it harder than the training runs you had done. I also earlier this month ran my first half and had the same experience, as did a work colleague who ran his first a week later. We both finished more than 5 minutes over our training run full distance times and felt completely finished by the end of it. We came to the conclusion the biggest difference between the training runs and the actual event were twofold but somewhat related

1) The crowds
2) The other runners

One of the things I find when on a long training run is after a while the running becomes automatic and my mind can wander onto other things without constantly being reminded by my body that it wants to stop. With the crowds around, and having to navigate other runners (particularly near the start whilst people fell into their natural pace) there was a constant reminder of what I was doing and I never got into that comfortable zone. I cramped up in the last couple of miles and was so winded I had to walk for a good 5 minutes or so to recover. I was so disappointed in my time that I actually went out the next weekend and ran another one on my own just to see what would happen and I came in more than 10 minutes under my competitive time for a similar course, felt like I still had more to give and heart rate nearly 10bpm under on average!

I'm not sure whether that's it, only time will tell but I do intend to do a few more over the next year so I can find out for sure, as well as signing up to do the same one again in year's time so I can do a like-for-like comparison.
 
Brok said:
Nice one, congrats on completing the distance. It's very satisfying to go from the shorter distances feeling like hard work to them becoming just stepping stones onto something longer.

It's interesting that you say you found it harder than the training runs you had done. I also earlier this month ran my first half and had the same experience, as did a work colleague who ran his first a week later. We both finished more than 5 minutes over our training run full distance times and felt completely finished by the end of it. We came to the conclusion the biggest difference between the training runs and the actual event were twofold but somewhat related

1) The crowds
2) The other runners

One of the things I find when on a long training run is after a while the running becomes automatic and my mind can wander onto other things without constantly being reminded by my body that it wants to stop. With the crowds around, and having to navigate other runners (particularly near the start whilst people fell into their natural pace) there was a constant reminder of what I was doing and I never got into that comfortable zone. I cramped up in the last couple of miles and was so winded I had to walk for a good 5 minutes or so to recover. I was so disappointed in my time that I actually went out the next weekend and ran another one on my own just to see what would happen and I came in more than 10 minutes under my competitive time for a similar course, felt like I still had more to give and heart rate nearly 10bpm under on average!

I'm not sure whether that's it, only time will tell but I do intend to do a few more over the next year so I can find out for sure, as well as signing up to do the same one again in year's time so I can do a like-for-like comparison.
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Interestingly I did my first proper half this weekend as well (Nottingham) despite having run that distance or more for years. I also found it much harder than running casually. I put it down to hills, but you may also be right that having the crowd and other runners there takes you out the zone
 
Oddly i often find the same. I can be tired with achey legs at 8 miles into a half marathon, but on a training run i can do 15 and feel like i could go for ages.

I guess mentality plays a big part of it, as well as dodgy other runners and not being able to just settle into a rythem, especially at the beginning.
 
Brok said:
Nice one, congrats on completing the distance. It's very satisfying to go from the shorter distances feeling like hard work to them becoming just stepping stones onto something longer.

It's interesting that you say you found it harder than the training runs you had done. I also earlier this month ran my first half and had the same experience, as did a work colleague who ran his first a week later. We both finished more than 5 minutes over our training run full distance times and felt completely finished by the end of it. We came to the conclusion the biggest difference between the training runs and the actual event were twofold but somewhat related

1) The crowds
2) The other runners

One of the things I find when on a long training run is after a while the running becomes automatic and my mind can wander onto other things without constantly being reminded by my body that it wants to stop. With the crowds around, and having to navigate other runners (particularly near the start whilst people fell into their natural pace) there was a constant reminder of what I was doing and I never got into that comfortable zone. I cramped up in the last couple of miles and was so winded I had to walk for a good 5 minutes or so to recover. I was so disappointed in my time that I actually went out the next weekend and ran another one on my own just to see what would happen and I came in more than 10 minutes under my competitive time for a similar course, felt like I still had more to give and heart rate nearly 10bpm under on average!

I'm not sure whether that's it, only time will tell but I do intend to do a few more over the next year so I can find out for sure, as well as signing up to do the same one again in year's time so I can do a like-for-like comparison.
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That's really interesting you say that. When I have been going for longer runs I normally like to stick on a podcast and 'switch off' so to speak. The time seems to fly by. I probably made it a bit harder on myself than I needed to by starting at the back - when I signed up being a pretty much non-runner I put my expected time as 2hr 30, so having to navigate and come through quite a few people rather than running at a set pace was one more thing to think about. Really pleased I got through and very glad to have missed the torrential rain a day later. Will keep my legs moving now and might look to start upping my pace a bit on 10KM etc.
 
It’s strange, Ive had the opposite. I’ve found race events, particularly 1/2 marathons where I’ve always out performed my training times but then training efforts are not meant to be at your ultimate pace.

I do have to focus to not get pulled along by others and keep to my plan but at the same time find the buzz and crowds helpful to carry on pushing though. Course of course make a difference. My training is typically hiller than the races I’ve done (with one exception) so that’ll have an impact of course.

London on Sunday for instance is going to be flat, I probably do more elevation in an average 5 mile run than the entire 26.2!
 
Itchytrigg said:
It’s strange, Ive had the opposite. I’ve found race events, particularly 1/2 marathons where I’ve always out performed my training times but then training efforts are not meant to be at your ultimate pace.

I do have to focus to not get pulled along by others and keep to my plan but at the same time find the buzz and crowds helpful to carry on pushing though. Course of course make a difference. My training is typically hiller than the races I’ve done (with one exception) so that’ll have an impact of course.

London on Sunday for instance is going to be flat, I probably do more elevation in an average 5 mile run than the entire 26.2!
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Yeah, Manchester was flat with around 80ft over the whole course i think. Was crazy. Then i came to a motorway bridge at around mile 18 and my legs had forgotten what hills were like, even something tiny like that.

I spoke to a guy once about Venice marathon and he said he thought it'd be really flat, but then because there are so many canal bridges he actually ended up with a fair bit of elevation as it all added up.
 
Martynt74 said:
Yeah, Manchester was flat with around 80ft over the whole course i think. Was crazy. Then i came to a motorway bridge at around mile 18 and my legs had forgotten what hills were like, even something tiny like that.

I spoke to a guy once about Venice marathon and he said he thought it'd be really flat, but then because there are so many canal bridges he actually ended up with a fair bit of elevation as it all added up.
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Yeah no doubt, when you're legs are already starting to complain it doesn't take much to make them cry a little more!
 
Gotta love that odd Amazon Warehouse bargain, took a punt on a pair of Brooks Levitate 3 from them in "Acceptable" condition with "no original packaging" for £33, except turned up in the original box and look brand new in every respect.

Just as a sweetener they also sent me the newer Levitate 4 model so spoiled for choice now finally replacing these Mizuno trainers.
 
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