Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

Give me a shout if you do, i can get a discount through Garmin, although their prices are usually more than elsewhere depending on model so not always worth it. Same with Polar

There are cheaper options too though depending on how much you want out of it.

In fact i saw someone selling a few Garmin watches in the MM the other day (Forerunner 45 and Vivoactive 4 i think)
 
My goal was 2,500km which I met around London Marathon time in October. I'm currently at 2,739km but finding motivation a bit difficult at the minute so I could try to aim for 3,000km by the end of the year to get me out the door a bit more.
 
Martynt74 said:
Give me a shout if you do, i can get a discount through Garmin, although their prices are usually more than elsewhere depending on model so not always worth it. Same with Polar

There are cheaper options too though depending on how much you want out of it.

In fact i saw someone selling a few Garmin watches in the MM the other day (Forerunner 45 and Vivoactive 4 i think)
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I looked at the 45 as it was on sale brand new for £99 but it's missing the oximeter option which I have on my current Fitbit 3 and don't want to lose.

245 looks like the one I should probably go for and seen it as low as £140 on Amazon, of course something like Fenix 6 looks amazing with brometric altimeter and temperature sensors for runs and hiking but I can't justify the cost.

Saying that, just had a look on CEX and 6 models start from £225 for B condition and they do give you 2 year warranty, 5 is even cheaper.
 
45 is the one I went for although now I'm tempted to send it back as I'm still waiting for it to be delivered and you can pick up a 245 from currys for £129 at the moment. I'm not sure yet but for £30 more it seems an obvious choice, anyone have any input to nudge me that way :D

I hadn't thought of any goals but it's a great idea. I'll go with 750 miles throughout the year which should be feasible, it's more than my current average so would be a good place to start. Also to actually sign up and run a 5k/10k & half marathon event somewhere as it's something I've never done and I'm still putting off park runs lol.
 
I did throw my hat into the Great North Run lottery even if wasn't planning on anything more long distance than 10k.

EDIT: biggest difference that I saw between 45 and 245 is the oximeter which adds quite a few features such as proper VO2 max and sleep oxygen levels (for us snorers) and has a much longer battery life in GPS mode which is handy for me for long hikes.
 
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Martynt74 said:
I hate those toenails that just won't come off, i'm fairly lucky in that i don't suffer many nails falling off, but they are pretty black/horrible underneath, mainly from running in mud and it seems to sink into the skin and never come clean until i resort to soaking them in bleach! I wish i could just have them all removed!

Yeah i think that's key. I've got my Spain race which is providing motivation, but have booked in a few shorter ~15-20 mile events around it for training and then looking for something in the summer just to stop me falling from a cliff after the event.
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I’ve not had it happen for a very long time, it happened once when I stubbornly would not replace shoes that were half a size too small as I wanted my moneys worth and another was from a trip where I kicked a stone I’d not spotted then fell over.

I think this was just too tight a shoe and a marathon just combining to get me.

I think reading half might be back to March time so I might try for that.
 
neoboy said:
I looked at the 45 as it was on sale brand new for £99 but it's missing the oximeter option which I have on my current Fitbit 3 and don't want to lose.

245 looks like the one I should probably go for and seen it as low as £140 on Amazon, of course something like Fenix 6 looks amazing with brometric altimeter and temperature sensors for runs and hiking but I can't justify the cost.

Saying that, just had a look on CEX and 6 models start from £225 for B condition and they do give you 2 year warranty, 5 is even cheaper.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is where my discount is a bit crap, it's 25% off the 245, but they sell it at RRP so it only goes down to £150
 
Also worth having a look on FB marketplace. Loads of people upgrading just before and after Christmas if you aren't too fixated on buying brand new.
 
Not a bad shout, don't really mind second hand but saying that I had a rotten year with things going wrong out of warranty this year!

Looks like there was also a Fenix 6 on sale on MM for £220 not long ago so don't mind waiting for a bargain as I'll be lucky to resume running in January.
 
Could be a good option. I love my Fenix 6X.

Amazon had a misprice I believe at £195ish but not sure if it was honoured. There’s talk of a Fenix 7 so that might drop prices.

The Fenix 5 is also still a very solid watch (I’d get the plus version though)
 
Well I went for the Garmin 245 in the end so will be picking that up tomorrow, can't wait to try it out!

Any advice for where I should be headed now though, at the moment I'm just running towards completing a 10k and I'm just increasing my running time by 5 minutes per week (currently running for 40 minutes with 45 starting next week) so should hit a 10k before December is up but I don't know if I should be following a better structure/routine? A lot of 10k apps I've looked at still seem to follow a run/walk method which I'd rather not do now to be honest unless it really is recommended. Do you guys follow anything or just head out and run?
 
When you say running for 40/45 minutes per week, do you mean 1x40 minute run a week or is that split up over a few days or say 3x40 minute runs? What kind of intensity are they for? And how are you feeling at the end of runs?

Garmin have a decent range of Training Plans which might be worth following, they start off with a fitness test and then can customise based on where you're at and how often you can run a week. You'd probably get more out of something like that than a generic plan online, as from memory you have a decent level of fitness from prior stuff so less need to take it as slow initially.


If you didn't want a plan, then assuming you're doing 3-4 runs a week, i'd probably try and structure it a little like the following, although i'm by no means an expert

Run 1 - Easy 40 min run
Run 2 - Easy 30 min run and finish with some strides (15 second fast (but not all out sprint) events with a 45second walk recovery)
Run 3 - Easy 40 min run
Run 4 - Easy 60 minute run, split up into 15 mins running, 5 mins fast walking x3. Then in later weeks increase the run and reduce the walk

That would kind of tick off most of what you'd want to aim for as far as variety goes. The theory would be that the progression would then be to either add in another session or turn some of the 40 min runs into a 60 minute run eventually and the long run increases too.
 
Yesterday marked the end of the 4 week training plan i'd paid for. I spoke with the guy and agreed for him to do a new one covering 8 weeks with less support/comments on his side to keep costs down. It's amusing as some weeks are certainly at a lower duration than i would've been going with had i been left to my own ideas, but i'm going to stick with it on the basis he knows a lot more than i do about this kind of stuff.

Some fairly interesting sessions included, including a treadmill working wearing a weighted back at a 10% incline.


I'm also really liking the Xhale dashboard. Gives a great view of what's upcoming etc, and i think even when i'm creating my own plan i'll stick with it for the small monthly fee. Find it better than the Strava/Garmin views at times.
 
Sorry should have worded it better, I'm running for 40 minutes at a time now after finishing c25k, just doing that on 3 separate occasions then increasing time by 5 minutes with end goal being a 10k run at around 55-60 minutes with my current pace being between around 9-9.15ish per mile averaged over the run.

I wouldn't say they were high intensity, I do try to pick up the pace on the second half of the run which does get me breathing a bit heavier then I guess I should be but this is where I'm wondering if I should have a structured plan like you have suggested with a longer run thrown in & mixed paces. My goal is to run longer distances obviously but I'd also like to see my pace start to pick up starting with my 5k time, obviously I'm still a very new runner with only 31 runs under my belt so maybe that will just happen naturally over time?

I think I just want to make sure I'm not 'wasting' my running times by being monotonous when I could be doing things better - I say this loosely as getting any form of exercise in is clearly not a waste!
 
Yeah i get that. I think it takes a big shift to accept that the slow and steady approach generally is better for running than people want to admit. As i say i've been given a plan with the goal at the end being an fairly brutal 45 mile run with 13000ft of ascent in the mountains and yet it's rare for a single session to be >2 hours which to me feels counter-intuitive as in my head if an event is going to take me ~14 hours, then i'd have thought i'd need to be doing a regular 30 mile run in the preceding weeks. However as said i'm having trust in the process at this stage!

I'd probably be tempted to add an extra run a week in rather than just upping all sessions. The stress on your body will be less and you've instantly increased weekly volume by 30% which will help with endurance. Assuming you can find the time to do that of course.
You then have an extra session where you can add more variety as i've listed above. Maybe even throw some hill reps into it, just try and have a day off after the harder sessions whilst your body continues to adapt to the forces of running.

EDIT - Also just shot you a trust
 
Exactly, it does sound counter intuitive when you look at it that way doesn't it, what a brutal run that sounds like though! I do need to make sure I always get out for a run even if it is short and sweet as like you say it's all about building endurance. Thanks for the strava link, I didn't realise there was a group so I will take a look and sign up :cool:
 
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