Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

Where in the hell are you that it was like that? Not been above about 18c where I am for the last 3-4 weeks now (and I'm very thankful for it!)

I managed 209Km for September and though I was doing well, thanks guys for letting me know it wasn't :P !

Today was fartlek, first time, and was 12x1min @6-6:30 pace with 1 min rest at easy pace speed. Was doing well, felt good then finished the 4th one and had the MOTHER of all stitches, I had to walk for most of the minute rest, but thankfully managed to get past it and back to pace after 1 more rep.

Now for a week of treadmills :( suck it up I guess, at least I'll be able to regulate my pace easier!
 
Did anyone else apply for the London Marathon? I received the rejection pack today although really wasn't expecting to get in anyway. The pack suggests applying for the Edinburgh Marathon instead which is quite tempting.

I've got a couple of half marathons to do first though - Thames half marathon in just over a couple of weeks and then Inverness half marathon in March. I think my training is going ok so far although I'm not really looking forward to running at 8.30 on a Sunday morning for the Thames one, that means I'll have to get up stupidly early just to eat breakfast.
 
semi-pro waster said:
Did anyone else apply for the London Marathon? I received the rejection pack today although really wasn't expecting to get in anyway. The pack suggests applying for the Edinburgh Marathon instead which is quite tempting.

I've got a couple of half marathons to do first though - Thames half marathon in just over a couple of weeks and then Inverness half marathon in March. I think my training is going ok so far although I'm not really looking forward to running at 8.30 on a Sunday morning for the Thames one, that means I'll have to get up stupidly early just to eat breakfast.
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I did and received an acceptance magazine yesterday :) Also have Barcelona marathon the month before as a warm up.
 
Just nailed a new 5k pb as I went out not feeling up to doing a full 10k tonight. 23:53. Considering it's my 18th ever 5k and I ran my first in 28:07, I'm pretty happy with my rather rapid progression!
 
Didn't even get a magazine. Got an email with a e-zine instead saying I didn't get in. I did run it in 2013 though so it's off the bucket list at least but I'd love to do it again.

I'll be running Manchester instead next year and aiming for a Good For Age time (Sub 3.05) and then get a place for London 2017 with that instead hopefully.
 
Hxc said:
Just nailed a new 5k pb as I went out not feeling up to doing a full 10k tonight. 23:53. Considering it's my 18th ever 5k and I ran my first in 28:07, I'm pretty happy with my rather rapid progression!
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That's fantastic, damn right you should be rather pleased with yourself. Knocking over 4 minutes off a 5K is awesome!! :cool:
 
firstborn said:
I did and received an acceptance magazine yesterday :) Also have Barcelona marathon the month before as a warm up.
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Congratulations, hope the training goes well. I'll probably try and go along on the day again just to watch for a bit.

Hxc said:
Just nailed a new 5k pb as I went out not feeling up to doing a full 10k tonight. 23:53. Considering it's my 18th ever 5k and I ran my first in 28:07, I'm pretty happy with my rather rapid progression!
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That's great, it's always good to see progress and I've found I really quite look forward to Parkruns to see if I've managed to get any quicker. In fact I'll be going out to one this morning but after a certain point I'll probably be looking for a second here or there rather than any big leaps forwards.

IndigoGorilla said:
Didn't even get a magazine. Got an email with a e-zine instead saying I didn't get in. I did run it in 2013 though so it's off the bucket list at least but I'd love to do it again.

I'll be running Manchester instead next year and aiming for a Good For Age time (Sub 3.05) and then get a place for London 2017 with that instead hopefully.
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Good luck with that, your half marathon time suggests that sub 3.05 should be achievable for you doesn't it? I chose to donate my entry fee to charity (and got a snazzy winter training top plus magazine for doing so) but didn't get an email to confirm my non-acceptance. A work colleague of mine got the email but I don't think they chose to donate their entry fee - maybe that's why?
 
Another London Marathon ballot reject here :p. The only people I know from my club that got in other than the GFAs are injured as well! Ridiculous luck.

On another note, rested my achilles for two full days and just been out to test it out with a slow 5k and it still feels bad :(. I think it's wise not to try squeeze my long run in tomorrow and get in the pool instead. Blergh, I hate getting injured.
 
My legs are shot again, 20.3miles and 84 miles for the week!
The problem was that yesterday wasa complete wash out, flooding roads, state emergency called, and not just the rain but it was cold and very windy, so I ended up going to the gym instead and did a 10 mile progressive on the tread mill. Got my long run in this morning in only moderate rain.



I'm going to see if I can go to my friends got tub!
 
D.P. said:
My legs are shot again, 20.3miles and 84 miles for the week!
The problem was that yesterday wasa complete wash out, flooding roads, state emergency called, and not just the rain but it was cold and very windy, so I ended up going to the gym instead and did a 10 mile progressive on the tread mill. Got my long run in this morning in only moderate rain.



I'm going to see if I can go to my friends got tub!
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With respect and based on your recent posts and results, I think you need to seriously reconsider your training regime.
 
I decided to go for it and entered the Edinburgh marathon last night using the guaranteed entry as a failed London marathon applicant. It's in the May bank holiday weekend so it's about 10 weeks after the Inverness half marathon. Perhaps not the best planning ever but I guess the half will just be part of the training for the full thing.

Parkrun results confirmed that last week's PB of 20:43 wasn't just a fluke, yesterday was about 8 seconds slower despite a bigger field and more congestion at the start so fairly happy that the training is paying off in this regard at least.
 
Good work semi-pro waster. :)

I've been having a little trouble with my left hamstring since early in the week, finally went yesterday but it's not just went up for my glute instead and hurts even more. Planned for another 10 miles today but now I'm resting instead.

Just when I thought my mojo and motivation was coming back as well. :(
 
Another London marathon rejection for me - third year in a row :(

I was supposed to be running the Bournemouth marathon today, but injury and lack of training resulted in me having to withdraw. It doesn't help that I've gained about 40lb this year! I was hoping to get a place in the London marathon to give me the motivation to get back into shape. In fact, I am seriously considering reversing my position on running for charity in order to get to do it next year... the thing is, there's no one particular cause that I feel strongly enough to choose over another. I don't suppose charities really care why you run for them, as long as you raise plenty of money for them; despite that, it still feels wrong somehow.
 
firstborn said:
With respect and based on your recent posts and results, I think you need to seriously reconsider your training regime.
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Would love any alive. I had a hard time finding a good training plan, I put I a Lot of research and what dissatisfied with most.

My current plan is based on Daniel's, modified based on current scientific literature and simplified for a beginner. So for example I do minimal AT/Lt work because there is no scientific support behind it (quite the contrary, most research shows it has a negative effect). Some thing I had to adapt is since I don't do repeated 10k type races I make paces based mostly on a combination of heart rate and perceived effort with adjustments for temperature and humidity.

I'm actually very happy with my results. My pace has progressively increased very nicely at the same effort and my MOR are often effortless due to I creased endurance. My half marathon race was fast enough and I take the big negative split despite a significant hill in mile 12 as a good sign going forwards. No insures or joint/muscle stress, no mental exhaustion either.

It's definitely a hard training regime with high milage but I am going into this 100% dedicated! stiff legs seems somewhat unavoidable? I'm only posting some of my workouts, many runs go by effortlessly but they aren't interesting to talk about.


My legs feel great today so I think my long run was spot on yesterday. Something I changed to recently based on different training plans and some scientific literature is doing a moderate run the day before my long run. Until recently I took an easy day or compete rest day before the LR so I can do it with fresh legs. Some good research to show the cumulative fatigue from adding a run the day before is beneficial in adapting slow twitch muscles to withstand distances longer than the LR. This adds to the tired legs feeling , but it is supposed to.

One issue I have is I take the day before my intervals as a very easy day or compete rest so I can get a quality interval workout. This soe times works but it seems sometimes doesn't and actually putting I a few more miles the day before can lead to looser legs. Last week I did 5 miles slow on a treadmill the day before but my legs were very stiff and slow, the week before that I did 9 miles trail running with hills the day before intervals and I was faster than I ever been.
 
I was trying one of Daniels plans too, was going great for the first few weeks but then a bunch of things conspired against me. Some of that was to do with a particularly bad hangover, but I also think i fell into the trap of increasing mileage too rapidly. Went from 30-40kpw to 60-70 pretty much overnight and i'd be very surprised if that wasn't the cause of some of the issues i've been having.

Anyway, still have a half marathon booked for the first of november so i think my best option would be to continue taking it easy for another week while my shin heals, then slowly start to build up for a week, maybe with a HM distance that weekend, then a normal week with a couple of interval sessions and then take it relatively easy the week before. Then depending on how that goes i can try to ease back into the JD plan.
 
@ D.P I'm sorry but I don't know any beginners knocking out 80 miles a week to run a 1:44 half and constantly stating they are knackered or some such. None of it makes sense.

If I was putting in 80 mile weeks I'd be expecting to run under 1:20 for the half. Have you run any full marathons?

The only way any of it makes sense, unless I've missed something, is if you subscribe to the platypus school of reporting your exploits.

Now permabanned's post does make sense..
 
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