Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

[D.P.]

So after an inflamed Achilles caused me to drop out of an April marathon, I'm back in training. One of the great things about everything being recorded in my Strava account is I can look back at my weekly mileage and general training schedule and see if there was a likely cause of over-exertion etc that may have led to the injury. With the benefit of hindsight, it looks like I escalated my weekly long run distance too quickly after Christmas in an effort to get some 20 milers in before the race. Really poor weather (beast from the east) reduced the number of long run opportunities too so I think I tried to skip a few jumps and went from 13 to 18milers....

This time around I'm looking to run more often (previously training on 3 days/week; currently on 4/week, heading for 5/week) with the following general plan. I'm looking to run this to build general fitness and then extend the long run as I get closer to the marathon.

M: Rest
T: Easy with strides
W: Speed workout
Th: easy miles
Fr: Rest
Sat: Easy with strides
Sun: Long easy.

Current easy pace = ~8min/mile, 5k race pace = ~6m10s/mile

I commute each work day on bike too; I rarely push it on these commutes, so I treat them as recovery.

Comments/builds/critique of this plan encouraged and welcomed, cheers!

While you are increasing the number of days running I would completely cut the speed work. Once you have reached 5 days a week comfortably then
I would only do speed works outs every 2 weeks, and if you do a speed workout then strides only once. You could also do soemthign like hill repeats. When you get closer to a marathon then speedwork once a week,although not in a recovery week.

Your easy pace is probably too fast if 6:10 is your 5K time, I would be looking more like 8:40 to 9:00 a mile, at least a couple of your easy days, and start the LR run at 9:00 or slower and build to 8:00 or faster by the end.


Always important when you are building volume that you don;t add to much other stress like speed work, and increase the long runs slowly. You just have to be patient. High volumes (over 80 miles a week) and long runs over 20 miles are perfectly safe and very low risk, much lower risk than a speed workout. But going form low volume ot high volume, or 3 to 5 days, or 10 to 20 miles in a short period of time is very risky. This is compounded when you do several things together.

 

[The Darkness]

^ Thanks DP, great advice.

One thing where I would benefit from further understanding - easy run pace. When I run 8min/mile my heart rate is about 60-65% HRR (ie about 120bm. Rest= 43, max =170). I am able to maintain a reasonable cadence (182) so I assume reasonable running form. If I drop the pace further I am worried I wont be able to maintain a high cadence and hence my form will drop off. Is this a valid concern or should I not focus on form during m easy pace runs?

 

[D.P.]

^ Thanks DP, great advice.

One thing where I would benefit from further understanding - easy run pace. When I run 8min/mile my heart rate is about 60-65% HRR (ie about 120bm. Rest= 43, max =170). I am able to maintain a reasonable cadence (182) so I assume reasonable running form. If I drop the pace further I am worried I wont be able to maintain a high cadence and hence my form will drop off. Is this a valid concern or should I not focus on form during m easy pace runs?

You should be able to maintain cadence at any speed, e.g. you can run 180spm while running on the spot. The stride length decreases, but that is exactly what you want to happen so impact forces decrease. It is also not an issue if cadence dips slightly but I doubt you would see much difference. I can run at 10:00/mile or 6:00/mile and cadence would very from say 177 to 183.

 

[JustBen]

Blooming shin splints again Think playing football after only a days rest has caused it. I did the 5k park run on sat, junior 2k park run on sunday with my lad, chil out Monday, football Tuesday, kids running club with my lad on Wednesday . struggled yesterday with shin splints so took it easy and didn't join in with some of the games they play. This week the junior park run has been called off so i'll have the park run on Saturday if my legs feel ok and will take it very easy then sunday rest, Monday rest, Tuesday I might go for a short run instead of football then running on Wednesday and golf on Friday. trying my best not to overdo it

 

[D.P.]

Blooming shin splints again Think playing football after only a days rest has caused it. I did the 5k park run on sat, junior 2k park run on sunday with my lad, chil out Monday, football Tuesday, kids running club with my lad on Wednesday . struggled yesterday with shin splints so took it easy and didn't join in with some of the games they play. This week the junior park run has been called off so i'll have the park run on Saturday if my legs feel ok and will take it very easy then sunday rest, Monday rest, Tuesday I might go for a short run instead of football then running on Wednesday and golf on Friday. trying my best not to overdo it

I think you are just doing too much high intensity stuff. Shin splints are almost entirely avoidable if you train correctly and have reasonable running form, they are a classic sign of doing too much too soon, or doing too much intensity, or not running easy runs fast enough (and are made worse with bad running form).

Football is going to be putting a lot of stress on all joint. While you are doing football, all of your runs in a week should be at an easy pace, at least until you can build up a lot of run volume over 6-12 months. Don't worry, training slow makes you race fast.

Although you don't say you are racing the ParkRuns, this is likely the case whether you are doing ti consciously or not because it is hard to go at the correct easy pace in a timed organized event with other people going fast. Racing a 5K each week will definitely lead to injuries on its own. Having access to weekly timed 5ks is great, but you should be racing them each week. I would restrict Parkruns to once a month, and preferably a week when you don;t have a hard football session. Ideally you would do something like 3 weeks progressive build adding mroe volume, then the 4th week you cut back down and hopefully have an easier football session. At the end of the 4th week you should then be fresh and can enter the Parkrun with an aim of getting a new PR, so it is run real hard. Repeat the next 3 week build, 1 week recovery. During this time your running should let you breath easily so that you can have an uninterrupted conversation with someone. Take your phone with you, you should be able to call a friend/partner and converse with minimal difficulty.


I would also check that you don;t have a heavy heal strike and you are running with a nice high cadence. Shin splints are much more common in runners wih longer heavier strides.

 

[JustBen]

Hopefully when I get to the running shop later this month they'll be able to advise on my running form. Cadence according to Garmin is usually around 155, not sure what's considered high or low really but it's always been around that.

I suspected it was over doing it, getting older certainly has it flaws! I'll give the normal park run a miss for 2-3 weeks apart from the junior one with my lad, his pace is around 10-11 minute mile where as mine on the last park run was low 9 minute mile so it's not to much and only a short distance.
You're right about the racing, I try not to race but do push it near the end of the race. I know on the 10-11minute mile I can have a conversation as I'm talking to my lad all the way around, usually telling him to slow down.
I'll give it a few days then get a few weeks of slow running in.

 

[The Darkness]

Hopefully when I get to the running shop later this month they'll be able to advise on my running form. Cadence according to Garmin is usually around 155, not sure what's considered high or low really but it's always been around that.
.

Yes that's very low. I'd work on increasing it, in steps of 5 or so, until you are at least 175. Its helped my knee's a lot.

 

[Ian_Eb]

I get about 155 - 160 as well. I keep trying to speed it up but by the time I have slowed down to make it easy, it makes me look like Roy Castle breaking the tap-dance record

 

[JustBen]

Yes that's very low. I'd work on increasing it, in steps of 5 or so, until you are at least 175. Its helped my knee's a lot.

Best way to increase it?

 

[D.P.]

Hopefully when I get to the running shop later this month they'll be able to advise on my running form. Cadence according to Garmin is usually around 155, not sure what's considered high or low really but it's always been around that.

I suspected it was over doing it, getting older certainly has it flaws! I'll give the normal park run a miss for 2-3 weeks apart from the junior one with my lad, his pace is around 10-11 minute mile where as mine on the last park run was low 9 minute mile so it's not to much and only a short distance.
You're right about the racing, I try not to race but do push it near the end of the race. I know on the 10-11minute mile I can have a conversation as I'm talking to my lad all the way around, usually telling him to slow down.
I'll give it a few days then get a few weeks of slow running in.

Yeah,155 is very low. 180-185 is supposedly the sweet spot for most people, but anything 170-200 is likely fine.

The problem wityblow cadence is each stride has to be longer. To get a longer stride you need more power to.push forwards, but also more power vertically to have more air time. What goes up.must go down so you have more impact forces when you land. The impact forces increase cubicly with a reduction in stride length. Worse still a longer stride need your leg stretched out further in front. Instead of your leg flexing and absorbing the energy like a spring, the leg can lock and send shock forces through your joints.

Moreover it is just way less efficient. You will run faster or with lower energy cost with a higher cadence.

 

[D.P.]

Best way to increase it?

Smaller steps faster. When your foot lands you want your center of mass almost above the foot.

Main thing is you aren't stretching your foot way out front and landing on your heals. Landing on your midfoot.


You can run at 180spm while stationary. Then slowly move your landing foot forwards a few inches.

It will be a bit strange at the start but once you are used to it it is very natural. The 180 spm figues comes about because it is the most frequently recorded cadence among most runners.

 

[JustBen]

So move my legs quicker and and bring my stride in so it's smaller I'll give it a go in.my garden later and see what 180 feels like if I get there.

 

[LOAM]

I'm wanting to get a garmin or polar watch thing, any pointers?

 

[D.P.]

So move my legs quicker and and bring my stride in so it's smaller I'll give it a go in.my garden later and see what 180 feels like if I get there.

ultimately it is pretty simple, your better innovate is simply your strides length .multiplied by cadence. To run at the same pace with a higher cadence then the stride needs to be a bit smaller.conversely if you take quicker steps then they much be shorter go at the same speed.

 

[D.P.]

I'm wanting to get a garmin or polar watch thing, any pointers?

I've been very happy with Garmin. I started with a 610, then 920, then 935.

You can look refurbished models, garmin gives the the same guarantee and in general Garmin are very customer focussed anyway. I think the best value is the 920XT,especially if you senior cycle as well, or plan for triathlons or longer runs (or if you are a really slow marathon runner).

One thing to note is that newer watches mostly just add fancy features you rarely use. The actual GOD accuracy has not improved, perhaps even got worse. And you don't need the fancy features,all you want is distance, pace,and an ability you to record heart rate, but note the built in optical heart rate sensors are totally useless,you will want to use a chest strap HRM anyway.

The 610 i paid $100 for 3.5 years ago is basically as good as my 935. Only have the 935 because i need 12-18 hours of battery for my ultras. The altimeter is nice if you do a lot of hills.

 

[LOAM]

Thanks mate, I shall go research these

 

[Itchytrigg]

I'd say the built in optical is not totally useless, just not as accurate as a chest strap. I find my 225 takes about 1/2 mile before it picks up my actual heart rate. It is slow to adjust on change as well such as suddenly hitting a hill. For a regular easy run it will suffice just fine. Doing anything trickier such as zone based work then yeah, you want that chest strap.

I limit the chest strap usage where I can as the material when combined with sweat irritates my skin pretty badly.

 

[BurningHorizons]

As a Garmin alternative, the Polar V800 comes with the wonderful H10 chest strap. The watch is being replaced soon and there are bargains to be had. I paid £170 from Argos (no longer available). Really good watch. Highly accurate, quick GPS lock, Strava live segments, altimeter, great battery life and directions when you upload a route.

 

[Spacedeck]

I learned today; never run after shaving only hours before... ouch.

 

[D.P.]

I'd say the built in optical is not totally useless, just not as accurate as a chest strap. I find my 225 takes about 1/2 mile before it picks up my actual heart rate. It is slow to adjust on change as well such as suddenly hitting a hill. For a regular easy run it will suffice just fine. Doing anything trickier such as zone based work then yeah, you want that chest strap.

I limit the chest strap usage where I can as the material when combined with sweat irritates my skin pretty badly.

You are one of The lucky minority where the optical works on easy runs. The problem most people have is it will lock on to your cadence so will report something like 170-185 when it should be 140-145.


It's biggest benefit is in tracking resting heart rate.