Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

If your young and semi fit you might get away with it under 2hrs,

I would start with 3 runs a week with 2 of them at a nice steady consistent achievable pace of no more than 30mins and one hard interval session of 15-20mins then increase the time by 10mins each week for the longer runs leaving the interval session at 20mins (These are hard on the body and you will need a day to recover properly from it)

Oh and the hardest bit will be sorting your diet out if its bad atm :)

Good luck, let us know how you get on.
 
I would love to come in under 2hrs for a half one day!

Based your join date I am going to guess you are early to mid 30's and so you stand a fair chance of doing it :-)
 
I can't claim that it was a very scientific method, just that 18 years since 2002 and then assuming a total guess for the rest :D:D

Now we just need @Malt_Vinegar to tell me just how far out I am !
 
That's pretty good going. I normally do parkrun in about 31 (But I am slowly starting faster)

See, my age detection based on registration date worked well @Marvt74 :-)
 
SPG said:
If your young and semi fit you might get away with it under 2hrs,

I would start with 3 runs a week with 2 of them at a nice steady consistent achievable pace of no more than 30mins and one hard interval session of 15-20mins then increase the time by 10mins each week for the longer runs leaving the interval session at 20mins (These are hard on the body and you will need a day to recover properly from it)

Oh and the hardest bit will be sorting your diet out if its bad atm :)

Good luck, let us know how you get on.
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Thanks for the advice :)

What sort of intervals would you recommend? Heart rate dependent, or speed/time/distance based?

Ian_Eb said:
That's pretty good going. I normally do parkrun in about 31 (But I am slowly starting faster)

See, my age detection based on registration date worked well @Marvt74 :)
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Indeed, it was a smart plan. Almost spot on :D
 
I thought that intervals would be time/distance based but I may be wrong.

I currently need to do two things here.
  1. Actually go for a run rather than sitting there saying "It's too cold/windy"
  2. Read the 80/20 book I have had here for about a year
  3. There is no rule 3
 
You need to book a race, i'm still using the "rest period after the race" excuse.

On your intervals comment, i'd agree, i'd have said they're usually distance/time based. Although i suppose hill reps could also count.
 
Good point. I am not a fan of hills, but living where I do, it is hard to avoid a few. I definitely noticed a difference after modifying a few local routes to include them rather than just avoiding any kind of incline :-)
 
Same here, although there's a decent hill close to me that would be perfect for hill reps as it's around 0.75 miles away so would have a decent warm up. I keep telling myself i'll go and do some one day but never have!
 
Maybe go with 4 x 800m with 3min rest for the first week and see how that goes, then every 2 weeks add a extra rep.

Remember its an interval, the idea is to go at a pace that allows you to be consistent between each rep, not a max effort with lots of variation between reps.

As for hills, i live on one which is perfect for hill training.... I avoid it unless its on the way home, my neighbours do not need see a middle aged man collapsing from heart failure on his door step :) but its a nice warm up on the way down.
 
As for hills, i live on one which is perfect for hill training.... I avoid it unless its on the way home, my neighbours do not need see a middle aged man collapsing from heart failure on his door step :) but its a nice warm up on the way down.
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I always get home and then grab the dog for a quick 10 - 15 min cooldown to prevent that ;-)

My dad used to stand on the drive looking like he was trying to inhale the entire atmosphere in a single breath!
 
On intervals, I have a few sets I like to do:

1. cruise intervals. Longer distances reps at or around threshold (tempo) pace (10k to 1/2 marathon) with short rests. Typical example, warmup, 4 x 1 mile tempo off 2 mins rest, cool down. The idea is you run around your lactate threshold for a reasonable amount of time, which is good way of increasing your lactate threshold. The benefit of this is you can run for longer at a higher perceived exertion than if you just ran a 20 minute tempo run.

2. Ladders. warm up, 10 mins @ marathon pace, 8 mins at 1/2 mara pace, 6 mins @10k pace, 4mins at 5k pace, 2mins at 1 mile pace. Recovery increases between intervals. A great workout for feeling the difference between speeds and running fast on tired legs to increase efficiency.

3. Blended 800's. warm up, 0.5mile@5k pace, 1 min recovery, 0.5mile @ 10k pace. Repeat 3 times. Gets heart rate up to threshold more quickly than cruise intervals, similar benefit.

Or just do a fartlek - warm up and then pick objects out that are either close of far away and randomly decide the speed you'll run until you'll get there. Repeat!

Intervals are simply a way of getting high intensity/speed benefits with reduced stress (compared to just running fast for the whole run). And they make the miles fly by as you are often focussed on the current interval rather than how far you've run or how far you have still to go.

Cheers
 
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