Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

I always find that if I keep my HR down below lets say 155 then I feel loads better after the run and also feel like I could carry on. Much above 155 and that isn't the case any more :-)

I always try and maintain below 150 and have an alert set to 145 or thereabouts, so I know to ease off a bit. It does take a bit of thought to follow HR rather than just going for it. I did find that the times weren't spectacularly different either.
 
I was actually pretty annoyed I didn't get my time down to under 10 minutes a mile last time, so pushed a little harder today and seems I have a lot more steam than I thought since I stopped running like a muppet.

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Now if I can stop stuffing my pie hole sitting in the house most of the time and start losing weight again, I might even get into respectable times and increase the distance.

Also looks like the council put up signs everywhere that the car parks are closed now, they can't physically close them but guess I'd be a bit of a **** if I continued to park there. It's less than a 10 minute drive away from my house so still local I suppose but think I'll try to find somewhere else to go.
 
Just flippin' bashed my big toe on a kitchen cupboard trying to avoid stepping on a wasp that was on the floor. Don't think it's broken but it's all red and numb. I'm well annoyed as it means I should really not go running for a few days now. :(
 
Did my own test this morning. Wore the Polar chest strap and my Garmin watch. The heart rate matched beat for beat apart from a minor blip on the watch when I transitioned from running to walking mid-session. Otherwise, it was perfect. There is a caveat - my cadence is <150 spm so that might have been gentle enough to keep the watch accurate. But I'm happy knowing that in my current circumstances, the watch is right.

I purposefully slowed down this morning and kept it around 166 bpm and I did feel much better.
 
ic1male said:
Wore the Polar chest strap and my Garmin watch. The heart rate matched beat for beat
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I'm not saying it's the case, but you did say the chest strap was ancient, could that actually be not very accurate? How much has tech evolved in this area? I'm honestly asking as I have no idea :) I know my TICKR and Garmin watch do often differ.
 
AndyCr15 said:
I'm not saying it's the case, but you did say the chest strap was ancient, could that actually be not very accurate? How much has tech evolved in this area? I'm honestly asking as I have no idea :) I know my TICKR and Garmin watch do often differ.
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I don't know either but it could be cadence as I say. I don't run very fast, don't swing my arms a lot and don't have a big impact on the ground to jolt the watch. I also wear the watch as tight as I can so it doesn't slip about which can cause weird readings.
 
Found a new trail nearby that doesn't involve parking in a "closed" car park and seems to be perfect as it's an even shorter drive.

3.19 miles long so just a little over 5k that I'm happy with distance wise and a bit more challenging as has quite a few up and down sections and more elevation than my other mostly flat route.

Showed in the time today, quite a bit slower but I did have to stop for a phone call for a minute or so as well. Think I still have this stop and start mentality and I probably stop when I can still power on so getting some kind of heart monitor might be helpful.

Chest traps are supposedly more accurate and not interested in any other features that watches offer, looking around there's some reasonably priced ones on rainforest.
 
My running club were doing a backyard run yesterday. Figured it a good opportunity to have an easy run to see how it affected me after over a week off since I hit my head.

Strava misreported distance hugely which is probably to be expected given the limited space. I think I was closer to 4miles based on a few average lap times and working out lap distance and total time but it tracked at 3.1.

It was a challenge to give a nod to the mental strength to some of the people doing extraordinary things in their homes. Like the guy doing a 100k run in his front room!

I’m lucky enough to have a moderate sized garden and so a lap was about 70m which kept it interesting enough for over a 100 laps and it shows the mental strength of those who have done much longer distances on a 7 metre long balcony.

One guy in the group had a ~4x4m back yard and managed 15 miles which was incredible.

We’re very lucky to still be able to get out for exercise.

I also took the opportunity to run “barefoot”. There’s been a lot of talk about the benefits of it and so I ran in socks given the ground was flat and even. Feet are a bit sore this morning but I don’t think I changed my running style much which suggests my natural foot stroke is probably quite optimal.
 
I have a decent sized garden too but there's not a chance I could do this, same reason I can't do treadmills. Mentally, the "going nowhere" thing just destroys any motivation I have.
 
neoboy said:
I was actually pretty annoyed I didn't get my time down to under 10 minutes a mile last time, so pushed a little harder today and seems I have a lot more steam than I thought since I stopped running like a muppet.

3TgBpQd.jpg


Now if I can stop stuffing my pie hole sitting in the house most of the time and start losing weight again, I might even get into respectable times and increase the distance.

Also looks like the council put up signs everywhere that the car parks are closed now, they can't physically close them but guess I'd be a bit of a **** if I continued to park there. It's less than a 10 minute drive away from my house so still local I suppose but think I'll try to find somewhere else to go.
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You're doing well! keep it up
 
I’m annoying myself now.

I don’t seem to be able to push myself and keep in zone 5 for long any more.

Tried to run a fast 5k Today and it just didn’t happen. Avg HR was 162 and max 171.

Couldn’t bring myself to run any quicker and my time was 23.20. I ran a 21.31 6 months ago (I was dragged round by a faster runner) 3 years ago before I took a break I could sub 20 but would feel sick afterwards.

I’m consistently running 3 or 4 times a week following a Garmin coach plan. I feel like i’ve lost my ability to put myself in the hurt locker.

what’s the answer? New gear? Or work out a way to stop being a pussy?
 
AndyCr15 said:
I'm not saying it's the case, but you did say the chest strap was ancient, could that actually be not very accurate?
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Similarly - some of the errors with Polar chest straps can be the software you use to interpret its feed, I'd done some earlier experiments taking it's raw xml data into excel,
because, at least with endomondo app, I was using back then, it had not shown the heart rate changes/peaks, I expected to see when putting spurts into the run
jpaul said:
Itchytrigg thanks for the info,
I injected 8x30s dashes(felt like 25% faster) into evening 45min run and they were not very discernible in the HR/speed logs
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@BIGWEB

Not sure of the real fix, but am sure someone faster will. What is it that feels like it makes you stop pushing? Is it your lungs feeling like they're dying or is it your legs aching from the increased strain?
 
I've no idea honestly.

It's like I am trying to pace myself. I'm not even giving it a sprint finish at the end. It's bizarre to be honest as I am normally competitive to a fault but I'm ending what are supposed to be my quick runs hardly out of breath
 
Lockdown depression? :D

So I spotted a voucher for some CooSpo heart rate chest strap on rainforest for only £19.99, figured worth a try with their return policy.

Arrived today right before a walk and synced with MapMyRun without any issues. Don't have anything to compare it to but seems to be picking up the HR well when it was jumping up on uphill sections.

Tomorrow off for a run so will be able to analyse where I can push more as the new trail is kicking my behind more than the last. Little longer and I do start to struggle with speed once elevation creeps up towards second half.
 
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neoboy said:
Lockdown depression? :D

So I spotted a voucher for some CooSpo heart rate chest strap on rainforest for only £19.99, figured worth a try with their return policy.

Arrived today right before a walk and synced with MapMyRun without any issues. Don't have anything to compare it to but seems to be picking up the HR well when it was jumping up on uphill sections.

Tomorrow off for a run so will be able to analyse where I can push more as the new trail is kicking my behind more than the last. Little longer and I do start to struggle with speed once elevation creeps up towards second half.
Click to expand...

Where can I get the voucher. might try one with my Garmin
 
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