Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running
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Soldato
5 miles left to hit my 47 miles to be eligible for the lottery shares.
It's been a great incentive for me. Last week i hit 28 miles for the week which was the most i'd done for a while, so to add 20 on top of that has been good. Also had a decent amount of ascent. I've enjoyed getting out for some of the longer runs recently too, so feel my motivation is firmly back for the moment!
Did a little over 5k with my daughter yesterday, the C25K challenge started a bit easy for her, she's only 19 and was fairly sporty at school so has a reasonable base level i figure. The first week i went with 3:30 mins of running with a 2 min rest. Yesterday was the start of week 2, so i upped it to 4min running with 1:30 rest. She died on the 3rd running section as it has a fairly brutal hill so i allowed her an extra minute walking to get up that, but then near the end she ran for a full 6 minutes with the last 20 being up another fairly steep hill so she did well. It was also the first time i got her out on a full loop on roads rather than just going up/down the lane by our house. Think she felt a little self conscious but if i can get her past that initial bit then it's a big mental boost for her anxiety in regular life i imagine. Plus got to show her what a full 5k distance feels like.
She's doing well, but i'm treating my runs with her as my recovery days, so not particularly having any rest days. Will see how that works out as she starts to get fitted and run more.
It is however killing my already rubbish Strava pace stats
It's been a great incentive for me. Last week i hit 28 miles for the week which was the most i'd done for a while, so to add 20 on top of that has been good. Also had a decent amount of ascent. I've enjoyed getting out for some of the longer runs recently too, so feel my motivation is firmly back for the moment!
Did a little over 5k with my daughter yesterday, the C25K challenge started a bit easy for her, she's only 19 and was fairly sporty at school so has a reasonable base level i figure. The first week i went with 3:30 mins of running with a 2 min rest. Yesterday was the start of week 2, so i upped it to 4min running with 1:30 rest. She died on the 3rd running section as it has a fairly brutal hill so i allowed her an extra minute walking to get up that, but then near the end she ran for a full 6 minutes with the last 20 being up another fairly steep hill so she did well. It was also the first time i got her out on a full loop on roads rather than just going up/down the lane by our house. Think she felt a little self conscious but if i can get her past that initial bit then it's a big mental boost for her anxiety in regular life i imagine. Plus got to show her what a full 5k distance feels like.
She's doing well, but i'm treating my runs with her as my recovery days, so not particularly having any rest days. Will see how that works out as she starts to get fitted and run more.
It is however killing my already rubbish Strava pace stats
Purchased some trainers, just got to wait for them to turn up, went for Adidas Supernova Winter Rdy. I have some Brooks trainers i use normally but literally a drop of water and my feet are soaked. I was looking at some Nike pegasus 7 shields but the Adidas ones were much cheaper.
Soldato
Hit 1000 miles for the year today. Well ahead of previous yearly bests and whilst I was confident of hitting it. I’m happy to have done it earlier than expected.
Did a 5k with my daughter today. We walked for a few minutes to warm up. Then I got her to run for 3 mins and then walk. Then aimed for a mile run. I cocked up the measuring so we ended up doing about 1.2 miles.
Then walked for a few minutes before running just under a mile. Ended up doing a 5k in around 35 minutes.
She’s done really well. I’m just trying to keep her grounded and learn that you don’t always have to go faster/longer than the previous day. So Monday I’m intending to scale it back a little and just do an easier session.
Did a 5k with my daughter today. We walked for a few minutes to warm up. Then I got her to run for 3 mins and then walk. Then aimed for a mile run. I cocked up the measuring so we ended up doing about 1.2 miles.
Then walked for a few minutes before running just under a mile. Ended up doing a 5k in around 35 minutes.
She’s done really well. I’m just trying to keep her grounded and learn that you don’t always have to go faster/longer than the previous day. So Monday I’m intending to scale it back a little and just do an easier session.
Soldato
Shame the deal is only good for Coco the Clown
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Soldato
I’ve got a pair.
Bargain!
Bargain!
Soldato
Woohoo. Got a 10k PB tonight. Came in at 51:52 so a decent chunk off the previous. Although I’m not sure what that was exactly.
Wasn’t what I set out for. I went for an “easy” 4 miles. Then was part way up a hill at the start and it triggered a memory of a Strava Segment for around 1 mile up to a pub where it said something like “shave off 15 seconds to move up 30 places”
So I pushed on up to the pub and then felt quite good so carried on at that pace as it’s ages since I’ve done anything at a tempo pace. Took a detour and at 4 miles I realised I was in track to beat my 10k so just carried on.
Feel like breaking 50 minutes is very doable, even though it’s around 20 seconds a mile quicker. Especially on a flat route and with the intention from the start.
Wasn’t what I set out for. I went for an “easy” 4 miles. Then was part way up a hill at the start and it triggered a memory of a Strava Segment for around 1 mile up to a pub where it said something like “shave off 15 seconds to move up 30 places”
So I pushed on up to the pub and then felt quite good so carried on at that pace as it’s ages since I’ve done anything at a tempo pace. Took a detour and at 4 miles I realised I was in track to beat my 10k so just carried on.
Feel like breaking 50 minutes is very doable, even though it’s around 20 seconds a mile quicker. Especially on a flat route and with the intention from the start.
Associate
Got about 65 miles to go from John O Groats now, should be done on day 147 of doing it on the 6th December which will also be about 3 weeks earlier than my hoped for Christmas finish.
Been really enjoying the challenge, it's pushed me to keep up my mileage when I've wavered a little on enthusiasm. That said with the weather I'm looking forward to going on to maintenance miles rather than keep pushing 5 days a week running sessions I've been on. Average has been a little over 40 miles a week since July, did my first marathon distance and peaked on a 55 mile week too. I think I'm pretty much back to my peak fitness from 2016, or pretty close. Next year I'm going to get that sub 1:30 1/2, I have spoken
Been really enjoying the challenge, it's pushed me to keep up my mileage when I've wavered a little on enthusiasm. That said with the weather I'm looking forward to going on to maintenance miles rather than keep pushing 5 days a week running sessions I've been on. Average has been a little over 40 miles a week since July, did my first marathon distance and peaked on a 55 mile week too. I think I'm pretty much back to my peak fitness from 2016, or pretty close. Next year I'm going to get that sub 1:30 1/2, I have spoken
Soldato
It's mainly been cycling, so not so relevant in this thread, but I've recently passed 4,500, so a target that's motivating me on these cold and wet days is to get to 5,000 total miles this year. I still have a target for running miles this year, which might actually suffer by the 5,000 mile target needing cycling to be done.
Soldato
Got about 65 miles to go from John O Groats now, should be done on day 147 of doing it on the 6th December which will also be about 3 weeks earlier than my hoped-for Christmas finish.
Been really enjoying the challenge, it's pushed me to keep up my mileage when I've wavered a little on enthusiasm. That said with the weather I'm looking forward to going on to maintenance miles rather than keep pushing 5 days a week running sessions I've been on. Average has been a little over 40 miles a week since July, did my first marathon distance and peaked on a 55-mile week too. I think I'm pretty much back to my peak fitness from 2016, or pretty close. Next year I'm going to get that sub 1:30 1/2, I have spoken
Fantastic effort and sounds like it's been good motivation for you.
For motivation, I've set myself the challenge of completing the Strava 100km per month. While some of you may laugh at that challenge and cover it in a week, it's enough for me with my current stage of fitness.
Associate
I would go for it and see how it goes. 100Km in a month is still 25 per week or so.
I am stuck waiting on x-ray results, so avoiding running altogether in case there I do something bad :-/
I am stuck waiting on x-ray results, so avoiding running altogether in case there I do something bad :-/
Soldato
I think that’s the issue isn’t it.
I’m still hopeful my Pendle Hill Ultra will go ahead as the website suggests they cut the entry list down to make it suitably distanced, but I imagine most large scale events will still be restricted.
I got out up Pendle Hill yesterday. Have never ran up around there but really enjoyed it. Other than taking a wrong turn and instead of turning back I decided to scramble up a near vertical marsh type hill which absolutely killed me. Then coming down the other side I had -700ft in around half a mile which I’ve never had to contend with before. Especially on such uneven muddy terrain so again my quads took a beating to avoid gravity taking over.
The thought of the ultra basically being that run with another 2 loops fills me with a bit of dread though. My only bit of reassurance is that I felt good for the last mile after the previously mention hills. Which shows my fitness is at a decent level to recover quickly from that exertion. I feel good today too so am going out again soon for a run.
Small local ultras should go ahead, that is how my 320km worked out in September. City races are not happening before a vaccine is wide spread.
Don't worry snout your ultra. The whole point is the distance is so huge that it is hard to comprehend how it would be possible. Pacing is very important snd kind of the opposite of a marathon. Your race pace in an ultra will be slower than your training pace, especially on the hills. And then it is just pure mental. You will feel totally exhausted beyond anything you have ever felt before and your mind screams at you to stop, get a quick shower and start on the beers..., but the crazy thing is your body is still working. You can still move, even if not a fast run. I have almost never got to a poibt where the muscles just were not working enough to do a reasonable jog on flat ground or hike uphill faster thsn the tourists.
Then the really crazy thing is, the same applies to sleep. You can be literally falling asleep on your feet, hallucinating like crazy after 2 hours sleep in 60 hours of running, yet your legs still keep going.
Physically, you just never stop if enough food snd water goes in. But you need that mental fortitude.
Don't worry snout your ultra. The whole point is the distance is so huge that it is hard to comprehend how it would be possible. Pacing is very important snd kind of the opposite of a marathon. Your race pace in an ultra will be slower than your training pace, especially on the hills. And then it is just pure mental. You will feel totally exhausted beyond anything you have ever felt before and your mind screams at you to stop, get a quick shower and start on the beers..., but the crazy thing is your body is still working. You can still move, even if not a fast run. I have almost never got to a poibt where the muscles just were not working enough to do a reasonable jog on flat ground or hike uphill faster thsn the tourists.
Then the really crazy thing is, the same applies to sleep. You can be literally falling asleep on your feet, hallucinating like crazy after 2 hours sleep in 60 hours of running, yet your legs still keep going.
Physically, you just never stop if enough food snd water goes in. But you need that mental fortitude.
Soldato
Yeah, i'm really looking forward to it and then pushing on to a 100 mile race. I think i'd stop there though!
I've been reading the book by Vassos Alexander and it interweaves his run on the Spartathlon Ultra which sounds like great fun, amongst other race reports/interviews. It's a great read. I like the idea of a 100 miler somewhere drier with more reliable weather.
I love being on trails over here, but it seems that there's no separation between running on trails and running through knee deep bog on various routes. Its why my run around Pendle on Saturday was so enjoyable. I absolutely love fog high up.
That's enjoyable, although not sure what's going on with that second photo!
I've been reading the book by Vassos Alexander and it interweaves his run on the Spartathlon Ultra which sounds like great fun, amongst other race reports/interviews. It's a great read. I like the idea of a 100 miler somewhere drier with more reliable weather.
I love being on trails over here, but it seems that there's no separation between running on trails and running through knee deep bog on various routes. Its why my run around Pendle on Saturday was so enjoyable. I absolutely love fog high up.
That's enjoyable, although not sure what's going on with that second photo!