Runner's Forum: The Official: Training Summary Start Up Thread

I have had a great week of exercise!  Since I am no longer training for a race (I have a 5 mile on the boardwalk on Saturday, but I'm not necessarily "training" for it), I have felt so liberated!!!!!  I did a 3 mile hilly run on Sunday; a 3.6 mile with my husband and son (in the stroller) on Monday, followed by 45 minutes of resistance training; a leisurely 2 mile walk around Red Bank (my favorite town in the area) Tuesday, where I got to run into some people I haven't seen recently; a 4.5 mile family jog (the last 1.5 was all by myself and it felt nice to not have to use the stroller) on Wednesday; a 7 mile jog with the stroller on Thursday, a 1 mile walk to and from the fireworks, then a 6 mile bike ride at 11pm/2:30am to/from the bar : )

Then I did a 6 mile trail run yesterday, which was great because I made good time and I realized how much I missed being COMPLETELY alone with nature while pushing myself cardiovascularly.  It was misty and wet and smelled so good.  I didn't even touch my I-Pod...sounds of nature are better...much better than the constant zoooooooommmm of cars!  I also missed the short and constant up and down of the trail.  The trail that I was on had some serious, but short uphills, where they put in blocks of wood like stairs (in one section there were wooden stairs that were SO steep and fun!).  I had to duck under fallen trees...I liked it...it gave me the variety that I need.  I ran fast (for me...not for Kdogg) and felt a great rhythm the whole time...it was really awesome...I've been needing that.

In the first year of running, do you really need to do speed training to get your times down, or does it just kind of happen?  I run on hills almost every run, so that helps get time down right??  I also obviously try to keep the fastest pace that I can comfortably maintain for the given run.  My 4 month anniversary of running is the 26th of this month, so I'm still really new. Speed training?  Or just worry about making "best times" for each run?

burgalurg I would suggest against speed training in your first year for a couple of reasons. The first being that it sucks. By that I mean its hard and no fun. If you want to keep running, you gotta keep it fun. The second reason being that I don't believe speed training is necessary for improvement when you haven't been at it for that long. Your body is still making a lot of physiological adaptations to exercise and that kind of stuff is what helps you get better. The next reason being that speed training increases the risk of injury. The more time you can spend "base" training, the better equipped you will become to handle the rigors of speed training later on when your performances plateau and speed training becomes necessary to improve

12/8 double for me today. I hate waking up early so bad, you guys don't even understand...I wish I would race up to my training (and then some) so I could get sponsored and not have to work 

Well stepback week is over. This sunday it's back into the long runs with mileage progression. I'm looking forward to it.

Will be in France for 10 days....in the heat. Not really looking forward to that. Down in Australia I used to run in 40degree heat no probs. Scandinavia has made me soft in that regard ;)

remberley sound like you are going well. Question: How does it affect your marathon pace runs when you have swapped the sunday and saturday runs from the plan? I might have to do this myself for a couple of weeks.

Hey all, ran 5.6 kms home in the pouring rain tonight - it was fun! at 5.2 pace.

It was good seeing that I was not the only one out in the weather there were quite a few of us wet runners about.

Kdogg - interesting advice re speed work - I have been avoiding it a bit - mostly becuase I think I am a bit lazy. But also I do think that as an older runner, with only a year of exprience it may cause injury for me. Your perspective is really helpful.

Cheers

s

10/6 double today. I was gonna do 15/5, but I felt terrible this morning. Think about how bad you felt the first time you tried to run right after you started, then multiply that by 10. Thats how bad I felt. I've been neglecting my iron supplements. I don't really eat red meat and since thats where you get your iron, I have to take supplements to make sure I don't totally die on my runs.

Lesson - take iron pills if you need them (and your doctor says its okay to do so) 

Had a great run tonight, hit the trails (coincidentally the same I ran on Sunday) with my run club. With the extra motivation from running with the club I performed much better and had a ball. Didn't time it, but it worked out roughly 4.8miles at about 9.5 pace I think.

Was so glad I managed to get out today, I was working so up at 5am and had kids on the boat all day. It was about 4pm when I got back, had an hours nap and really had to drag my butt out of bed to get there!

So what's all this about the heel>toe / midfoot thing? I keep hearing that you're not supposed to run heel-toe these days but that's what I was always told was the right way? How do you retrain? Is it possible? Is it better?

Training for the relay is going well, got some good and reassuring advice from my group leader tonight so feeling pumped and ready to go! 

I had an unplanned rest day yesterday....high winds, lightning, hail, heavy rain. So today I did yesterdays planned run of 6 miles (5.8 actually) at an 8 min 22 sec pace.

LexB- Thats what I hear as well, I'm not sure I know or can learn how to land mid-foot. Maybe you can find a running coach that can show you how to run like that.

So that's how you improve your speed:)

Missed my long (7mile) run at w.end - really bad hayfever, non stop sneezing and itchy eye sydrome! grrrrr

Interval session last night 4mins, 3,2,1 - x2min recovery.  Hard work, but felt good to push myself. Steady run tonight.

I must admit, the way my foot hits the ground is something I dont even think about when I run. Would be interested to see the affect it has on running, or whether the effect is more a physiological one leading to/ preventing injuries etc.

Great session tonight. 6x1km with 1 min rest, aiming a 4 min. We did 4 in the range of 3.50-3.52 and 2 at 3.55. The last one was death on a stick. Felt like every bbreath had no effect, and was feeling slightly nauseous. But legs managed to get me through. Coach was rapt. The next few weeks we will try to get it up to 8 and 10 reps, with 15-20 by marathon time. Maybe not at that pace.

Cricket training starts Saturday with some fitness testing. I will get my 20km run getting there, and hope Iave something left for the tests!!!

Have a good weekend guys

SimmoT - I haven't got a clue - I figured you'd be more likely to know than me!!! I'm guessing it's not impossible - after all I ran the usual total novice flat footed, pavement slapping style when I first ran, and now have got the heel-toe action down. I've managed to change my footstrike on downhills according to someone another person's advice on here. Plus my run group leader did a couple of track sessions where he said he wanted us striking with the midfoot. A few fellow runners said watching the triathletes run they noticed they were almost running on tiptoes! I guess it's just hard to change.

Got up early (ish) and did a nice 6 miler today - hit some trails and threw in some hills in prep for my race at the end of the month. 6 miles in 53mins - which worked out at an 8.50 pace which was awesome for me - especially with the hills. Dead chuffed! Nice weather this morning, sunny but cool  -may do this morning run thing more often.

I was wondering if anyone (KDogg - as you work in a running store) knows of the closest fit to the new balance w1062 - I tried some on the other day and fell in love with them (I'm a neutral that needs a wide/round toe) but they cost 170 bucks and I just had to replace a computer cable so I am a bit strapped. But I do need some new runners for the race.

xxemmaxx. Welcome and congrats on taking the first step. I would recommend following a couch to 5k plan (try www.c25k.com) at the very least start out on a run/walk programme. Maybe see if there is a running club near you you can join (they would have a beginners group). I would also start with something like circuit training and strength training (not nec at the gym, can do pilates/calisthenics at home). Running takes a heavy toll on the body - especially one that isn't used to that level of exercise. To avoid injury I would look at cross training, starting slow and building your muscular strength from the very beginning. 

I, however, am a newbie myself so perhaps someone else will offer some wiser words. Check out the other forum posts on this subject (there are a lot of beginner posts on here).

Hi Kdogg, thanks for good input/advice

Yeah, well to be honest it was a mixture of my younger sister and LexB who made me start to think about whether I actually had an optimal "style" (if any). Both have been to running coaches (if you read LexB's post) where they are focussing on how the foot should land. It got me wondering.

Funnily enough my sister can barely run aroud the block - so why I started listening to her is beyond  me...he he. LexB of course is progressing at a rate of knots...so i began to wonder if this was part of her secret!!!

I feel like I have a pretty good style when I am doing tempo runs.... But on the long slow runs, it's quite easy to fall into the old foot slapping lazy style. So i wondered if there was something I should be focussing on during those long slow runs....

But, Ok, some hill repeats could be in store for me. Or do all my long slow runs up hill....that'd be something.

no run for me today,.trying to hold back and follow training plan,.15k  race on sun,.so a quick 5 tommorrow then carb up for 2 days,.never ran with this many runners before,.11300 entered,. any advice besides "dont fall"? , and "dont stop"??  hopin to place in top 3500..would be awsome for me

Tempo run yesterday. 3.7 miles in 30 minutes.  10 min. wrmup on a hilly road, then surged for 3 minutes, 4 minutes at 10K pace, 3 minutes surge and tehn cool down.

REST DAY today.  5 mile race next Thursday and need to keep fresh.

Arhhh fricster, slightly jealous. I will keep the home fires burning for you!!! The yarra would have been lovely to run by this morning. I did 20.3km running to cricket training. Did it easy in under 1.35 which I am quite happy with. Cricket trainng consisted of a beep (bleep) test - did 8.6, but my legs were dead, although the body felt fine. I have done 11.6 before when I was nowhere near as fit as I am now. I will do it fresh in a few weeks, hope to get up near 13.

Have a good week guys. Mght have a long sleep this afternoon - tired after too many late nights watching Le tour!!!

Hey all, sounds like everyone is doing great with their training. As for me, I had a pretty bad week. My shins are STILL bugging me after my half, so I took a few days completely off from running. Got on my bike a few times. Then Thursday night I decided to get back on track with my long run. Had 12 miles scheduled. I absolutely struggled through it. Shins hurt for about 3-3.5 miles, couldn't find my rhythm, breathing was difficult, shoulders tight, pretty mush any problem you could think of. In the end, I wound up completely dying out at the 11.25 mile mark.  Oh well, this too will pass. Tomorrow (Saturday) I'm going to try running on some well-groomed trails to give my legs a bit of a break.

I've also noticed a bit of a problem with my shins. Even when they are feeling okay at the beginning of the day, by then end of my 12 hr shift (in which I wear work boots), my shins are killing me. I was wondering if there was some type of replacement insole that would help this (Kdogg, you have any suggestions?). Otherwise I'm thinking I may have to pick up a pair of black cross trainers to wear instead (though that means I'll have to come up with a new way to carry my back-up gun). Thanks, and keep running.