tPF Running Club!

[FrankieP]

Hi everyone, and welcome to the tPF Running Club!

Just a general chat place for all things running - chat about your training, your gear, your upcoming races and your goals. Off to the Olympics or off around the block, all are welcome to share their questions and advice.

No matter what your level or history everyone has something to share in their training and experiences, and this is meant as an utterly non-elitist chat thread for anything and everything to do with that most honest, basic, and innate of sports, running.

Now carry on... left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot...

Marathoners:
For those specifically after marathon training chat there is a specific for you here - any marathoners here?

[FrankieP]

I'll kick off.. I feel a bit grumpy with my running right now as I've just gotten over the lurgey and am still a bit flat. I'm training mostly for 10km races but am also working my long run distances up to do a half marathon distance soon and to run a full marathon in July next year. I don't think I'll want to do marathons as 'my thing' though, I just want to do it to do it, as you do!

Ten km races are perfect for me as they're a nice mix of speed and endurance, and the race is long enough for race plans and pacing to really be important, which keeps it interesting. Generally I want to run 10km races, I want to do trails races as much as possible though these are hard to get to from where I live, and I want to be able to do half marathons now and then in training and racing just for a nice long hit-out.

Yesterday I contacted a proper running coach to have a chat about getting some online coaching. I've been muddling along by myself okay, but given I'm now not only doing work for the 10km but am looking at heading into some serious distances soon I want to be sure I won't injure myself. The combination of long distances plus the speedwork I need to do to stay sharp for the 10km is a hard mix, so I've contacted this fellow at a running podiatry clinic and running store in Brisbane which I've visited before to get a checkup and some new shoes.

I chose this guy for his great background in exercise physiology and because working out proper program like this and avoiding staleness as well as injury is important and something I couldn't do alone! All my sporting history is in swimming and surf-ironwoman training which is utterly different from running in that all your sessions are high-intensity, something which doesn't work for running as I quickly discovered! I've not been running very long at all so my experience in training is very limited, and having just gotten over a shattered leg I don't want to risk more injuries slowing me down, I just can't be bothered getting injured again! Does anyone else get online coaching, or real-life coaching either individually or in a group? I'd love to train in a group but living where I do the nearest club is 700kms away!

http://www.intraining.com.au/default.asp?contentID=739

[FrankieP]

There was some chat on gear in the other thread, and I've found a great site selling running or cycling arm warmers! Am planning on getting some for winter in a bit.. sadly winter for me is another eight months away, boo. These are perfect for those days where your body isn't cold but your arms are, and if you put a jacket on you end up with it undone and flapping behind you just to keep your trunk cool whilst leaving it on to keep your arms warm!

These are in Australia but they do ship overseas.

http://www.quadgod.com.au/first_8.html

They come in a few colours and patterns...

[FrankieP]

BEGINNER RUNNERS SEE HERE: COUCH TO 5KM RUNNING PROGRAM!

This is an awesome program I've recommended to a few online and real-life friends, and they've all had success on it! I started running in this way, just doing the same kind of thing myself, and it's the best way to get going and do so safely without risking too-much-too-soon injuries.

Go through the website and check out the links.. there are even Cto5km podcasts out there to get you through the program on time-based intervals rather than distance-based!


Once past 5km there are loads of programs out there to keep you going both in terms of getting your speed up for a 5km race and also nudging onwards to running 10km distances. Once you can run 10km you're well placed to work towards other distances and to start doing speedwork to increase your running strength and capacity.

[gypsumrose]

Frankie, I'd be interested in how the online coach works out for you.

I've been checking out runnersworld.com for general articles about running. Are there other resources like this that people use?

It seems like everybody and their mom has a half-marathon or marathon training schedule. How do you pick one?

[cfred]

Hi, fun thread. I occasionally look into the marathoner's thread just to read but I am not anywhere near training for one!
I have been running for about eight years and go through phases when I run longer distances but currently am averaging about two miles (although I did four miles the other day.)
I am going to look into some of the links as I want to increase my mileage overall.
I love running and definitely see myself doing it for life. Nice to have a thread about it!

[Cristina]

Next to join

I've been running for four years, and about seven months ago I started taking it much more seriously and training for races.

I placed second in my age group in the Dreher Park Dash 5K in West Palm Beach on July 26, with a finishing time of 25:59. My next race is the Run 4 The Pies in Tequesta, a 4-mile race on Thanksgiving Day. Runners get an apple pie after the race

On December 7 I'm racing the Palm Beach Half Marathon! My longest run was last Friday, 12 miles. I'm feeling ready and excited.

Depending on how I feel after the half, I may sign up for the Classics by the Sea 10K in Jupiter on December 20. There is also a 5K at this race, so I may choose to do that instead. We'll see! Tomorrow morning I'm scheduled for a 5 mile run.

[artjen]

I like Runnersworld.com. I use their program to keep track of my mileage. I'm training for a half-marathon in January and using the Team in Training schedule.

I agree with you about the 10K- a perfect balance. After my half I will be participating in some 10ks!

[pinky_ohana]

Wow, Cristina!!! Awesome!

I'm not much of a runner, but that's the only thing I do for excercise. I'm currently doing Half Marathons every few months, but find myself training only 4 - 6 weeks before the Half! May I need to sign up and that'll make me run more frequently! LOL!

[FrankieP]

Hurrah, hallo people!

Gypsum I've no idea how to pick a marathon program, hence getting someone to do it for me, lol! There's no one-size-fits-all with training so I guess for people training themselves there's a large amount of trial and error going on to find out what suits you best. Even with a coach the program will be continually reassessed and adjusted based upon session feedback, and that's another reason why just paying someone to write you a program wouldn't work for me either. Although doing this would be a better and more personalised option than finding a generic program online and following it, given I've never done such training before it would be a waste to pay for that and then find it didn't suit in practice. Even adjusting what I've been given would be back to hit and miss!


Cfred, hallo! Two to four miles a day is a great daily workout and given you've been doing it for so long you're well placed to start nudging up the distances a bit for more interest and new challenges.


Cristina, apple pie, woohoo! Will run for food too, lol! Not long now until that half, I bet you're getting excited. What program are you using for your half training?


Artjen I've seen their training logs, a ton of people use them and they're great for simply sharing what you're doing, too. I've been keeping a blog on my training though it's woefully out of date right now, I might update it tonight actually.


Does anyone else keep their training log online? Maybe we could all share what we're doing? I haven't run for a week, my leg's been playing up with all the wet and humid weather we get this time of year, and today after work I'll be trying again so I hope it goes well. I get cranky when I can't run, lol! Will just do a slow steady 10km on the treadmill at 12kmh / 5min pace. I use this pace for all my long runs, though usually for anything 10km or shorter I do the first 2km at 12kmh and then work up to 13.5 or 14kmh for the rest for a tempo workout.

[bagfreak48]

I am a relative newbie to running but am loving it. I only started running 1.5 years ago when I could barely do more 5 minutes of slow running before I felt like choking my lungs up. I have worked my way up to clocking 30 km/week with a combination of two 10 km runs and two 5 km runs. Am really inspired by those posting in the "any marathoners" to increase my long runs as I really want to do a half marathon. However where I come from, heat and humidity is a major problem and I do most of my running in the gym. Outdoor runs is not always an option for me because of my working hours and safety issues. However I recently did the Terry Fox run!! Looking forward to more events like.

I would really like to know is how you all increased your millege. I am so impressed when I see posting of 10 miles or more!!! Do you have problems with side stiches. Do you eat anything in particular? Any advice is appreciated. Also what shoes do you guys use??? Thanks for any tips....

[FrankieP]

Hi Freak! With increasing mileage, the general rule of thumb is around 10% per week, and this is true for both individual run and cumulative week mileage. Once you start heading into monster session territory with runs of 20km plus then you need to consider doing your Very Long Runs every second week and Long Runs once or twice weekly, with the second week of each fortnight having only one or none Long Runs to compensate. If that makes sense, lol!

But in making an individual run longer you can do so by going back to doing run/walks, just as you may have when you first started running. So for example, if your current longest run is 10km and you're aiming to work up to 20km, you can do an 11km run, then a broken 15km run of 6x 2.5km runs with 1 minute walking and a quick stretch between each. Do this for a fortnight, then next you can nudge up your longest solid run to 12km with also a longer broken run of 18km being done as 6x 3km pieces. The variety in running these distances is important, as always doing more and more of the same thing is a fast way to injury.


Shoes are very individual - if you're getting into any kind of long distances or into speed and tempo work then it's really important your shoes suit you and I recommend seeing a specialist running podiatrist before buying your next pair. I could tell you what I wear, but unless you too are flatfooted heel-striker 170cm tall & 52kg, running middle-long distances mostly on treadmills or soft trails, with a metal rod in one leg and a tendency to overstride and also thump towards the end of your run too, this knowledge will be wholly irrelevant to you!

The best advice with shoes is to see a specialist running store who can help fit you according to your anatomy, running style, and running needs. If you can't find such a place then research what shoes are best for your shape foot, ie. flat footed, wide or narrow, and considering the wear patterns on your shoes too. Then in a store put on the models and run around in them, see how they feel. Pick the one that feels most natural and that is quietest to run in.

[cherll]

this is so neat, i started working out again in the summer after about 4 years of pure laziness. i want to run a race sometime and would love to try to keep up here. i currently run/walk about 30 minutes twice a week.

[FrankieP]

Cherll, check out the couch to 5km program posted above.. if you're already run-walking half an hour you're probably equivalent to being at least halfway through the program! You can walk into by checking whatever session sounds closest to what you're currently doing, then starting from the session before that. Once you can conquer 5km you can work on run-walking up to 10km and beyond!

[bagfreak48]

Hi Frankie,

Thanks for the tips especially in building up the milege. Yes will try to add 10% each time slowly. Currently my speed is rather slow at about 9.5km/hr which is a far cry from your 12km/hr. My excuse is that I am a very short 157cm which means that my strides are pretty small...

As for shoes, we don't have anything close to a shoe specialist. In fact, getting running gear is a real chore. Its even hard to get a decent sport bra or running shorts! I have checking out some of the running websites and according to those website, I am neutral with a slight high arch tendency. I usually wear neutral shoes with very soft soles. Anything too hard causes quite a bit of pain when I pound the treadmill. At the moment, I am using Nike zoom victory which is a little narrower than what I am used to but its ok. I know Nike seems to get pretty bad press in the running shoe department but I tried New Balance and that was not working for me!!!

BTW, thanks for starting this.. Looking forward to getting tips from everybody....