**TeamLiquid now has a group on what I consider to be the best GPS/logging site out there: Strava. You can join the group here: http://www.strava.com/clubs/Teamliquid**
A thread for all my fellow TL'ers who run. A place to discuss goals, training, racing, motivation; anything related to running. Should be a little easier now that everything won't get lost in all the traffic of one mega-thread.
For those new to running their are a few common mistakes that many people make. The first is just plain doing too much, too soon. A general guideline reference is to increase mileage about 10% per week, with every 3/4 week being a cutback week of maybe 50-75% of the distance you just achieved. Obviously some people can increase much faster than this, and others will get an injury even following these guidelines. For people new to running its safe to add a day per week until your running 6/7 days a week, stay at the previous weeks number of days if that week felt particularly demanding.
The other common mistake is running too hard. Perhaps because of PE/sports/etc. their is this mentality of "no pain, no gain" when running. This is wrong. Especially for beginner the key is adjusting to running and finding some enjoyment out of it. This probably won't happen if your hammering every run at 5K pace - 10 seconds. If you EVER have to take a break to walk (and its just not immense fatigue from long distance) your running WAY to hard. To give some basic guidelines if you can RACE a mile in:
5:00 - Normal running @ 7:00-7:45 pace/mile 5:30 - Normal running @ 7:30-8:45 pace/mile 6:00 - Normal running @ 8:15-9:00 pace/mile 6:30 - Normal running @ 9:00-9:45 pace/mile 7:00 - Normal running @ 9:30-10:15 pace/mile 7:30 - Normal running @ 10:15-11:00 pace/mile 8:00 - Normal running @ 11:00-11:45 pace/mile 8:30 - Normal running @ 11:30-12:15 pace/mile 9:00 - Normal running @ 12:15-13:00 pace/mile 10:00 - Normal running @ 13:30-14:15 pace/mile 12:00 - Normal running @ 16:00-17:00 pace/mile
For those totally new to running that have been sedentary/non-athletic most their life here is one of the best introductions to running out there: Couch to 5K
For those that have maintained a minimal level of activity beyond being sedentary its reasonable to jump in at 3-4 days a week of 3-4 miles. Progressing by adding a day per week until you reach 6 or 7 days per week. Mileage can be increased from there.
General recommendation for most injuries is if the pain lessens, and perhaps if its mild and doesn't intensify you can continue to run on it. If the pain increases as you run, definitely stop. Nothing like turning a mild case of achilles tendinitis into a long term case of prolonged achilles tendinosis.
You really have to listen to your body on these though. For the non-competitive runner running for fitness, its probably wise to just play it safe and take a a day or two off at any hints of injury. If your training competitively or for an important event then you really just need to try to listen to and judge the injury. Obvious training with anything other than routine soreness runs the risk of turning something minor into something serious, however, if you break training for every possible suggestion of injury you probably won't put together very good blocks of training.
Racing Flat/Flat - Very lightweight shoes designed for long distance racing Trainer - Standard, heavier, and generally more supportive shoe used primarily for training due to wearing out less frequently than thinner racing flats
Easy Run - light run for general aerobic development; usually can converse easily with a partner, breathing rhythm usually around 2/2-3/3. Typically 60-75% of max heart rate. Marathon Pace/M-Pace/Aerobic Threshold Pace - usually fastest aerobic pace, obviously pace at which you could run for a marathon. Approx 40-60 second slower than 5K race pace Tempo/T-Pace Run - A common term that refers to several different run types. Tempo's typically have three popular durations, 20-30 min, 40-60 min, and extended tempos of 60-80 min. Correct pacing is around 5K+20-25 seconds per mile for short ones, 5K+35-40 seconds per mile for the medium, and 5K+50-60 seconds per mile for the longer ones. Reps - Fast track intervals @ around mile race pace w/recovery time twice that of repeat (400m in 75 seconds = 150 second slow jog recovery). Used to build economy at speed and make fast paces seem easier Intervals/V02 Max Interval - Longer repeats at slower pace with less recovery. Usually 1:1 recovery/repeat at around 3K-5K race pace (1200m in 3:30 w/3:30 jog recovery). Long Run - run longer than typical for YOUR mileage. Usually around 20% of weekly mileage (aka runner running 60mpw might run around 11-13 miles for a long run) Fartlek - Swedish for "speed play". A run that can be pretty much whatever a runner wants. Can involve just picking random targets and running as hard as desired toward them and then recovery for however long you want, or can be structured as in 2 min "ON", 2 min "OFF". Strides - Short pickups of about 50-100m done anywhere from 400m-1600m race pace. Serve to "stay in touch" with speed and maintain neuromuscular coordination for fast paces. NOT meant to be hard.
Kick - runners strong finish to the end of a race; crucial to winning championship races which are generally slower and more tactical in nature Tactial Race - typically slower pace, refers to a race in which different runners try to force the race to their strengths. Ex: a super fast runner might want to wait till 100m to go before kicking hard for home, while the slower, but stronger runner might really pick up the pace with 400m+ to go and try to "run the kick out of" the faster runner. Move - An increase in speed to either pass runners, obtain position, or make a move for the win. It's said you get one move in the 800m, 2 in the 1500m, and 3 in the 5000m/10000m Surge - Increase in pace of the race by a runner Stagger - difference in starting places to account for varying radius of the curves in races that are fixed lane or partially fixed lane. Turnover - basically a runners stride, turnover essentially referring to the length and rate of stride Cadence - Steps per minute Mileage - miles run, usually given as a weekly value MPW, mpw - miles per week Raw Speed - Most common measure is an athletes 200m time Speed - Generally refers to top end gear, but for distance runners is often cited as 400m speed. Ex: A world class 800m runner likely has 45-47 second speed V02 Max - measure of maximum oxygen uptake vV02 max - Velocity at V02 Max, lowest speed at which an athlete is at maximum oxygen consumption. Usually occurs between 3K and 5K pace Anaerobic Threshold - inflection point on the lactic acid accumulation curve, at which point blood levels of lacate increase significantly faster. Usually around high end tempo pace, a little slower than 10K pace. Bonk - usually applies to marathon, occurs when a runner goes out to hard and deplets glycogen too soon resulting in a massive increase in speed and major pace drop off Elite - top level runner LSD - long, slow distance Negative Split - last half of race faster than first Overpronate - Higher than normal amount of inward roll of the foot Heelstrike - generally undesirable stride in which the foot lands forward of center of gravity resulting in a braking effect and extra stress Splits - Times at specific distances. Ex: in a 5K might have splits read every K, in a mile splits might be read every 400m World Best - best time for an event without official world records, or a non-ratified world record. Ex: marathon world record is 2:03:59, world best is 2:03:02 World Lead - best time run for an event in that calendar year NR - National Record
Your head and neck should look as if you were standing still as someone was measuring your height and you want to squeeze in every extra millimeter possible. Your head should be up tall and your eyes should be looking straight ahead. It helps to focus on an object in the near distance that you are aiming for. If you are racing stare at the back of a runner a little ahead of you. Do not stare at the ground because it will likely mess up the form of your midsection.
Arms
While you are swinging your arms visualize there is a vertical line in the middle of your chest. Do not cross any part of either arm over to the other side. Also make sure your arms are not swinging too far to the outside on the other side of your body. Keep your arms swinging between your imaginary vertical chest line and your shoulder. Your right arm should be between your right shoulder and the vertical chest line and your left arm should be between your left shoulder and the chest line.
Keep your elbows bent at about 45 degrees. Your elbows should not be doing much bending or straightening as you are running; keep them at close to 45 degrees the whole time.
Maintain stable wrists throughout your movements. Do not bend them in any way.
Keep your hands in a loose fist. If they are too tight you will be using unnecessary energy and if they are too lose you will look like a not as cool T-1000. Maybe if you're a sprinter you can do the T-1000 with your hands completely straight, but not as a distance runner. I like to keep my thumbs on the top and outside of my pointer finger rather than wrapping around a fist. Your thumb will be straight and pointing away from you if you do it this way. Doing it like this helps me focus on keeping a loose hand and straight wrist.
Chest/Back
Your chest should be just as it would be if you were standing still, straight, and tall. Your back will be straight as well. If you find that you are leaning forward, make sure you are looking ahead of you rather than below you. Also, you may have weak abdominal muscles that prevent you from running up straight and tall. I ran like this for the first couple of years when I started because I had no abs.
Hips
Keep your hips underneath you and forward you as if you're banging a hot girl and you're about to ejaculate. Practice this in front of a mirror without a shirt when nobody else is around or someone you are trying to impress IS around. Keeping your hips forward will help your body drive forward.
Legs
This is where most runners tend to need the most work. You should be hitting about 3 strides per second when you are running at a moderately fast to fast pace. This means that your feet are striking the ground at a rate of 3 steps per second. This is the most efficient way to run for distance runners but is difficult and probably not worth doing if you're not running fast (relative to your own ability). But the next time you are running faster, whether it's a tempo run, strides, or whatever, try this out. Count how many steps you take in 10 seconds. How close is it to 30? You probably need to be taking more and shorter steps.
Pick up your feet as soon as they hit the ground. It sounds obvious but really make an effort to think about this as you are running. The longer your feet stay on the ground the more momentum you are losing. Keep them legs moving fast and forward. Try running in place with this principle in mind.
Pick up your feet higher than where you perceive your knee to be. While some people (usually old people) prefer the marathon shuffle, keeping your legs moving in a more circular manner, you can increase your efficiency as long as you use all of these leg tips together. Just go watch some videos of elite distance runners to get a visual or this or anything else being described. Most elites have excellent form, specifically in the beginning of races before they get too tired. This is another technique that is difficult to do unless you are running fast. But when you are running fast this will make you fast AND smooth.
This last tip can be debated but I'll lay it down anyway. Strike the ground with your mid foot. Heel striking is very common and the normal way most people run when they slip on running shoes. This is interesting because if you run barefoot you will be mid foot striking. Try it out. I am a believer in the benefits of barefoot and minimalist shoe training, but that is a topic for another time. I still think a mid foot strike to be the best bet here. Not only is it the most natural way for humans to run but it also keeps your feet on the ground for less time. Remember that you are fighting inertia and need to keep your feet off the ground and your legs driving forward.
American<->SI Pace Conversion Tool (credit: Malinor) + Show Spoiler +
*Added a section to the OP for training logs. If you log your running online in an accessible form feel free to post your log up and I will add them to the OP.*
Well guys, I'm going to be honest. 2018 was the worst year I've had in a long time. Maybe ever. The first 3 months weren't bad, and I actually got back into pretty good shape. Not my early 2017 fitness, but on par at least with my other years and even had a top top 5s and a top 3. Then, things just fell off the rocker.
School ratcheted up and I got busy. Then in summer I had two sorta good one month builds, but was shut down by a nasty crash in the middle. Then school started up again. Was starting to make some progress, but got sick in early September with a nasty little viral bug for 3-4 days. Probably started trying to ride sooner than I did, which may have contributed, but basically turned into a sinus infection and fatigued that hammered me. For the first month I was flat out laid out. There were days were walking a mile to school was a pretty big chore. It was, in all honesty, a bit scary to have fatigue like that. It's gradually lessened, but still have days were wake up feeling post nasal drop, stuffed up head, low energy, and "on the verge" of being sick.
I also have continued to deal with anxiety. If I haven't told the story, back in Aug 17' I woke up after a hard 2 hour group ride with some sort of night panic attack. Felt like something was wrong with my heart/thought I was having a heart attack. Didn't die or anything, and was probably a combination of stress from a major semester starting up and hard riding. Stress was enough to induce some PVCs (where heart stops a beat, long pause, then very powerful thud beat), which freaked me TF out because it felt like my heart was stopping. Started googling hardcore, and basically developed the habit of freaking out when I felt my heart and since I was constantly scanning my body that was basically always. More or less worked myself into some pretty nasty anxiety. For six months it was horrible, at times I was having these PVCs like 4-5 times a minute. Eventually I started accepting it was anxiety sometime around early summer this year, and that helped and basically I don't have PVCs much anymore, but I'll still randomly get anxious at times or what have you. Not a huge deal, except when it disturbs sleep, which it often does, especially if I wake up early in the night. Probably 1x-2x a week I'll get like 4 or 5 hours instead of 7 or 8.
This lack of sleep is just often enough, especially since I usually have 1-2 days where I go out with friends and miss a little sleep or whatever that I just haven't really every had good consistent 7-8 hour sleep weeks in a long time. Combine that with chronic sinusitus and fatigue and I just haven't felt consistently good enough to string anything together. Im not hopelessly out of shape, but I haven't been in this kind of shape in about 6 years. Mix that with the anxiety always coming up with clever new ways of feeling (now it's tingling or fasiculations in the toes/hands) and I just haven't felt "healthy" in way too long. Objectively, I know I am, but my subconscious side doesn't want to feel that way.
So where does that leave me? Well, looking forward to improve from where I am in 2019.
First semester of 2019 will be hard. Very hard. I don't have any major goals then. I would say my C goal would be to lose 3kg-5kg and kinda maintain my current fitness. My B goal would be to at least train consistently, 4-5x per week, even if that's just easy riding/running as opposed to anything hard. A goal would be a solid 8kg of loss and some workouts, bringing my back down to my typical racing weight of around 70kg (got down as low as 63kg one winter, but never got to race with it).
If I can get back on control of my sleep, figure out with ENT the CRS, and make some progress on the anxiety stuff it shouldn't be too hard to meet the B goal.
Ideally, the second half of 2019 would feature a return to actual training, and I'd end the season back in at least 2016 shape, which was around 4.3 w/kg for 60' on the bike and mid 18s for 5k. The A goal would be to be in PR shape, but I kinda doubt training will have that much of a priority to put in the work necessary to get back to there. At a minimum I'd like to end 2019 close to 12% BF than 20% BF, and in at least a little better shape than I am now.
Priority A - Get back to feeling healthy/fut Priority B - Get back to my old fitness/consistency Priority C - Set some PRs
On January 06 2019 10:07 Gjhc wrote: Hey MarcoJ! Cycling is great but it does indeed have a high entry bar, and you need to be aware of everything you should have, the bike is just a part of it. You don’t need any premium stuff and still enjoy cycling, but there are a few things I’d recommend you to think about getting.
For road bikes, decathlon has some good cheap ones such as the triban500. There may be cheaper options but I’ve never really searched much. If you don’t have someone a bit experienced with bikes to check used bikes with you I’d recommend you stay away from that option, there are many non-obvious things to look for which are hard to summarize here. Your bike should come with flat pedals which are the cheaper option as they don’t need specific shoes.
Also don’t cut corners on equipment. At least a decent jacket is a must for cold/bad weather, and gloves are also very important. A cycling jersey is very useful but regular sports short/longsleeve shirts can also do a good job. As for tights/pants, cycling specific ones are obviously better but if you can’t buy them straight away, some tighter sports pants can do although they are not really ideal. Again deacthlon has some cheaper equipment and I’ve also heard Lidl and Aldi (both german stores I think) have entry level stuff.
You also need the tools for changing flat tires. Few things are worse than having a flat tire far from home. Ideally you should always take on your rides at least 1 spare inner tube, tyre levers and a pump (co2 pumps are great but get really cold when used and can cause nasty frost burns if not properly handled). There are kits that come with everything you need but you can buy things seperately.
LMaster can give you more details about Zwift as I don’t have it but it requires that you have a turbo trainer which is not exactly cheap and you need to pay a monthly/yearly(?) subscription.
The budget is a bit tight but it is better if you can plan things ahead and not find, after spending your money, that you need a bunch of extra stuff. Hope it helped!
Bunch of good stuff there from Gjhc. Zwift is great if you're into serious training, or really like to ride during the winter. At a minimum you need a bike trainer and a speed/cadence sensor (ANT+). It currently costs $15USD/mo. In a more ideal environment you'd have an actual powermeter, or a smart trainer with power.
2018 was a very successful campaign for me, it was the first year in five years that I did not run a full marathon, but I was fine with that. I managed to snag a very nice half PR in November and really changed up my training quite a bit through the second half of the year (Thanks L_Master for the coaching/advice!)
I spent most of the first half of the year plodding along, did not have too solid of a training cycle in the spring but a lot of stuff was going on and I had a trip to Europe in March so I knew I wasn’t going to be able to keep up any sort of a training cycle through that. I still managed to run a solid half in April but it wasn’t until my fall races did I really see some breakthroughs. I’ve resumed my milage a bit the first week of 2019 and plan to try and keep it up pretty solidly all year while staying smart and hopefully injury free. I’ve really been able to keep up some good consistency now for 2+ years and it seems like it’s really helping with my times and overall fitness, I credit this to backing off on the days when things don’t feel good and always building the milage very prudently, right now my target is 25-30 miles a week which is a sweet spot for me without pushing anything but will definitely be ramping it up as I prepare for my goal races.
My two goal races will be the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in DC in April, and the Chicago Marathon in October, super excited to be running another marathon I feel like my PR at that distance is begging to be crushed (3:57 and change, set in NYC in 2017), it would be nice to PR at Cherry Blossom as well, but February is going to be an action packed month for me, getting married in the middle of the month so you can imagine that might take some time and priorities from running for a while, I’ve really enjoyed running recently though and will be trying to find ways to keep it up even through some busy stretches upcoming. Overall I could see myself treating the Cherry Blossom race as more of a fitness gauge leading into an extended build up for Chicago (5-6 month build if that is even a thing?). Quite frankly, I want to pour everything into running my best possible race in Chicago this year with everything dedicated to that. If I find time to break 20 minutes for a 5k at some point through it all that would be great, but the marathon is back where I want to focus and I’m ready for it. Good luck to everyone with their goals for this year, L_Master you can except a PM from me sometime in the near future when I’m ready to start seriously building again
Damn, that sounds tough to deal with. Have you had a cardiologist rule out any actual heart problems? Because that's an awful lot of sympoms. And if it's "just" psychosomatic/anxiety induced it sounds troubling enough that you might benefit from talking to a psychotherapist. Either way I'd seek out some medical professional.
Gonna post my own running history & 2019 plans when I can type on a real keyboard.
Damn, that sounds tough to deal with. Have you had a cardiologist rule out any actual heart problems? Because that's an awful lot of sympoms. And if it's "just" psychosomatic/anxiety induced it sounds troubling enough that you might benefit from talking to a psychotherapist. Either way I'd seek out some medical professional.
Gonna post my own running history & 2019 plans when I can type on a real keyboard.
Yea. Sure did. I've had echo's twice as part of screening, in 2012 and 2015 and those didn't show anything suspicious such as HCM or similar conditions. Also did a 48HR holter monitoring as well as a resting EKG when this all started. Cardiologist didn't see anything concerning.
One of the hallmarks of anxiety is that it's a glorious mimicker. It can feel like damn near just about fucking anything. Having been through it, it's so easy for me to see how tons of people really fuck themselves up with it, because you constantly worry about new things and just perpetuate the cycle. I've had: PVCs, tachycardia ("anxietyed" myself up to 140bpm once), chest pressure, center of back pain, headache, sense of unfocused eyes, dizziness, numbness in feet, a "buzzing" sensation in my foot like a phone was under it vibrating on an intermittent basis, tingling/pins and needles in my extremities, a buzzing thigh, sense of weakness in my hands (not actual weakness, grip remained the same), bloating of the stomach, some GI stuff, random stabbing pains, tinnitus etc.
Not gonna lie though, that makes it sound suppeerrr fucking bad. Which, it really isn't. Most of these were all minor annoyances at best, it's not like I was feeling these things constantly, or even regularly. Most only came on during intense moments of anxiety/panic attack primarily in the first four to six months where I was understanding it. The most annoying symptom by far is just the constant tension/adrenaline. It really is like that feeling where you are startled badly, but then it doesn't abate, so you just say feeling tensed and needing to run. At the beginning I would feel like that for hours at a time. Much, much better now, but it will still kick in occasionally.
But you're right, in that it's really easy to want to think, or wonder if there is something wrong with you when you keep feeling all these things, and I think most people do exactly that, but then they are worried which exacerbates the anxiety which exacerbates the symptoms, etc. and becomes a vicious cycle. The biggest problem I struggle with no is I developed this strong association of: check body -> when you check body intensely you ALWAYS feel something weird -> subconscious alarm at feeling something -> anxiety -> check body -> etc. It's hard to eradicate completely because the checks are habit behavior now, and the response to the checks or feeling everything is that good ole amygdala just firing off.
Biggest tell it isn't some disease is the way the symptoms behave. I've literally never had any of these symptoms when I was just chilling out completely calm or when I was distracted doing something fun or important. Only feel any of these things when I've noticed anxiety or tension. If you have real problems, you're symptoms don't magically vanish away when you find a moment of relaxation or go out to a party with friends.
There might be some benefit to talking to someone, but for me and what I've looked at my anxiety was mild by all definitions. The first 4-6 months, where I was basically developing it for myself, was closer to moderate anxiety that actually affected functioning, but it never really impacted my work or social life. Those things would usually be distracting enough that the anxiety would go away during them. Mostly quiet times or lazy times where I would deal with it the worst, and fortunately I didn't make the mistake many make of getting anxious about getting anxious at the wrong places/times and starting to stay in and dwell on it more.
I might eventually see someone, but overall I've had steady progress in eliminating the anxiety so I'm not too worried. It's better now than it was 3 months ago, which is better than 3 months ago, which is much better than 3 months ago, which is MUUCCHHH better than 3 months before that. Now it's mostly mild episodes where I'll just suddenly notice my heartbate or get attuned to some part of my body and get that amped up, adrenaline "oh shit just saw a bear" feeling for maybe 5 or 10 minutes before I relax or move around and get my mind off it. Like on my happiness scale right now I'd say on most days it barely even detracts from it, and on the worst days it's maybe a 1pt detraction. The loss of sleep that tends to correlate with waking up is definitely the most irritating feature.
Good luck L_Master, if I don't have anxiety crisis, I know well people who have and the toll it can take on you... And as someone who suffered from depression and still regularly wakes up at 4 in the morning...
For me 2018 was my first full year of full running, culminating with my first marathon in ~3h57. Pretty proud, but I clearly trained badly, much too hard especially, and I almost fainted during one training session, and had a huge regression after that. After reading up a bit more, it seems the first advice one finds one the internet are not very good, especially in French, that plus my own stupidity didn't help...
So for 2018, my first goals are : -do a proper aerobic base training, which I'm just starting now. Increase frequency from 5 to 6 times a week would be ideal, not sure if I can add one more endurance run yet though. -lose 4-5kg, 7 would be perfect. -beat my official PR on HM. Should be easy enough because it's 1h57, and I ran the first half of my marathon in ~1h54 :p Let's say I want reliable reference times on HM and 10km. -run more on trails and get better at hills. If I almost didn't do any sport for about 10 years, I've always loooooved hiking. Trail running is a pretty tempting hobby, even though Paris is not great for that. -most importantly, not injure or overtrain. Slow but steady progress is what I'm aiming for. I'll wait 2020 for bigger stuff.
Also I'd bike a bit more, but punctures are the bane of my existence.
Used to be an (hyper)active kid, played soccer & lots of basketball but never trained really seriously. Growth pains during puberty combined with the with the first Playstation drastically reduced activity levels and I while there were phases when I got back into doing some sports, I wasn't nearly as active anymore. Starting in ~2006 life went sideways and I slowly drifted into depression without noticing. From about 2009-2015 I was completely sedentary, deeply depressed and managed to almost scratch the 90kg/200pounds mark.
When my body finally told me to screw myself and I had to spend a couple of weeks in the hospital, I kinda woke up and bit by bit got my life back together. The central piece was finding a job (summer '15) that had me ride a bike delivering stuff, so I was forced to a regular schedule and about 4h of light physical activity in the outdoors every weekday. My mental health improved slowly but steadily.
Around the turn of '16/'17 I was at a neighbors party and they talked about Freeletics and when they were at my door the next day to pick up my roommate I was totally hung over but thought screw it, I could use some activity. So I joined, almost threw up and was sore for a week from doing just a few jumping jacks and sit ups. But somehow I kept at it, went regularly 2-3 times a week and boy did things change! I quickly lost the rest of my excess weight, had enough energy to finally seek out a psychotherapist and my fitness quickly improved.
Then in June 2017 some coworkers decided to enter a 5k race as a kind of teambuilding exercise. Holy crap! Running in the midst of 6.5k+ participants (b2run, big race series in germany for companies) was simply amazing! I was hooked right then and there!
So in my first race I stuck with my quickest coworker and we cruised the 5.2k in slightly under 30 minutes. 2 weeks later was another race in my city, this time I decided to see how fast I can go which was about 23 minutes for 5k. Later when I started reading lots on /r/running I noticed that's not all that bad for not having run in years and only half a year of aerobic base building via tons of burpees. I started running regularly and read a lot about running (reddit, Jack Daniels Running Formula, The Lore of Running and I think I'm gonna get a Pfitzinger book soon).
Then I suffered a collapsed lung at the end of august, but luckily that was only about a 2 week break. About 7 weeks after that in mid october my 10k time was down to a 49:17 11k. While in retrospect I think I ramped up way too quickly (especially considering I'm not 20 anmore) I was lucky I did almost all of my mileage as easy running. And at least I wasn't totally stupid in pushing through pain, i backed off soon enough so that I never had to take any longer breaks.
2018 started of great with a 10k in 41 minutes. But after that race I got overly motivated for my first half scheduled in april and after overdoing it I not only had to cut back to avoid serious physical injuries but I also got burned out mentaly. In the 2 months before my first half marathon I barely managed to go out on 11 runs...and somehow I still finished in 1:32:33. Must have been the mileage I put in during the end of 2017.
~240k of august is hiking and biking during vacation (again a stupid amount, have a slight hernia problem since then), the rest is running. Then almost exactly 1 year later my left lung collapsed again, this time I had to go through surgery to reattach the lung and they also cut off a little piece of it. No matter, same race as last year 7 weeks later I ran the 11k in 45:29. After that race I got sick and had to take 2 weeks off, got back into it, got sick again in november, taking another 2 weeks off, then motivation was all meh and those 4 weeks of no exercise at all have been the longest break of any sports I had in 2 years.
Mid december I was so disgusted with myself from eating oh so many sweets and not exercising, that I decided to start running daily, even if only for 10 minutes. And what can I say, it seems to be working perfectly for me, motivation is way high again and the small short runs give me better feedback if a little niggle wants to become an injury. Today was day 36 of my running streak, this time building more slowly. Aside from 1 tempo run early this week no workouts yet and I'm back to a 4 week avg of 37.4k.
Tomorrow is my first race this year, a pancake flat 10k. I estimate to come in somewhere around 42 minutes (my Garmin predicts sub 40 but I'm always a little over those predicions). It's been a while since I ran hard so I'm looking forward to having actual numbers on how fit I currently am.
Running goals for 2019:
1. Don't be stupid & listen to my body. Take time off when needed, especially to avoid mental burnout from running! 2. Have fun! 3. Consistency! 4. Break 40min 10k and 1:30 half marathon. Should be rather easy with some consistent training. 5. Get faster!
Scheduled races:
20.01. 10k - see where i start this year
24.03. 10k - fitness check to set a goal time for the half 2 weeks later
07.04. Half Marathon in my local city (Freiburg). The german national half marathon championships are going to be held at this event. Looking forward to see what fast people can do on this course (should be about 100m of elevation change, some annoying cobblestones...)
30.06. Hamburg Half Marathon - 2nd biggest half in germany after Berlin and my A race this year, I signed up to have my medal engraved with name + finishing time. This is a fast course (record of 1:00:52) and Hamburg is usually rather cool even during the middle of summer.
July: incorporate more trails & hills to be fit for vacation in the alps in august.
Fall: look for some interesting races to set new 5k & 10k PRs
I registered for one more race since I last posted. So this is everything I've got scheduled:
10k - March 17 (doing a mini-taper for this but mostly training through it) 12k - May 19 (goal race. all my training from now until then is targeted for this race) Half Marathon - November 10 (another goal race. I get to start with the elites. great opportunity to throw down a great time)
Still seriously considering working on the 1500m/mile, which would happen some spring / early summer, since that's when track meets are. So after that November HM I will think about transitioning then for the 2020 track season.
Things are going well right now though. I'm holding steady at ~50 mpw and have now introduced 2 workouts per week.
Weight loss is still a challenge. I'm good when eating at a deficit for a few days and then I get SO hungry and feel SO tired that I have to refuel. Really finding it difficult to strike that perfect balance where I gradually lose weight without my body shutting down. But if I'm ever going to run my best times, it'll be with a better body composition than what I have right now. So I'm gonna keep working on that. Even if I lost only 1 pound per month on average, I'd be happy with that.
But I'm not labeling stuff on strava so my workouts aren't that obvious unless you look closely at the data and do a little guesswork. Anyway I just did a 4mi tempo yesterday at 5:17/mile average, felt good. I don't totally trust GPS though since I did laps on a field. But I've done a few other tempos on this field that were average around 5:30-5:35 so at least relative to those it was a good run. I'm gonna try to do some workouts on a track or straight path at some point so that I get more trustworthy mile splits.
Anyway, I'm focused on consistency this year. I would really love to run a full year without taking any significant time off.
I estimate to come in somewhere around 42 minutes (my Garmin predicts sub 40 but I'm always a little over those predicions).
Running goals for 2019: 4. Break 40min 10k and 1:30 half marathon. Should be rather easy with some consistent training.
...aaaaand done!
Perfect race today! Temperature right around freezing, no wind, the usually softer parts through the forest were frozen solid, slept decently, had a good breakfast and was properly caffeinated.
Got a little stuck in traffic in the first 2k but I thought that wasn't too bad since I was roughly on target pace. Around the 5k mark I saw a 20:2x on my watch but I was unsure if I could hang on and hoped to stay under 41 minutes, then around 7k I saw 28:1x and thought holy crap, I might break 40 with a decent kick. But I knew I'd be really pissed with something like a 40:05 or sth like that, so I dug deep and the last 3k really hurt. I did my best Kipchoge impression and forced myself to smile, I think it helped!
I had this stupid grin on my face all day, feeling so good right now
Wow nice run Nocci! The base building and recent hard work of your training really paid off. It's a good feeling when you reach your goal, now you just need a new one!
Sounds like everyone has a solid plan of how they plan to spend the upcoming year and what they want to accomplish, best of luck to all!
On January 22 2019 02:37 tagliatelle wrote: Wow nice run Nocci! The base building and recent hard work of your training really paid off. It's a good feeling when you reach your goal, now you just need a new one!
Well that's how it's supposed to be, but I just started base building again so that's why this (quite big) PR surprised me a lot.
Between my last race in mid october (~41:20 10k) and mid december there were only 2 weeks in november when I tried to get back into things but I spent about 4 weeks fighting off the flu & stuff, overall 7 weeks of no running at all. I've only been running again for 5 weeks, no workouts or hard running at all and the longer runs were only 8k (went to 10k twice). I did an 8k tempo run 3 days before the race just to get prepared mentally for a harder effort.
I mean I was wearing faster shoes than before (first time in racing flats, Altra Vanish-R) and it was probably my best race effort pacing wise, on the other hand I was 3kg heavier compared to setting my previous PR and I was sure to have lost some fitness - but nope, faster than ever!
Funny thing about my watch prediction: it predicted 39:48 and right after running 39:53 it went: "nono you can actually do 39 flat!"
2018 In somewhat secret fashion I have been running Spartan Races for the past few years but with little to no actual training for them. To give some context a Spartan race is an obstacle race with 3 different distances(Excluding Ultra and Super Ultra) that consist of the Sprint(4-5 Miles) Super(7-8 Miles) and Beast(13-16 Miles). During the race you will climb a few walls, carry a bucket full of rocks for a predetermined distance, carry a sandbag, and do intricicate obstacles. Not all obstacles need to be attempted but most people do everything they can do then pass up what they cant with the exception of the Elite runners(Earn money for placing 1-10) and competitive heats(Actual timed with burpee penalties for failing certain obstacles). If you are able to complete all 3 races they create a medal that connects.
I struggled during each spartan race only to finish with pure mental fortitude. With very little training in May I ran back to back races at the Monterrey Super/Sprint in June. The super lasting 8.4 Miles and the Sprint being 4.5 miles. Afterwards I moved directly to Missouri to start a new job, and have very little to no training until September where I prepared for the Dallas Beast. I spent most of the time building up endurance due to the race being very long and had very little focus on weight training except getting my own bucket of rocks.
I was sick most of November and carried on til early December, and that's when I really ramped up and started what I am in the middle of right now. Runs every Monday Wednesday Friday and sporadic Saturday and Sunday runs.
2019 I have already started on my new goal of running 100 miles total in the month of January as a way to get my endurance up for the next couple of spartan races.
Februrary will be a continuation of another 100 miles of running with shorter distances, but added small caveats to prepare for the spartan races such as burpees every mile ran and bucket carries.
I mostly look forward to running these races hard and building up to competitive races, and if I do get strong enough Elite races for fun.
March will be my first race super/sprint.
Wish me luck and I''ll try to update as I finish up planning the rest of my races/training!
Hi, This is my introduction to the running thread. I've started running regularly about two years ago. In the first months I was getting big improvements in speed and after six months my personal best for 5 km was close to 20 minutes. I was faster by one second than the fastest girl running parkrun in my 50k city, so I rested on laurels
Here is a picture of me after a running session tracked with my pro watch:
After the first six months during which I was mostly interested in making new records no matter the cost (health, job or whatever), I've started focusing on improving my running form and training more wisely. It's been a year and a half and I can say that changing a running technique is a tremendously hard and exhausting task with no quick results and I still feel like I need a year or two before I can make some significant progress. Most of my effort goes to strengthening core muscles, especially hip muscles and improving elasticity of muscles and tendons. I've put bar high for my goals. I've been reading a lot about running techniques and been analyzing a lot of videos of pro runners.
Below you can find two videos that explain in a simple way of what I'm trying to achieve.
Most runners do run using muscle tension (muscular tonus). Such runners can usually be recognized by the way their hips work as seen in the video below:
My goal is to run using muscle resilience by engaging many of the spring mechanisms in your body. A strong core and strong hip muscles are the basis. Good muscle elasticity an another must. A proper pose is essential to activating spring mechanisms. Here is the second video that shows running using spring mechanisms:
I am no expert, but I know for sure that it all starts in the hips and here is a good article on better using your hips:
By unwise I mean overtraining, not resting/sleeping enough, or taking four tablets of pseudoephedrine and getting nearly heart attack at the finish line
I do realize now that new running technique won't get me great results instantly. In the videos I've pasted the Triathlon runner (#1) runs 10k in 29min, while the Kenyan runs 10k in 27min, so it's not that big difference in the end. Eliud Kipchoge runs using the spring technique while Mo Farah is using standard technique and the difference in marathon between these two isn't that big as well (3min). However I love the feeling of the new technique during running. My body is telling me that this is natural and that I should be running like this, so I keep on trying. I like the changes it makes to my body, I am more relaxed and it motivates me to strengthening my core and I feel that my body gets stronger every day. I walk more straight, I sit more straight and I feel flexible like a cat. It's a great journey for my body. I also got rid of all the injuries I was getting all the time (shin splints, stiff tendons) after changing the technique.