Loungers on the run: Couch to 5k to marathon and beyond

sullivlo

rainbow kirby wrote: »

4:53:09 yesterday. Slowest of my 4 marathons by just over 26 minutes but considering I basically trained for it in 10 weeks and my 1 year old was sick most of last week I couldn't really have expected more.

Support is absolutely amazing - no real quiet bits on the course at all!

I have a stupid question. How do you manage food intake on long runs? I'm used to eating on the bike, and I'm used to carb loading. But for 26 miles, I reckon I'd put out ~4,000 cal. (Based on my stats for 3km this eve). I could probably load up about 2k before with pasta etc, but I'd live in fear of a bonk. Do you eat en route or just use glycogen?

(I've no current plans to do a marathon but if I succeed at the Olympic tri I'll consider a half ironman in 2/3 years)

rainbow kirby

I use energy gels and sports drinks, but I only really have about 4 hours of being able to stomach them. I couldn't face my planned 36km gel at all - nearly fainted just after the finish line as a result until I chugged the can of Coke that was in my gear bag.

I do find it easier to sort nutrition for triathlons though because my stomach is much stronger on the bike than the run. When I did the London Triathlon Olympic distance in August 2015 I was 8 weeks pregnant and had trouble with sweet food - mini pork pies on the bike did the job!

sullivlo

rainbow kirby wrote: »

I use energy gels and sports drinks, but I only really have about 4 hours of being able to stomach them. I couldn't face my planned 36km gel at all - nearly fainted just after the finish line as a result until I chugged the can of Coke that was in my gear bag.

I do find it easier to sort nutrition for triathlons though because my stomach is much stronger on the bike than the run. When I did the London Triathlon Olympic distance in August 2015 I was 8 weeks pregnant and had trouble with sweet food - mini pork pies on the bike did the job!

Oh I don't think I'll have issues on the tri. I'm happy to eat on the bike and I have one of those little bags on my cross bar to hold food. Last year I had a high sugar drink in a spare bottle on my bike that I started to drink about 3k out and that saw me through the run, but the run was only 4K.

Lady is a tramp

And on to week three! Day One done. Managing grand so far! I'm impressed with my self-discipline this time compared to other times I've attempted C25K in the past, also happy that I'm actually enjoying it this time, rather than hating every second I'm out there and constantly watching my phone to see how long until the next walking interval!!!

Wanderer41

Lady is a tramp wrote: »

And on to week three! Day One done. Managing grand so far! I'm impressed with my self-discipline this time compared to other times I've attempted C25K in the past, also happy that I'm actually enjoying it this time, rather than hating every second I'm out there and constantly watching my phone to see how long until the next walking interval!!!

That's brilliant, well done! I have tried it in the past but never stuck at it. Hoping to try it again in a few weeks. I'm away for a bit of my summer but will hopefully get a bit of it done anyway.

Lady is a tramp

Today I decided to challenge myself a bit - I was doing Week Three Day Three, but I decided to incorporate it into the local Parkrun 5km course. So I walked/jogged the 5km in 43 minutes altogether (when I got to the end of the final running interval, I restarted today's session.)

Planning to do this at least once a week for the next few weeks, and hopefully see the time going down ... when I'm finished Week Eight, and running the full 5km, I'll attempt the Parkrun some Saturday for real, and I'd love to manage it in 30 minutes! In the meantime I'm volunteering as marshal every second weekend.

Won't get out the next couple of days, but starting Week Four on Thursday I think ... bring it on!

sullivlo

I got out today for a run. I did just under 4k. Slowly!! I could have continued but I was overheating, had no water with me, and I could feel my calf say "yo, you haven't given us water, we gonna cramp" so I turned for home. Overall I was happy with my effort.

robyntmorton

I haven't been able to find inspiration to do anything the past couple of weeks, which is a pain in many places. I did manage to buy some gym and swimming gear though, so I am definitely paying my gym membership tomorrow. After it's paid I have to use it right? Either that or call it wasted money.

I'm meant to be going on a 50km cycle with Sullivlo in a couple of weeks too, but that is looking doubtful right now. Damn double bookings

sullivlo

robyntmorton wrote: »

I haven't been able to find inspiration to do anything the past couple of weeks, which is a pain in many places. I did manage to buy some gym and swimming gear though, so I am definitely paying my gym membership tomorrow. After it's paid I have to use it right? Either that or call it wasted money.

I'm meant to be going on a 50km cycle with Sullivlo in a couple of weeks too, but that is looking doubtful right now. Damn double bookings

I was like "oooh a 50k cycle, I'd like that" and then saw that it's with me

robyntmorton

sullivlo wrote: »

I was like "oooh a 50k cycle, I'd like that" and then saw that it's with me

You should go! You'll love it!

sullivlo

robyntmorton wrote: »

You should go! You'll love it!

That may end up being a 100 if the weather is in any way decent (& if I get my rubber arm twisted)

robyntmorton

There's always room for more cycling!

robyntmorton

Right, money dropped on a 6 month gym and pool membership. That gives me incentive to make the most of it.

Objective: Don't look like a whale in the pool in 6 months time.
Objective: Achieve a weight that doesn't need a crane to measure in 6 months time.
Objective: Be off some of my blood pressure medication in 6 months time.

meeeeh

I managed to run 10k just under 55 min on Sunday which is not great but ok considering I didn't do that distance for a while. I think 10km is also some sort of mental block because I can't even imagine doing more.

I've done 10km on room byclicle today and almost died. Cycling is so much harder.

Sunny Dayz

I got one of those fitbit style things through work. I think there should actually be a similar scheme for fitbits like the cycle to work scheme, to get people moving and realise how sedentary many people are in their jobs.
Anyway yesterday was my first day wearing it. I'm not sure if it's correct or not but it tells me I did just over 15'000 steps yesterday. I walked in and out of work yesterday cos it was a nice day, that's 2km. Other than that, up and down stairs at home, in and out to clothes line, had a confirmation meeting yesterday evening so short walk from car park to church, household chores when at home, cooking in kitchen, just all standard stuff. In work, walking to printer, to toilet, to kitchen for tea, in and out of boss's office, I do sit most of the day.
I didn't expect that steps to be so high, especially when I didn't even go for a run yesterday. I thought my steps would be lower than I would expect, not higher than I would expect!
Interesting it says it also monitors sleep pattern and so far it has tracked Mon and Tues nights sleep, and according to it, I'm only getting about 1-2 hours of deep sleep, the rest is classed as light sleep.

robyntmorton

Well, I paid for the gym, so I am making sure to use it.

Day 1: Cue me walking in like someone who has no idea what they're doing there. Collect keycard, ask someone to show me where everything is. (It helps, as there are codes on most of the doors)

Get ready, go into the gym.

15 minutes on the rowing machine. 27 strokes per minute. I made it 3km. I struggled. I really need to bring my phone in with me, set a metronome, a timer, close my eyes, and don't look at the dial in front of me.

Few minutes off. Grab my book of cycling stretches, do a few.

Get changed. Go to the pool. I haven't been in a pool in many years.

I couldn't swim if there was a great white shark chasing me down (good thing there isn't one in the pool) but I can float okay. Still, it's 45 minutes more of relaxed movement, and I enjoyed it.

Day 1 down. Do more tomorrow.

Funny story: Used my hybrid bike to get up and down the couple of km to the gym. Haven't used it in ages. Turns out the saddle clamp has come loose, and as I pedalled, the saddle started moving, forward, back, and tilted nose up. At least I didn't have far to go. If I was on the road bike, I'd have the toolkit with me. Not so on the hybrid. Do your checks properly, Robyn. You're better than this.

robyntmorton

Day 3 in the gym, still on the rowing machine.

With day 1 being 15 minutes in 20 on the rower (basically 5 minute segments), day 3 is 20 solid minutes. I have the resistance turned down a fair bit (currently at 3, but I'm better off doing that while I get the form and technique sorted), but can look at increasing it as the weeks go by. The metronome is great for regulating rhythm, rather then pushing it all out at the start, but I am still drowned in sweat and tired at the end of the 20. The pool is a welcome sight afterwards, even if it is more about treading water and relaxing than doing much. I'm looking up exercises to do in the pool though.

I suppose I should also check my weight at some point. That's one of the main reasons for this endeavour. At the end of March, I was weighed in the hospital at *cough*115 kg*cough*. That needs to drop below 100 by the end of September.

I really should book a fitness assessment with one of the PT's too, who can guide me in terms of exercises to drop weight, and build core & leg strength.

Lady is a tramp

My C25K program may have come to an unexpectedly premature end ... but in a good way!

I did W4D1 yesterday. Then today I was out at 02:30 to marshal at the Darkness Into Light run, then again at 09:30 to marshal at the local Parkrun. Then after everyone had finished, in my inspired (read: sleep-deprived) state, I decided, "F*ck this" and just went out there and jogged the Parkrun 5k, all of it, no walking intervals at all!

Obviously this was after everyone else had finished, so no official time, but it was around 36 minutes by my phone and I'm happy with that for a first time ... I really wasn't too bothered about the time, just wanted to see if I could jog it all. And I could and I did!

So I'm not sure what to do now! Back to the rest of the C25K program, or just keep running 5ks when training, but try to increase speed and then maybe increase distance?

I think I might do the Parkrun for real next Saturday! Get myself an "official" time to try and beat!

robyntmorton

Show off!

Maybe skip ahead a couple of weeks in C25K and see how it goes, if you feel capable of it.

Sunny Dayz

That's brilliant The Lady is a Tramp! If you are registered with parkrun you can log onto their website and record it as a freedom run. It won't go towards your milestones but it still would be recorded somewhere. And you'll know what time you're first ever run of the course was!

Sunny Dayz

First time back at HIIT yesterday evening. Gave it a good shot. Walked Darkness into Light, 2 hour snooze then ran a half decent parkrun. Went for breakfast after and since then I've been as stiff and sore! I can barely manage stairs! I've a housewarming party to attend tonight, this is going to be fun *crying face emoji*

Shelga

After a few weeks of deliberation, I have entered the Dublin marathon. Eek! :eek:

I have done a few half marathons in the past but definitely don't consider myself a hardcore runner. At all! And every time I got to the finish line of those HMs I thought "I would rather stick a needle in my eye than have this be the halfway point and run another 13 miles right now" :pac:

A girl in work was the last bit of encouragement to enter, I have to do this right though. No point doing it half arsed. Roughly 25 weeks to go!

rainbow kirby

The novices thread has just started on the Athletics/Running forum - well worth a look.

Best of luck with the training and enjoy it

Parchment

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

I got one of those fitbit style things through work. I think there should actually be a similar scheme for fitbits like the cycle to work scheme, to get people moving and realise how sedentary many people are in their jobs.
Anyway yesterday was my first day wearing it. I'm not sure if it's correct or not but it tells me I did just over 15'000 steps yesterday. I walked in and out of work yesterday cos it was a nice day, that's 2km. Other than that, up and down stairs at home, in and out to clothes line, had a confirmation meeting yesterday evening so short walk from car park to church, household chores when at home, cooking in kitchen, just all standard stuff. In work, walking to printer, to toilet, to kitchen for tea, in and out of boss's office, I do sit most of the day.
I didn't expect that steps to be so high, especially when I didn't even go for a run yesterday. I thought my steps would be lower than I would expect, not higher than I would expect!
Interesting it says it also monitors sleep pattern and so far it has tracked Mon and Tues nights sleep, and according to it, I'm only getting about 1-2 hours of deep sleep, the rest is classed as light sleep.

I dont this Fitbits/similar devices are positive. They link exercise with weight loss and calorie counting. Being physically active should be linked to health and wellbeing.

Sunny Dayz

Parchment wrote: »

I dont this Fitbits/similar devices are positive. They link exercise with weight loss and calorie counting. Being physically active should be linked to health and wellbeing.

I have to say I disagree. Since I started using my fitbit thing a week ago, I haven't paid attention to the calorie counter on it, I doubt it's that accurate anyway and I don't count calories.
But I do pay attention to the steps taken and distance covered. As someone who is desk bound for work, I'm very interested to see how active/inactive I really am. I do think the black band on my arm makes me more conscious to try to be more active. Maybe the novelty hasn't worn off yet.


What's interesting for me is that it tracks my sleep. Again not overly sure how accurate it is but it appears from the fitbit that I don't get much deep sleep, my sleep is mainly classed as light sleep and I'm wondering if this is why I feel tired even though I take vitamin supplements, try to eat healthy but still find myself reaching for sugar for a boost.

meeeeh

I have Garmin. This morning I've done 4.2 I'm run and about 0.6 km walking and my steps are at 4510. I also noticed it was counting steps previously when I was driving on bumpy road.

Anyway I definitely find it handy to keep some sort of pace when running and to time myself. The calorie counting is completely bonkers and tends to be over 2000 call even when I only walk from couch to fridge for the whole day.

While I don't trust it completely it's still great. It probably shaved at least 15 seconds per km of my running times. I don't do any competitions or group runs I just find it handy track progress or regression.

robyntmorton

I'm both intrigued and skeptical of the fitness tracker thing, but if you take it with a pinch of salt, I do think it can be a help.

Anyways...

Week 2, Day 2 in the gym:

Start off with some light stretching, just to free up the legs. It only takes a couple of minutes.

Cardio 1: Elliptical trainer. 15 minutes worth, but being more generous with the application of resistance. The machine goes up to 25, and I spent a fair bit of time in double figures, with the last 2 minutes at 16. Crank it out, get off the machine and feel the jelly legs. Tried to not fall over - succeeded.

Drink half a bottle of fluid and suck down an energy gel. Get ready for cardio 2.

Cardio 2: Rowing Machine. Resistance up a couple of notches, from 3 last week to 5 this week. Still using the metronome to keep rhythm at 25 strokes per minute, and it helps. The computer kept the readout between 24 and 26 for the duration. Did another 15 minutes, covering 3,142 metres, a little ahead of pace from last week.

Finished my drink, gathered my things in the locker room, and went around to the pool locker room to get changed for water time. Got chatting to the PT who showed me around last week, who commented on my form on the rower, that I looked comfortable and in control. She also recommended doing HIIT on it. Crank the resistance right up, and do intervals of 30 on, 30 off. It will be a suffer fest, but makes you feel good after.

Did my 40 minutes or so in the water - a mix of stretches, some actual swimming, and some just relaxing as a float about. I still look like an epileptic whale in the pool at times, but I am getting better.

Have also booked a fitness assessment for Thursday, a chance to see exactly where I am, and discuss where I want to be & how to get there with the experts. Will be fun to see how that goes.

meeeeh

I decided to go for a run around 12 today and almost died. I managed 6k at snail pace (I do ten at a better pace) before I gave in and walked home.

Cycle with kids in the evening was a lot more enjoyable. Oh had madam at the back who giggled​ every time they went ahead and demanded water because talking is thirsty business. I was last behind wiggle bottom (every time he gets tired he starts to wiggle and cycle all over the place). We were getting towards last third of marathon distance of 15k when he really started to slow down. I told him that the common slow forest​ squirrel was catching up with us. Everytime he would slow down I told him it's bitting my leg. It even managed to bite my bottom once. The last 5k were probably done at the fastest pace. we got to the car park, loaded bikes and leaving the place there was brown squirrel at the exit gate. Exercise sometimes really is fun.

miamee

When the weather was so lovely on Saturday and I woke up early I was inspired to get back out. It's been so long since I last went for a run that I decided to go back to Week 7 of the programme (5 min warm up, 25 mins running, 5 minute cool down) which turned out to be a bit ambitious. I did the 25 minutes of running but with two paurses fora bit of walking in between. It was so hot though! Must get out again this week and see if I can improve on it.

meeeeh

miamee wrote: »

When the weather was so lovely on Saturday and I woke up early I was inspired to get back out. It's been so long since I last went for a run that I decided to go back to Week 7 of the programme (5 min warm up, 25 mins running, 5 minute cool down) which turned out to be a bit ambitious. I did the 25 minutes of running but with two paurses fora bit of walking in between. It was so hot though! Must get out again this week and see if I can improve on it.

I find it very hard on the legs these few days. My usual run would be a bit over 4k - from the house to the woods, lap around the woods and back home again. One day per week I would do 2 laps around the woods (7k) or 3 (10k) depending how energetic I feel. Anyway I had to cut the Sunday run short and today's pace was at least 15seconds per km slower than I would comfortably manage in cooler weather.