Random Running Questions

Clearlier

Battery Kinzie wrote: »

Cheers to both of you. I may just leave it at 2 sessions a week BeepBeep (assuming you're counting long run as a session) since the more I think about it, I feel I need more endurance rather than more speed. I enjoy tempo runs though so will keep them weekly and then strides once a week too. Should be enough to keep me going along with the odd parkrun as you say.

That plan looks good for me Clearlier. I generally find it hard to start plans, never mind stick to them, as I often can't find a plan that suits me and the days I like to do certain runs (though I do like the look of this, which seems to be very similar to the DCM graduates one). However, the fact that your plan is given in relative terms is handy. I may drop the Friday run though as I'm only running 5 days a week now (and even then not consistently for one reason or another), so another day isn't a good idea just yet, especially an extra session.

If you feel that the Hal Higdon plan will challenge you then go for it. It is very much focused on finishing rather than doing well though and I'd guess that it's aimed at people who are a bit below your level.

You might find this post introducing the plan helpful particularly in terms of which days to drop if you're not running every day.

Battery Kinzie

Clearlier wrote: »

If you feel that the Hal Higdon plan will challenge you then go for it. It is very much focused on finishing rather than doing well though and I'd guess that it's aimed at people who are a bit below your level.

You might find this post introducing the plan helpful particularly in terms of which days to drop if you're not running every day.

Yeah, I more mean the layout of it with the paced runs during the week and one on Saturday every so often. Id definitely be doing longer runs than the plan gives and longer midweek runs. I was thinking of starting similar to week 8 or 10 and then building on that structure.

Cheers for that link. I'd be looking to do 5 a week which you suggest as Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Wednesday/Saturday. My preferred schedule would be Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. So I'd probably look to keep the Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday runs as they are, but move the Friday run to the Thursday.

I'd be a bit wary of doing two workouts in three days, so I'll just have to make sure the recovery run on Wednesday is right and err on the side of caution when it comes to Friday's (well, Thursday's) workout.

Clearlier

Battery Kinzie wrote: »

Yeah, I more mean the layout of it with the paced runs during the week and one on Saturday every so often. Id definitely be doing longer runs than the plan gives and longer midweek runs. I was thinking of starting similar to week 8 or 10 and then building on that structure.

Cheers for that link. I'd be looking to do 5 a week which you suggest as Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Wednesday/Saturday. My preferred schedule would be Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. So I'd probably look to keep the Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday runs as they are, but move the Friday run to the Thursday.

I'd be a bit wary of doing two workouts in three days, so I'll just have to make sure the recovery run on Wednesday is right and err on the side of caution when it comes to Friday's (well, Thursday's) workout.

Keeping the Wednesday run very easy is a good plan. If you don't feel better after it than you did before it you're probably going a bit too hard!

Having looked at the plan again if you are moving the 5k paced sessions to the start of the plan then you should also move the Friday (Thursday in your case) sessions as well. I had forgotten that they were linked.

Battery Kinzie

Clearlier wrote: »

Keeping the Wednesday run very easy is a good plan. If you don't feel better after it than you did before it you're probably going a bit too hard!

Having looked at the plan again if you are moving the 5k paced sessions to the start of the plan then you should also move the Friday (Thursday in your case) sessions as well. I had forgotten that they were linked.

Ok, will do. Just as a matter of interest, what's the idea behind starting off with 7 weeks of faster stuff and then settling into tempo runs rather than alternating them week by week?

Clearlier

Battery Kinzie wrote: »

Ok, will do. Just as a matter of interest, what's the idea behind starting off with 7 weeks of faster stuff and then settling into tempo runs rather than alternating them week by week?

From reading your log, you think that your training is a little unbalanced at the moment with a lack of speedwork. The first 7 weeks will go a long way towards addressing that. The last 7 or so weeks are at paces much more specific to the half marathon (tempo is slightly faster, marathon pace is slightly slower). The weakness of that approach is that there isn't much of a transition from intervals to temp/marathon pace work but you should be able to handle it. If you think that you're naturally quick and you regain your speed in 3 or 4 weeks you could make the transition earlier to tempo/marathon pace and do a bit more of that. The progression is fairly clear but if you need any guidance I'll be happy to help.

Battery Kinzie

Clearlier wrote: »

From reading your log, you think that your training is a little unbalanced at the moment with a lack of speedwork. The first 7 weeks will go a long way towards addressing that. The last 7 or so weeks are at paces much more specific to the half marathon (tempo is slightly faster, marathon pace is slightly slower). The weakness of that approach is that there isn't much of a transition from intervals to temp/marathon pace work but you should be able to handle it. If you think that you're naturally quick and you regain your speed in 3 or 4 weeks you could make the transition earlier to tempo/marathon pace and do a bit more of that. The progression is fairly clear but if you need any guidance I'll be happy to help.

Ah right, cool.

I'll see how I get on, as you say. I'll do a parkrun this Saturday and then I'll have 14 weeks til the HM. I may do that in 3 blocks, so the first 4 weeks do the 5k speedwork, then for the next 4/6 weeks alternate the speedworks and tempo, and then finish with 4 weeks of tempo. Either way, thanks for the advice and the plan, it's good to get a bit of personal advice.

ariana`

I'm planning to do my first 1/2 next month. Just wondering is it really necessary to use gels or would a few humble jelly beans do the same job? I'm hoping to scrape in just under 2hrs. At the moment i take a 2-3 jelly babies around the 1 hr mark in long runs.

Training hasn't quite gone as well as i hoped. I had 3 weeks of illness so i'm a bit behind in the longer runs. My longest run will be 16km. But i'm hoping i'll be able for the extra 4.1km on the day, does this sound achievable?

adrian522

It's not necessary to use gels at all, especially if you will be running < 2 hours. Jelly beans are probably not needed either, maybe try some of your long runs without these and see how you go?

ariana`

adrian522 wrote: »

It's not necessary to use gels at all, especially if you will be running < 2 hours. Jelly beans are probably not needed either, maybe try some of your long runs without these and see how you go?

Thanks i thought i read something somewhere about over 90 mins required refueling. I really don't fancy trying gels at this stage. I think the jelly beans might be more of a psychological thing to rev me up a bit

Enduro

ariana` wrote: »

Thanks i thought i read something somewhere about over 90 mins required refueling. I really don't fancy trying gels at this stage. I think the jelly beans might be more of a psychological thing to rev me up a bit

There's a lot of rubbish written out there! That one is provably untue. Jelly beans are a nice psychological boost alright (I use that trick occasionally myself), but the best psychological boost is to know that you have no reliance on needing any fueling in your race. Less to worry about, less to go wrong.

adrian522

ariana` wrote: »

Thanks i thought i read something somewhere about over 90 mins required refueling. I really don't fancy trying gels at this stage. I think the jelly beans might be more of a psychological thing to rev me up a bit

I wouldn't worry about trying gels at this stage. Try the long runs without the jelly beans and see how it goes. No harm in using them in the race if it gives you a bit of a mental boost!

ariana`

Enduro wrote: »

There's a lot of rubbish written out there! That one is provably untue. Jelly beans are a nice psychological boost alright (I use that trick occasionally myself), but the best psychological boost is to know that you have no reliance on needing any fueling in your race. Less to worry about, less to go wrong.

adrian522 wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about trying gels at this stage. Try the long runs without the jelly beans and see how it goes. No harm in using them in the race if it gives you a bit of a mental boost!

Excellent i love when advice given isn't conflicting

hot buttered scones

Anyone else thinking of switching to shteak and shpuds for their pre-race dinner?

Ososlo

hot buttered scones wrote: »

Anyone else thinking of switching to shteak and shpuds for their pre-race dinner?

Haha, defo if i wasn't vegetarian

Firedance

hot buttered scones wrote: »

Anyone else thinking of switching to shteak and shpuds for their pre-race dinner?

They're class aren't they our first ever Olympic medal for rowing, silver, well bloody done guys!

Enduro

hot buttered scones wrote: »

Anyone else thinking of switching to shteak and shpuds for their pre-race dinner?

No switching required, boy!

jamule

Enduro wrote: »

No switching required, boy!

I had to show a wannabe expert on nutrition your carvary report on the northern traverse.

SmallTeapot

Does anyone use dissolvable electrolyte tablets during (or indeed after) running?

Something like these - High5 Extreme or these - High5 Zero

I'm a complete novice with regards to these sort of things. I have noticed (especially in this humid weather) my skin is quite salty after runs (even short 2 milers)..... i sweat quite a fair bit anyway (irrespective of weather conditions or exercise exertion levels) - but just wondering if hydration tablets are the way to go as a means to replenishing lost electrolytes?

Thanks

Firedance

SmallTeapot wrote: »

Does anyone use dissolvable electrolyte tablets during (or indeed after) running?

Something like these - High5 Extreme or these - High5 Zero

I'm a complete novice with regards to these sort of things. I have noticed (especially in this humid weather) my skin is quite salty after runs (even short 2 milers)..... i sweat quite a fair bit anyway (irrespective of weather conditions or exercise exertion levels) - but just wondering if hydration tablets are the way to go as a means to replenishing lost electrolytes?

Thanks

Yes is the short answer to that, you could also pop one in your water the night before a long run.

Battery Kinzie

I would normally do 3-5 miles easy on a Saturday followed by 10-12 miles easy on a Sunday.

Today I did a 5k race and with warm up and cool down it came to 7 miles, so I'm wondering what I should be looking to do tomorrow. Was thinking a recovery run of about 10k, which will take my weekend mileage to a similar amount as normal.

HigginsJ

What sort of warm up running distance should you do for a race and at what sort of speed (effort level).

I have a 10k next Sunday so thinking will do 3km about 40 minutes before the race, 1km at gentle warm up pace (6:30km), 1km at race pace (5:00km) and then 1km at gentle pace again (6:30km). Will do stretches etc. to keep me warm and loose between then and the race then.

Thoughts?

davedanon

HigginsJ wrote: »

What sort of warm up running distance should you do for a race and at what sort of speed (effort level).

I have a 10k next Sunday so thinking will do 3km about 40 minutes before the race, 1km at gentle warm up pace (6:30km), 1km at race pace (5:00km) and then 1km at gentle pace again (6:30km). Will do stretches etc. to keep me warm and loose between then and the race then.

Thoughts?

1k at race pace sounds like way too much to me. Why race before you race? Maybe a few strides instead?

IvoryTower

For me- Mile jog, dynamics, strides. Good to go

davedanon

IvoryTower wrote: »

For me- Mile jog, dynamics, strides. Good to go

Yeah, sounds good. Personally I function better with a longer warm-up, but anything from 1-3 miles is good.

jamule

any suggestions for a hard session 10 days before a 5km. Aiming to go low 18s.

The Muppet

I'm going to be in Waterford city in a few weeks on a weekend I need to run a 19 mile lsr . Is there Anyone here from down that way who might be able to advise on a safe route . I'd prefer an out and back less chance of getting lost that way .

ThisRegard

I don't know where in the city you'll be, but when I last stayed there I brought my bike and cycled out and back to Tramore, it's a decent wide road with a big shoulder and I met a lot of runners the times I did it.

Someone from or more familiar with the city might be in a position to correct me.

Krusty_Clown

jamule wrote: »

any suggestions for a hard session 10 days before a 5km. Aiming to go low 18s.

3 x 1 mile @5k, with 4 mins rest?

Have you been training for this 5k, or is it out of the blue? If you've been training for it, then your last big session should be a continuation/extension of previous sessions. If it's a spur of the moment thing, you won't gain significant advantage from a single standalone session. Steve Magness' last big session before the goal race (bearing in mind this is on the back of 18 weeks of training) is:
4 x (800m @5k pace/400m steady). There's no recovery, so it's 4.8km continuous. Might be a good one. That one is scheduled 12 days out. There are others that involve shorter/faster work, but if you haven't been doing any training at 3k->1 mile pace, this wouldn't be the right time to start.

FIFA2004

Bit of a random question, Frank Duffy 10mile and Dublin half dont have a thread and wasn't worth starting one for this!

Basically I'm signed up for it, first race over 10km, I tend to be on the very very very slow end of the spectrum. Got over the fear of coming last and embarrassing myself and was looking forward to it, but then heard there was a cut off time of 2hr30 (9.20min/km). I'd hope to do it faster than that (fingal 10km was 7.30min/km) but if I dont... How does it work? Someone mentioned a bus that picks up the people they pass at the Rock and roll hm... I think my confidence would take a massive knock if that happened me, so questioning useless again

RayCun

there's no sweeper bus in the 10 mile
if you were that slow (and you shouldn't be, based on your 10k), you might see them slowing the course up around you, worst case taking down the finish line