Random Running Questions

Duanington

Zipppy wrote: »

How many days a week do you guys normally run?

7 (but only for the last 2 years or so)

pconn062

Zipppy wrote: »

How many days a week do you guys normally run?

4-5 plus 2 S+C sessions.

BeepBeep67

Zipppy wrote: »

How many days a week do you guys normally run?

2013: 331/365
2014: 335/365
2015: 346/365
2016: 361/366
2017: 353/365
2018: 144/144

not_quite_last

What Strength and Conditioning work do ye do? Apart from foam rolling.

OOnegative

Any benefits to training in the heat for hobby joggers? I know most elites will do warm weather training camps during the year but does it serve any purpose to us?

hot buttered scones

OOnegative wrote: »

Any benefits to training in the heat for hobby joggers? I know most elites will do warm weather training camps during the year but does it serve any purpose to us?

Disclaimer: This is a totally biased opinion based on a sample size of one (me ) and has no scientific basis whatsoever. In other words, pretty anecdotal.

I love running on holidays, in the heat and sun but have to slow it way down. I eventually get the pace up a bit towards the end of the holiday. But when I get home I find I'm absolutely flying. Maybe its the heat, or maybe its the rest who knows? I did read somewhere that your blood plasma volume increases when you train in warm conditions and that might be of benefit when you return to cooler climates, but I can't remember where or when.

OOnegative

hot buttered scones wrote: »

Disclaimer: This is a totally biased opinion based on a sample size of one (me ) and has no scientific basis whatsoever. In other words, pretty anecdotal.

I love running on holidays, in the heat and sun but have to slow it way down. I eventually get the pace up a bit towards the end of the holiday. But when I get home I find I'm absolutely flying. Maybe its the heat, or maybe its the rest who knows? I did read somewhere that your blood plasma volume increases when you train in warm conditions and that might be of benefit when you return to cooler climates, but I can't remember where or when.

Past three weeks or so i’ve been running in mostly 24+ degrees and was curious was I flogging myself or was there any benefits to what I was doing. I don’t mean flogging as in I was wrecked after each run.

Krusty_Clown

OOnegative wrote: »

Past three weeks or so i’ve been running in mostly 24+ degrees and was curious was I flogging myself or was there any benefits to what I was doing. I don’t mean flogging as in I was wrecked after each run.

Definitely. It's making you more efficient, providing adaptation for running at warmer temperatures and maintaining your fitness. As a Western European, it takes longer to adapt, but ultimately adapt you will - and will be more ready for any upcoming races or training. Wear lighter, brighter clothes and smile more. 24'C isn't perfect for running, but it's damn near perfect for living!

ariana`

How much should one adjust their target pace by to allow for heat or is it very individual? Running a HM at midday on Saturday next :cool:

Itziger

ariana` wrote: »

How much should one adjust their target pace by to allow for heat or is it very individual? Running a HM at midday on Saturday next :cool:

I think you have to play it by ear. I wouldn't give very strong advice; people react in different ways. Someone was saying a Northern Irish woman ran a negative split PB in London this year where most people got nowhere near their targets. It's alisten to the body kinda thing. I have a marathon at midday Saturday and forecast is currently for high 20's. Doubtful that I'll get anywhere near what I have trained for.
For me the question is, do you adjust even before you start or do you give it a go and see how the pace feels? I think it's important to make the call yourself though and not wait till your head smacks the tarmac and you're in the back of an ambulance. 
We're not exactly Olympic athletes now.......... (yet)

ariana`

Thanks. I plan to adjust from the off, if things are going well i might pick it up again (i think this is highly unlikely) but i'll definitely be starting more conservatively than i might on an average irish day. No plans to hit the tarmac with anything other my feet

Butterbeans

Has anyone on here ran Galway Bay Marathon before? I'm trying to weigh up the pros and cons of it. I had planned on DCM but it actually doesn't suit now so looking at an earlier one.
How is it doing laps? I'm not generally a big fan of looped courses but it's not a deal breaker.
A flat course by all accounts but being coastal wind is gonna be a factor, but I guess how much a factor will come down to the day itself (6th Oct).
Anyways, any feedback would be great, thanks!

Swashbuckler

ariana` wrote:

How much should one adjust their target pace by to allow for heat or is it very individual? Running a HM at midday on Saturday next

How good are you at running in feel ariana? The reason I ask is because for me a few weeks back in Limerick the mantra was run comfortable for the first three miles and see from there. For me that was five or ten seconds slower than target pace but really its how you feel on the day. You probably shouldn't start feeling uncomfortable til at least mile 5 and really working beyond halfway. But it's all in the first few miles. Run on feel if you can

deisedude

Butterbeans wrote: »

Has anyone on here ran Galway Bay Marathon before? I'm trying to weigh up the pros and cons of it. I had planned on DCM but it actually doesn't suit now so looking at an earlier one.
How is it doing laps? I'm not generally a big fan of looped courses but it's not a deal breaker.
A flat course by all accounts but being coastal wind is gonna be a factor, but I guess how much a factor will come down to the day itself (6th Oct).
Anyways, any feedback would be great, thanks!

I've only done the half there but its pretty flat. You are running on the prom beside the sea so if its a nice day you will have perfect conditions but if its a bad day it could be windy as its obviously very open as you said.

I really enjoyed the half I did there but obviously, 2 laps is a lot easier than running 4. The year i did it the weather was glorious

RIGOLO

ariana` wrote: »

How much should one adjust their target pace by to allow for heat or is it very individual? Running a HM at midday on Saturday next :cool:

I wear a 'baseball cap' for running on the hot or very hot days . Take on plenty water in the days before and day of, but dont overdo it either and go drinking gallons of the stuff. Take on some water early during the race at the first feed station or at least dump some water into the hat to keep your head cool, and keep refreshing yourself at at later feed stations. If its well organised event they should have plenty water avail. Thats the main thing, keeping your head cool , wearing light and bright clothes and you could consider carrying a small plastic 250ml bottle of water for some of the route , dispose of this at a feed station.  Seek the shade any chance you have during the run, even if its not full shade, seek the cooler side of the road. You will be surprised by the relief  even 10-15 secs in shade will give you. 
And even with all those tricks, Id still drop my HM target by 7 mins if you just want to finish the event, unless your looking to win the event. Think of it this way, its not 7 mins lost, but 7 mins more fun running in the sun.

zedhead

Just looking for a bit of advice. Started running regularly about 5 years ago and have steadily built up both pace and distance. Not to astounding levels but PB's for 10k is 55 mins and half marathon 2hrs 10mins. So I will never be fast but up until last year I was pretty much steadily improving with each race.

I aim to run 4-5 times a week varying with short fast runs, intervals and lsr's. At times between races when not specifically training for a distance I would just get out and run as long and fast as I could/time on the day allowed for. Not great at cross training, I do a fair bit of walking and while I foam roll I don't do any strength training.

Over the past year I am not sure what has happened but my training is a disaster. I don't seem to have the pace or the stamina to get out, and it seems to be getting worse not better. I did last years Rock n Roll and was surprised to only be a few seconds slower than my last half, despite feeling like my training runs showed that I was deteriorating. And similarly I ran a 10k in december and 1 in March, and while I managed sub 60 minutes, I was 2-3 minutes slower than my PB.

Since the last race things have gotten even worse. I can't even seem to do a couple of km without either feeling too tired or getting out of breath and having to walk. I struggle to get myself out for all my training runs, lucky to get 3 short runs a week done. I want to do the Rock N Roll again this year and maybe Galway Bay but I am nervous about signing up.

Does anyone have any experience of this sudden change in fitness/stamina? I have been feeling tired in general for the past few months but had all bloods checked twice and everything is normal. I tried to take a week off just to rest and see if that helped but it seems to have made it worse again. Struggling to know where to go from here.

boxer.fan

Butterbeans wrote: »

Has anyone on here ran Galway Bay Marathon before? I'm trying to weigh up the pros and cons of it. I had planned on DCM but it actually doesn't suit now so looking at an earlier one.
How is it doing laps? I'm not generally a big fan of looped courses but it's not a deal breaker.
A flat course by all accounts but being coastal wind is gonna be a factor, but I guess how much a factor will come down to the day itself (6th Oct).

Anyways, any feedback would be great, thanks!

I did the Marathon last year. No real problem with the laps. The weather was great. Don't expect the same level of setup you would find in the Dublin / Belfast events.

MY BAD

Hey guys, when doing a pyramid 100,200,300,200,100 etc with 200 jog recovery. What sort of pace should I be aiming for while I'm 5k training? I plan to do this pyramid straight after a 25 minute tempo.

Slow_Runner

zedhead wrote: »

Just looking for a bit of advice. Started running regularly about 5 years ago and have steadily built up both pace and distance. Not to astounding levels but PB's for 10k is 55 mins and half marathon 2hrs 10mins. So I will never be fast but up until last year I was pretty much steadily improving with each race.

I aim to run 4-5 times a week varying with short fast runs, intervals and lsr's. At times between races when not specifically training for a distance I would just get out and run as long and fast as I could/time on the day allowed for. Not great at cross training, I do a fair bit of walking and while I foam roll I don't do any strength training.

Over the past year I am not sure what has happened but my training is a disaster. I don't seem to have the pace or the stamina to get out, and it seems to be getting worse not better. I did last years Rock n Roll and was surprised to only be a few seconds slower than my last half, despite feeling like my training runs showed that I was deteriorating. And similarly I ran a 10k in december and 1 in March, and while I managed sub 60 minutes, I was 2-3 minutes slower than my PB.

Since the last race things have gotten even worse. I can't even seem to do a couple of km without either feeling too tired or getting out of breath and having to walk. I struggle to get myself out for all my training runs, lucky to get 3 short runs a week done.  I want to do the Rock N Roll again this year and maybe Galway Bay but I am nervous about signing up.

Does anyone have any experience of this sudden change in fitness/stamina? I have been feeling tired in general for the past few months but had all bloods checked twice and everything is normal. I tried to take a week off just to rest and see if that helped but it seems to have made it worse again. Struggling to know where to go from here.

Hi Zedhead
Looking at your training it seems you do no easy pace runs - it's all flat out ("short fast runs, intervals" and "long/fast as I can"). Whats happened is you have hit a plateau as this kind of training will not get you very far. 
What you need to do is slow down your training runs, you are running 4-5 times per week so 
1 lsr at easy pace (you are not out of breadth and can hold a conversation - forget about pace on the watch and run to this)
1 interval session - race specif so shorter reps (200/400s) if training for 5/10k and longer (800/1200/1600) for HMs - pace should be dependent on distance and number of reps.
Other 2-3 runs should be real easy - same as lsr pace but only 20-60 mins in duration (depending on your mileage) with 1 of these runs even slower - use as recovery run, really slow jog/trot for 20 mins to slush any crap from the muscles.
Do this for a couple of months and you'll start to see an improvement on race time. If you're feeling tired give the intervals a miss, the key is building up a base which is easy miles all the way, these runs are more important to your development than the intervals at this stage.
BTW - do not say you will never be fast - your pace is YOUR pace and is relative only to you, unless your name is Kipchoge or Kipsang there will always be someone faster than you

Ultraman100

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/article-the-surprising-science-behind-why-easy-days-and-hard-days-make-a/

ariana`

Butterbeans wrote: »

Has anyone on here ran Galway Bay Marathon before? I'm trying to weigh up the pros and cons of it. I had planned on DCM but it actually doesn't suit now so looking at an earlier one.
How is it doing laps? I'm not generally a big fan of looped courses but it's not a deal breaker.
A flat course by all accounts but being coastal wind is gonna be a factor, but I guess how much a factor will come down to the day itself (6th Oct).
Anyways, any feedback would be great, thanks!

I did the HM in 2016. The course is pancake flat. The day in 2016 was perfect, blue skies, sunshine, dead flat calm, ideal running conditions. I did the HM in under 2:10 and i when i got to the last water station on the course it was being folded up, they ran out of water :mad: It was a rather warm day so runners possibly drank more than expected but i still thought this was very poor especially for the entry fee but hopefully the organisation has been improved since. Another factor for me is the concrete - i'm not sure i could handle the distance when so much of the course is concrete. And lastly there wasn't much or any support along the course, it was pretty dead in terms of atmosphere. I'd be more inclined towards Clarenbridge if i wanted to do a Autumn marathon in Galway but this is twice the number of laps so if laps aren't your thing then this probably isn't for you.

Best of luck whatever you decide.

ariana`

Swashbuckler wrote: »

How good are you at running in feel ariana? The reason I ask is because for me a few weeks back in Limerick the mantra was run comfortable for the first three miles and see from there. For me that was five or ten seconds slower than target pace but really its how you feel on the day. You probably shouldn't start feeling uncomfortable til at least mile 5 and really working beyond halfway. But it's all in the first few miles. Run on feel if you can

Thanks P. I don't think i have running by feel down yet but i think I'll start 10 seconds slower than my target and see how i'm feeling as i go with your guide in my mind that i should be comfortable for 5 miles at least.

Krusty_Clown

Mellow Yellow 26.2 wrote: »

Hey guys, when doing a pyramid 100,200,300,200,100 etc with 200 jog recovery. What sort of pace should I be aiming for while I'm 5k training? I plan to do this pyramid straight after a 25 minute tempo.

It depends on your training history and where you are right now in your 5k plan. If you're early in the plan, 5k pace would be a reasonable target (get used to staying on pace when already pretty tired). If later in the plan, you might want to be doing them at 3k ->1 Mile pace. I'd assume you'll be pretty beat-up after the 25 mins at tempo? If so, 3k pace might be as fast as you could hope to run the shorter intervals, with just a 200m recovery.

Can you ask whoever prescribed the plan what the broad goal of the session might be?

zedhead

Slow_Runner wrote: »

Hi Zedhead
Looking at your training it seems you do no easy pace runs - it's all flat out ("short fast runs, intervals" and "long/fast as I can"). Whats happened is you have hit a plateau as this kind of training will not get you very far. 
What you need to do is slow down your training runs, you are running 4-5 times per week so 
1 lsr at easy pace (you are not out of breadth and can hold a conversation - forget about pace on the watch and run to this)
1 interval session - race specif so shorter reps (200/400s) if training for 5/10k and longer (800/1200/1600) for HMs - pace should be dependent on distance and number of reps.
Other 2-3 runs should be real easy - same as lsr pace but only 20-60 mins in duration (depending on your mileage) with 1 of these runs even slower - use as recovery run, really slow jog/trot for 20 mins to slush any crap from the muscles.
Do this for a couple of months and you'll start to see an improvement on race time. If you're feeling tired give the intervals a miss, the key is building up a base which is easy miles all the way, these runs are more important to your development than the intervals at this stage.
BTW - do not say you will never be fast - your pace is YOUR pace and is relative only to you, unless your name is Kipchoge or Kipsang there will always be someone faster than you

Thanks for this. I think you are right about my regular runs. I think my problem is I get bored if I am not moving fast enough and want to see the pace improve daily. I have to get out of this mindset and try and stick to a much slower pace on purpose rather than just go for the best I can.

I love running so much, and I find myself getting so frustrated lately I am losing that love a little. Need to just focus on all the positive things I get from it, even if it means i will never get another PB again.

(aslo on your last point, I always say that to my sister about not being concerned with slow/fast compared to everyone else and just doing what you can, so I guess I need to take my own advice there.)

Thanks again.

MY BAD

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

It depends on your training history and where you are right now in your 5k plan. If you're early in the plan, 5k pace would be a reasonable target (get used to staying on pace when already pretty tired). If later in the plan, you might want to be doing them at 3k ->1 Mile pace. I'd assume you'll be pretty beat-up after the 25 mins at tempo? If so, 3k pace might be as fast as you could hope to run the shorter intervals, with just a 200m recovery.

Can you ask whoever prescribed the plan what the broad goal of the session might be?

Thanks, I was thinking it would be around 3k pace. The session is 13 days out from the 5k so near the end of plan. I forgot to ask our coach at training yesterday and I won't make club training on Friday so I better just check with him before I do it. I said I'd just ask here to see what experienced runners thought about it.

The Black Oil

@zedhead, start a training log on here.

shotgunmcos

A general running question.

Where does a medium long run end and a long run start?
Is a medium long run a given % range of your targeted long run?

Perhaps a long run for a 5k, 10k, HM plan is relative to the target distance too?

Thanks

BeepBeep67

shotgunmcos wrote: »

A general running question.

Where does a medium long run end and a long run start?
Is a medium long run a given % range of your targeted long run?

Perhaps a long run for a 5k, 10k, HM plan is relative to the target distance too?

Thanks

For me when I move into double digits (10M/75mins) I'm thinking medium, 15+/2hrs is getting into long territory.

Sunny Dayz

zedhead wrote: »

Just looking for a bit of advice. Started running regularly about 5 years ago and have steadily built up both pace and distance. Not to astounding levels but PB's for 10k is 55 mins and half marathon 2hrs 10mins. So I will never be fast but up until last year I was pretty much steadily improving with each race.

I aim to run 4-5 times a week varying with short fast runs, intervals and lsr's. At times between races when not specifically training for a distance I would just get out and run as long and fast as I could/time on the day allowed for. Not great at cross training, I do a fair bit of walking and while I foam roll I don't do any strength training.

Over the past year I am not sure what has happened but my training is a disaster. I don't seem to have the pace or the stamina to get out, and it seems to be getting worse not better. I did last years Rock n Roll and was surprised to only be a few seconds slower than my last half, despite feeling like my training runs showed that I was deteriorating. And similarly I ran a 10k in december and 1 in March, and while I managed sub 60 minutes, I was 2-3 minutes slower than my PB.

Since the last race things have gotten even worse. I can't even seem to do a couple of km without either feeling too tired or getting out of breath and having to walk. I struggle to get myself out for all my training runs, lucky to get 3 short runs a week done. I want to do the Rock N Roll again this year and maybe Galway Bay but I am nervous about signing up.

Does anyone have any experience of this sudden change in fitness/stamina? I have been feeling tired in general for the past few months but had all bloods checked twice and everything is normal. I tried to take a week off just to rest and see if that helped but it seems to have made it worse again. Struggling to know where to go from here.

You sound like you are stuck in a rut. I get the impression from your post that you run all your training runs at much the same pace, long and short. Try and mix up your training runs a bit: long, short, fast, slow, fartlek, progression, pyramid. Even something as simple as finding a few new running routes in your area or even running some of your usual routes in the opposite direction. Are you in a club or a running group? Do you do parkrun? Running with other people and even the chatting before, during and after a group run or session can give you more focus, motivation and help. A few people here have already given you good advice, I seen one person suggest setting up a log, I would second that, I found that it helped me to improve and to focus.

Sunny Dayz

zedhead wrote: »

I love running so much, and I find myself getting so frustrated lately I am losing that love a little. Need to just focus on all the positive things I get from it, even if it means i will never get another PB again.

It's not all about trying to get a new pb every time you go out to race! My 10k pb is over a year old and my 5k pb is either 2 years old or a month old (depending on if you go by my watch or the chip time)! But I've noticed that my average times both in parkrun and in races has come down over the years and in the past year I've been satisfied with the times I've gotten even though they haven't been pb's - they would have been pb's a few years ago.
(I'm probably not making much sense!)