Random Running Questions

Down South

Mellow Yellow 26.2 wrote: »

What's your opinion guys on racing two 5km races 5 days apart? And secondly what would you think of using xc spikes for a 5000m race on a track?

Are you referring to the longer pins or XC specific shoes?

MY BAD

I've 4mm spikes alright. My question was more about the shoes itself, I've only used them on grass. The shoes I are new balance xc5000v3. I don't have much track experience.
https://www.roadrunnersports.com/rrs/products/10579/mens-new-balance-xc5000v3/

hot buttered scones

Testosterscone wrote: »

Just to add to this. Form is one aspect for sure but the other aspect which tends to get overlooked here tends to be muscle power. This is where the likes of plyometrics etc play a major role in training. Ground contact should be minimal but only if the muscles have the power to generate enough force.

To train this can be as simple as bounds etc or as complex as explosive weight movements

Here is a good demonstration from the Lydiard Foundation which is good place to start in relation to this;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VgxsEfeDqk

It should be noted though if you are doing this sort of work the key is to do this fresh. Trying these fatigued is going to dramatically increase your injury risk. This is why these should only be attempted after a shorter recovery run or pre session (after warm up)

Can these type of exercises be sufficient for strength and conditioning, or would they be seen as complimentary to s+c work i.e. floor work? It looks more appealing than doing a load of floor work to me.

gawker

I did my first full marathon on June 2nd and have done a few shorter runs this week. I feel great and rested. My local half marathon is on this Sunday, and I'm tempted to do it as I still feel okay.

Is doing a half marathon so soon after a marathon reasonable? I figured I'd rest well after the half as I'll be travelling next week anyway.

Itziger

gawker wrote: »

I did my first full marathon on June 2nd and have done a few shorter runs this week. I feel great and rested. My local half marathon is on this Sunday, and I'm tempted to do it as I still feel okay.

Is doing a half marathon so soon after a marathon reasonable? I figured I'd rest well after the half as I'll be travelling next week anyway.

It's a bit close but if you're feeling well recovered, I'd say go for it. Be smart in the race though. If you feel any twinges maybe ease off the pace and enjoy the run.

TFBubendorfer

Kellygirl wrote: »

While we are discussing form, what are people’s thoughts on chi running courses?

As for chi running itself, I've also read the book. Unlike Murph_D I read it to the end but like Murph_D I thought it was nonsense. Apart from the pretend-eastern philosophy element I'm still trying to figure out how gravity will pull you forward rather than downwards. Actually, I'm not, it's just wrong.

As for the courses, if it's held by Catherina McKiernan it's probably very good, though that would be because it's being held by Catherina McKiernan, not because of the chi element.

hot buttered scones

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

Apart from the pretend-eastern philosophy element I'm still trying to figure out how gravity will pull you forward rather than downwards. Actually, I'm not, it's just wrong.

There's definitely some answer there involving vectors, velocity, momentum and the various laws of motion, but it's been so long since I studied physics I've forgotten it all.

TFBubendorfer

hot buttered scones wrote: »

There's definitely some answer there involving vectors, velocity, momentum and the various laws of motion, but it's been so long since I studied physics I've forgotten it all.

Momentum is momentum. Gravity works the other direction. One got nothing to do with the other.

hot buttered scones

TFBubendorfer wrote:

Momentum is momentum. Gravity works the other direction. One got nothing to do with the other.

And the answer is it doesn't! Of course. Gravity acts in a downward direction only.

Testosterscone

hot buttered scones wrote: »

Can these type of exercises be sufficient for strength and conditioning, or would they be seen as complimentary to s+c work i.e. floor work? It looks more appealing than doing a load of floor work to me.

I think the Lydiard foundation would advocate these over traditional strength work however personally I would advocate this as supplementary. Its hard on the body so you want to make sure you have enough muscular strength. Failing that you would start off with very low volume and gradually build it up over weeks/months

Goose76

is there such a thing as doing a slow run / recovery run too slowly?

i'm finding my natural slow comfortable pace drop slightly, despite my fast/tempo times increasing.

Swashbuckler

Goose76 wrote:

i'm finding my natural slow comfortable pace drop slightly, despite my fast/tempo times increasing.

You'll often find the harder you work on the hard days the slower you'll need to go on the slow days. Not that I'm great at taking my own advice.

Goose76

Swashbuckler wrote: »

You'll often find the harder you work on the hard days the slower you'll need to go on the slow days. Not that I'm great at taking my own advice.

that definitely makes a lot of sense! thanks.

Zipppy

Recommend me a sports watch that will be mainly used to display my pace..in big numbers:)
Other fancy stuff not required.....

aquinn

Zipppy wrote: »

Recommend me a sports watch that will be mainly used to display my pace..in big numbers:)
Other fancy stuff not required.....

Return to running is obviously going well?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u-sGHMivwo

Zipppy

aquinn wrote:

Return to running is obviously going well?

getting there slowly..looks like another 4 week lay off looming ...ahhhhh

Goose76

Apologies for another noob question, I realise this will probably sound a bit silly….

Is it a bad idea to do too much walking on rest days? I do a fair amount of walking (10,000 + steps most days) – I’m lucky enough to be a half hour walk from work and do a lot of walking on weekends also, just out and about – nothing intense but still a lot of steps on an average day.

I do find that when doing 10-12,000 steps on a rest day though I feel really really tired the day after that. This Monday I did a short slow run, Tuesday a brutal interval session and then yesterday on a rest day I did 12,500 steps walking and today I feel wrecked, lethargic and headachey and I’m not sure if I can go ahead with my LSR this evening.

I should add I’m still relatively novice at running, only started in October and longest I have ran so far is 13.5 k. I work hard at having good sleep and diet so I’m not sure if its those things that’s making me tired so was curious about the steps….

OOnegative

Goose76 wrote: »

Apologies for another noob question, I realise this will probably sound a bit silly….

Is it a bad idea to do too much walking on rest days? I do a fair amount of walking (10,000 + steps most days) – I’m lucky enough to be a half hour walk from work and do a lot of walking on weekends also, just out and about – nothing intense but still a lot of steps on an average day.

I do find that when doing 10-12,000 steps on a rest day though I feel really really tired the day after that. This Monday I did a short slow run, Tuesday a brutal interval session and then yesterday on a rest day I did 12,500 steps walking and today I feel wrecked, lethargic and headachey and I’m not sure if I can go ahead with my LSR this evening.

I should add I’m still relatively novice at running, only started in October and longest I have ran so far is 13.5 k. I work hard at having good sleep and diet so I’m not sure if its those things that’s making me tired so was curious about the steps….

You hydrating well before/after/in between runs? Take into account the more humid weather lately also. Think most would walk what you do daily, I do anyway.

RIGOLO

Goose76 wrote: »

Apologies for another noob question, I realise this will probably sound a bit silly….

Can you tell us what your weekly schedule is ? first impression I have is that you only started in October and have already moved onto a fairly intensive schedule .

And yes that is alot of walking everyday  . Whilst otheres may do the same amount of walking per day , and not impact their running, they will have adapted to this over a number of years. You are a nooob. 
Id consider you should change a couple of those walks to work, into short runs. If as you say its 30 mins, thats about 4k, Id say you would be far better to run to and from work some dys and skip the evening training all together, especially in the summer as the weather is more conducive. 
But send on your schedule and people can decide if 12,000 steps per day is pushing it.

coogy

Hi folks....


OK, this is a total long shot but if you don't ask.............


We're off on holidays to Bulgaria on 6th August for two weeks. Thing is, it clashes with a 14 mile and 16 mile marathon training run at the end of each of the two weeks.
I've been trying to map out some routes but a lot of the roads outside of where we're staying don't look very run-friendly and I'd be a little concerned for my safety.

So here's the long shot: I don't suppose anyone here has stayed at the Royal Sun apartments in Bulgaria in the middle of their marathon training session and successfully squeezed in a 14 mile and 16 mile run?


(worth a try).......

Edit: looks like someone has mapped a 12 mile run on Map My Run. That will do for starters.......I'll find the extra miles from somewhere!

Goose76

OOnegative wrote: »

You hydrating well before/after/in between runs? Take into account the more humid weather lately also. Think most would walk what you do daily, I do anyway.

Thanks for the reply - I hydrate constantly during the day but arguably not near enough after runs so that's some food for thought.

RIGOLO wrote: »

Can you tell us what your weekly schedule is ? first impression I have is that you only started in October and have already moved onto a fairly intensive schedule .

And yes that is alot of walking everyday  . Whilst otheres may do the same amount of walking per day , and not impact their running, they will have adapted to this over a number of years. You are a nooob. 
Id consider you should change a couple of those walks to work, into short runs. If as you say its 30 mins, thats about 4k, Id say you would be far better to run to and from work some dys and skip the evening training all together, especially in the summer as the weather is more conducive. 
But send on your schedule and people can decide if 12,000 steps per day is pushing it.

Thanks - I'm currently following the Irish Runner Magazine 10k improver plan. I'm on week 7 - I've attached the plan.I think there's a typo where a 3k should be an 11k. I usually skip the second short slow run and due to various other commitments (and the tiredness I mention) I usually complete each week over a period of about ten days so I spread it out a fair bit.

I've started running home from work fairly often and also regularly bus it into work instead of walking which helps on the legs. Maybe I just need to build up my fitness and that's why I'm tired?

RIGOLO

Goose76 .. I think your tired cos your still a noob, you have taken on a 10K 'improver' plan, yet your longest run is only 13k and you also have an active daily lifestyle. Thats the bad news.
The good news is , your still a noob, you have taken on a 10K 'improver' plan, your longest run is upto 13k and you also have an active daily lifestyle.. Those are all laudable achievments and deserve a pat on the back . 
So listen to your body, if your feeling tired , then give yourself an easy week. You can still do the same number of sessions if you really want, but cut down the time and distance involved . The interval sessions will knock the stuffing out of any runner, especially a new runner. Make sure your easy runs are easy. 
Just keep the consistency up, stay in the habit of going out for a run, but if you need too drop the intensity and how hard you push yourself. 
Your body is still adjusting to the increases in running activity, give it some time , like months, and years,  and follow this cycle of active weeks and rest/easy weeks and you will soon have an aerobic base built up that you can use next year to push on even  further.

Goose76

RIGOLO wrote: »

Goose76 .. I think your tired cos your still a noob, you have taken on a 10K 'improver' plan, yet your longest run is only 13k and you also have an active daily lifestyle. Thats the bad news.
The good news is , your still a noob, you have taken on a 10K 'improver' plan, your longest run is upto 13k and you also have an active daily lifestyle.. Those are all laudable achievments and deserve a pat on the back . 
So listen to your body, if your feeling tired , then give yourself an easy week. You can still do the same number of sessions if you really want, but cut down the time and distance involved . The interval sessions will knock the stuffing out of any runner, especially a new runner. Make sure your easy runs are easy. 
Just keep the consistency up, stay in the habit of going out for a run, but if you need too drop the intensity and how hard you push yourself. 
Your body is still adjusting to the increases in running activity, give it some time , like months, and years,  and follow this cycle of active weeks and rest/easy weeks and you will soon have an aerobic base built up that you can use next year to push on even  further.

Thank you so much for your helpful advice!

Lazare

All my running for the next few months will be either workouts or easy. Workouts will all be programmed into the Garmin. This is brand new to me.

If I set a pace alert up for all the easy stuff will it interfere with the workouts?

Will I need to disable it every time I want to do a workout?

I'm guessing not.

skyblue46

Lazare wrote: »

All my running for the next few months will be either workouts or easy. Workouts will all be programmed into the Garmin. This is brand new to me.

If I set a pace alert up for all the easy stuff will it interfere with the workouts?

Will I need to disable it every time I want to do a workout?

I'm guessing not.

Your workouts will need to be set up individually and any pace ranges will only apply to the specific workout you added them to. No one workout affects another nor does it affect general runs. It's a doddle...

Lazare

Cheers bro. Just needed it confirmed.

Seannew1

Hi all,
I have a weird query for you.
I normally spend a lot of time on my feet in my work;however, over the next month, my work requires desk sitting for 8hours plus a day. I'm worried about getting a bad back and hence bad posture, which would affect my running. I run 4 times a week; swim twice and do stretch/mobility work once a week too.

RayCun

Get up every 45 minutes and walk around a bit, even just for a couple of minutes.

BeepBeep67

Seannew1 wrote: »

Hi all,
I have a weird query for you.
I normally spend a lot of time on my feet in my work;however, over the next month, my work requires desk sitting for 8hours plus a day. I'm worried about getting a bad back and hence bad posture, which would affect my running. I run 4 times a week; swim twice and do stretch/mobility work once a week too.

I'm office based and the 2 main things I do are 1) I go the long way to meetings, the toilet, canteen, etc and 2) I'm on a lot of calls so got a Bluetooth headset which allows be to go for a wander or walk up and down during calls.

Seannew1

Thanks folks, I will try that. Would you recommend 5 minute stretching before, during or at night to loosen out??