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GAF Running Club |OT| - Couch to Marathons, All abilities

mdsfx

Member
Ah yes... 2 days before a race and I've been struck with a head cold. Of course! Still going to show up, but my intensity will depends on how I feel. U G H
 
I've been having serious stitches in my ribs while running recently, since I started going 5 miles ish since of 4 miles ish. It tends to go once I've burnt through it though, but it doesn't feel great.
 

Zoe

Member
I've been having serious stitches in my ribs while running recently, since I started going 5 miles ish since of 4 miles ish. It tends to go once I've burnt through it though, but it doesn't feel great.

Stitches usually indicates a problem with your breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth if it's still cold where you are. Sync your breathing with your steps so that you're alternating which foot is striking for each breath in.
 

mdsfx

Member
I thought that "in through the nose" breathing technique was kind of impossible unless you're running at a slow/moderate pace. Not saying people don't do it, but I've never seen elite runners with their mouths closed. I just don't see how you can get the oxygen you need breathing in through your nose if you're pushing yourself.
 

Fistwell

Member
I don't know, I can't breathe through the nose when running. I need to open my mouth big as possible to cram all the air in. Not literaly, but I don't get enough airflow through the nose. Although I do have funky nose problems (displaced nasal wall) so I'm not your typical nose. But Zoe definitely has a point in that breathing through the nose allows the air to warm up before hitting the throat, which can prevent irritation.

runners with their mouths closed.
True story: whenever I pass some dude, I straighten up my gait, speed up and close my mouth ("Look at me! Faster than you and I ain't even trying!"). OK so maybe not "whenever," but I have caught myself doing that. :)
 
Stitches usually indicates a problem with your breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth if it's still cold where you are. Sync your breathing with your steps so that you're alternating which foot is striking for each breath in.

Oh really? I tend to breathe heavily through my mouth. Panting like.
 
Thank goodness to mouth breathers here.

I never really look at peoples' mouths when I run, so I always though I just had problems breathing through my nose.

I try for a bit to breathe through my nose, but then eventually go back to just mouth as my run drags on.

Really happy with my return to running this week. It always feels so good to hit the road. Absolutely love my new Nike flywire streaks. Really happy with my times for the 5k I am at around 5 minutes/k. Still nearly five minutes off my personal best, but hoping that I can get back to it in the next couple of months.

I ran an 8k this week and wasn't really feeling, my time was really bad and I think it was because I didn't eat muchand had worked for two hours the night before. It was actually the first time that my Strava time was faster than my Nike time. I still have no idea how Strava interprets the data.

Going to have two days of rest now, make sure my legs are ready to go for 10k on Tuesday.
 
Did a beach / cliff 10km today and gosh was that a challenge.

Running in deep, heavy sand for the first 2 km.
Running up cliff paths the next 5 km going from sea level to 108m
Then a nice down hill bit for 2km before a 1km straight for the finish (but even half of that was on a beach again that was just loose rocks)

Plus lots and lots of rain making the already uneven rocky course even more slippy and soggy.


First time I have run any real distance not on pavement or gravel and its one the slower 10kms I have ever run since I started going that distance. Also ran in tracksuit pants and not shorts which was a bigger pain in the rain then I expected.


Was fun. Cant wait to give that course another go next year.
 

mdsfx

Member
16 hours until racetime and i feel like crap. I have never missed a race, but I know I often make the wrong decision. I've got this head cold thing with a dry throat and feel kind of low energy.

It's a short race though (8K) and I feel like I would blast past last year's PR... but at what cost I don't know. Is it worth it if it makes me miss training for a week? No, but I have no idea if it would even make it worse or not. I hate these decisions. I really look forward to my races :(
 

Fistwell

Member
16 hours until racetime and i feel like crap. I have never missed a race, but I know I often make the wrong decision. I've got this head cold thing with a dry throat and feel kind of low energy.

It's a short race though (8K) and I feel like I would blast past last year's PR... but at what cost I don't know. Is it worth it if it makes me miss training for a week? No, but I have no idea if it would even make it worse or not. I hate these decisions. I really look forward to my races :(
It's tricky. You don't want to not have fun. You're obviously excited for your races, so you'll have fun going. You sound sick, so you won't have fun if you kill yourself out there.

I don't know. You're right that 8K is not the end of the world. I don't know how sick you are. I've ran with a bad cold (although not raced), sometimes it cleared up my sinuses and actually helped, other times it made me feel like shit for a week.

I think you're doing this anyways. I'd say, maybe start conservative and see how you feel? If you're OK after the at Km 5, let it fly for the last 3. But if you don't know what's going on after a cple of Ks, take it easy and have a nice jog.

I think I'd show up for the race too, but I'm not reasonable.

Good luck!
 
17620570_683942345122166_6227268156810780229_o.jpg


I got a burst of energy about 25 minutes in, so I was flying. Could still be running on it now if I wanted to but I know it'll just make me hurt or sore.
 
1.32 just achieved on Berlin Half Marathon!

New PB with 5 mins!
Best course iv run so far! (its REALLY flat!)

Nice time! Congratulations!

I got a burst of energy about 25 minutes in, so I was flying. Could still be running on it now if I wanted to but I know it'll just make me hurt or sore.

Really nice effort, keep it up!

I am so nervous with my first half race coming up at the end of the month.

You'll do fine, don't worry :) Just remember to enjoy the race and circuit. And you know what they say about the first time: it's always a PB ;)
 
Oh really? I tend to breathe heavily through my mouth. Panting like.

True story: whenever I pass some dude, I straighten up my gait, speed up and close my mouth ("Look at me! Faster than you and I ain't even trying!"). OK so maybe not "whenever," but I have caught myself doing that. :)

Thank goodness to mouth breathers here.

I never really look at peoples' mouths when I run, so I always though I just had problems breathing through my nose.

I try for a bit to breathe through my nose, but then eventually go back to just mouth as my run drags on.

You're all reading my mind, more in the sense trying to pay attention to my form and things like breathing. I'm going to be more conscious of breathing deeper into the lungs, and not little crappy gasps - doesn't help the whole asthma shebang...
It's daunting in this forum as I'm such a running noob, but appreciating that it's all small improvement and keeping at it, and over time I hope to be offering faster times!
Connected to this, was more fun at the physiotherapist - to do exercises to strengthen the waist and also he told me off for my shallow breathing - only upper part of my lungs. Going to try proper breathing today - thanks all again!
 

Bluenoser

Member
Some of these results are very impressive. Great job.

I plan on running a half in May, but I have no motivation to train right now. I ran 16km last Sunday at a decent pace (5:31/km) but I'm just not getting out enough. I'm being such a lazy ass right now.
 
1.32 just achieved on Berlin Half Marathon!

New PB with 5 mins!
Best course iv run so far! (its REALLY flat!)

Wunderbar! Amazing time :)

Thanks for all the kudos on Strava too

So just came back on my short 5K run and I was flying.
Not sure if the keto diet is finally kicking in after almost 3 weeks, but I certainly knocked back some salad, oily fish, even the nutritious olive oil at the bottom of can :p
10K is next Wed, I will def keep this in mind on the day!
Just found in very interesting to feel so damned good.

Also I'm a nose-breather convert now, it's taking time to get used to but it does also feel more controlled and efficient.
 

Daante

Member
Thanks guys!

Berlin Half Marathon was executed almost to perfection from my point.The only negative thing i have to say is that i could not warm up properly, so first 1 or 2 kilometer i decided to run 10-15 sec slower than target pace. On the other hand i felt so strong the last 5 kilometers, i mean i ran the last kilometer in 4.02 pace and last 234m in 3.58 pace.

Holy batman what a feeling!

For this race i invested in a 12 week program from Jack Daniels, that i have been doing since January and i think i made really good progress.

I posted this in Nov last year:

"Here are my goals for 2017:

5 km - Sub 20 - PB 20.16 (year 2015)
10 km - Sub 41 - PB 41.49 (year 2016)
21,1 km - Sub 1.33 - PB 1.36.59 (year 2015) - DONE NEW PB 1.32.14
42,1 km - Sub 3.15 - PB 3.34.59 (year 2015) "


I had planned a 10 km race now in May but realistically i dont think i can achieve sub 41 with my current shape. I simply need more training, so i will cancel that race and put all my focus on Stockholm Marathon that i will run June 3.

10 km and 5 km will go down after the summer once the autumn hits here, and then i also realistically think i have a chance on achieving what i want to achieve.
 

Fistwell

Member
I had planned a 10 km race now in May but realistically i dont think i can achieve sub 41 with my current shape. I simply need more training, so i will cancel that race and put all my focus on Stockholm Marathon that i will run June 3.

10 km and 5 km will go down after the summer once the autumn hits here, and then i also realistically think i have a chance on achieving what i want to achieve.
92 semi is 41 and change on 10K. I think you may be selling your current fitness short.
 
After failing hard at R&R Dallas a few weeks ago I have felt encouraged by my training afterwards. Just finished an "easy" 65 minute run and a i don't feel too tired. Managed to finally bump my VO2 max calculation that Garmin makes by a whole point too in two weeks. :)
 
Set my fastest 10K time since July 2015. 2016 really was a bad year for me with injury and motivation. Feels so good to be back out on the road.

Hopefully, I can get back under 50 minutes in the next few days, 50:27 today. Then next week throw in a couple 15k and a 19k to get my endurance back up for the half at the end of the month. Then will try and take it easy for the next two weeks before the race focusing on speed and hills.


Thanks guys!

Berlin Half Marathon was executed almost to perfection from my point.The only negative thing i have to say is that i could not warm up properly, so first 1 or 2 kilometer i decided to run 10-15 sec slower than target pace. On the other hand i felt so strong the last 5 kilometers, i mean i ran the last kilometer in 4.02 pace and last 234m in 3.58 pace.

Holy batman what a feeling!

For this race i invested in a 12 week program from Jack Daniels, that i have been doing since January and i think i made really good progress.

I posted this in Nov last year:

"Here are my goals for 2017:

5 km - Sub 20 - PB 20.16 (year 2015)
10 km - Sub 41 - PB 41.49 (year 2016)
21,1 km - Sub 1.33 - PB 1.36.59 (year 2015) - DONE NEW PB 1.32.14
42,1 km - Sub 3.15 - PB 3.34.59 (year 2015) "


I had planned a 10 km race now in May but realistically i dont think i can achieve sub 41 with my current shape. I simply need more training, so i will cancel that race and put all my focus on Stockholm Marathon that i will run June 3.

10 km and 5 km will go down after the summer once the autumn hits here, and then i also realistically think i have a chance on achieving what i want to achieve.

That will be a hell of a great time if you achieve it for the marathon. Good luck with your training.
 
Early running in tights first impression.

- My legs look silly. I feel silly.
- I ran my fasted 10k all year and my fast none race 10k ever.
 

ATF487

Member
Just ran my second half marathon, 2:02.

I am livid! Had a good pace going, at least by my standards, then felt a hamstring twinge around mile 10 and after that it all fell apart. I cramped up bad :(

Still much better than my last one I suppose
 
Anyone ever feel nauseous after a hard run with neck/shoulder pain? Ran a simulator today for my half in two weeks, came back and took a nap, and feel like shit.
 
Just ran my second half marathon, 2:02.

I am livid! Had a good pace going, at least by my standards, then felt a hamstring twinge around mile 10 and after that it all fell apart. I cramped up bad :(

Still much better than my last one I suppose

congrats on finishing.

Hopefully you can nail your next race.

Anyone ever feel nauseous after a hard run with neck/shoulder pain? Ran a simulator today for my half in two weeks, came back and took a nap, and feel like shit.

what is a run simulator???
 
cool thanks, I thought it was some fancy machinery lol

Haha sorry I made it sound so glamorous. We usually run it about 2 weeks before the actual race. I'm officially in taper now where I'm reducing my mileage. We have a new training director this season so the schedule is a little different. Curious to see how I do.
 
Haha sorry I made it sound so glamorous. We usually run it about 2 weeks before the actual race. I'm officially in taper now where I'm reducing my mileage. We have a new training director this season so the schedule is a little different. Curious to see how I do.


Cool, will have to try it out in the future.

I really wish I didn't miss nearly two months through injury.

Will use this half marathon race at the end of month to see where I am and what I need to work on in the future.
 
Got back under 50 minutes for the 10k yesterday. 49:07. Really pleased. Decided to have rest today as I wanted to get up early to watch football.

Gonna go for a 15k tomorrow with the aim of around 5"10/km. Just want to build the distance up, then do a 10k Friday before a long run on Sunday.
 
Got back under 50 minutes for the 10k yesterday. 49:07. Really pleased. Decided to have rest today as I wanted to get up early to watch football.

Gonna go for a 15k tomorrow with the aim of around 5"10/km. Just want to build the distance up, then do a 10k Friday before a long run on Sunday.

Sounds like a good plan. Good luck on your race this Friday!
 

Rei_Toei

Fclvat sbe Pnanqn, ru?
Anyone looking into or interested in the VI? Hadn't heard about this wearable before untill a colleague talked about it yesterday. He just got it so he hadn't used it enough to form an opinion yet. Supposedly the first thing Vi tells you it can only really start to help you out after it has data on around 70K of running from you.

So far I've been rather sceptical about wearables and their impact and this thing is definitely expensive, but also seems to be a step in the right direction.
 

Fistwell

Member
Anyone looking into or interested in the VI? Hadn't heard about this wearable before untill a colleague talked about it yesterday. He just got it so he hadn't used it enough to form an opinion yet. Supposedly the first thing Vi tells you it can only really start to help you out after it has data on around 70K of running from you.

So far I've been rather sceptical about wearables and their impact and this thing is definitely expensive, but also seems to be a step in the right direction.
I don't know, I'm skeptical of AI in general. Not that it's useless, but being a researcher in areas contiguous to AI, I know enough about it to understand people grossly overestimate what it can do or be good at. This looks like more of a commercial gimmick than something particularly helpful.

The bottom line is that you can easily draft goals and training plans (in an automated way) if you have a good understanding of a person's current fitness level. That's not hard. The hard part is that, to assess fitness, these devices have to rely on measures: pace and distance from GPS, which is fine, exertion levels, measured with a heart-beat rate monitor, which is a lot more delicate.

It's delicate because sometimes the measures are wrong, and the automation can do some automatic filtering to get rid of outliers, but it does not know how to critically look at data to make sense out of it. For example, I know my own exertion levels, I can look at a log and know that the HBR monitor completely shat the bed and I should disregard that whole batch of data. the "AI" would just probably count it in, but smooth things out a bit if it particularly stands out.

Also, we know when we're well rested vs tired, a little sick, stressed by work or whatever. Those aspects impact HBR majorly. We know how to adjust expectations for the HBR during efforts based on context, the "AI" will not do that in general.

This device may be doing a better job of it than the garmin race predictor thingy I have, so this is going to be an unfair comparison, but the garmin shit has been telling me I should be targeting a 35 minutes 10K after it fucked up and read my HBR too low on a cple of workouts. Then the other day I had a tooth ache and a migraine, but I wanted to get a few miles in anyways, ran horribly slow and my HBR was through the roof (although feeling of exertion wasn't that strong, I was just in pain all over, making me tired). Then my expected 10K time got stretched to 42+min. Went from completely impossible goal to something trivial.

It's all shit, AI is shit. And I'm old, bitter, and jaded. :)
 
Ran a good 40 minute pace run last night. Actually ran a bit faster than I was supposed to. Builds some confidence especiallt given how humid it was outside.

How many GAFers are running Boston this year?
 
Feel like I am finally finding my groove for my long run pace.

Just did a 12km run and felt like I could have easily gone to 20 if I didnt have to get home.

Smoothest run I have had all year. Finally feel where I left off last year.



Also... anyone got any tips for a new pair of runners? Looking to spend €100. Want something that can get me through the summer to (hopefully) a marathon in October.
 

littledipster

Neo Member
Ran a good 40 minute pace run last night. Actually ran a bit faster than I was supposed to. Builds some confidence especiallt given how humid it was outside.

How many GAFers are running Boston this year?

Yeah the weather has been crazy warm here lately, I think it's getting close to the 80s this week! And I'm running Boston, suuuper nervous about it. Headed there in a couple days with my family and hopefully exploring the city (never been) will keep my mind preoccupied until Monday!
 
I think the actual running gets easier the further you go (no duh) I mean like, the first 15 minutes is hard, then it gets easier so by the time its done, you feel like you could go even further.
 
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