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Couch Potato to Marathon in 18 weeks?
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Running Rodent - I only have that "mantra" - 'I'm here now so I might as well get on with it' - because I always drive to the park before I run! What am I going to use if I ever start running from the house?
That's unlikely, as my neighbours have already laughed at my initial efforts...seriously, it's because I prefer a bit of scenery. Em, "I'm wearing lycra capris so I might as well run?"
Thanks for your input on the former Chris Hoy half marathon. I thought it might run along (great pun!)some of the same route as the full Edinburgh marathon (when they mentioned Musselborough) and now I know, it does. And you are right, it's a great idea to get used to the logistics of getting there...
The only thing is the slight task, ahem, of running 13 (point something?) miles!!! Deep breath, don't even THINK about it. Am i crazeee? Yes. I'm beginning to realise the absurdity of my ambition to run a marathon in a few months' time
I'm still in buttock-agony after today
But I'll go out again on Thursday.
Rodent - are you doing the former Chris Hoy? Is there a thread on RW about it?
Thanks again.
Everyone suffers from off days.
Some extreme examples;
I set out for an 18miler and after the first mile nothing was going right so I turned around and ran back.
Another time I went out to do a short easy 4 miles, at 2 miles it was going so well I decided to make it 6, at 5 it was still going well so thought I'd do 8 and at 7 turned right instead of left and made it 10.
Anyone who has been running longer than a year will have stories similar to this.
Don't worry It's all part of it.
Thanks, Tim (though you have shattered my illusion of you as an 'elite runner' going home after a mile!
The weather here (central Scotland) is fierce - rain and gales - so today, I 'phoned my local gym to book an induction (so I can use the running machines). I've to go tomorrow at 9am!!
I don't like the very idea of gyms (surely being outside is better for you?) but it might be safer than deserted country park in this weather...
I seem to be coming down with something too (sore throat, some kind of ear(s) infection.. - no wonder people need a long time to prepare for anything!
Anyway, I've even ordered an ipod for the treadmill (are they still called that, these days?). Still not here - shame on asda - but I'm borrowing my daughter's. I haven't listened to/bought music for years, so my playlist is all Pink Floyd, The Only Ones, Fatima Mansons
Gosh, and I need to do 3-4 miles on THAT...I think I'll be resorting to my daughter's playlists of Drake and Kesha!
I have never used a gym (didn't want to) so it seems strange to be joining one to run indoors.
What are everyone else's thoughts on running on a machine?
I see treadmill running as a necessary evil - sometimes you just can't get out, so it gives you an alternative. Also I find they're better for speed intervals, because it's more difficult to kid yourself about how fast you're running.
Horrible weather here too - gales, rain and thunder last night, now it's snowing. Ugh.
Hi Lisa and Running Rodent, I did my gym induction this morning then spent about an hour on the treadmill. So boring! At one point, I closed my eyes to "zone in" and came right off the back of the machine! That was embarrassing. Also, I had the 'auto stop' clip on after that and knocked it off a few times by accident, so the machine stopped those times and I had to reset it all over again. I didn't have a watch on, so I lost all track of time or the distance I was supposed to have done. Another woman came up to chat to me and I took my earphones off and slowed to a walk and decided to get off for a drink. The floor felt like it was still moving and the other women were saying how I'd been on for ages and no-one is ever usually on a treadmill that long
I got to the gym about 9.10 and I'm not sure how long my induction lasted, but I was on the treadmill after it until 11am. I played around with it a lot, adding a steep incline and stuff and increasing/decreasing the pace. The trouble is, I still work in miles! I know 5k is about 3 miles, but working out the pace was difficult for me. I have no idea how many miles I did today, which is a nuisance.
I suppose it would be a "necessary evil" like you say - with the weather as it is - but it might put me off running all together if I had to use a treadmill often. I came home and took the dog a walk in the wind and it felt great to be outside again.
Lucky you RR to be doing the Paris marathon! I would love to do that. Paris is a great city. I stayed in a great hotel (v. cheap!) within a few minutes walk of the Eiffel Tower in September there and I biked all around the city. I loved it. It's a great idea to combine a marathon with a city break somewhere else. You might not be up to it, after your marathon, but I would recommened your family/friends do the Fat Tire (sic) bike tour. Or at least use of the government's city bikes that are parked in stations all over the place (you enter your card details as a deposit in a machine next to the bike stations, then it's a very small hire charge).
Have you been to Paris before? If you are going to Charles de Gaulle (Roissy) airport, remember to take smaller change (of 10 euros) for the ticket machines if you are getting a train into Paris. Otherwise, you will have to queue for a change machine, then queue again to buy the tickets from the machine.
When I went, I could not believe the length of the queues (even Kings Cross in rush hour doesn't get anywhere near so busy). Apart from that, the transport system is great there. Oh and make sure, if you get a train back to the airport, that it's a ticket ALL the way to the airport - almost everyone else in my carriage got a hefty fine on the way back for having the wrong ticket.
Elite?
I fell off the treadmill too, except it was in front of a shop full of customers when I was trying out some shoes. The assistant screamed and people were looking the other way and trying not to laugh. It was funny. I try to keep away from them and gyms. Outside is where it's at for me. Usually all weathers but had to take a few days off when the snow melted slightly and then refroze to sheet ice.
Well Tim, I wish you lived near me and could be my personal trainer
It's not so much the weather that's putting me off - although I would find it difficult to run in these gale force winds, I'm sure, but the fact that the country park I usually run in will be much more deserted than usual (I imagine). There are quite a few places in my run where I don't see anyone for a short while, and although I love being on my own, because those spots are so far from a road, it makes me nervous.
Maybe I should just run from home around the streets. I don't enjoy that as much as the park, but it is better than a gym. Hopefully, I will get up early enough to take my little one to his dad's before the parkrun on Saturday. I'll have no excuse for not running that 5k if there's a group of people! I think it is a bit of an "excuse". It could be the start of me just thinking, "The weather's rubbish, I can't be bothered". Mmm. I will have to just get out there, regardless.
And will you stop shattering my illusions (delusions!) of you being a proper/elite runner? We beginners have to have someone to look up to and hope to emulate. Oh, and the fact that you've been fitted for proper running shoes just goes to prove that you're a proper runner. Indeedy. Compare with me who ordered hers from Amazon. The prosecution rests.
Have you been out again this week?
If it helps at all there is 1.6Km to the mile - I used to hate converting them ver too when i used to use a treaddie, it comes naturally in the end - i can still do conversions between miles and km either way without really thinking about it.
Well done for sticking it out for so log on a first go - don't do what i did once and get glued into the music tv that was on in the gym. I picked my pace up to match a nice heavy rock anthem aand forgot to up the machine pace subsequently causing me to stamp on the plastic bit at the font end of the belt, trip, jump backward and nearly fall off - didn;t occur to me to hit stop so i could regain balance.
I went out last night to try to find my maximum heart rate with limited sucess. All I know now is it's more than 181. Going to try again next week. I bought a decent heart rate monitor just after Christmas and I'm getting to grips with it. I thought I might have been running too fast on my long runs and it looks like I was. Still a bit of playing to do with it.
There you go, a proper gadget - Does that give me 'proper' runner status?
Personal training? We can only really give you the benefit of our experience and what we have been taught - probably not really anything that you haven't already read. It's always useful just to have someone's opinion though and some encouragement from all of us.
Oh and I went to my local Runners Need this afternoon and looked at some lycra tights but the sun was shining and I've managed through the winter in shorts so I'm not about to start dressing like girl now
Thanks, Katalyah for the conversion tips. Are you pounding the pavements of London this weekend?
When I moved to London in my early 20s, I lost about 3 stones in months without even trying, just because I had to walk everywhere. When i came home for a visit, my brothers didn't even recognise me at first! I now reckon that all Londoners must be fit people.
And poor Tim having to buy that heart rate monitor yourself - didn't Santa get your list?
It's great though that you've learnt something from it already (that you've been running too fast on the longer runs) - shows it was a useful buy, which is always good. And that reminds me to pick up my new ipod. I just need some music ideas to get me round.
Well I managed to get up and do the parkrun today - oh, I must check my result! Ach, the results are not posted yet, but like last week, I ran all the way without stopping. It seemed a bit easier this week and more enjoyable, although I was dreading it. Even after I'd started, the negative thought of turning and walking back to the car re-surfaced, but I kept on. I was sustained for the first km at least because I was running behind a little girl who couldn't have been more than 5 years old! I eventually overtook her but I was amazed that someone so little could run all that way on her little legs. It made me tell myself off for moaning.
The route was quite flooded today and even trying to run at the side of the huge puddles meant running through sodden mud. I would have won a prize for having the muddiest trainers if there had been one going! The river in the park - next to the loch - has burst its banks and looks scarily high. I just hope the rain doesn't keep up or I'll need to take up canoeing!
The parkrun was much more enjoyable than the gym. It's a pity that it's not on during the week as well - or for a variety of distances. That would perhaps motivate me to do my longer runs.
I'm going to do 5 miles after my JogScotland group tomorrow.
How's everyone else shaping up?
I got my result from parkrun - knocked more than 2 minutes off last week (despite all the mud)! I did it in 33 minutes, which is great. It really does help to motivate you, running with everyone else and finding out your results afterwards. It's another week and I'm STILL running. I can't believe it.
Well done!
I ran a slower than usual 10k last night on account of the gales. Most of the time I was running into or side-on to the wind. 5 minutes longer than usual. There were a few trees down in the lanes too so dodging round them in the dark was interesting. I'm not disappointed though as I have a reason for the extra 5mins.
I just run through puddles, you're going to get wet eventually so why waste time trying to skirt round them?
While looking at times is good, it is also helpful to look at names and see how you are doing position wise. So it's really good to knock off 2mins, but even better if you have overtaken someone who usually beats you and great if the top runners have run slower because of the mud.
Then if one week you run a couple of minutes slower you won't be disappointed if the runners who usually finish around the same time as you do have too.
Of course you can become a bit obsessive about it
All I got for Christmas was chocolate and whisky.The chocolate is all gone. I'm waiting for a special occasion to open the whisky.
Can't run at the moment, so all I can think about is running.
Thanks for the encouragement, everyone. Tim, I was going to try and do 5 miles after my JogScotland group - even if I have to stop and walk for a breather. I have been doing 3.75 miles in my mid-week runs anyway, so it's not so much of a step up and it means that I'm following 'The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer' book schedule. It goes up a mile a week on the long runs, then 8 jumps to 10. The mid-week runs on the schedule are 3-4-3 for the next few weeks.
All NewTB - why can't you run? Are you laid up with an injury? Sorry to hear that you can't run, for whatever reason. It must be really frustrating for you.
I will take your advice tomorrow on the puddles, Tim. Some were so deep that I worried about running through them. My trainers are in the washing machine just now (don't worry, they've already been in a couple of times and have been fine), which is a waste of time, I know, as they will get just as muddy tomorrow again! I just didn't want to turn up at my jogging group in them, covered in mud. Everyone else's trainers still look brand new because we still haven't made it off the running track yet. Still, the group's great for motivation. I will definitely keep up the jogscotland group from now on, although I will join a few levels up on the next course.
It's the last few days of the sports direct sale, so I have been on there checking out the bargains. You could do that AllNewTB, if you can't run. I didn't realise at the time what a bargain my trainers were when I bought them (from Amazon). I wish I had bought 2 pairs now at the time. Anyway, I'm going to buy a bigger size this time. Ha, listen to me! This week, I've been in a gym, done my 2nd 5k and I'm spending my spare time looking at running gear
Whatever happened to the couch potato?
And Tim, perhaps you can crack open that Whisky after you finish your sub 2 hour half?
And Tim,
Well done you for going out in a blustery winter's evening, on a Friday night, and running a 10k! That's fantastic.
Today, when I was driving to the parkrun and groaning at the very thought, I passed quite a few people out running and it made me think, "If they can do it, then so can I". I bet you motivated/impressed someone else when they saw you out on your run last night.
I was awake at 7am this morning. I couldn't get back to sleep, wondering whether I should go along to my local running club. I had a look at their website yesterday and emailed one of the coaches, saying that I wanted someone to do longer runs with on a Sunday (but that I'm really slow). He emailed me straight back and encouraged me to come along, saying that various groups met up at 8 or 9am and they usually ran anything from 5-12 miles.
For some reason, I was a nervous wreck, but I needn't have been. I met one of the club members straight away and he was very friendly and chatty, explaining how everything worked, then other people started to arrive and they all introduced themselves, then asked me how far I wanted to run. I said, "four or five miles", and off we went! They took me to a lovely wooded area of the park that I didn't know about and I had done just over four and a half miles before I knew it! The time flew past and the people were great. And best of all, they didn't laugh that I had entered the marathon. In fact, the first guy I met said he had done exactly the same thing, in the same timescale as I had, and that's what led him to join the club years ago. And he finished.
After that run, I had half an hour before my jogScotland group, so I nipped home for some toast. Even after my earlier run, I still felt really fit and fresh the whole way through and even had to keep running back to the end of the group because everyone else was getting puffed out. I can't believe it! When I signed up for the group in January, I wouldn't have thought I'd been capable of doing all that.
This has been a great end to the week because I was really dreading the parkrun and the longer run, yet I did both (even in the pouring rain today) and I feel great for it. I hope that next week is as good.
And I hope that everyone else (sorry TB!) is out there, having great runs? Or at least doing them then feeling all the better for it afterwards.
Glad the running group went well for you, sounds like it gave you a real boast
Dragged myself out for a 3.5 mile run on saturday - was feeling very down so really wasn't in the mood - but my mileage total was at just over 12 and i'd promised myself a pressieif i could hit 15!
Having a funning few days with my relationship with running, not got the excited buzz at the moment and the thirst for knowledge that i had. Ainging to do 3 4.75 runs next week. I have half a mind to enter a 5 mile race on 6th march and a 10km at the begining of april - not sure though need to get my head straight again (there is a slight temptation to look to a half marathon in oct or nov.
Katalyah, I know what you mean - right now, this is all still a novelty for me, including the reading up about it, finding the club, mapping the routes through the Good Run Guide, keeping a log etc. but even I have felt a bit "flat" at times and needed to push myself out of the door. I really think though that just trying to run on your own ALL the time isn't as good as pitting yourself in amongst the other runners at your local parkrun, or joining a jogging group (like I have).
Is there a parkrun near you that you could take part in on a Saturday morning? Have you had a look for a running club? They're not all elitist like I suspected them to be. It's just an idea. You could dip in and out of running with other people as little or as often as you liked, but it might give you a different dimension to it.
Maybe you should enter ALL of those races (if you can afford to).
And tell me all about your runs on here. It would help me to hear how you're feeling (I know too well that feeling of having to "drag yourself" out). I imagine everyone else completely loving running from the moment they set off. I only tend to love it just as I'm nearly finished! I dread it before and moan during, especially for the first mile or so.
That's a great idea to reward yourself with a pressie for reaching your mileage goal. Hope it was worth all that effort!
I've been eating so much since I started running. Im sure I'm going to end up overweight at this rate.
Tomorrow is a rest day for me. When are you running next?
My next run is tomorrow - today has been a rest day.
There is a local park run, at the same place as the 5 mile actually, may try it. Can't do this sat as i'm back at my parents for the weekend visiting friends and family, may do the next one though.
the pressie will be well worth it, a much wanted wardrobe addition, just want to lose a little more weight before i buy it (trying to get back to the smae size/ shape i was a couple of years back went fit and toned)
I have to say i am fining this thread very helpful, reading about how well you've come along often works as good motivation for me
Hoping i get my copy of the mag soon, subscribed on the 26th jan and am still waiting.
Katalyah, You will probably get your mag this week because Runners World do read the forum! As soon as I put the bit in this thread about not getting my subscription number, despite emailing them, I suddenly got it emailed to me (perhaps just a coincidence, but they posted my original post in the mag too).
And I'm sure there will be a parkrun back home, so there's no excuse for not going! Perhaps you could drag one of your friends or family out to do it with you? Have a look on the website (let me know if you need a link to it). Seriously, I know it might not be possible if you're going back home for the weekend.
I remember when I lived in London and used to go home for visits - it's really tiring because you feel like you have to see everyone and you hardly get a minute to yourself (as well as the travelling there and back). I used to feel quite down when I went back to London too. I felt a bit torn between two places. Sometimes, living in London can be a bit lonely, but it's great in many ways too, for broadening your horizons and finding out about yourself. Maybe your experience is totally different though.
I found it very helpful when you wrote about how you were getting on, especially as we started running at the same time. So come on, let's keep at it!
Your experience sound quite similar to mine - i miss living where i used to, the country side, fields, quietness etc. I moved here for two reasons, a huge step up in career and to be with my other half who lived here.
I'd love to be able to do a park run back home, however one of my plans is to meet up with all my friends from my old work (i'd been working there 9 years when i left) and having a drink or two (read as drink until our eye balls roll out) so something tells me 9am on the saturday just isn't going to happen
I'm aiming for a 4.75 for my run tomorrow - it's three laps around the outside of my local park - even if i end up walking a bit, thats the distance i wan't to do.
How about you, any goal for the next run?
(we may not be able to be running buddies in person, so it'd just have to be virtual
)
My next run is Tuesday. Probably my usual 3.75 miles with the dog. I feel really guilty that he's not been out with me this weekend because he's loved the runs, though there are loads of dogs at my local parkrun, so I might take him next week.
My plan for next week is 3.75 Tues and Thursday, the 3 mile parkrun on Saturday and 5 or 6 miles on Sunday. The trouble with this schedule is that I feel that I'm hardly doing anything during the week. Maybe I should go out on the Wednesday as well? It just seems quite "bare" in the week and a busy weekend.
I know what you mean about drinking. I like to drink wine at the weekend. This weekend, I didn't go out. I just stayed in and drank wine on my own much earlier! Then had an early night. I'm wondering how long I can keep that up? If I have to stick to the training plan, then I can't really have another night out clubbing until June!
Our experiences of London do sound similar - I moved there with my job and met my husband there. I ended up doing a degree in London too. Enjoy the experience. It's great for "character building". Seriously, you can do what you like and your house can even be a pigsty and no-one from back home will ever know (they usually give you at least a week's notice of a visit), so you have plenty of time for hobbies like running. There's a lot of advantages about being miles from home!
I'll be thinking of you tomorrow, doing your running. Let me know how you get on.
I just wanted to say congratulations on what you have done so far!!! I think you are some sort of warrior woman! I have been running for 7 months now and it took me a good 3 before I could run for 30 minutes straight! I think its amazing that you managed to do it in 3 weeks! You have got some determination girl.
I'm currently training for a 10k in march and was worried because I only had 8 weeks to train! But seeing your thread has filled me with confidence that its possible! If you can go from no running to a marathon I can definitely go from 5k to 10k! Anyways I look forward to hearing about you crossing the finish line! So good luck and stay strong!
Faith, you are well-named! Thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement. It made me laugh to hear myself described as some sort of "warrior woman"
I'll try to use that visualisation the next time I feel like giving up before I've even run the first mile.
And of course you can do that 10k in March - piece of cake.
Remember to keep on letting us know how you're doing. At the very least, tell us how the race went.
Thanks again, Faith.
Changed my palns for tonight slightly.
I am determined to do 4.75 miles, even if i have to crawl to finish, but what i'd really like is to do 5.5miles - there is a little side road about 2 thirds of the way around the lap i do, if i nip down there and use it as a 'turning point' and double back i can extend the run to a 5.5 (it's the approach i've been using to increase so far with out feeling like i'm doing a shole extra lap - tricking the brain).
Not sure teh 5.5 is realistic, but my legs got rested yesterday so never know... I'll see what they are like when i get to the turning poing, if ok then i'll do the 5.5 if tiring a lot then i'll carry in finish teh lap and it'll be a 4.75. 'tis the plan.