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Couch Potato to Marathon in 18 weeks?
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5.43 miles in 57 mins
no walking - and i can still walk now i've finished 
feeling very accomplished, and very knackered and fairly certain tomorrow my walk will be somewhat comical
Felt very good, which was odd. Settled straight away in to a comfortable (although slow rhythm) and stayed comfortable all the way through. Even stranger, for the last mile i found myself straightening up and speeding up, feeling like a real runner - it just happened spontaneously, wierd but good.
Would like it more if my pace was sub 10 min mile but for my very first 5 mile + run i'll happily take the 10:29 managed.
Now for food.
Looks like all is going really well Katalyah. A few weeks more and you'll be doing a sub 1hr 10K!
Lazeegirl, joining the club was a really good step, both for marale and for guidance. You'll need it when you get to those really long runs.
I decided after Friday night to take a break on Sunday and feel much better for it.
Well done, Katalyah! I knew you'd do it, once you'd put it on here.
Tim's right, April's AGES away - you'll do that 10k in well under an hour. Good for you. And you'll be able to buy yourself a slinky number to put on your fab new figure come the warmer days.
Nice to have you back, Tim, after your well-earned rest. What are your plans for this week?
I've got my first run of the week tomorrow. My training schedule is saying only 3 miles and they caution against doing any more. I usually do nearer 4 miles, because that's a full loop of my local park. I'm not sure whether to try for 5 or just try and do the 3 a bit faster. Now that I've got accustomed to running really slowly - 12 min mile - I start to feel a bit worried ("will I make the distance?") if I go any faster. Should I be amining to stick to that slower pace for the whole schedule? Or should I be trying to get faster? Any tips would be great.
Rest for you tomorrow, Katalyah! Well done again.
Thanks.
Whats the date for your marathon again? I think if it was me i'd be going for distance - build up endurance to feel more comfortable at doing long distances - then go for speed as a bonus if there is time and feel able.
If you do want to do a short faster one then perhaps you could try to aim for three at a quicker pace, then you have the wiggle room if you feel to exhausted to do a nice 1 mile walk as a cool down, or carry on abit if your body feels you can do the whole thing quicker?
I would do the 4 and as fast as you are comfortable with. Start speeding up to see what you are comfortable with.
Katlayah's right. First mile slow and last three faster.
It's the long ones when you're extending your distance and not experienced with that you should be doing slowly.
Mixing the paces is important.
For example this week I'll do a 4mile on Wednesday at 8m30s/mile but will hopefully include some intervals, a 6.25mile on Friday at 9m/mile and a 15mile on Sunday at 10m/mile.
When I was a beginner I was advised by a sports physio not to start any form of speed training until I'd been running for a year or had 300 miles banked. Speed training is very tough on your joints and ligaments. Nothing wrong with running one of your shorter runs at a slighter faster pace than your easy pace, but I wouldn't recommend going all out for speed training at this stage.
I'm so happy to have read this thread through - I really love when people bite off (almost) more than they can chew, then start chewing like mad until they succeed!
It sounds like you're already reaping the rewards of setting yourself this challenge, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who is looking forward to seeing your progression towards May.
Everyone is right by the way, whilst it's important to vary the speed and build strength, increase efficiency, etc, it might be wiser in terms of injury to focus more on your endurance running than speedwork - If I get bored I tend to concentrate on practising good form whilst running? You'll probably speed up a bit naturally as a result.
Sorry, my answer wasn't that clear. I'm not recommending interval sessions any more than I'm recommending a 15mile run
Just running your shorter runs a bit quicker will be no different than seeing how fast you can run your 5k park run. However it's important to remember not to treat every session as a race and probably not a good idea to race flat out every week.
I think the suggestion of the 12min/mile as target was because that will give you the best chance of getting you round the marathon within the 6.5hour limit assuming you'll probably have to walk the last bit. It's not set in stone.
The best thing is for someone at your club to run with you and advise whether they think you are running too slowly or too quickly.
Also, has been said, the more you run, the fitter you get and the easier it becomes to run faster. Which is pretty obvious when you think about it, but often overlooked.
Thanks for clearing that up, Tim. At the running club, the group I ran with were all in their 60s and I decided to stay with the slowest member of the group. The others' pace was a bit fast for me to begin with and hers just a bit slow, so I was somewhere in between (a bunch of fit 60 year olds!). I'm not that bothered about the pace. As you say, I just want to be able to run at an edurance pace that will get me round the marathon before the shut off point, so what you all say has reassured me. I'm sure I will get a bit faster the fitter I become.
Hello Nic. Thanks for your words of encouragement (always lovely to hear) and for your advice. I do sometimes notices my running form, but usually only if something starts to ache or I'm feeling really fatigued, then I try to mix it up a bit by running differently or at a different pace.
Today I ran for about 6 miles in about 65 minutes. I had only planned to do 4 or 5 miles (it's supposed to be 3 according to my schedule), but I was enjoying myself so much that I didn't want to stop.
I even put in a couple of short sprints towards the end, just for the fun of it. It was a beautiful morning and, once I got going, it felt great to be outside in the cool air.
The only worrying thing is how addictive running is! Days like today feel great when I'm out there, but now, on the rest days, I feel a bit listless and "flat" as though I don't know what to do with myself. This is funny. If only I could go back in time to the start of January and show myself this post.
One of these days, Tim, I'm going to post that I've done a 15 mile training run too. I always said that if I could run 3 miles, I could run X amount of miles...I'm sure it's perserverance (steady training, a week at a time) that gets you there.
I had to "google" 'perseverance' there to check I was spelling it correctly and came across this quote:
'Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. ' How apt!
Well done on teh 6 miles! thats great
What are peoples plan for today - run / rest/ other?
I'm going to aim for either the same route i did on monday or a 6 mile - then i'm going to drop back to a 4.75 tomorrow and take the weekend off as i'm away (maybe squeze in a quick 2 mile on sunday depending on when i drive back down).
Trying to aim to keep my weekly total at 15 or above each week now that i've hit that mile stone
Yesterday was a rest but ended up going for a walk and was out for about and hour and twenty.
Thanks Katalyah, but I suffered for that 6 miler later. My marathon training book cautioned against doing too much, even if you felt fine, but of course I didn't listen! Last night, my knees were puffy and my hips and ankles ached. Serves me right!
I'm just back from an enforced walk. I was going to take the dog for a short walk and let him run around off lead, but he had disappeared from the back garden before the walk, so I spent ages trudging the streets looking for him, then driving around looking for him, only to find him sitiing on the doorstep when I got back.
The pest!
Tomorrow, I need to take my car to the garage in the morning. I was thinking of measuring the route and running back home from there. It's a few miles (just not sure how many). But I won't be trying to do more than 4 again before Sunday now.
I hope your run later goes well. Let us know! And good for you, aiming to stay at a minimum of 15 miles. I'm not sure how many I'm doing a week, but I've been logging my runs on the Good Run Guide, so that will tell me.
Keep up the good work.
I love this thread. Lazeegirl I think you should change your name now to not so lazeegirl. When I first started running (about 4 stone overweight), my first run was probably less than half a mile - it ended at the shop where I bought some chocolate and then I walked home and ate it. In 2009 I ran my first marathon and I'm training for the London marathon this year. I always think that if I can do it anyone can.
Hope all is OK.
I took the whole week off from running and started back today with a 15mile LSR.
Felt much better for the rest.
Hello Everyone,
Thank you so much for your kind comments while I've been away from the forum. I haven't given up! A relative needed me on Thursday (had to take her to hospital and stuff, but she's doing okay), so it muddled up my training a bit. I had planned to do a 3 miler on Thursday after putting my car into the garage, but I couldn't because of the family stuff. It was such a beautiful day too and I wanted to be out running. I had to wait until Friday instead, when - I think, seems so long ago now! - it was a bit more damp and dull and I wasn't feeling so much like running. That's usually my day off, but I did 4 miles.
Then on Saturday, that's the day I've been doing the 3 mile parkrun, but because I hadn't been able to get out on Thursday and had a bit of a rubbish run on Friday, I started to panic that everything was going a bit "up the swanny" (wrong), so I decided to forget the parkrun and just run by myself for longer and ended up doing 8 miles. I did nip to the toilet and walk here or there, but it was still a bit of a trek, for me. It felt doable though.
I remember that a few years back, before she died, I took my granny out on for a run in the car - she was 82 then - and we began to stroll around the loch (which just under 4 miles, by the shortest route). I had only intended to walk for 10 minutes then go back to the caqr, but she had other ideas and walked me right round. I was knackered before we even got half way. Imagine that, an 82 year old was much fitter than me a few years ago! So it seemed utterly remarkable that I was heading around that same loch on Saturday for a second time, and running a lot of the way.
Anyway, a couple of hours after my 8 miler, my legs started to really ache. I think I made it worse by wearing high heels afterwards.
I was going to take today off to rest. I didn't go to the running club or even the jogging group (which I could probably still have managed). I was determined not to do anything, but then my auntie texted to ask me to "go for a walk". I ended up going for 5 or 6 miles and by the end, I was limping back.
Tomorrow, I will definitely be resting. I have done about 18 miles running this week (not including the walking), which is a bit ahead of my training schedule. Can you believe THAT? I can't.
When I was in the park on Saturday morning, wondering how far to push myself on, I debated with myself that my original goal was ridiculous, that 26.2 miles is a huge hurdle that I'm just not yet capable of; but on the other hand, I'll just see if I can do 8 miles...
It didn't matter that I walked some of the way on the second lap. I had to walk some of the way when I first started to do the 4 miles and I gradually kept going until I was able to run it. I also think maybe my pace has increased a bit. It's a battle to slow down and endure the distance. I've decided not to beat myself up if I walk, but just to keep going regardless. I think that's the kind of mindset you need for a marathon.
Thanks again for the messages. They were a great boost. Hope you are all doing okay? Glad you rested than came back with a vengeance, Tim.
Well, Katalyah, did you run when you got back? But more importantly, how did the weekend back home go?
(Not so) Lazeegirl.
xxx
Just spent the last hour and a half reading this thread, so inspirational. I will follow you to the finish line in May Lazeegirl! I started running in October, i could only run 10 mins. So fair enough I only a few months ahaead of you but alot of what you are writing about makes so much sense to me. I'm running the Edinburgh Marathon in May as well. I entered it in October and I haven't looked back. I am the same as you as I need this massive goal to spur me along and reading/watching marathons in the past has always made me feel so emotional.
I have been trying for 4 runs a week which has been going ok. Although not this week, as I got drunk mid week, oops! And I've been moving flats. So only been out three times, but I did run 9.6 miles today in 1hr 42 mins, longest yet and pretty chuffed with it. Although I became a bit shivvery about 2 hours afterwards, anyone know why this might be. It was as if i was coming down with something, feeling a wee bit better now though!
Well done on the 8 miles, thats what i done last week! I've signed up for the marathon workshop on 13th March, hopefully i'll get some tips from that.
If anything starts hurting badly go and see your doctor and get it checked out, far better to be told it's nothing to worry about than to carry on and risk a stress fracture or similar that will take weeks to recover from... A few days rest now may save weeks off with injury later !
Lisa
Hi Casslass, nice to "meet" you and glad you have found this thread inspriational. It's the support from this forum that inspires me: everyone has been so helpful, from the first response to my first post until now (even those earlier "naysayers" were trying to help). This is a brilliant site, making the journey into running a lot less lonely. And thanks for mentioning that Edinburgh marathon workshop - I don't remember reading about that (I haven't really read their emails too closely). Am I too late to sign up for it? What does it involve?
Well done on your running. Join in and share your stories of your runs here, if you like. It's great for me and others (as you've found yourself), to read about other people's experiences and to be able to relate to them. And it's great to know that you will be at Edinburgh too.
Lisa, you are absolutely right about the risk of overuse injuries. It's my own fault that I was limping after the walk - I shouldn't have gone. I should have rested after jumping up to 8 miles (after doing 6 for the first time at the start of the week). I should only be doing one long run a week and taking a day off afterwards to recover, in order to allow my (whatsitcalled) skeleto-muscular system(?) time to adapt to the extra work. If, after resting, I haven't recovered, then I will get it checked out, but I think I just need a day off running (and walking for miles through the countryside). My training schedule cautions against doing too much too soon, but of course, I didn't heed the advice!
I will be wearing slippers for most of today
Before I noticed that there had been replies on here this morning, I saw the email from the Edinburgh marathon saying, '13 weeks to go' and began to panic! It seems like such a short time away. I thought I had made a mistake and was actually way behind in my training schedule. I've checked and double checked and thankfully, I'm still on course. I was so glad to read on here that Casslass isn't too far ahead of me in her training either, but it's really made me realise how precarious my timeframe for training for a marathon is! Anything could happen in the next three months to scupper my plans -
getting drunk I can still do, but moving flats might have furnished me with enough of an excuse to scrap the whole idea..what about getting sick, or..the house bunring down..or, I don't know, I lack imagination this early in the day, but you get what I mean?!
This is what starts to happen if I think about the marathon - I worry that I can't do it, that my usual procrastination habits will set in to stop me. The only way to conquer that is not tho think about attempting 26.2 miles on a certain date. Just to concentrate on each running day at a time. My next one is tomorrow.
When's yours?
casslass - I get shivery after runs too. I basically have to jump straight into a hot shower and then dress in something warm and have a cup of tea, otherwise I start to feel like my bones are starting to get cold. Not sure why it is, but wanted to let you know you're not alone.
Sorry for the thread hijack
Good advice, Josie (and no apologies needed here!). I usually have a shower after my runs too - because I'm splattered in mud - and have a hot drink or soup, maybe that's why I haven't had the shivery experience yet either, but I did feel really cold the day I went from the run with the running club almost straight to the jogScotland group. I had half an hour or so to spare between both (so no time for a shower).
On the subject of temperature, I've been thinking how lucky I am to have started running in winter because it's easy to wear a few layers, warm up and then peel off a light jacket at a time. However, I had a look at the Edinburgh marathon thread on here and people who have run it in the past were discussing their sunburn! I had heard that the Edinburgh marathon temperatures the last few years were high. This has made me try to keep on the layers as long as possible when I'm running. Maybe I shouldn't worry about that for a while yet though? When I did my 8 miler on Sunday, it felt great to be able to get cooler the longer I ran. There will be no chance of that on marathon day.
I'm pleased to say that my legs feel much better today after a rest (touch wood) so I'm hoping that my knees will be okay on my run in the morning,
Katalyah must have had a great weekend - she still hasn't resurfaced!
And what about you, Tim - are you going to skip those skimpy short runs this week again and just go for the one long run?
Hi there
Wow 8 miles - very jealous.
Unfortunatly my training/ diet has gone a bit off track the last few days. Had a great time with family and friends over the weekend but this was tempered by some bad news on saturday which has knocked the wind out of me somewhat (a friend in london died on friday morning - he was only 30). It was going to be a weekend of over indulgence anyway, just got turned up a notch. Other than the bad news though it was really fun and idon't think i had realised how much i missed the guys back home and needed to go back for a few days.
I didn't go out on sunday as was full of mums roast dinner and all i wanted to do was sleep when i got home, and yesterday by the time it was run time I had a headache - so tonight i need to make up for not running on monday and get myself back on track - and sort the diet out again too. I have 5 weeks until i go on holiday for a week and want to loose about 10lb between now and then.
Coming back onto this thread seems to have started poking at the switch in my brain - lets hope it flicks it fully for tonight. I'm tempted to go for a long slow one and then hope i still have some energy in my legs to do another shorter one on weds then again of thurs - hate bunching my runs up but i really want to do my 15 miles a week, not sure if i will get a chance at the weekend.
Hope your knees feel better for your run
Hiya Katalyah, so sorry to hear about your friend. It's always terrible to hear of someone dying so young. Glad to hear you still managed to have a good time back home and got some good home cooking into you as well. You will probably be like Tim and come back even fitter after your little rest.
I've just ordered another pair of trainers and some more running gear from sports direct this morning. I've had the stuff in the (virtual) shopping basket for over a week, wondering whether I really need it, but going out in all weathers at least 4 times a week, I've realised I do need a few changes of running gear (the stuff I have now is always in the washing and starting to look a bit worn already).
I did just under 4 miles this morning (3.9) in 44 mins. It was just a steady one. A woman gave me a round of applause as I neared a hill, which was nice, and a man I'd seen a couple of times when I did my 8 miles on Saturday shouted, "You'll not be happy until you've run a marathon" at me as I ran past. That made me laugh. He was so right!
It's been nice, seeing regular faces on my usual route around the country park. They have all started saying, "Hello" when they see me. I now park the car in a spot which allows me to tackle the hills on the run early on, rather than at the end when I'm tired. This is probably cheating a bit, but it makes the run seem easier. And the 4 miles are starting to seem quite effortless, like a short stroll might have at one time. It would be easy to get complacent and not push yourself on, without a goal in mind. The marathon date means that you have to do at least one increasingly long run a week. That's a good thing for me, otherwise, I'd do as little as possible, or worse, just give up altogether.
My legs are feeling fine now - until my long run at the weekend, probably!
'Hope your run goes well tonight, Katalyah.
That sounds really nice getting a round of applause.
Certainly shows your improving in leaps and bounds hearing you talk of a 4 miler as seeming quite effortless
Managed a 7.3mile this evening with no walking (73mins) I seem to have nailed the 10min/mile pace - doesn't seem to matter how far i run if it's over 4 miles it'll be a 10min/mile
did have internal shouting at myself though. My legs felt like lead for the first 3 miles and was really struggling to keep moving wasn't until the 5th that i started to loosen up a bit (i'd walked about a mile as a warm up - thats my walk home from the tube station)
Kackered now.
Katalyah - well done on a great run - at night, after work too. I don't know how you can be bothered! I'm sure I wouldn't have the energy at the end of the day to run, but I suppose in a way, it would be a good way to end the day and get you tired out for bed.
I had to 'google' the 'Royal Parks Half Marathon' there to find out what you were entering, and when. It looks great. I hope that you manage to get a place.
I'm wondering whether to try for a longer run on Thursday. I'm the kind of person who likes to complete tasks as soon as I can - and I'm worried about leaving the long run until the end of the week: what if something crops up and I can't go out and do it at the weekend? And the park is so busy at weekends that it's harder to run it uninterrupted...I think I need to stop fretting about this so much. The goal of the marathon is a great incentive to keep going, but on the other hand, the pressure of the training schedule (or how tight the timescale is) could put me off the enjoyment of running altogether. I need to try and find a balance between the two.
Oh and how do you get a photo on your profile on here? I tried for ages to resize mine, but it was still too big (cropping and resizing didn't change the kb size much), then I used an online file resizer/compressor thing and got the same photo down to 3KB, so it's not telling me that the photo is too big now, but it's still not showing the photo either. I've tried to upload it several times. What am I doing wrong? Any tips? And I wanted a photo of me running (like 'parkrunfan'), but I don't have any (obviously!) so a dodgy headshot is all I've got (and Josie, Lisa, Katalyah etc - all looking so glam on here too).
"at night, after work too. I don't know how you can be bothered! I'm sure I wouldn't have the energy at the end of the day to run, but I suppose in a way, it would be a good way to end the day and get you tired out for bed"
I'm awful at morning runs - the key is not to let bum touch sofa before going out
Not sure how i resized the pic in the end - i think i ran it through a photo editor programme, it was a poor quality phone shot anyway so fairly small, did take several attempts to get it done.
I'd say go out on thursday and enjoy it, if you feel like doing a long one then great, just enjoy it - it won't hurt your training to take one for you and just enjoy - after all you will still be doing some running
Just think of the extra enjoyment when youv'e done this marathon - you'll be well on your way in some very good training and can pick and choose events that you fancy doing knowing that you can do them
You all look like you're getting on with it nicely.
Me? I need to work on my speed now. 4miles tonight @ 9m/m. If I can keep that up for 2 hours I'll be fine - We'll see
.