Newbie Runner

Hi All, I am a newbie here so please be gentle with me! 

I am just starting out on my running journey, only previous experience was running / jogging 5k which I did on a treadmill and thinking back i never really clocked my times or any improvements.  

Since then my fitness has extended to regular step and spin classes but never really much running.  

I have signed up to the Great Manchester Run in 2014 - 10k.  I also want to attempt a half marathon in the September / October time. 

Yesterday I went to Sweatshop and got fitted for a proper pair of running shoes as my trainers are a tad too small and have a tendenciy to make my feet go numb. 

First run tonight - either on the roads or at the gym on the treadmill.  I have set up an Asics plan although it says not to start until December, so until them I am just going to do interval Run / Walk training to try and up my staminar.  I then may redo my plan if my ability increases at all.  

Have read through a few diaries on here and found them so interesting and motivating especially Booktrunk's diary, that I thought i would keep my own diary to hopefully see how my progress improves. 

If anyone has any tips I would be very gratefull to learn from your experience. 

xxx

 

 

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Comments

  • Good luck!

    Take it slow and steady. I think we should create a standard post that we can take turns copying and pasting to all newcomers.

    1: Go Slow

    2: Don't go out more then 3 times a week to begin with ... .etc... image

    It's common sense, and you know what not to do as you read about all my early mistakes image Going to quck etc.... It really is a case of taking it steady to get used to it.  

    As much as anything it's also getting you in the habit of getting you used to sayng ok it's x time so i'm going out running, and before you know it your little jogs are part of your plan and your a runner.

    When you are comfortable doing 5 or 10k enter a few runs, it's infectious and once you start running around others, you want to do it more. 

    I waited until my marathon. So it was all exciting and scary and new.  With hindsight it would have been much better having got a few runs out of the way, because I now know that in some races you need to be careful of the scrum at the start, which is pretty meaningless anyway if you have chip timing (as long as it works).

    Us runners are a funny lot, we grumble a lot on forums, but get us in a group out running and we become the most friendly bunch in the world. Even if you want to stick your head down and plough on it's quite hard, there is quite often someone chatting away when you are desperatly clawing for breath to keep going image

  • Thank you booktrunk, all advice taken on board.  Glad you said go slow - think thats all i am capable of at the moment!!

    Just ordered a Garmin watch, love stats and targets so hopefully that will pay dividend.  Its hammering down where i am, so am going to run at the gym tonight.  Off to Lake Windermere at the weekend (and hopefully garmin will have arrived then) so i am hoping to do a short run/walk alongside the lake, make the most of views whilst i have them...cant see nice views being a regular occurance in the West Midlands!!image

  • Morning all, treadmill at the gym beckoned last night...only for a little while though!!

    The first run on my Asics plan is not till the 18th of November, so I decided to use the pace they specified for that run (9.46min/km) and just see how i went.  The first run is for 0.8km / 7.49 mins at that speed (i know that is only a warm up for you seasoned runners but for me that is a lot!!).  

    Thought I would be able to manage a minute or two at most but managed to do the whole 7.49 mins.  I then reduced the pace and walked for about 3 mins and then jogged at the 9.46min/km pace again for about another 3 mins.  

    Including a little walk to warm up and cool down it was about 25mins on the treadmill and I really enjoyed it.  Didnt feel like I had to sacrifice any home time to do it and in turn am looking forward to the next run. 

    This morning I dont hurt at all, normally i get bad heel pain the morning after step classes but it appears my slow job hasnt aggrivated this!.  

    Step class tonight tempted to do another bit on the treadmill before but am mindful of the 'take it slow' advice from booktrunk.  Think i will leave and possibly do another go on Thursday.  

     

  • Hi there, i am just turned 28, qutie overweight at the moment, 1.5stone down so far and looking forward to getting the rest off...hopefull taking up running should contribute to that!  

     

  • Well done on starting out.. very good advise from Booktrunk.

    most important is to enjoy your runs. To much tech and homework can sometimes turn it into to much and then it become a chore.. have fun and go slow. Listen to your body and better times will just follow...
  • Good luck with it all, I'm a newbie at this too but I haven't got to the stage of entering any events yet, just getting a steady pace and being able to run 3k in one go is my current aim.
  • Thanks for the encouragement.  More step classes this week which works me hard (875 calories per class).  Away at the weeeknd and packing trainers and running kit so will be taking in a run whilst I am there.  

  • Hi All, lovely weekend away, a little bit of jogging but nothing major.  Tonight i am doing a few laps of local park - it is exactly a mile per lap so will see how far i can make it on the first lapp without stopping.  

    Step teacher is away for 2 weeks now (and never like the ones who cover) so am going to use the time when I would normally do a class to do more running / jogging sessions.  Going to aim for all outside at the park aswell as I am only really used to treadmill running.  

    Garmin has arrived so will be able to track times etc.  

    Inspired by the runners yesterday in Birmingham I have signed up for the Birmingham Half next October, I said I wanted to do a half and at least having signed up for it already means there is no reason why I shouldnt be prepared. 

    Ran my details through a My Asics training plan and it said not to start training until January 2014, so the plan is to just build up using the 10k training plan until that race (May 2014) and then once the 10k is complete, use that time to generate another training plan for the half.  That still gives me 5 months to go from 6 miles to 13.....gosh that actually doesnt sound like alot when i say (type!) it outloud....perhaps I will need to see if my distance can go further before the 10k run. 

     

  • Enjoyed running (well jogging) last night even if it did start to throw it down just as i got to the park!

    Started off quite fast as was running with my friend and told her that i would not be able to keep up that pace and continue to run.  We slowed down but ran pretty much the whole way round (1 mile) with only 1 stop at the half mile point for about 100yards of walking.  

    Took 17mins to do the mile which according to asics means my KM pace was 10.33, down from 11.36 last time (although i think this included a longer walking section). 

    Hadnt charged garmin so couldnt use that, going to aim next time (Wednesday) to start off steadier but maintain pace all the way around and do the 1 mile without stopping.  Charging garmin as we speak so will use the pacer functionality to set the pace.  

    Have agreed with friend to run twice a week and build ourselves up.  The Asics plans dont say to start anything until end of november even for the 10k race, but I cant see the point in sitting on my bum until then. 

    Not going to go mad and going to try to build up staminar and distance before worrying too much about pace.  I fugre as my general fitness increases and more weight is lost, the pace should naturally pick itself up.  

    Really excited to get out there again on Wednesday and hopefully get the whole way round the park without stopping.  Got to figure out what pace to set it at now!

  • just ploted route and time on Bupa Site and it has showed it as 1.1 miles with the time meaning 15.27min miles rather than 17mins!

    Look at that...90seconds quicker !!!!!!image

  • Well done, image  and going in the rain too, I'm too lazy for that, it starts raining I stay indoors image

  • It was quite nice once we got going...almost refreshing.  However the joy was replaced when i got lapped by a stupidly quick runner!!!image

  • Don't worry about it Watto image It happens to lots of us.

    Mind you in the last couple of months i've overtaken a few people, and it does feel rather great image *blush*

  • get you booktrunk!! image

    Got my garmini sorted now, had an issue with the virtual pacer but all sorted.  Set up for 14.55min miles so will be wearing that tonight and clocking what we do.  The aim for tonight is to start of slower than we did on Monday but maintain that pace all the way around. 

    Also going to warm up, we didnt do this on Monday either (i know i know...rookie mistake!!) and about 5 mins in my calfs were burning!!  Going to walk from my friends house to the park which is prob about 10 mins and then jog once we get to the park. 

    Will do another lap as a walk to cool down. 

    Really looking forward to it, as silly as that sounds!  

    New shoes should be delivered by the weekend (got measured at sweatshop but they had to order the ones i wanted in as they didnt have the colour i wanted in stock!) so will be going over there at somepoint.  Hopefully I will just go and pick them up and not spend any more money!!  Cant wait to use them as I think i will feel a big difference.  

  • Fab run tonight....1 mile without stopping and a decent warm up / cool down.

    loved having my garmin there to spur me on with pacer and also just being able to see all the info!

    planned to have another run on Saturday with the aim of a longer warm up walk (1mile) then a mile jog, a mile walk and then attempt another mile jog. due to the steady pace from the off -once we had done our mile today we didn't feel that bad and therefore thought with a walk to catch breath and steady heart etc would mean we might be able to do another jog.

    felt such a sense of satisfaction tonight...I can only imagine what u proper runners feel like!!,

  • Watto:  Well done that sounds a great run.  I got my garmin very early in my running and loved it.  Now that I have been running for a while i'm a lot better at juding my pack without the garmin, I went through a stage where I was worryng that I was relying to much on my Garmin, but I think it was awesome for helping me.  With experence comes the ability to be reasnably accurate with your pace, but as a newbie I was all over the place before Garmin.

    But you cannot really say to a newbie buy a £100 watch to go running with but it is great.

     

    EDIT: As well for me it was a bit like.. well you've spent x amount on your bloody watch so you cannot waste that money so you have to keep running.

  • im very much a facts and figures girl....love a spreadsheet and being able to see increase in achievements and boy did I see that today!!!

    1mile walk to warm up, then 1 mile jog at over a minute a mile  quicker than Wednesday (14.16mile), then half a mile walk and another mile jog ....slightly slower at 15.02 but still absolutely chuffed with the progress!

    am loving this running (well jogging for me) lark!! Love the tired feeling in my legs and also the changes I can already see in my squishy body!!!

    garmin was again fantastic and messing with that whilst running almost took my mind off what I am doing!!

    first session with pt tomorrow (bf bought me a course as bday pressure) hoping he will help me to loose more weight, tone up and increase my fitness levels and speed whilst running.

    plan is to run again on Monday and unsure weather to try to push the distance of continuos running to a mile and a half or just consolidate for a week and keep to the mile and push for further next week? I don't want to get ahead of myself by trying to do too much too soon!

  • Ps I know what you mean booktrunk, 100 quid on new shoes and 75£ on my garmin....not cheap this running lark!

  • XX1XX1 ✭✭✭

    You've got the shoes and the watch...  Now you just need to focus on good form...  The Garmins are great, what model do you have?  I also love stats and MS Excel...  Let me know if (a) you'd like any training log ideas, and (b) if you have any good training log ideas image

  • I bought the garmin forerunner 10, nice entry level price and has the virtual pacer functionality which was really important to me as I have absolutely no sense of what pace i am doing at the moment!!  Booktrunk mentioned she can now tell herself so I hope this is something I come to get a feel for!

    at the moment I just have a simple spreadsheet set up to log distance, times and splits. As time goes on I want to figure out a way of logging hills etc!

    is there anything I am missing you can think?!

  • What ho Watto!

    Congratultaions on starting this running lark, am sure (like booktrunk) you'll be running ultras in a yearimage

    Am enjoying the enthusiasm in your 'blog' and looks like your already taking big steps along the fitness roadimage

    A tip you may want for your spreadsheet is to log the mileage against your shoes, it's easy to add it up when you only have 1 pair but I have 5 pairs I regularly run in (you will collect them) and the spreadsheet reminds me when I've reached the (supposed) 500 mile limit image

     

  • XX1XX1 ✭✭✭

    In summary, I log Date, Distance (km), Duration (of run), Steps, Pre-Run Weight, Run Type (EZ, Intervals, LSD, etc), Running Shoes...  I then have calculated columns for BMI, Gross Calorie Burn, Net Calorie Burn, Average Cadence, Average Stride Length, Average Pace /km, Average Speed kph, Distance (mi), Average Pace /mi, Average Speed mph... I have a Notes column for details of Intervals, etc...  I have other sheets for Totals Per Year, Totals Per Month, and Totals Per Week.

    What splits do you log?  And what details of hills do you want to log?

  • XX1XX1 ✭✭✭

    Oh, I also have an Analysis worksheet...  It has columns for Analysis Type, Analysis Value 1, and Analysis Value 2...  I can put a column heading from my Log worksheet (such as Running Shoes) into the Analysis Type column, a value from that column on the Log worksheets (such as Brooks Vapor 8) into the Analysis Value 1 column...  And  I then have columns for summed up values from the Log worksheet...  So I can easily track, for example, mileage for every pair of running shoes I've every used.  I hope that makes sense.

  • lol, looks like I'm the spreadsheet newbie thenimage

     

  • XX1XX1 ✭✭✭

    MS Excel is great, the only bit of software you'll ever need Andi image

  • Just got the starter edition here so unable to write macros so things look a little clumsy.

  • XX1XX1 ✭✭✭

    I used UDFs (macros) for my calculated columns simply because if I needed to change a formula I'd only need to make the change in one place...  But I could have done the same things without using macros...  I make good use of the COUNTIFS and SUMIFS functions...  I also have a worksheet that tracks PBs for any given distance, again done without the use of macros (not easy or immediately obvious I can tell you).

  • Great thinking logging shoes....only one pair at the moment but already eyeing up some pink beauties!!

    i do feel very enthusiastic about it all and very surprised by what I have managed so far In just a short amount of time! 

    omg tankdriver....that is some serious data, does your watch calculate the stride length? Also....this question may show up my nativity for the running world but what the heck is cadence?!

    andi I think thereis more chance of pigs flying thatn me ever attempting an ultra,! Half marathon booked for this time next year and would love to do a full one the year after...we shall see!

  • XX1XX1 ✭✭✭

    It's a pity for me that I'm better at running logs than I am at running image

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