Hi All
Thanks for clicking this thread.
I've been 'running' for about 3 months on and off and am currently on week 7 of the Couch to 5 K NHS plan.
I'm getting frustrated with rest days and also with my limited distances and was hoping you lovely folk might have some general advice for getting better, stronger, faster and so on.
I'm sure this has been asked before but I have done a search and can't find anything.
Sorry if this is really annoying.
:)
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It's great you are feeling you can go further and faster, but rest days are necessary to allow your body to recover from the running. A walk or a swim, as.of Saturday, is a way to do some less intense exercise on a rest day.
I would suggest sticking to C25K then looking at the challenge of building up to a 10km. Adding some gym work is a good idea and stretching!
Good luck.
I am also pretty much a newbie. I started Couch to 5k in Late Jan and finished it early April.
From April onwards I started using Strava and going out on my own runs and it was only then that I actually started to enjoy it (for me it had been a means to an end to get healthier, I could never envisage it being actually enjoyable).
I now run 4 times a week with a total weekly distance of around 25k.
This is very small to more experienced runner's I'm sure, but for me it's still surreal to think I look forward to runs now and I can do this much and comfortably.
As I am probably only a few months ahead of you I guess this would be my advice based on what I wish I had done or known, not necessarily what I actually did:
Until you finish the couch to 5k, don't worry about times or distances. The first thing is just getting to the end where you can comfortably run for 25-30 mins. Pace and distance do not matter at that point. This sounds boring, but trying to go too fast when you are not ready is frustrating for yourself especially if you are comparing to more experienced runners. It also leaves you more likely to get injured.
Once you have finished couch to 5k I would start recording on something like Strava or map my run and keep your 3 runs each week (assuming you have been doing it 3 days a week?). This will help you keep an eye on progress.
Keep the pace really easy for the most part, and gradually increase your mileage each week but no more than 10%
Easy running pace is a pace where you can hold a conversation comfortably. It is much slower than you would expect, but I have noticed the more experienced runners take their easy days easy, and their hard days hard.
People often have a longer run day on the weekend, so maybe your long run day could increase each week? That's what I found the easiest to fit into my lifestyle, but it may be different for you. I just increased my long run day each week by a little more until I got to 10k eventually.
Once you have got a solid base of easy running, then you can start to mix in some intervals/ speed work/ tempo runs etc... This is what will help increase your pace and they are really fun.
Rest days are very important to prevent injury and to allow your body to repair itself so it can be stronger for the next time. I have already had to take some time off due to trying to go to fast too often at the beginning.
Learn about stretching and when to do it. I was static stretching prior to runs but apparently this is a no no.
I have done no gym work at all on my legs yet, so can't comment on this but have read it is very helpful so I aim to work this in soon.
I went to a physio pretty early on as I was getting a few pains after my long runs. He recorded me on the treadmill and within a few minutes completely changed my running form and style and I am much much better for it with no pain since.
I'm not saying it is essential to do something like the video physio, but form and how you land are very important and it helped me massively to sort mine out.
Last bit of advice would be just to stick with it and be patient. Getting better, stronger, faster will all come in time :) I think once you are more experienced you can probably reduce the amount of rest days and swap them out for easy days but at this stage I wouldn't do too much too fast.
I hope that was helpful!
Thanks for any responses.
Tempo runs are training runs that would generally be at about 25 - 30 seconds per mile slower than your 5K pace. It's looking for a balance between the muscles ability to clear as much lactate as it produces.
Interval or speed sessions are where you introduce short bursts of quicker running effort followed by periods of recovery running. There's a number of different ways to do this:-
All these are designed to increase your speed over longer distances. It also helps with following the 80/20 principle whereby 80% of your running should be done at an easy pace and 20% should be harder pushing you towards your threshold.
You may also want to consider doing hill work as well
With regard to the timings and distances - how do you measure these? I'm currently using the Nike running app but looking to move towards Strava. I usually have this tucked away on my phone in my running strap/belt though so aside from hearing a voice that tells me when I've run 1km, 2km and my average pace, I don't know how I'd measure that time specifically.
Do I need to look into a watch?
Thanks again, and sorry I sound so clueless.
Most runners have a watch, many use Garmin (but they are down at the moment after a cyber attack), there are many other options.
I don't run the day after my progression run, legs don't want to!
But for now I'd perhaps pick a simple exercise when you're next on your run of sprinting between 2 lamp posts and then use the distance between 3 to recover. You can then see how speed work feels without having to initially fork out.
<div class="QuoteAuthor"><a href="/profile/AmandaT" class="js-userCard" data-userid="7539279">AmandaT</a> said:</div>
<div class="QuoteText">Hi All
Thanks for clicking this thread.
I've been 'running' for about 3 months on and off and am currently on week 7 of the Couch to 5 K NHS plan.
I'm getting frustrated with rest days and also with my limited distances and was hoping you lovely folk might have some general advice for getting better, stronger, faster and so on.
I'm sure this has been asked before but I have done a search and can't find anything.
Sorry if this is really annoying.</div>
</blockquote>
Sorry to butt in on post I'm a newbie how do you post a thread?
Could someone please explain what does pacing out of 10 means? I have been running for couple of years and still cannot figure out what it means to run at a pace of 6 out of 10!
Many thanks
Weller65 - you've maybe already found out, but you need to comment on other posts ten times before you can start your own thread.
Shawn56 - this is your rate of perceived exertion (also a variant of the Borg scale) ie a 10 point scale that can be used in any situation where there is a range of experience . In this case its basically your estimate of how hard you are working, so it can be used in any sport. 1 is very, very easy, and 10 is flat out /maximum exertion. Everyone will very slightly in what they take each number to mean, but you can be consistent with yourself, which is more important than being consistent with others.
As you get fitter, a certain distance or pace should become a lower RPE. On days you are tired /unwell /stressed /hungover you'll have a higher RPE than you would expect. I take distance in to account too - a ten mile run at x pace is a higher RPE than a 5 mile run at the same pace, but this maybe isn't quite the exact use of the scale.
In my head 1-3 is easy - walks, run/walks, recovery runs. 4-5 is easy to steady pace, 6-7 tempo pace, 8-9 is hard (maybe track sessions, long progressive runs, some races), 10 is an attempt at a pb.
I've never really asked anyone else what way they number things, I'd be curious to see what others think.
This link has a bit more detail
https://academic.oup.com/occmed/article/67/5/404/3975235
Re weight loss, increased exercise will use up extra calories but avoid the trap that many fall into by rewarding themselves for exercising by 'treating' themselves to eating more. Weight loss is really only done in the kitchen but it you eat healthily and don't overeat then your increased exercise should indeed start to reduce the weight.