Running

[Gavster]

Have you got any goals or races this year?

After nearly three months recovering from a fractured cuboid I’m finally back on my feet doing 5x runs a week.

Then I saw this Mark Lewis video and for the first time in my entire life thought “oooo, that looks fun”. Many years ago I rowed the same course in reverse, so it’s got some relevance to me.

Shoot me now

[DeskJockey]

Only goal is to keep at it. Aim to do some kind of exercise three days a week.

[dinny_g]

I just want it to stop hurting…

[Gavster]

I just want it to stop hurting…

What hurts?!?

[dinny_g]

- No not entirely serious. Yeah, if I'm lazy on warm up and down, my thighs can ache a bit but that's entirely my fault. I know they say "it doesn't get easier, you just get faster" but I'm not getting either.

My right knee started giving me a load of grief about 18 months ago so I stopped running and started cycling a lot. I'll do 40 to 50 km rides on a mountain bike on 2.125 tyres 3 or 4 times a week so basic fitness is there but if I do a 6 or 8k run I'm a. Still really slow and b. absolutely fucked...

I'm convinced my problem is fuel - eating at the wrong time, or in the wrong way - before or after a run. However, the only advice I can find online is for your Marathon Prep type runners and I'm just an amateur, trying to keep fit and lose some weight...

[mr_jon]

Couple of local 10k's booked for June so would like to PB there. Will look for a flat HM for later in the year. Might try a swimrun too.

[Gavster]

- No not entirely serious. Yeah, if I'm lazy on warm up and down, my thighs can ache a bit but that's entirely my fault. I know they say "it doesn't get easier, you just get faster" but I'm not getting either.

My right knee started giving me a load of grief about 18 months ago so I stopped running and started cycling a lot. I'll do 40 to 50 km rides on a mountain bike on 2.125 tyres 3 or 4 times a week so basic fitness is there but if I do a 6 or 8k run I'm a. Still really slow and b. absolutely fucked...

I'm convinced my problem is fuel - eating at the wrong time, or in the wrong way - before or after a run. However, the only advice I can find online is for your Marathon Prep type runners and I'm just an amateur, trying to keep fit and lose some weight...

If you want to dive into nutrition advice which helps you build the food plan you need this book is good https://amzn.to/3NNgVDb and she’s also written a couple of other books full of recipes such as this https://amzn.to/3xaUim0 and this https://amzn.to/3KkXIXk

If you go through the basic maths around your nutrition requirements and timings it’s easier to plan meals that suit your schedule.

[Broccers]

It seems to me most people I know who run end up injured.

Don't get me wrong I used to run with Hallamshire Harriers (Seb Coe) when I was a kid and was pretty good. I cant run for 5 mins on a treadmill now as unfit

Good way to stay fit tho if indeed wearing out your joints

[dinny_g]

I'll take a look Gav - cheers. I need to get more analytical about it if I'm to see the dividends of my efforts. I'm sure I'm not getting the benefits I should. It takes more than a bit of a snack, a hour before I go out

I also tend to run or cycle about 30 minutes to an hour BEFORE I eat my evening meals so I guess that's wrong too. Body burns x, y and z but then loads up and stores that from the meal..

Still, it's all good - I had an ECG for a recent Life Insurance application and my heart's as strong as an Ox. Not bad as I'm pushing 50

[Gavster]

Couple of local 10k's booked for June so would like to PB there. Will look for a flat HM for later in the year. Might try a swimrun too.

It's great motivation to have the races booked is that a duathlon?

[Gavster]

I'll take a look Gav - cheers. I need to get more analytical about it if I'm to see the dividends of my efforts. I'm sure I'm not getting the benefits I should. It takes more than a bit of a snack, a hour before I go out

I also tend to run or cycle about 30 minutes to an hour BEFORE I eat my evening meals so I guess that's wrong too. Body burns x, y and z but then loads up and stores that from the meal..

Still, it's all good - I had an ECG for a recent Life Insurance application and my heart's as strong as an Ox. Not bad as I'm pushing 50

The basics you need to get sorted are:

Total calorie requirement (you can then play with this depending on volume of training, fat loss requirements etc)
Carb/Protein/Fat percentages (changes whether you're building muscle or endurance training)

Eat the right balance of these each day and aim for a meal or snack 2-3 hours prior to a training session. Eating afterwards is good too, however, the myth of the 'anabolic window' to get protein quickly after training has been shown to be nonsense.

[dinny_g]

The basics you need to get sorted are:

Total calorie requirement (you can then play with this depending on volume of training, fat loss requirements etc)
Carb/Protein/Fat percentages (changes whether you're building muscle or endurance training)

Eat the right balance of these each day and aim for a meal or snack 2-3 hours prior to a training session. Eating afterwards is good too, however, the myth of the 'anabolic window' to get protein quickly after training has been shown to be nonsense.

Thanks Gav - I'll have a play around with this. I eat Lunch Early which means it can often be 5 or 6 hours after that I train (hence the snack an hour before) So eating lunch later, and therefore closer to the session would be better. I should also look at evening training (say Main dinner at 18:00) go out for a run at 20:00 or 21:00 but motivation and tiredness often put paid to that.

17:00 to 19:00 weekdays and 11:00 to 13:00 weekends is the best time for me .

I'm mainly after weight loss at the moment (Damn Covid Spread!!

[Gavster]

I'm the same with early lunch, usually about midday, so I have a fairly protein-based lunch, then follow up with 2-300 calories of carbs mid afternoon, normally a toasted bagel, then I train around 5pm and have dinner right after. I've never got into late evening training, I don't like doing anything after about 7pm.

[dinny_g]

I don't like doing anything after about 7pm.

A man after my own heart...

I'm the same with the early morning guys - how the hell can you have any energy to train at -5:30 in the morning. Did you get up and eat at like 03:00 or something...

[Gavster]

I used to wake up and go running at 6am, however, it was completely useless for any kind of speed work and ultimately didn't fit into my training schedule very well. It's only good for 'training low' - when you have low carbohydrate/glycogen availability, which is supposed to help your body adapt to using fat for energy, which in turn can be good for ultra-distance running.

[dinny_g]

So would that early morning running be good for weight loss??

[Gavster]

So would that early morning running be good for weight loss??

It was always supposed to, however I believe the science shows that it's negligible, you just need to be in a sustained calorie deficit and it will happen. Start tracking your food on MyFitnessPal and see how it goes

[Explosive Newt]

I used to be able to run 10K - currently hovering around 5K but I’m certain a bit of weight loss won’t go amiss.

Still, it's all good - I had an ECG for a recent Life Insurance application and my heart's as strong as an Ox. Not bad as I'm pushing 50

So your electrics are fine but an ecg tells you nothing about plumbing

[dinny_g]

Yeah?? what do you know…

[Gavster]

Went for a my first long slow run of the year this morning. Since last Jan year I've been following the 80/20 training ethos, which means limiting long runs by heart rate, rather than pace. It's very, very common for people to run their long runs too fast, even Kipchoge does training runs around the 9 min mile pace. I'd always been doing them too fast (which could have been one of the causes of injury) because now they're limited by heart rate it literally feels like walking pace.

Also convinced the double smack down of Covid in Jan and then flu in Feb has had an impact on my breathing, hopefully that will bugger off with more training.