andyjsg Posted April 16 VT Supporter Share Posted April 16 21 hours ago, Risso said: Without knowing how old you are and anything about injuries etc, I reckon you probably could, it'd just take an awful lot of hard work and your life might not be able to accommodate that, I know mine wouldn't. My aim is to get down to as close to a 20 minute 5K as I can. A few years ago, I was stuck around 28/29 minutes, but all I did was run 5Ks. Once I started trianing properly and constantly, the times really started coming down. Totally agree with this, I started at 34 after being a 20 a day smoker, trained for a few months and dragged myself round a 10K in 55 mins, didnt think I could get much faster and mixed it up with cycling and as I got fitter from both, times started to come down. Year on year consistent training has done it, sadly I get injured a lot but can usually drop in a couple of good performances a year, managed a 1:15:30 half last year, ran 2:57 this year despite jogging (and stopping for over 5 mins combined) the last 10 miles. Have a PB of 2:45 but think if I can finally turn up to one of these races fit I might break 2:40. At the height of marathon training Im doing 10 hours a week, 3 in one run and maybe 1.5-2 in another and the rest made up of mileage here and there and a lot of it at easy pace with a couple of hard sessions a week (or races, not both). I've just been out on a 13 miler to test my injury, seems okay actually but man have I lost fitness in the last month or so, London at the weekend is gonna be tough even if I shut it down as I just dont have the conditioning. Also starting in a pen (I'm on the front of the blue wave so actually first time I've run out that way, I'm usually on red which has a different route for first 5k) where everyone is planning to run an hour faster than you is kinda embarrassing, I reckon Im gonna have a couple of thousand people pass me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 (edited) 6 hours ago, TreeVillan said: I've wanted to improve my fitness for some time now but I always get exercise induced migraines with anything physically strenuous, it really puts me off. I also get that really sharp pain when breathing in during cardiovascular exercise which I've read is caused by cold air restricting the airways as we start to breathe through our mouths rather than our noses. I usually end up gasping for air after five minutes lol. Has anyone experience these things as well? Best thing you can do is jog and walk intervals. Jog a minute and then walk, jog a minute then walk. Etc.. The body is about adaptations. You should focus on easy exercise and look to increase the volume of amount of easy. These this myth that to get fit you need to be going hard and max your effort to improve. This is a fallacy. I still remember after about 5 or 6 years of basically unhealthy living around time I was in Uni and started working after. I decided to get fit and ran out of the house and down the road and around the corner and had to stop and walk back, wheezing and had a metallic taste in my mouth and lungs felt like they were on fire. Just build up slowly and the body adapts. Simple as that Edited April 16 by CVByrne 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozzavfc Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 4 hours ago, TreeVillan said: I've wanted to improve my fitness for some time now but I always get exercise induced migraines with anything physically strenuous, it really puts me off. I also get that really sharp pain when breathing in during cardiovascular exercise which I've read is caused by cold air restricting the airways as we start to breathe through our mouths rather than our noses. I usually end up gasping for air after five minutes lol. Has anyone experience these things as well? Have you tried the couch to 5k program? Its an NHS plan and it is brilliant. I've been doing it with my wife on and off, we've gone from just being able to walk swiftly to jogging 25mins continuously. It has a free to use app and everything 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyjsg Posted April 16 VT Supporter Share Posted April 16 1 hour ago, CVByrne said: Best thing you can do is jog and walk intervals. Jog a minute and then walk, jog a minute then walk. Etc.. The body is about adaptations. You should focus on easy exercise and look to increase the volume of amount of easy. These this myth that to get fit you need to be going hard and max your effort to improve. This is a fallacy. I still remember after about 5 or 6 years of basically unhealthy living basically around time I was in Uni and started working after. I decided to get fit and ran out of the house and down the road and around the corner and had to stop and walk back, wheezing and had a metallic taste in my mouth and lunch felt like they were on fire. Just build up slowly and the body adapts. Simple as that I used to live near Elephant and Castle and there is a massive building in the centre, anyway I remember leaning up against that on a 1k run coughing my lungs up then carrying on, only took a few weeks for that to get much easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danwichmann Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 2 hours ago, andyjsg said: Totally agree with this, I started at 34 after being a 20 a day smoker, trained for a few months and dragged myself round a 10K in 55 mins, didnt think I could get much faster and mixed it up with cycling and as I got fitter from both, times started to come down. Year on year consistent training has done it, sadly I get injured a lot but can usually drop in a couple of good performances a year, managed a 1:15:30 half last year, ran 2:57 this year despite jogging (and stopping for over 5 mins combined) the last 10 miles. Have a PB of 2:45 but think if I can finally turn up to one of these races fit I might break 2:40. At the height of marathon training Im doing 10 hours a week, 3 in one run and maybe 1.5-2 in another and the rest made up of mileage here and there and a lot of it at easy pace with a couple of hard sessions a week (or races, not both). That's all pretty familiar, I started out very unfit, worked up to 10km and then got that under an hour, half marathons under 2 hours. I kicked it up about 6 years ago, more racing and smarter training, times came down a lot and managed a 1:31 half and a 3:31 marathon. I also started doing ultras and although they were much slower they did wonders for my endurance. 10 hours or more at peak training load sounds about right as well. A few weeks ago I managed a marathon PB of 3:27 off the back of a couple of months of excellent training, where everything went to plan, but it took absolutely everything, I had nothing left at the end. That's as well as I can train, I had the easy longs, the speed work and the other easy miles with plenty of cycling and a bit of strength work as well. My 5km/10km are gradually getting slower even with that quality training, I just don't think there is a way to get significantly faster for me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 (edited) 1 hour ago, Danwichmann said: That's all pretty familiar, I started out very unfit, worked up to 10km and then got that under an hour, half marathons under 2 hours. I kicked it up about 6 years ago, more racing and smarter training, times came down a lot and managed a 1:31 half and a 3:31 marathon. I also started doing ultras and although they were much slower they did wonders for my endurance. 10 hours or more at peak training load sounds about right as well. A few weeks ago I managed a marathon PB of 3:27 off the back of a couple of months of excellent training, where everything went to plan, but it took absolutely everything, I had nothing left at the end. That's as well as I can train, I had the easy longs, the speed work and the other easy miles with plenty of cycling and a bit of strength work as well. My 5km/10km are gradually getting slower even with that quality training, I just don't think there is a way to get significantly faster for me. Something isn't adding up, your 1:31 half should have you down at a sub 3:15 marathon at least. Maybe you need to tweak something minor like pacing or fuelling. Edited April 16 by CVByrne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 8 hours ago, TreeVillan said: I've wanted to improve my fitness for some time now but I always get exercise induced migraines with anything physically strenuous, it really puts me off. I also get that really sharp pain when breathing in during cardiovascular exercise which I've read is caused by cold air restricting the airways as we start to breathe through our mouths rather than our noses. I usually end up gasping for air after five minutes lol. Has anyone experience these things as well? I first started Couch to 5K about 8 years ago. I was monumentally unfit and about 18 stone. The time I did the first day of the first week, I ended up puking my ring up after about 10 minutes. I couldn't even bend down to tie my shoe laces without wheezing and being out of breath. But just build up slowly and gradually. C25K is great, and once you finish it and can run 5K without stopping, you can use that as the building blocks to go forward. Fast forward 8 years I'm now in my 50s, 5 stone lighter and absolutely love running. I'll probably never be that quick at the longer distances, especially nowhere the times the likes of CV on here can achieve, but I'm happy gradually improving and just getting out there. You'll also find that running is a brilliant social sport, and just about every runner I've met has been sound. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan-scott Posted April 16 VT Supporter Share Posted April 16 On 14/04/2024 at 12:52, Risso said: Did the Leicester Big 10K today, good fun, around Abbey Park in the city centre. I was there with my wife on Sunday. She ran the 10k - really enjoyed the day and she said the course was great to run! Wish I’d known you were there I’d have tried to say hello! Im off to London the Excel tomorrow to collect my number ahead of Sunday. Looking forward to it now! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 Ah that would have been good mate. Saw one brave lass there in a Villa shirt. Me and my daughter who was running as well gave her an ‘Up the Villa’! How did your missus get on? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan-scott Posted April 16 VT Supporter Share Posted April 16 Just now, Risso said: Ah that would have been good mate. Saw one brave lass there in a Villa shirt. Me and my daughter who was running as well gave her an ‘Up the Villa’! How did your missus get on? We saw her too so me and my 2 little lads gave her the UTV too we also saw a poor older lady collapse and nastily wound her head. Not good. My Mrs did well, was her second 10k and managed 1:02 which she was pleased with. She did one in Sutton Coldfield a few weeks back which was really hilly so googled the flattest 10k and Leicester was one of those! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danwichmann Posted April 17 Share Posted April 17 9 hours ago, CVByrne said: Something isn't adding up, your 1:31 half should have you down at a sub 3:15 marathon at least. Maybe you need to tweak something minor like pacing or fuelling. Could be. That half was about 6 years ago and I was new to marathon distance then, so pacing and fueling were still being learnt. It's been a while since a really raced a half but I don't think I'd go under 1:35 now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted April 17 Share Posted April 17 5 hours ago, Danwichmann said: Could be. That half was about 6 years ago and I was new to marathon distance then, so pacing and fueling were still being learnt. It's been a while since a really raced a half but I don't think I'd go under 1:35 now. Rule of thumb which (as far as I know and most of people I know agree it's pretty accurate) is anywhere from 8s to 15s per km onto your best half marathon time. Depending on how fit and effective you are at longer vs shorter distances. So you're around 3m20s for half so should be 3m35s for full distance so around a 3h13m time. Running a 3h31m is like 5m per k which is probably just running close to where your aerobic threshold is. Maybe you've gone out too quick and not practiced fueling. Could be you needed to work on more long slower runs at aerobic threshold to improve it as maybe the gap between LT1 and LT2 was big. (ie aerobic and anerobic) so you end up using glycogen stores up around 25k (like I did in Paris due to being ill) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted April 17 Share Posted April 17 13 hours ago, Risso said: I first started Couch to 5K about 8 years ago. I was monumentally unfit and about 18 stone. The time I did the first day of the first week, I ended up puking my ring up after about 10 minutes. I couldn't even bend down to tie my shoe laces without wheezing and being out of breath. But just build up slowly and gradually. C25K is great, and once you finish it and can run 5K without stopping, you can use that as the building blocks to go forward. Fast forward 8 years I'm now in my 50s, 5 stone lighter and absolutely love running. I'll probably never be that quick at the longer distances, especially nowhere the times the likes of CV on here can achieve, but I'm happy gradually improving and just getting out there. You'll also find that running is a brilliant social sport, and just about every runner I've met has been sound. Exactly, also it's a great way to start the day, you feel full of energy after a run. Parkruns are great because you can meet up with people catch up have a chat and grab breakfast after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreeVillan Posted April 17 Share Posted April 17 17 hours ago, Mozzavfc said: Have you tried the couch to 5k program? Its an NHS plan and it is brilliant. I've been doing it with my wife on and off, we've gone from just being able to walk swiftly to jogging 25mins continuously. It has a free to use app and everything No I haven't. Will have a look at that today thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreeVillan Posted April 17 Share Posted April 17 2 hours ago, TreeVillan said: No I haven't. Will have a look at that today thank you. Quick update. I downloaded the C25K app and went out to give it a go before work. I don't have any earphones to listen along though so thought I would pop into Sainsbury's to pick some up but Argos doesn't open until 9 (What's that about?) so I just used the timer on my phone and found it quite enjoyable. Amittedly I'm not sure what I was doing could be considered running rather than jogging but will definitely be doing this more and hopefully the migraines stay away. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danwichmann Posted April 17 Share Posted April 17 4 hours ago, TreeVillan said: Quick update. I downloaded the C25K app and went out to give it a go before work. I don't have any earphones to listen along though so thought I would pop into Sainsbury's to pick some up but Argos doesn't open until 9 (What's that about?) so I just used the timer on my phone and found it quite enjoyable. Amittedly I'm not sure what I was doing could be considered running rather than jogging but will definitely be doing this more and hopefully the migraines stay away. Doesn't matter, keep at it and you'll see improvements in no time. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted April 17 Share Posted April 17 (edited) 8 hours ago, TreeVillan said: Quick update. I downloaded the C25K app and went out to give it a go before work. I don't have any earphones to listen along though so thought I would pop into Sainsbury's to pick some up but Argos doesn't open until 9 (What's that about?) so I just used the timer on my phone and found it quite enjoyable. Amittedly I'm not sure what I was doing could be considered running rather than jogging but will definitely be doing this more and hopefully the migraines stay away. The speed a person runs or jogs at is irrelevant. What is relevant is the heart rate being raised by the increased exertion. Everything flows from that. So never worry about it. Just keep the motivation to keep doing it. Edited April 17 by CVByrne 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan-scott Posted April 17 VT Supporter Share Posted April 17 Been to the Excel today to collect my number! Excited for Sunday now. Need to pin and stick everything down but looking good! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan-scott Posted April 17 VT Supporter Share Posted April 17 Oh and worth putting this out there too. This is the charity I am running for linked to my sons condition https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Scott-Jack-Charlie 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted April 17 Share Posted April 17 10 hours ago, TreeVillan said: Quick update. I downloaded the C25K app and went out to give it a go before work. I don't have any earphones to listen along though so thought I would pop into Sainsbury's to pick some up but Argos doesn't open until 9 (What's that about?) so I just used the timer on my phone and found it quite enjoyable. Amittedly I'm not sure what I was doing could be considered running rather than jogging but will definitely be doing this more and hopefully the migraines stay away. Dosn't matter mate, it's considered running by us. It's also a lot faster than sitting at home on your bum watching Netflix! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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