Recap I missed my April Marathon due to getting covid a few weeks before. Training indicated on form for a ~10 min PB.
It took a couple of months to recover from that and I switched focus to bike and swim. Busy year lots of interruptions to training.
After a summer holiday in Spain I started to focus a bit more on the run. Running on trails in Spain in the heat was great (first 2-3 runs were tough but just went on HR and RPE) after that it was like normal.
Then trained for a Sprint Tri the being of Sept. Please with my run, I suprised myself.
Fastest run time in my AG by 1min 18secs on a tough hilly course. Even better is I ran it about 50sec than I though I could looking at the profile and off my best power on the bike for a while. I should check out my overall run placing really. Anyway, the run helped me secure 2nd AG overall (3rd swim, 2nd Bike, 1st Run T1/T2 were bad 3rd in both) Anyway who would have thought the run would turn out to be my best leg.
I was entered in the NYRR 18 mile marathon tune up race, but it was canceled because of rain. I went for a gravel ride instead.
Saw this morning the Twin Cities Marathon was canceled because the organizers maintain that a high in the mid 80s with around a 60 dew point is too hot to run.
I hate to sound like an old geezer, but 10-15 years ago they only canceled races when a full on hurricane was in town. I remember running a 5 miler in central park during a Nor’easter with winds that blew me off the tarmac and into the grass a couple of times.
So after your half marathon my tip is to reduce your running and increase swimming and biking .
Running is the harshest sport on our bodies and the most prone to injury, I’m not as relatively heavy as you but even at my 30 BMI I think the emphasis has to be away from volume compared to those at 20.
As others have said, there isn’t a magic formula for training for that applies to all of us all the time, but a couple of principles guide most of us well;
Consistency works
Train today such that you can train tomorrow
From these we know that hard interval running if it has a place, can’t be so hard that it interrupts your schedule or builds to injury.
Cycling and swimming are low injury risk, and whether it’s general Cv fitness or simply keeping moving for the day, they are a much safer bet than more running.
If the list of available volunteer opportunities is anything to go by, you’re probably on the right track… especially in the difficulty of getting enough people (paid or volunteer) to do all that.
I’m in the process of learning those lessons. Yes, the plan is to reduce running to a level that keeps me improving, while I gradually add more cycling and strength work, then add swimming. I have already learned the hard way that I simply cannot pile on the TSS without consequence and must increase load much more gradually than I’d like.
Next “A” race is GFNY in May: 136km/1940m (85mi/6370ft) of cycling. I managed only 75km/1160m this year, about 60%. Hoping to finish it next year.
Keep the running light / low intensity and add the intensity on the bike is a good rule in general.
More important, if a bit more mass and or a history of injury push the intensity to swimming or the bike.
I think anyone should still run as frequently as possible. 6 days a week but very low intensity. Always stop if a tweak or injury.
Hey there,
Looking into running for the first time.
After watching Kelvin Kiptum yesterday, I decided to try and beat him to the first sub 2…
On a serious note, my wife and I are having a baby in spring 2024, which is great for life in general, but basically completely upends my cycling season.
I‘ve always had an interest in running as a sport, but never gave it a shot. This super long off-season now seems like a great opportunity to do just that.
Being reasonably fit on a push bike (currently a realistic 350W FTP at around 71kg), and also fairly well gym trained (did power lifting for a couple of years, and did gym work including barbell squats, lunges, deadlifts, and core work for the past 15 months) I‘d expect to not be complete sh!te at running.
From all I‘ve gathered so far it‘s advisable to not start too fast and at too high a frequency, as my lungs and heart are likely not the limiting factor, but rather muscles, joints, and tendons.
That’s how I came across the „Couch to 5k“ challenge, that I‘ve seen, quite a few people on this forum have also done to get into running.
Looking into the plan, that starts off with really short running intervals, and relatively long breaks, what speed should I be aiming at? Would I go for something I would want to run for the eventual 5K (say 6:00/km) or can I run faster than that, to make it more of an interval session (over/under).
Any other advise is welcome, as my motivation is clearly greater than my knowledge.
Thanks in advance.
We can’t really translate a cycling FTP to a running pace. You should start at a pace that feels comfortable. Meaning your HR is not through the roof, you can speak to somebody, etc.
Well, I ran the Staten Island Half yesterday. I wasn’t expecting much, because I had been feeling like crap all week from hitting marathon training pretty hard. Had a pretty miserable 16 miler on Wednesday, due to unseasonably humid weather mostly. Followed it up with recovery runs of 7, 5, and 5 miles.
Anyway, I got there late because apparently the race is much bigger than it used to be and there was traffic. I had to ditch my wife with the car to make my wave. I managed to use the portable, but still had some gut issues during my warm up. Must have hit the jalopenos on my pizza too hard the day before. It was simmering, and I decided against any food or fluids for the duration of the race. Thankfully it was around 50 degrees f and dry, so ideal. I can go far without fluids in that weather.
Felt alright after the start, but somewhat sluggish. Did 6:30s for the first few miles, then got a piece of glass stuck in the cutout in the bottom of my shoe. Ran with that for a mile, but eventually had to stop and pry it out. That was thankfully the end of my misfortunes. After the turn I actually felt pretty string, was able to pick up the pace and finished in 1:24:16, so actually faster than my 1:24:53 at Brooklyn, which is kind of a cheater course with the net elevation drop. So alright, I’ll take it. Without the shoe “mechanical” I might have gone under 1:24.
Oh yeah, I am fully not expecting anyone to tell me „5Wkg is exactly 5min/k pace“.
The „being able to hold a conversation“ was more what I was looking for.
However, would that be equivalent to „Zone 2 in cycling“?
I can have a conversation during Zone 2 in cycling, but I wouldn‘t want to hold a conversation during Zone 2 riding…
Cycling and running are definitely not the same sport, but I was just wondering if I am really „just“ doing intervals at Zone 2. I am apparently not understanding running zones yet. Something like „Couch to 5K“ appears overly easy, when all the intervals are only at Zone 2.
Imo, there is a big element of start slow and slowly build duration, probably much slower and less distance than most would imagine. Its a matter of do a bit and see how your body responds, aches, pains niggles.
Run / walk, during the walk scan the body for niggles.
Whats you age?
I probably reccomended Z2 only or under MAF HR until you’ve built to the volume you want to run a week and then only after a period of stability introduce some strides then later tempo intervals.
I did exclusively Z2 for 6 months before I touched an interval and then it was only strides for a while. Before I took this approach every time I returned to running it was on weeks 4-6 before I’d get injured and then be off for a month or two before trying again… same thing kept happening.
The 6 months of Z2 only and running not far but 5-6 times a week broke the cycle.
I feel like I am way too scared of a „wasted work out“. Has always been a problem of mine. My first run is tomorrow, so I‘ll just do a 10 minute warm up and do the 10*1‘/1‘ run/walk repeats.
Let‘s see how the body responds…
I really have to see how my body fares with the new stress and the activity itself. In cycling, I just really hit it lucky. After a few rough weeks of suffering, I went to 4Wkg in only 3 months or so. I don‘t want to put too much into FTP - just saying my body responded to it super well, something I cannot predict for running.
If I do really poorly at it, I‘ll probably just stick to cycling
If I do somewhat okay, I am definitely looking at completing a (half-)marathon at some point.
Super cool, dude! I love running for just being flexible and easy to fit around life. Half-marathon sounds like a great target- you can do pretty well in those without investing huge hours or quite as much mileage build as you would to a marathon.
Couch to 5k is a great place to start IMO- run/walking might not be super challenging aerobically if you have some cycling fitness behind you, but it’s a good way to let your body adapt to the load gradually while still getting some volume/frequency in there. (also probably less impactful on your riding initially, if you’re still looking to fit some of that in here!)
With that said, expect it to feel easy compared to what you’re used to- I’d think of it less as ‘intervals’ and more of an ‘adaptation period’ to running regularly. You’ll make some pretty big newbie gains regardless so nothing to stress about, and I wouldn’t worry too much about pace as long as it’s pretty easy RPE-wise. I’d just focus on good form/staying fluid, and maybe dial things back a bit if your HR/breathing rate is shooting up or if you feel like you’re straining to keep the pace.
Congratulations on the baby- hope everything goes smoothly! (as smoothly as can be hoped for, at least )
This. Exactly this. Oh, so very much this! I spent years trying to get back into running, but this whole idea of “intervals” and going faster and doing 5K pace because that’s what I would eventually want… kept me getting injured and frustrated and going back to square one.
I finally broke the cycle the same way: the BarryP style of running. Slow and easy (HR around 65% of my maximum, which is MUUUUUUCH slower than I could believe was reasonable), but is the best way to get your body used to the volume and repetition of the pounding and impact that running puts on your body from thousands of “little jumps” every day, which is really what running is: small jumps forward.
What BarryP says is 6 days: 3 short (1x distance), 2 medium (2x distance), and 1 long (3x distance). So, three days of 1km, two days of 2km, and one day of 3km for example. Gradually build up total weekly volume, which is the metric that matters because what your body really cares about is the total volume of pounding it’s getting. While you build up that volume, your tendons, ligaments, connective tissue, muscles, everything, is slowly getting stronger as your body “rebuilds” itself to handle that new load.
Do NOT try to run fast on a regular basis at this point. Sure you can go run a 5K once a month if you want to do that for fun… but going fast and pushing the body on a regular basis (at least once a week) makes your probability of injury MUCH higher.
Once you’ve done those initial six months or so of building volume, your slow-and-easy pace will have gotten a lot faster on its own. And then you can start adding ONE fast session a week.
After years of injury and frustration, this is what finally got me to running consistently. Built from 8-10km/week to 25-30km/week this year, and just ran my first half-marathon yesterday.
But ABSOLUTELY get rid of that “wasted workout” thinking. All volume is good volume, and slow volume is the most valuable for you.
If you’re doing the parenting/spousing thing correctly, that will change.
As for the “wasted workout” theme… once you get some runs in your legs and gain running fitness you can try to pick up the last half mile or mile of your runs. Don’t go crazy… Go for a normal training run and slowly ratchet up the pace the last bit. Since you are looking for a place to start in regards to interval training… The pace you hit at the end of the run is not a bad place to start.
If you have access to forest trails or any dirt really I recommend running on them as much as possible. The softer surfaces really save the legs!
Thanks for all the advice. I’ll start slow and see from there.
I tried to say that I am too worried about wasted workouts, when in reality, it isn’t really much of a problem. It’s not reasonable, just a thing I tend to do.
However, I really wonder how slow pace all the time is the way to go in running. I know how Z2 is the new cool kid at school everywhere, but in cycling there definitely is a thing such as junk miles and wasted time.
And Z2 usually is a pretty time intensive type of training as compared to Sweetspot/ Threshold.
I know, cycling is low impact (besides the bi-annual impact on the ground that I tend to have), but doesn’t make sense in my mind how this would be an efficient use of time to get „fitter“.
But since y‘all say the same and I know as much as Jon Snow, I’ll stick to it for the foreseeable future
I had similar cycling and weight stats to you when I started running two years ago, however as a nearly 50 year old i spent HALF A YEAR just run/walking really easy for 30-40 mins, TWICE A WEEK.
Ive highlighted this because i feel it was so important.
After 6 months i started doing 1hr easy runs then did my first 5k Parkrun in 21mins. Two weeks later i was down to 19 mins and now a year and a half on I’m running 17.30, plus sub 5 mile and 50km ultras too.
Never had the slightest niggle and put that down to those first 6 months of laying down some stability and cartilage.
I still don’t do mega miles btw. Just one track session a week (if possible), one 45min spirited run with the club and about 10-15 easy miles on trails on an average week.
Yes, the plan is to reduce running to a level that keeps me improving, while I gradually add more cycling and strength work, then add swimming. I have already learned the hard way that I simply cannot pile on the TSS without consequence and must increase load much more gradually than I’d like.
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