Newbies 2

Hi,  l Have literally just started running last week.  My 17 yr daughter and I (I'm 40) are on a mission to run a 10k together (and I need to lose 3 stone!)  Am up to half a mile without stopping and can then repeat after a short walk break.  Any advice - is it better to begin by just running as far as I can slowly and building up the distance each time or by walk/running a longer distance and cutting down the walking distance each time.  Not sure where to start.

Hi all nice to read so many great stories and the one thing that becomes clear from reading the thread is that it DOES become easier and once you start seeing the increase in your abillity to run further the more it motivates you to continue getting out there.

l started exercising properly a year ago and when l first went out for a jog l had to stop 4 or 5 times on a 3km route and it took me 34 minutes to complete. l joined a military fitness class and attended that two or 3 times a week for about 9 months, eventually building up to the "endurance" session they have on a Thursday evening.

l then took up just going out for dedicated runs about 3 months ago but only properly began sticking to making sure l got out there 2 or 3 times a week about a month ago.

l clocked a 7km route in 29 minutes other day and l reckon l can get that down by a further 4 or 5 minutes as l had to stop twice on that route as it included 2 steep climbs. It took a long while but l really feel l can call myself a runner now, deffo got the bug.

Hope everyone else is enjoying the nice weather and still managing to get the miles in with a smile on their face whilst the weather is nice.

Hi everyone, I'm a 23 year old woman and total noob.

Just started running fast for five minutes a day four days ago, followed by resistence training. Going to have one to two rest days per week. Previously I'd jogged for around 30 minutes several times a week, but never lifted my legs very high or get very out of breath; motivation to really go for it always failed me. Until my fitness improves, I'm finding that focusing on shorter, more intense running is easier mentally, and the Olympics is helping a lot. I put the track repeats on early in the morning when I run and visualise being in a race/fundraiser.

I also don't want to run for long periods yet because I'm battling normal weight obesity ('skinny fat') and need to increase, not decrease my muscle mass, however I've decided I'd like to take part in 5K fun runs for charity when I'm fit enough. It seems to be working already: yesterday I was breathing very sorely and noisily for the whole last three minutes and felt close to an asthma attack (which hasn't happened for years) but today I was breathing heavily but not painfully or sounding like I was about to die, and it felt easier than any of my earlier attempts despite not slowing down.

My goals:

1) Reduce symptoms of recently diagnosed anxiety disorder.

2) Get fit enough to run 5K fundraisers without stopping to walk.

3) Commit to running as a hobby and eventually make it sociable.

4) Do all this while simultaneously increasing my muscle mass.

5) Enjoy myself!

hi sinkingthinking-sounds great that you are trying the running faster for a shorter time-I also need to do this! I've been training for a 10k (great scottish run) and am managing long but very slow runs and it's been getting a little boring.

Hope you don't actually have an asthma attack though! Take care, and keep on running

Another newbie invading here! 17 years old, so still studying, and I decided to make building up to doing a 30 minute continuous run my summer project. I will hopefully continue running after term starts again, though I'm not sure yet how that will work when the evenings get dark early.

For now I'm doing the plan B from the "Bespoke Body" section, and also combining it with the strengthening circuit from plan A, as my strength right now is... abysmal! I'm a few weeks in now (joined the site a few weeks ago but couldn't edit my details to change my forum nickname from my real name), and it seems to be going well. I'm hoping that this forum will help me keep motivated, and I look forward to getting to know some of you.

Thanks for the reply Claire - managed to find the training plans   Feeling very proud - managed to jog 3 x half miles with a minute walk break between each one today.  Feel like I'm making progress.  Can't wait to see what I can do when my weight begins to drop!

JLx wrote (see)

hi sinkingthinking-sounds great that you are trying the running faster for a shorter time-I also need to do this! I've been training for a 10k (great scottish run) and am managing long but very slow runs and it's been getting a little boring.

Hope you don't actually have an asthma attack though! Take care, and keep on running

Thanks.

Yeah I'm thinking of doing a bit of both. Descriptions I've read of proper sprint training sound like a way of doing HIIT training, which is supposed to be one of the most beneficial ways of working out and saves a lot of time too. You can supposedly get better physiological effects from 10 minutes of HIIT exercise than from a continuously sustainable 30 minute run. However, I like the idea of some level of endurance training as well, so I want to incorporate both, on different days. By the time I've increased my basic fitness a bit I'll probably have decided on exactly how I'm going to do it.

Hi Guys

Another newbie here, 30 years old. Quit smoking last Monday (6th Aug), started running on Tuesday to get healthy.

Well, the obsession has begun! So far managed a 28:11 5k and a 1:09:51 10k this week. Runkeeper profile here for those interested: http://runkeeper.com/user/danjnixon/activity/108964804

Hoping to get to 20min 5k and 50min 10k by the end of the year...

Hi Claire, yeah im certainly really chuffed with the progress i've made in the past year and hope to continue that. I ran the Doncaster 10k in April/May (cant remember which) this year in 54.50 but so far that's the only race i've taken part in. Hoping that with my additional training l can get that down to below 45.00 at least at some point soon.

l think entering races is deffo the way to go to help boost motivation/give you a kick up the arse but more than anything else l just find that the more l can do the more l want to get myself out there and keep on improving.

Hope all is well with you anyway and thanks for the welcome

JLx wrote (see)

Hey sinkingthinking-sounds great! HIIT training kind of scares me but I have tried the odd run with sprints for a few minutes followed by walking....I just don't like the idea of feeling so exhausted I might be sick hahaha!

I have read that it's better for people who are reasonably fit to start with, so I'm not doing proper HIIT quite yet, but what I'm doing is closer to HIIT than it is to endurance and steady state exercise. However on my rest days - rest from resistance training that is - I'm going to do the gentler, longer duration cardio that most people here do. I've found that I'm not as fit as I thought, so I'm going to wait until on those days I can run at a moderate pace for a reasonable amount of time before I go for it on the other days as explosively as HIIT requires. Today I ran just ten minutes around the block, half of it slightly uphill on the pavement, and I kept getting exhausted and forced to make it a kind of interval training! Is that normal for a twenty three year old?

sinkingthinking wrote (see)

JLx wrote (see)

Hey sinkingthinking-sounds great! HIIT training kind of scares me but I have tried the odd run with sprints for a few minutes followed by walking....I just don't like the idea of feeling so exhausted I might be sick hahaha!

 

I have read that it's better for people who are reasonably fit to start with, so I'm not doing proper HIIT quite yet, but what I'm doing is closer to HIIT than it is to endurance and steady state exercise. However on my rest days - rest from resistance training that is - I'm going to do the gentler, longer duration cardio that most people here do. I've found that I'm not as fit as I thought, so I'm going to wait until on those days I can run at a moderate pace for a reasonable amount of time before I go for it on the other days as explosively as HIIT requires. Today I ran just ten minutes around the block, half of it slightly uphill on the pavement, and I kept getting exhausted and forced to make it a kind of interval training! Is that normal for a twenty three year old?

Mate, l dont think you should be asking if it's "normal" for a twenty three year old. Facts are that each person is hugely individual and thats just where you find yourself just now.

Try giving short sessions of HIIT a go for now and progress to longer sessions in due course.

Morning all,

I think I'd steer clear of the interval training until you have a really good base of endurance. Slower running is definitely the way to go for a new runner. You need time to build strength in muscles and tendons etc. before you start pushing yourself hard. Speedwork done too early is a good way of injuring yourself. If you have to do something, do a few strides (reps of 100m or so at about 90% effort) at the end of an easy run.

Finally got my arse into gear and did a couple of runs over the weekend. Felt like very hard work. I'm amazed how much fitness I've lost in 6 weeks.

NV it isn't lost, its on holiday!

Well i managed to get a few good runs under the belt. 10 miles saturday nice and steady negative split (by about 4 minutes) all at v low RPE low HR and felt easy! just a brilliant run all in all. Then, ran home from work on tuesday 5.8miles in 42'30. Felt good, if a touch warm and then a nother 4 steady at lunchtime today. Feeling good, throw in a few cycle commutes and a gym session and its going well. Hell I'll be ready for the tri season, just after it ends!

by HIIT i take it we mean interval stuff? gotta agree with NV hold off doing too much (if any) of that until you have a base of fitness. Look at what you want to achieve by running - general fitness, great but do you have a target, run for half hour or 5k etc. When you can manage that slow and steady - then look to go faster throw in intervals, some fartlek (random bursts of speed when running), or tempo runs (just going as hard as you can maintain) for a disctance or time - probably half what your distance is, so 15 mins or 2.5k etc. It will help your body become more resillient and place less stress on joints ligaments etc as NV said. Your fitness increases much quicker than your joint strength!

Hi All

Wow its quiet on here, been struggling with motivation recently plus finding the runs very hard work. but have been keeping low mileage ticking over. Really need to get back into it. Still want a bike though

Hope everyones training has been going well

Thanks for the advice everyone, it's finally sunk in that I should probably build up to a much better level of fitness than I currently have before doing HIIT. I am still doing interval training, because that's good for everyone, just not the HIIT kind yet.

wow... you go away for a year and then boom...you have a thousand pages to catch up on

So I started excercisin' again recently - have decided that I peaked then troughed (badly)  - number of things caused this too numerous to mention but the majority of which all you existing newbies from when I was on will probably know from Farcebunk and all that...

Anyhow, I'm now back to overweight and unfit, I'm trying to take it steady baby steps etc., make contact with the people who got me through the tough first bits the first time around and taking it from there; off out for either a cycle or plod later.

I hope all you old and new newbies are doing well...