Running

If you're gonna do it add rolled up t-shirts rather than lumpy dumbells!

I run with a rucksack quite a lot, and it's pretty miserable with a heavy bag. My normal small bag is fine but a few weeks ago I had a long wait between trains so went for a run with a 15kg bag and it swung about a lot and my legs felt glued to the ground. And I got a friction burn on my collarbone.

Choice of rucksack is also quite important. My OMM, and before that Camelback, doesn't move badly once straps are adjusted to match contents.

Yeah, this is true. Moral of the story is to just sit patiently and go for a coffee when waiting at a train station.

Good points. I have an OMM 10L bag, which seems up to the job and I was intending to start-off small, most likely <=1kg.

If the concensus if that it will affect form and make running miserable, then I'll give it a miss.

make running miserable

Running is already miserable.

you're a miserable.

With a good pack it needn't be miserable. Adding the wrong weight might tip the balance though.

@Pifko joining the marines or what? you seen them hamworthy boys you wanna get buff bru

Surely being prepared for 26.2 is more important than hitting the weight target? I appreciate one may bring the other...

Yep, I won't care what weight I am if I can run the marathon, but to have a realistic chance of a sub 4-hour time I need to get rid of a load of this lard.

Brighton Marathon place confirmed and entered (thanks to Parkinson's UK).

1kg or 2kg on my back is about my comfort limit for my 10k commute (only do it once a week). I take everything else in on the bike on the other day I'm in the office. I aim to have to carry the bare minimum (wallet, home/office keys, ID, phone[s]) when running.

I went for cheap and cheerful (most Mountain Warehouse stuff is at least 50% off most of the time): http://www.mountainwarehouse.com/running-cycling/running-accessories/hydration-packs/circuit-hydro-bag-6l-p12596.aspx?cl=RED which seems to sit quite nicely on my back and not move about. It's also tiny inside so limits what I can bring in, especially if I'm doing an extended commute (20km) and use the bladder.

to have a realistic chance of a sub 4-hour time I need to get rid of a load of this lard.

There may be other options, like training 6/7 days per week to build up enough strength, but if you are carrying a fair bit of extra weight a blended approach of dropping a few pounds combined with a Reasonable training regime is more likely to be successful and not result in over training and either suffering from injury or continued illness due to having weakened the immune system to the point where it can't deal with a cold.

It's like saying that running a 20 minute 5k is possible by sprinting the first 3k and walking the rest and some people will go to prove it is possible, but that doesn't make it the easiest or right way to do it...

A couple of months ago my club's coach took me to one side and gave me some (much needed) technique pointers, and I've been following his advice and doing the exercises he recommended. Yesterday he took me to one side again - apparently I am transformed and look like a completely different runner. I have pretty much never been so proud of myself.
Just wanted to share!

Great stuff. What did he recommend and do you feel any different?

Good stuff, I'm awaiting having my running and swimming technique ripped to shreds. Have just joined my local running club (Wimbledon Windmilers, who do Tri stuff too) so I can wobble along to their track and swim coaching sessions at some point.

Groin didn't explode when playing 5-a-side football last night (two weeks off and some stretches/exercises to make it better) and so I've got to start the running again. Have ordered some physio bands from eBay to help continue the strengthening. Will try and bimble over to Parkrun tomorrow morning as I need to get back into that habit and get running again.

It was a really obvious/simple thing, but I needed to raise my knees more - I've been doing circuits on the stairs to my block of flats every day, to the amusement of my neighbour, whose balcony overlooks the stairs. Plus lots of stretching. I do feel different, maybe a bit more springy. Not much faster though cries.

Earlier this week, I started on a plan to hit 19:59 for a 5k, some time in early February 2016

My current 5k is 22 minutes, but I reckon that I should be knocking out a 21:30 if I managed to do a park run without getting a massive stitch

I don't think my usual 3 days a week (1 speed, 1 tempo, 1 long) will cut it any more - I don't seem to have the speed endurance that I need to finish sub-20, so I'm upping the number of runs I'm doing and getting more quality miles in my legs

At the moment, I'm aiming at 5 or 6 runs per week

• 1 Intervals or repeats (sub-5k pace and 5k pace)
  
• 1 or 2 threshold or tempo (5k & 10k pace)
  
• 1 long (HM pace)
  
• 1 or 2 recovery (mara pace & slower) runs.
  
  

My shoes are green. I might buys some red ones.

Not much faster though cries

New technique takes a while to bed in properly.

But any advice on gait and technique is probably best taken with a giant pinch of salt. Even people who purport to do this stuff as a living are, pretty much most of the time, pulling ideas from their behinds.

I don't think it's the quantity of runs, but the quality of the speed and tempo sessions IMO.

What does a usual speed session consist of for you?

red = 30s.

Have you run your best times at an even pace? I can't do this but I think learning will give me some free seconds. I also don't know how to learn to do this. I often feel optimistic when I set off so smash it then cling on in the last KMs while people pass me. Basically I'm the guy who dosnt really know what he is doing.

I have just looked at the splits of my pb (sadly some years ago) and they were: 3:34, 3:51, 3:55, 4:02, 3:58. I do distinctly remember getting to the end of the first km, looking around and thinking 'I don't belong here'.

I like to do speedwork at the track - 14(ish) * 400, 8ish * 800, 6 * 1k / 1 mile - although I'll do 1k intervals on the road too

Agree about the quality of the quality sessions, it also depend what else you do in a week exercise wise, you can remove quite a bit of the burden of long runs with bike sessions and could remove some of the strength work by adding in core strength sessions as if I recall correctly you suffered some injuries last time you ramped up your training.

Have you run your best times at an even pace?

My splits are always pretty even, unless I blow up - smashing out intervals at specific paces gives you a great feel for how fast you are going, and I have a garmin to remind me every km.