Running

Is there a good rule of thumb for what speed I should run 400/800 intervals?

Here gives a percentage of 5k pace 0 http://www.runladylike.com/2014/02/27/paces-for-speed-work/

Does that sound sensible for people who are more experience than me?

I think it depends upon a lot what you’re training for. If I was training for something longer than 5km I wouldn’t want to be incorporating interval sessions where I greatly exceed my 5km pace to avoid injury.

The problem I find with a lot of training stuff is they assume you are familiar with all your track times so you get things like "30 secs at 400m pace". Wtf is that to someone who has NEVER run on a track?

http://www.runladylike.com/2014/02/27/pa­ces-for-speed-work/

This has a formula but I'm not sure it's right.

North of Sweden, the scenery is pretty amazing so I feel like I should be out running or skiing. I just used my crappy old nike free 5.0 with strap on spikes, but have ordered these serious shoes 💪 https://www.salomon.com/en-int/shop-int/product/snowspike-cswp.html#color=69209

All these calculators assume you have raced recently too :(

I think it refers to the best pace you can run for 400m, doesn’t have to be on a track...

It is also billed as an “elite” plan so presumably most elites have taken a turn around a track...

McMillan have a reasonable pace calculator- stick in a pace over a distance and it suggests training paces for different distances

https://www.mcmillanrunning.com

As with all these things, it’s good to feed into a plan, but not to take as a gospel truth

I'd say find your own level for intervals. Find a speed you can sustain over that distance, and then just push it a little bit. At the moment I find I can do ~800m (four lengths of the field I run across) at about 6.50/mile. I'll gradually try and get that to 6.30 over the next few weeks.

+1 on finding your own pace on intervals. I find it's best to use perceived effort with a bit of trial-and-error thrown in. I've got a good engine but rubbish leg speed, so my 400m reps are often slower than club mates that I can easily beat over 5k, but better to run at my own pace with good form than try to keep up on reps and start getting messy.

Nice, cheers guys!

First run for over a month, and it certainly felt like it was the first run for a month.

Trying to make sure I do at least 10,000 steps a day, which is interesting with a mixture of WFH, home schooling and lockdown.

Got back feeling smug about going for a run and see I've still got 3500 steps to do today. Guess I'll be going out for a walk again later (against the guidance but fuck it).

Daytime running dodging crowds sucks. Headtorch runs ftw in lockdown.

Frustrating for you. Those 5k big efforts may have drained you a bit? Rest & then return steady maybe?

Tried in wanted ads but will give a go here as well - anyone got an old Garmin/fitbit/running watch they are looking to get rid of on the cheap? Mum has started running and is tentatively looking for something that has all the basic capabilities and will upload to Strava with minimum technical knowhow...

Just over 9 miles ran tonight. Managed to run the wrong way down a road (it was dark) and ended up going in completely the wrong direction

12 weeks and change to marathon time, feels like a really short time to prep for a marathon, (dorney lake marathon, will run a marathon either way there that day) but been running consistent mileage for the last few months so have all the base I need, really looking forward to going out and seeing what I can do.

Aim is to beat my current PB (3:11 ish) and see how close I can get to 3 hours, depending on how training, and probably equally important nutrition goes over the next 3 months!

Good first week so far, have a 5k test on Friday to nail down training paces, should be fun!

bag of peas

Old School! I like the gel packs because they have a velcro strap so I can just whack it on and shower etc. Plus I usually ice three times a day (yeah yeah go to a physio) so I like to have a few on rotation and they’re pretty cheap now (>£5). Anyway, ordered some from Decathlon so will report back.

People who’ve had Achilles issues: are pins and needles and slight pain when stretching a bad sign? Should I continue to stretch or avoid it? There’s no pain running or doing calf raises.

I’m seeing my physio on Monday but wanted to see what to do before then.

Have heard that stretching is not good for an achy Achilles and can slow down recovery. Apparently eccentric heel drops are best. Obvs your physio's advice is best.

Not had pins and needles before. Typically some pain and/or creaking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tc0lN_bW5o&ab_channel=AaronSwanson

I'm not a physio and all that, but AFAIK the risks/benefits of stretching with achilles problems depends on how far the damage goes. Break-down of the tendon tissue beyond a certain point means that stretching can do more harm than good, and "slight pain" definitely sounds like a cue to avoid it. +1 for heel drops (and resting), in lieu of physio advice.

Yep - pretty sure this was discussed up thread, but for tendon problems advice is usually best to avoid all but the lightest stretching until well on road to recovery

My physio has me doing slow (three seconds up/down) straight and bent leg heel drops with a weight and then hops to a 180 bpm metronome three times a week.

It’s really really helped. I’m running pain free, no creaking. It’s something I’m going to keep doing for the foreseeable as when I stopped before it came back with a vengeance!

Respect to the people in the thread who’ve posted their experiences of getting over this. To anyone suffering there is light at th end of the tunnel!

First run of couch to 5k completed ✔️ was hard

Congrats!