Running

Kind of willing my Fenix 5 to stop being so durable so I can justify a 6

A mate works for Garmin wearables. His advice is stick to the 5. 6 adds nothing.

His advice is stick to the 5. 6 adds nothing.

The built in oximeter and offline spotify are features that I like in the 6 but otherwise agree, not worth the expense to upgrade.

My hope for the 7 is that they include qi charging.

35km easy this morning, ran out of water after 2 hours, didn’t enjoy the last hour!

My watch (garmin fenix 6x pro) also occasionally seems to have picked up cadence as hr, have heard of others doing this, are there any ways to help avoid this?

My 235 did this a lot. It was very frustrating during heart rate training. I ended up just buying a chest strap.

Thanks again for this.

My watch (garmin fenix 6x pro) also occasionally seems to have picked up cadence as hr

Same with my 6S Pro.
I have a Polar OH1 armband I use for that reason. The watch works well for slower runs but fast stuff not so much (and even on slow stuff sometimes, so because my cadence is faster than my HR it tells me a casual trot round the block is a max effort interval session)

Looking for some input. I have been picking up the running again after having a baby and finding it easier to get out for a run that faff with rides/turbo.

I built up towards a respectable HM time a couple years ago, but took the build too quickly and got an Achilles injury that is still not fully shifted. I've also had a couple knee injuries over the years so want to err on the side of caution.

I'm still doing a bit of riding on the turbo then doing 3/4 runs a week for a total of 3hr a week or so. Nothing huge for the moment. My question would be how do you think I would be best spending this time, to get faster but not risk injury. What I noticed was that I was going out and chasing pace/average times and most likely doing all the running in the Z3 netherzone. When I was training for the half I liked the HR monitor on my Apple watch keeping me in check for my 'slow' days. I've since ditched the watch but put a HR strap on for today's 8km, trying to stay in Z1/2 and it was painfully slow at times - had to practically walk up hill.

Do I need to worry about zones at this volume of training? Goal would be eventually building to another Half, want to beat my previous PB of 1.25 - I was thinking 3 easy Z1/2 runs and then one 30 min session, either intervals/hills/threshold - any thoughts?

Also, if using max HR as a guideline for zones, would you call Z1/2 under 70% of max? For me that would be very low and today's run was over it, was more like 75% so technically Zone 3 according to my Garmin.

Probably overthinking this but hey this is LFGSS and that's what we specialise in :)

Also, if using max HR as a guideline for zones, would you call Z1/2 under 70% of max? For me that would be very low and today's run was over it, was more like 75% so technically Zone 3 according to my Garmin.

My easy runs are supposed to be below 140, max is 194. That's 72% so you're in the right ballpark.

Your plan of 3 easy 1 harder session sounds reasonably straightforward but beware re-injuring yourself.

50km in the bag this week.

Knees are feeling it - rest days are not for cycling.

I would recommend warming up and down when doing your more intense sessions and doing some strides at the end of the slower ones, both will help with reducing injuries. I’ve only recently started doing both and it really has helped me feel less sore and fresher the following days.

When I first started running (about the same time as you IIRC) it took the best part of eight weeks before I started to drop weight. I then dropped from 88kg to 76 in the following seven months but injuries over the last year have seen it creep back up.
I started this year with renewed vigour too, a similar amount of running combined with stability exercises and off the booze but also doing 16/8 ‘fasting’ which in reality just means not eating between 6pm and 10am. I think it’s mostly a calorie deficit from spacing my meals closer together meaning I’m satiated quicker but I’ve shed 4kg this month and feel like my metabolism has had a right kick up the arse. YMMV.

Has anyone tried a phone "vest" like this Free Train one? I've started getting ads for them which puts me off immediately, but I don't really get on with arm holders or belts and I still want my tunes sometimes.

They look pretty good a work colleague of mine has that exact one and she likes it. I'm not a fan of pockets and belts either so just use one of my hydration packs as they don't weigh much if your not taking the bladder and has extra storage for any other little bits you may need to carry. You could probably pick up a hydration vest for similar money on sale.

Fuck fuck fuckety fucking fuck! My knackers!

My usual 5mi trail loop just took me 8 minutes longer than usual 😂

The whole MAF thing just blew my mind a little bit......

Edit: Is it a meaningful exercise to do a one off MAF test, or does it not work like that? I'd like to know exactly how slow we're talking about and see where I'm at.

Did they retreat entirely?

As far as I’m concerned it’s just a case of working out the number and then every run is a test basically!

Pretty much. Tripled bagged the bastards too.

My running pal got bought one for Christmas.. he seems to like it although I’ve never seen him use the phone whilst he runs like they do on the ads... it does have the look of some kind of support girdle.

I get on fine with my phone in my pocket.

I’d say it’s meaningful to decide whether you’d ever be happy running at the pace it prescribes.. If you’re relatively fit then I guess your MAF pace won’t be terribly slow. When I first started running I did MAF and I was basically walking with the odd burst of slow jogging. Thankfully it didn’t take too long to get to a point where it felt I was improving and I could get round a 5km without having to stop or walk.
I was a beginner and willing to follow the rules then (essentially a couch to 5km in my case) but if I had been used to regular running and forced to stop-start I doubt I would have stayed the course.

Also - terrain must play a part. If you’re in an area with lots of steep hills then MAF becomes even harder to manage.

Thanks, that's really helpful. Even though I'm in relatively good shape, I don't think lockdown is good for aerobic fitness because I generally go from sitting down to relative high intensity.

I got a slightly flare up of my patella from a HM distance on Sunday so I might do a couple of test runs for MAF whilst I'm doing some strengthening physio. My main concern at the moment is getting too cold!

@Sainsburys_Ed figuring out the number isn't exactly taxing, so I guess I'll see how I get on with it.

180-age is maths that even i can do!

My understanding is that the general idea is that the pace will improve, anecdotally, when I started I was around the 5:45-6 min per km and now I'm somewhere between 5 and 5:15 range, I do seem to have plateaued here, no idea if that's just where I'll get to or if it'll improve!

With MAF do you do all runs in this zone? No speedwork? Or just most runs?