Hitting brick wall with running

[Foliage]

This is an interesting thread for me, im in a similar but different position.

I did C25k to start with and am now running 5k 3 times a week I am struggling with reducing my time over 5k, my usual time is 35 minutes, I did a 33 minutes but I was dry heaving afterwards and completely blown.

Im not running to be quick though or to race im running purely for fitness, so my time doesn't bother me as long as im making progress. Ive now started doing 10k on a weekend and tbh with my pace what it is it was easy, I did 10k in 72 minutes and felt great after so I could have pushed harder, I just ran 10k straight off with no intermittent running or distance increase.

err im not sure where im going with post but OP what is your goal? personally when it comes to diet and fitness I take a slow & steady approach, you don't want to get injured and you want the gains to last, so just don't worry about your times being low, take a month or 2 to get back into the swing of it and get your time where you want it, you don't have to jump straight back too it.

My goal personally is to get down to 5km in 30 minutes but im taking a gradual and slow approach to it, ive only been running (again) since March when I started c25k.

[B19GRR]

Slow and steady definitely! 2014 has been my getting back in shape year big time. I'm 42, 5 years ago was over 17st, managed to drop to around 14st but plateaued there for a couple of years because I wasn't doing any serious dieting/exercising. I my 20s I was mid-12st and pretty fit, life then got in the way.

Jan 2014 I joined MyFitnessPal and rather ruthlessly dieted as well as started up C25K. I wasn't expecting to like running as it's not something I've ever done, cycling was my big thing back in my 20s but I've not been motivated to get back on my bike at all. So starting at 14st2lb in Jan I've dropped to 11st9lb, maintaining that weight for a couple of months, and if various tape measurements and websites are to be believed around 13% BF.

As I've got in to my running I originally thought doing two 10ks and one 5k a week would be good, luckily this thread has pointed out the error in that so now I'm working up to doing an 8 mile LSR, 1 10k and 1 interval (up to 5k) run to mix things up. Long term I'd like to say I can do a 10k in 45 minutes, it may never happen but it's a goal and that's motivating for me. I could do with completing a 10k in the first place though, nearest I've got is the recent 6.04miles and at nearly 3mins/mile slower than I'd need to be running it in 45mins, but hey ho

Cheers,
Rob

[theshrew]

If i were you i wouldnt be bothered with times at the moment tbh they mean sod all when you first start.

The best advice i can give you is build up pace and distance slowley over weeks and listern to your body injury takes longer to recover from the older you get as ive found out this year with silly little niggles that have put me out.

[B19GRR]

Definitely agree on the slow and steady approach. I'm not expecting that 45min 10k to happen this year, maybe not even next year, it's just a goal. I'm also getting much better at listening to my body, happily it seems to be in less pain at the mo' than it has been in though, that's one major benefit in having shed the pounds, even though running is heavy on the joints it's still better than an extra 6st 24/7.

Cheers,
Rob

[B19GRR]

Just thought I'd update this topic. A few weeks back I managed a 7.75 mile run, had wanted to do 8 but turned the last corner in to a strong headwind and my body had other ideas at that point. Since then I've had a couple of weeks off while I let a nasty callous/blister on the ball of my right foot to heal up as it had got in to a proper nasty state.

Also bought another pair of Mizuno Cursoris as they were in a sale for £45, really liking these and I feel my midfoot strike form is coming on well. Since starting up again the longest I've done is 5 miles. I did my interval run last night covering 3.2miles in 30 minutes, managed all 10 10s sprints apparently hitting a top speed of 11.6mph for at least a couple of metres, wayhay Annoyingly I got another smaller blister closer to my toes so will deal with that. Been trying Engo blister patches which are very low friction things you stick on to the insole, they seem to help, guess I'll stick some more on.

Hoping the weather holds for tomorrow for my planned lsr, got it in my head to do 10 miles on a cunning route where the second half is pretty much a long slow downhill, cheating I know but if it lets me stay out running longer then I figure that's good. Just need to convince MsGrr to pick me up at the end otherwise it's a 10 mile uphill walk home too on legs that might not appreciate that so much!

Cheers,
Rob

[cslwannabe]

I've just recently started interval training - wish I'd started years ago! Basically my 5km PB is just under 21m so I try and do 5x1km intervals at 4m/km pace (ie just faster than my best 5km pace) with 3min off inbetween each 1km run. It's tough and but does mean than when I do a tempo run at say 4:30 to 4:45 per km the pace seems pretty easy in comparison. I also do a long steady run at around 9m/ mile pace once a week (5:37ish per km) as for years I just ran once or twice a week, my pace determined by how far I was running, and didn't seem to get any better. Admittedly I have been running more of late but by a combination of interval running, long slow running and tempo running (ie race pace) I've started to show some improvement for the first time in years!

[B19GRR]

Well I managed 10 miles, average pace of 9:47min/mile so pretty chuffed. Found I didn't actually enjoy running downhill which was a shame as it was cunningly routed to be mainly downhill! Got some more blisters annoyingly, don't seem to be having much luck on that front.

Cheers,
Rob