The Running Thread Vol 2

[MesoForm]

MesoForm said:

Thought I’d give the Z2 running thing a go, usual 6k route, set off at a dead slow plod, felt good that I managed to keep my heart rate in the second zone on my watch (green on Garmin) for about 20 minutes. HR went up after that but I was happy that it started in zone 2.
Until I checked the results on my phone after I got home -

Obviously I was looking at the wrong section on my watch!
Think I’ll try power walking to get up into Z2, normal walking won’t get into it and I can’t run any slower to get HR down to it.

smn159 said:

I'd suggest that you need to be sure that your HR zones are set correctly and that your watch is reading them accurately before you do that

30 mins at threshold heart rate would definitely not leave you feeling good, so something is amiss

After a bit more investigation, Garmin has a different definition of Zone 2 to Strava, looking at the Strava results for the same run I did much better:

[BeeDeeVV]

It seems Garmin and Strava have very different ideas on what your max HR is. Strava is showing 195, and I suspect Garmin is more like 185 if it’s using >179 for Z5.

You’ll need to correct that in both apps.

[Austin_Metro]

Advice sought pls: have done a half marathon once, on my way home from work, not planned, ended up deciding to do another 10k as the trains were screwed. It was hot. I had no water and I hadn’t planned it at all took me just over 2 hrs whereas Garmin reckons I should manage 1hr 50.

Was thinking about having another go, but maybe with a bottle of water or some fuelling. Even a lucozade half way would help.

Any thoughts on light fuelling for this sort of thing - both timing and type.

Cheers all. Austin.

[Rosscow]

Wanted to do 10 miles yesterday and managed it in just over 1:15, average pace was 7:33. Pleased with that!

Couple of days off now, go again on Thursday night I think.

[anonymous-user]

Austin_Metro said:

Advice sought pls: have done a half marathon once, on my way home from work, not planned, ended up deciding to do another 10k as the trains were screwed. It was hot. I had no water and I hadn’t planned it at all took me just over 2 hrs whereas Garmin reckons I should manage 1hr 50.

Was thinking about having another go, but maybe with a bottle of water or some fuelling. Even a lucozade half way would help.

Any thoughts on light fuelling for this sort of thing - both timing and type.

In terms of hydration, my main consideration is what you do in the hours before the run, so consistently taking on water. That way I find I don't really need to take on any during the run. You could also consider sipping on High5 Energy Drink in the hour before you go out. Mid run, maybe a gel, but you'll have to work out how you react to them. I sometimes find the sugar content in them actually results in a bit of a slump, so I don't normally bother with them,

[keo]

Heads up Garmin have a sale on. I have just ordered a 255s music as my old 45 has seen better days.

[anonymous-user]

keo said:

Heads up Garmin have a sale on. I have just ordered a 255s music as my old 45 has seen better days.

The FR255 is a great watch, had mine since August last year. Was a definite step up from my previous 735xt.

[keo]

ajap1979 said:

The FR255 is a great watch, had mine since August last year. Was a definite step up from my previous 735xt.

Yes I am still getting used to it and don’t really know what I am doing with it yet!

Decided to follow the suggested workout this morning. Something I have never done and I have no real structure apart from trying to do 20 miles a week including a 10 mile long run Saturday morning.
It was a threshold work out 3 efforts at 8:15 min mile pace. I really enjoyed it. Although I found the pacing quite hard. Running to slow on the warm up/ recovery, the speed bits I was ok at.

[Smitters]

Seems I've got long covid, which goes some way to explain my malaise and general feeling of uselessness over the last 6 weeks.

Does anyone here have any resources relating to endurance athletes and long covid please? On the one hand, recovery is key, but running, cycling and endurance exercise in general forms a significant part of my life, identity and supports mental wellbeing at least as much as physical. Just stopping moving is likely to cause issues as much as ignoring it and cracking on.

TIA

PS - Garmin 255 is brilliant. And also it provided the data from which my doc used to pinpoint the physical downturn!

[Rosscow]

Another tempo track run followed by half an hour of hill interval work last night.

Fitness is really picking up but safe to say here on a Friday afternoon that with all the running, walking the dog at 5.45am in the dark before work and actually working that I'm bloody knackered

[Skyedriver]

Smitters said:

Seems I've got long covid, which goes some way to explain my malaise and general feeling of uselessness over the last 6 weeks.

No real help but you have my sympathies.
Had Covid about 10 weeks ago and it kind of knacked me in general terms for weeks after. (Still knacked now but that's a dodgy knee and Winter depression).

[M5-911]

Smitters said:

Seems I've got long covid, which goes some way to explain my malaise and general feeling of uselessness over the last 6 weeks.

Does anyone here have any resources relating to endurance athletes and long covid please? On the one hand, recovery is key, but running, cycling and endurance exercise in general forms a significant part of my life, identity and supports mental wellbeing at least as much as physical. Just stopping moving is likely to cause issues as much as ignoring it and cracking on.

TIA

PS - Garmin 255 is brilliant. And also it provided the data from which my doc used to pinpoint the physical downturn!

Have you got the possibility to check your HRV, RHR and respiratory rate? That should really give you a good indication of what is going on. A few devices on the market should give you all those information with good accuracy.

[Skyedriver]

Not sure if this should be a separate thread in here or in the TV forum but, there was a good programme on TV (BBC Scotland) on Thursday evening about Eilish McColgan and her attempts at conquering the Marathon. The training is extreme.

[Smitters]

M5-911 said:

Have you got the possibility to check your HRV, RHR and respiratory rate? That should really give you a good indication of what is going on. A few devices on the market should give you all those information with good accuracy.

HRV has crashed, RHR is up 10%, but lack of regular exercise would account for that anyway and respiratory rate fairly normal, aside from when I had a chest infection. It was the HRV that really indicated the drop in health.

[M5-911]

Smitters said:

HRV has crashed, RHR is up 10%, but lack of regular exercise would account for that anyway and respiratory rate fairly normal, aside from when I had a chest infection. It was the HRV that really indicated the drop in health.

I can imagine that you have boosted yourself with all sorts of vitamins already?

[Rosscow]

So one of our running club members beat his personal best this morning at the Valencia Marathon… just a leisurely 2 hours and 25 minutes!!!

[Smitters]

M5-911 said:

I can imagine that you have boosted yourself with all sorts of vitamins already?

Yep. It's papering over cracks though. Very weird feeling this tired all the time. 10+ hours sleep and never rested. No caffeine after 1pm either.

[M5-911]

Rosscow said:

So one of our running club members beat his personal best this morning at the Valencia Marathon… just a leisurely 2 hours and 25 minutes!!!

Awesome, great race! Is he a 69-70mns half marathon?

[M5-911]

Smitters said:

M5-911 said:

I can imagine that you have boosted yourself with all sorts of vitamins already?

Yep. It's papering over cracks though. Very weird feeling this tired all the time. 10+ hours sleep and never rested. No caffeine after 1pm either.

That is hard. I got that feeling for 6 month when I got vaccinated.

[Smitters]

M5-911 said:

Smitters said:

M5-911 said:

I can imagine that you have boosted yourself with all sorts of vitamins already?

Yep. It's papering over cracks though. Very weird feeling this tired all the time. 10+ hours sleep and never rested. No caffeine after 1pm either.

That is hard. I got that feeling for 6 month when I got vaccinated.

Yeah. I've been reading up and the basis of training during recovery appears to be starting stupidly easy, as doing nothing is also harmful, in the sense of mental wellbeing and also the need for most folks to actually do some light exercise.

So, on a treadmill, I ran at a heart rate of 125. (Resting is 48, max ~190), so sub 60%. I did 5k and saw no upwards drift over the time, so was well within cardiovascular capabilities. Although I found the actual activity ok, I've felt slightly short of breath since.

My plan is to try and repeat this sub 60% run for 5k twice more this week and if all seems well, add 10% distance at the same capped heart rate. I can obviously nudge the pace up or down as necessary, but nudging down would be a red flag and requirement for rest and reassessment. If the shortness of breath remains, I'll cut the distance in half and see whether that's helpful.

I'll document how it goes here as it could be a useful resource/cautionary tale.

Obviously I need yo make sure I eat well, rest well etc. Good job we're not heading into a food focused holid... oh. Bugger.