Ran a 5K today

cheeba wrote:

35:39.6. I'm no speed demon, but at 255 lbs and my first race, I'm not disappointed.

What an amazing experience. Having people cheer you on as you approach the finish line is spectacular.

Gratz Cheeba, nicely done!

cheeba wrote:

35:39.6. I'm no speed demon, but at 255 lbs and my first race, I'm not disappointed.

What an amazing experience. Having people cheer you on as you approach the finish line is spectacular.

Yes it is. That's why I like the bigger races, especially for longer races. The difference between, say, the Marine Corps Marathon where there are literally over a hundred thousand spectators almost the entire length of the course (with some notable quiet zones) and smaller, localized races is incredible. It's why I'm heading back to the MCM :). I feed off the crowd.

Ghostship wrote:

Is there a plateau around 8k? Seems like I breezed through 2,3,4,5, even 6k. After that, I've hit a wall.

There are walls all over the place, honestly. I remember when I first started running many, many years ago I could hardly run a quarter of a mile. I was amazed when I started running again a few years ago and decided to add to my mileage and I eventually actually ran 7 miles without stopping. Farthest ever, ever. I'd done 10k races when I was younger but I never made it without a walk.

When I was doing my last marathon ramp up my shortest long run in the plan was 13 miles, so now half marathons are simply not daunting. The marathon still is, though. In my mind there's now a barrier of 20 miles. That's typically the longest training run people do for marathons. It also happens to coincide with a fairly common distance where glycogen depletion happens, so it'a double whammy. 20 miles has a large presence in my mind. I've never actually completed a run over that distance without bonking and walking. And I've "run" 2 marathons, but I had to run/walk in those final miles.

I'm now in the ramp up to this year's MCM. I just ran my last sub-13 mile long run. I have 4 20 milers staring me in the face over the next months. Maybe something will click this time :).

Persistance pays off, keep at it.

Today was the day that the Ct5k takes the gloves off and basically says "yeah, you're done with that walking sh*t, it's time to run now, Female Doggo." This week's runs are all 2.5 miles with no walking, then up to 2.75 all next week, then 3 miles the week after. Following my killer run the other day, subsequent realization that I was pushing my pace, and deciding those two factors were probably linked, I was very conscious not to let myself go too fast, and set Runkeeper to call out my current pace every half mile.

Huge success! When it called out the end of the 2.5 miles, I was pretty surprised, since I had plenty of gas left in the tank. Amazingly, I was still doing around a 9:00/mile pace. I'm not sure if I just kept the pace measured the whole time, or if the cooler temps from running early did it, but I'm pretty happy. After the last run, I was thinking I might need to start doing repeats of days, but now I'm thinking I'll actually make it to the 5k mark on schedule. Whee!

Has anyone else had trouble with Runkeeper reporting wonky current pace readings? I had mine bouncing around from 14:00 at one point while running down to 5:30 a mile later. Let me tell you, I was not doing a 5:30 pace. I don't like to use average pace, since I start out with a five minute warmup walk, which throws the average off.

Chaz wrote:

Has anyone else had trouble with Runkeeper reporting wonky current pace readings? I had mine bouncing around from 14:00 at one point while running down to 5:30 a mile later. Let me tell you, I was not doing a 5:30 pace. I don't like to use average pace, since I start out with a five minute warmup walk, which throws the average off.

Unfortunately that's life with any GPS device, to some extent or other. My Garmin does the same thing but usually is more accurate than RunKeeper. Compare this activity recorded by RunKeeper with this activity recorded by my Garmin.

Chaz wrote:

Has anyone else had trouble with Runkeeper reporting wonky current pace readings? I had mine bouncing around from 14:00 at one point while running down to 5:30 a mile later. Let me tell you, I was not doing a 5:30 pace. I don't like to use average pace, since I start out with a five minute warmup walk, which throws the average off.

Yes. Current pace, measured by any GPS or pedometer device is pretty wonky. I don't find it useful and my buddies who use Nike+ and Garmin agree. I set my runkeeper to give me just time and average pace each half mile. I find the "current" pace to be too erratic, but the average pace, even if I'm running intervals or fartlek, can tell me something about consistency and pace that is useful.

Chaz wrote:

Has anyone else had trouble with Runkeeper reporting wonky current pace readings? I had mine bouncing around from 14:00 at one point while running down to 5:30 a mile later. Let me tell you, I was not doing a 5:30 pace. I don't like to use average pace, since I start out with a five minute warmup walk, which throws the average off.

I have once, perhaps twice, had really spotty GPS coverage. In addition to mucking up the total mileage, it plays hell with the current pace reading. For the most part they've been fairly consistent though.

Edit: After reading Coldforged and Oso's response I realize I was talking about average pace, and you're asking about current pace. I don't actually use current pace either, I use average for the reasons Oso mentioned.

Reading comprehension fail on my part.

cheeba wrote:

35:39.6. I'm no speed demon, but at 255 lbs and my first race, I'm not disappointed.

What an amazing experience. Having people cheer you on as you approach the finish line is spectacular.

Congrats, Cheeba!

Ghostship wrote:

What did you do to help break through the 5 mile (8k) plateau? Persistence goes without saying.

Several things. The trick is to not just try to beat it with abstract motivators like persistence, grit, or willpower. For me it was: 1) Signing up for a 15k race that would take place 4 months later. 2) Having Saturday mornings open for long runs and saving the short runs for treadmill gym sessions 3) Running with a partner who was looking forward to the race 4) Buying a new pair of shoes 5) No longer skipping lunch and then eating giant dinners with lots of wine at 9:00pm on weeknights 6) Having fun exploring new routes in the city and then calculating distances using Gmaps pedometer 7) Trying to think of the long runs as opportunities to "explore" rather than suffer

That worked for me, in my particular situation, at that particular point in my life. But it's different for each person's situation.

Montalban wrote:
Ghostship wrote:

Is there a plateau around 8k? Seems like I breezed through 2,3,4,5, even 6k. After that, I've hit a wall.

From our personal experience (early 30s, not particularly athletic builds), my wife and I swear that there's some invisible barrier between 4 miles and 5 that when you push through it, suddenly you're able to run even 9, 10, or 11 miles with only boredom and injury holding you back. Something seems to click in the body where it finally says, "Ok, fine, I get it. We're going to be running for a while. I guess I'll stop yelling at you to stop every tenth of a mile."

I'd agree with that, albeit at slightly different numbers. Once I could manage 5 miles, cranking it up to 10 miles (bit-by-bit, of course) was a cakewalk.

But, as someone pointed out, now there's another wall for me around 11-12 miles. My plan of attack for beating it is to switch up my training once I'm done with triathlons this month to focus 80% purely on running (as opposed to about 30% now), and put a bunch of miles on my feet. I'm running my first marathon at Thanksgiving, so I've got my work cut out for me.

Anyone have any advice on increasing speed for a 5k?

I've heard a couple different things:
Run 1 mile intervals at a faster pace. I'm pretty sure I'll do this once a week.
Increase distance. I'm not overly anxious to increase distance much, to be honest. I really don't want to run for an hour. But I suppose I could increase distance a mile or two.

I'm also considering removing my 2-day break on the weekend and running every other day, so 4 days 1 week, 3 days the next. Should I do 1 interval speed run a week, 1 extra-distance run, and 1-2 normal 5k's?

I looked at 5k runs in the area and the last one listed is October 1, so I think I'll sign up for that so I can take a look at my progress.

cheeba wrote:

Anyone have any advice on increasing speed for a 5k?

I've heard a couple different things:
Run 1 mile intervals at a faster pace. I'm pretty sure I'll do this once a week.
Increase distance. I'm not overly anxious to increase distance much, to be honest. I really don't want to run for an hour. But I suppose I could increase distance a mile or two.

I'm also considering removing my 2-day break on the weekend and running every other day, so 4 days 1 week, 3 days the next. Should I do 1 interval speed run a week, 1 extra-distance run, and 1-2 normal 5k's?

I looked at 5k runs in the area and the last one listed is October 1, so I think I'll sign up for that so I can take a look at my progress.

I've been trying intervals. It definitely made my legs sore again, while normal long runs didn't. I think it's because you'll push yourself harder knowing there is a imminent break coming. But my intervals were 30 seconds run as hard as I could, and 30 seconds walk. Those are both the shortest and longest 30 seconds that I know.

cheeba wrote:

Anyone have any advice on increasing speed for a 5k?

Join a running club. Ask at the local running store, look online, etc. You want one with a proper coach and a range of speeds and ages.

A decent coach will assess where you are, what you're willing to do per week & give you realistic workouts that will gradually improve your speed & endurance without injuring you. There are any number of workout plans that you can find online, some of which I'm sure are great. But nothing is a substitute for a decent coach who can actually see what you're doing & tweak the plan so that it doesn't injure you. Did I mention that you don't want an injury?

Also, you'll find the long runs go by much faster if you have someone to talk to.

I live in a tiny town, population less than 1,000. So running clubs are out, heh.

Pity...I'm a big believer in getting into a group to help with both motivation as well as the more technical stuff. I'm no coach, but here are a few thoughts from my very limited experience:

- Make one of your runs each week a longer, slower run. Traditionally, this is one of the weekend mornings. Go quite a bit slower than your race pace - you should be able to hold a conversation at this pace. Gradually increase the distance each week until you're comfortably doing a long run. The rule of thumb (which I suspect has no scientific merit) is no more than a 10% increase per week. October is over 10 weeks away, so maybe think about going up 500m each week, then capping it at 10k. The goal here is to get your body used to running further, so when you come to your next 5k, the distance alone is not such an effort.

- To run faster, you need to run faster. (Very zen, I know.) There are any number of different techniques, but fundamentally, they all boil down to making you run faster for a short period of time. Whether it's to the next lamppost, 400m or a mile, it's getting you used to moving faster.

- Listen to your body as you stress it a bit more. Not trying to be damper on your enthusiasm - I love running - it's just that the enthusiastic new runner getting injured by pushing too hard too soon is all too common.

Yeah my current plan is to run Monday, Wednesday, Friday as normal when I was just doing Couch to 5k. Monday I'm going to do 3x 1-mile intervals where I do the miles about as fast as I can and take a minute or two break in between. Wednesday I'm going to do my normal route which I just discovered today is 3.3 miles. On Friday I'll increase the distance 10% per week. That'll give me 2 days to recover from the distance.

The new goal is to run the 5k on October 1 in under 30 minutes :).

Potentially ran into my first wall in Ct5k. This week had me running 2.5 miles straight. I also had a cold this week. First day of that distance was the very beginning of the cold, and the run was actually good. The last two have been difficult. Yesterday, I had to stop and walk a few hundred yards twice. I'm hoping that the difficulty was due to the illness and a bit of the heat. Now that I'm over it, I'll be trying that distance again tomorrow and see if it's me or due to the cold. Hopefully it was just the cold, and I'll be able to push it up to 2.75 the next time. I have another mud race coming up in two weeks, and I'd really like to be able to run a straight 3 miles before then. I'm optimistic.

Chaz wrote:

Potentially ran into my first wall in Ct5k. This week had me running 2.5 miles straight. I also had a cold this week. First day of that distance was the very beginning of the cold, and the run was actually good. The last two have been difficult. Yesterday, I had to stop and walk a few hundred yards twice. I'm hoping that the difficulty was due to the illness and a bit of the heat. Now that I'm over it, I'll be trying that distance again tomorrow and see if it's me or due to the cold. Hopefully it was just the cold, and I'll be able to push it up to 2.75 the next time. I have another mud race coming up in two weeks, and I'd really like to be able to run a straight 3 miles before then. I'm optimistic.

Feel completely free to repeat these weeks of c25k as needed. Pushing limits is a central part of running, but in my limited experience, I've learned that it comes *after* building a nice fitness base. So my .02 usd say don't push now, just keep running comfortably until it feels natural to increase the distance.

Oso wrote:
Chaz wrote:

Potentially ran into my first wall in Ct5k. This week had me running 2.5 miles straight. I also had a cold this week. First day of that distance was the very beginning of the cold, and the run was actually good. The last two have been difficult. Yesterday, I had to stop and walk a few hundred yards twice. I'm hoping that the difficulty was due to the illness and a bit of the heat. Now that I'm over it, I'll be trying that distance again tomorrow and see if it's me or due to the cold. Hopefully it was just the cold, and I'll be able to push it up to 2.75 the next time. I have another mud race coming up in two weeks, and I'd really like to be able to run a straight 3 miles before then. I'm optimistic.

Feel completely free to repeat these weeks of c25k as needed. Pushing limits is a central part of running, but in my limited experience, I've learned that it comes *after* building a nice fitness base. So my .02 usd say don't push now, just keep running comfortably until it feels natural to increase the distance.

+1

Listen to your body. If you're sick, you'll be doing yourself no favours by pushing it.

Yeah, I'm prepared to repeat as needed. I just hope I don't have to. My suspicion is that now that I'm over the cold, I'll be able to move up to 2.75 with no problem. I'm mostly impressed that I even went out running when I was sick and could've easily used it as an excuse not to.

Anyone have any pro-tips for preventing jogger's nipple? The 13+ miles I did on Monday has left me with some sore nips.

I've tried using Glide (I lubed them up good this weekend), but it's not quite cutting the mustard.

I'd consider band-aids over them, but I suspect that the combination of a hairy chest and sweating from summer running is going to nix that too.

My third option is to ditch the shirt entirely - I'm a little self-conscious about my wobbly middle bouncing around as I run, but I can get over that if necessary.

Fourth option is to buy an expensive tight-fighting compression shirt, but I'd like to avoid that as money's kind of tight right now.

Maybe a bit of nipple shaving & some duct tape?

Tanglebones wrote:

Maybe a bit of nipple shaving & some duct tape?

I'm not sure whether you're being serious, but I've already seriously considered that. The duct tape at least - I've sworn off shaving my chest after some less-than-stellar experiences with it.

There is another option - I have a couple of friends who are burlesque performers, so I'm sure I could borrow some pasties off them

Jonman wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:

Maybe a bit of nipple shaving & some duct tape?

I'm not sure whether you're being serious, but I've already seriously considered that. The duct tape at least - I've sworn off shaving my chest after some less-than-stellar experiences with it.

There is another option - I have a couple of friends who are burlesque performers, so I'm sure I could borrow some pasties off them :)

Actually, I was serious.. Even if you don't shave your entire chest, you can shave the area about to be taped over.

Also, make sure the pasties have tassels while you run

Tanglebones wrote:
Jonman wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:

Maybe a bit of nipple shaving & some duct tape?

I'm not sure whether you're being serious, but I've already seriously considered that. The duct tape at least - I've sworn off shaving my chest after some less-than-stellar experiences with it.

There is another option - I have a couple of friends who are burlesque performers, so I'm sure I could borrow some pasties off them :)

Actually, I was serious.. Even if you don't shave your entire chest, you can shave the area about to be taped over.

Also, make sure the pasties have tassels while you run :)

...and then be sure to post some video!

...but seriously, I'd shave the area around the ariola and go the Band-Aid route (or duct tape, I guess, if you're that macho).

However...how expensive are these compression shirts you're talking about? There are certainly some expensive ones out there, but I get mine at Kohl's for between six and ten dollars on sale. Looks like the current sale has them on for $13.

They might not have a name-brand logo on them, but they do the job. My nipples feel wonderful after I run.

They also keep the "wobbly middle" situation under control. Glad to hear even triathletes have those, btw.

Mytch wrote:

...but seriously, I'd shave the area around the ariola and go the Band-Aid route (or duct tape, I guess, if you're that macho).

My previous experience with shaving any or all of my chest is that I'm letting myself in for *weeks* of unpleasant itchiness. Not keen to repeat that.

Mytch wrote:

However...how expensive are these compression shirts you're talking about? There are certainly some expensive ones out there, but I get mine at Kohl's for between six and ten dollars on sale. Looks like the current sale has them on for $13.

Good point - I'd been thinking about how horrifically expensive the Underarmor ones I've seen in REI are. I'll have a trawl around and see what I can find.

Mytch wrote:

They also keep the "wobbly middle" situation under control. Glad to hear even triathletes have those, btw.

*This* triathlete does currently, although I started down the route to triathlon in order to eliminate it. Made some mighty fine progress, but there's a still a little ways to go.

Tanglebones wrote:

Also, make sure the pasties have tassels while you run

Please. This is me you're talking to. Of course there'll be tassels.

I know bike stores sell "anti-chaffing" products.

wordsmythe wrote:

I know bike stores sell "anti-chaffing" products.

Yeah, I was going to recommend trying chamois butter.

LiquidMantis wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:

I know bike stores sell "anti-chaffing" products.

Yeah, I was going to recommend trying chamois butter.

Is that going to be substantially different from this?

Not sure, I haven't used either I just know CB is always recommended in riding circles. That and Bag Balm if I recall correctly. At a glance Chamois Buttr looks like it might be a bit thicker than Body Glide.

Medical or athletic tape is generally the best bet in my experience. Nexcare paper medical tape will stick well even with a decent amount of hair underneath it, although if you're a total yeti I suppose it may not adhere well enough. It smarts a bit when you pull it off, but not nearly as much as hopping in the shower with raw nipples does.

The lubricant trick has never worked at all for me, it's either tape or blood.