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The Next Chapter - Being Better Than Most People At Most Things

BeginnerRunner

Running has always been my Achilles heel. Recently, after many years of lifting heavy things, I figured it was time to really get stuck into solving that problem.

Over the years I've done some decent strength and anaerobic ...things... but never really managed to crack running.

Sitting around 100kg with lungs that were far more ready to run than my legs were to carry me, combined with 15 years of squatting topping out at over 2.5x bodyweight means I'm taking a softly softly approach, loosely following Hal Higdon's Novice 10k plan and trying to build into things slowly and conservatively.

My raw engine/power output SHOULD be such that if I can just survive the initial 8-12 weeks of training without breaking myself, I'll settle into a rhythm quite nicely.

I base that previous statement off the fact I've rowed a 6.45.xx 2k and an 18.40ish 5k in the last 12 months, and while I probably wouldn't replicate those feats today as they were fairly deep into a rowing specific training cycle, I'm much fitter now than I was at the start of THAT journey so I think I'd get back there quickly enough.

I'm a first time dad with a 20 month old who has an aversion to sleeping, I run my own business (as does my wife) so finding time to fit everything in can be a bit of a challenge.

Am now towards the tail end of my 5th week of training and wanted to actually have a bit of momentum before starting this. I've always found that being able to talk to more experienced people in a field is very helpful from a learning POV.

Before the year's out I'm hoping to see a < 25 minute 5k, a 57-58 minute 10k, and just continue to clock up the mileage week on week.

Current best efforts during oct/nov are;

5k - 27m 23
1k - 4m 27s

The 5k was comfortable, and the 1k was during a longer run where I just fancied a bit of a hard squeeze.

I generally lift 3x per week for about 45-60 minutes a time.

Aaaaaaand the first few weeks of run training are coming....

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PS - the log title is my goal, to be better than almost everyone at almost everything. I don't have the time or energy to dedicate to being anywhere near national caliber in lifting anymore. It's a 20+ hour per week effort that leaves you feeling like complete **** all the time. It was grand in my 20s but not in my 30s!

I'm still stronger than 99% of the population, I've rowed 2k faster than most people could touch, spent a winter learning to swim capping out at 1,000m unbroken and now want to figure out what kind of run numbers need to happen to be above average at running.

....which all sounds very arrogant and conceited, I know - but having done ok in a couple of different sports I understand and appreciate just how much work and effort goes into them, so I enjoy the idea of being able to talk with a reasonable level of proficiency across domains

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Annie get your Run

BeginnerRunner wrote: »

I felt fantastic. Under no pressure at all. Woulda estimated 70-72% MHR based off how it felt.

I wear a chest strap for all my training so the accuracy is pretty on point I reckon.

Almost every run seems to come out at 74% average. Like I just default to whatever pace I need to be at to land there.

I've quite a bit of exp using HRM to pace rowing workouts so the concepts are familiar. I'm just surprised how quickly I've seemed to auto regulate my effort to consistently hit the sweet spot.

That being said... as soon as any interval or speed based work comes in, I'll no doubt be MILES off.

Gotcha

ReeReeG

I was confused at first about what the issue was but I see what you mean now.. Yesterday's run was evening and today's was morning/lunch? There are often HR differences for that reason alone for some people.

BeginnerRunner

Annie get your Run wrote: »

When you say rock solid, what do you mean? Running by feel is definitely a skill to learn (says she who still can't manage it!), for an easy run, if you can talk easily enough and your breathing is calm and steady rather than fast and labored that's possibly more important then a reading on the watch, especially one that's not necessarily that accurate. Plenty of folks here will say they would only rely on HR data from a chest strap.

I felt fantastic. Under no pressure at all. Woulda estimated 70-72% MHR based off how it felt.

I wear a chest strap for all my training so the accuracy is pretty on point I reckon.

Almost every run seems to come out at 74% average. Like I just default to whatever pace I need to be at to land there.

I've quite a bit of exp using HRM to pace rowing workouts so the concepts are familiar. I'm just surprised how quickly I've seemed to auto regulate my effort to consistently hit the sweet spot.

That being said... as soon as any interval or speed based work comes in, I'll no doubt be MILES off.

Annie get your Run

When you say rock solid, what do you mean? Running by feel is definitely a skill to learn (says she who still can't manage it!), for an easy run, if you can talk easily enough and your breathing is calm and steady rather than fast and labored that's possibly more important then a reading on the watch, especially one that's not necessarily that accurate. Plenty of folks here will say they would only rely on HR data from a chest strap.

BeginnerRunner

5.01km @ 6m 13s
31m 01s
74% MHR avg

I give up.

I'm not even gonna try estimate how I feel on runs anymore. I felt absolutely rock solid today and was SHOCKED to see my HR reading so high once I got the summary.

I've started to pick a route so I know how far I'm running, and then turn off any other measure of exertion until I've finished, and then review upon cessation.

It's been quite liberating not having to worry about HR%s or paces, and instead trust myself enough to operate off feel.

Gonna lift some things tomorrow, squeeze in a slightly longer run if possible (or wait to Friday) and hopefully see my Bike Erg before the weekend.

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(6/6)

BeginnerRunner

8.68km @ 6m 14s avg
54m 09s
72% MHR avg

Strange one today. Felt heavy and clunky from the get go, but HR stayed 2% lower than normal with the splits trending a little lower than normal too all the way around.

It was a lovely hilly route - down past supervalu and up main street and vevay road past tesco, left to putland road and up and over the head car park before heading back up quinnsborough road and down main street towards home.

The pull up is fairly severe, but the 6.5% 800m long downhill on putland road is just gloriously fun to relax on.

Another one in the bank anyway.

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(5/5)

BeginnerRunner

shotgunmcos wrote: »

CF Cindy workout is the one I was referring to with the AMRAP. I basically started bodywork and some home DB, KB usage last summer. Got up to 20 strict chin ups max and 15R+9 on Cindy. Last Cindy was 12R at xmas (felt like I had one of the kids wrapped around my waist ). One of my goals this year is 20R Cindy so that would involve 100 STRICT pull/chin ups. I like EMOM variations too.

Mrs Shotgun couldn't do a single chin up at the start of December. 3 days a week a couple of sets of slow negative chin ups and band (purple) assisted and she could do a strict pull up by xmas

C2 Bike Erg?! For what purprose? Back in my triathlon days I used a turbo trainer a lot for training but it was also good for a quick warm up or flushing the legs out.

The EMOM stuff is great for building work capacity on specific movements. Something like sets of 10-12 EMOM for 15-20 minutes with band assistance gradually moving towards less band assistance and bodyweight only for 10 minutes @ 6 to 8 and tren coming back to 20 minutes x3-5 etc could be a really nice progression.

Got the bike erg for 3 reasons...

1) I don't like my assault bike for steady effort work and wanna be able to burn some kcals for 30 minutes a few times a week in front of netflix

2) It's a really easy no brain workout that there's never an excuse not to do

3) My wife finally accepted having an indoor bike in the gaff would be good for both of us

shotgunmcos

BeginnerRunner wrote: »

Nah they were done after each of the 10 working bench sets so there was a good chunk of recovery between each.

That being said I got thru the bodyweight portion of the CF workout Cindy in < 20 minutes in June / July so chins under time pressure are ok.

There's so much you can do to get better at pull ups and chin ups without being able to do one. Timed negatives are probably the best way of getting better at them. Band assisted variations are nice by lack the specificity to see the same rate of progress.

I'm getting emotionally ready for a lockdown until Paddy's Day, so you may as well pull the trigger.

(..it's exactly that logic that had me order a Concept 2 Bike Erg today!)

CF Cindy workout is the one I was referring to with the AMRAP. I basically started bodywork and some home DB, KB usage last summer. Got up to 20 strict chin ups max and 15R+9 on Cindy. Last Cindy was 12R at xmas (felt like I had one of the kids wrapped around my waist

). One of my goals this year is 20R Cindy so that would involve 100 STRICT pull/chin ups. I like EMOM variations too.

Mrs Shotgun couldn't do a single chin up at the start of December. 3 days a week a couple of sets of slow negative chin ups and band (purple) assisted and she could do a strict pull up by xmas

C2 Bike Erg?! For what purprose? Back in my triathlon days I used a turbo trainer a lot for training but it was also good for a quick warm up or flushing the legs out.

BeginnerRunner

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Do you do the pull/chins all together? 70 reps is a lot although I hope to hit that on a 20min AMRAP tomorrow.
What is your max strict for each?

Nah they were done after each of the 10 working bench sets so there was a good chunk of recovery between each.

That being said I got thru the bodyweight portion of the CF workout Cindy in < 20 minutes in June / July so chins under time pressure are ok.

I did strict dead hang 12 pull ups before christmas at the end of a workout like yesterdays because I felt good and wanted to see where they were at. Chin ups are always slightly ahead so I estimate 15+ there.

70 sounds real doable - 10 minutes @ 4 EMOM, then 10 minutes @ 3.

Previously I have also done at least 15 minutes of chin ups @ 3 EMOM with 10kg attached when I'd spent a bit more time focused on them.

I always find with pull ups and other bodyweight strength exercises if you're a little less greedy at the start of the workout you'll be more than compensated at the end.

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Must try some hang power cleans tomorrow after class and see what weight I can do, would love to find my notebook from my 'lifting' days. Also have been meaning to get a pull up bar but even back then I couldn't manage chin ups/pull ups but I've been told it's a superb exercise to master, if I keep reading your log enough who knows what I'll buy

There's so much you can do to get better at pull ups and chin ups without being able to do one. Timed negatives are probably the best way of getting better at them. Band assisted variations are nice by lack the specificity to see the same rate of progress.

I'm getting emotionally ready for a lockdown until Paddy's Day, so you may as well pull the trigger.

(..it's exactly that logic that had me order a Concept 2 Bike Erg today!)

Annie get your Run

Must try some hang power cleans tomorrow after class and see what weight I can do, would love to find my notebook from my 'lifting' days. Also have been meaning to get a pull up bar but even back then I couldn't manage chin ups/pull ups but I've been told it's a superb exercise to master, if I keep reading your log enough who knows what I'll buy

shotgunmcos

Do you do the pull/chins all together? 70 reps is a lot although I hope to hit that on a 20min AMRAP tomorrow.
What is your max strict for each?

BeginnerRunner

A) Hang Power Clean:
40/50/60/70kg x3
75/80/85/90kg x1
95kg 2x1

Long Pause Bench:
130kg x1 @8
125kg x3 @8.5
120kg 2x3

C) Close Grip Bench:
112.5kg x3
117.5kg x3
122.5kg x3 @8
117.5kg 3x3

OTHER - done as supersets:
Pull Ups 5x7
Chin Ups 5x7

Felt like doing something different today so added in some hang power cleans. It's been YEARS since I've done them. No idea what my PR is on them, but I have cleaned 147.5kg in the past. I'll just play about with them for the next while during lockdown and see how they go.

LP Benching and CG benching felt great today. First time under a bar since Thursday so the rest probably explains why.

Up to 7s on the pulls and chins today, will prolly keep it there for another 2-3 weeks before moving to 8s.

Nice little stress busting session. Took about an hour.

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(4/4)

BeginnerRunner

5.10km @ 6m 13s avg
31m 42s
74% MHR avg

That was a lovely run. Felt MUCH stronger than the pace or HR readings suggest. Which is weird.

Meh. Trying not to think too much about stuff like that. Few more miles in the bank but a much shorter than normal week.

Weekly Total: 23km - that's off 42km the week before but includes new years day and eve this week

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(3/3)

BeginnerRunner

20 minutes of mobility work
20 minues of bodyweight conditioning work

Followed an online workout from a gym this morning. Nice way to get moving after a long run yesterday.

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(2/2)

BeginnerRunner

14.48km @ 6m 17s avg
1hr 31min
74% MHR avg

Not really a whole lot to say other than it was a nice pleasant run. Ran down to the junction of strathmore and vico road and turned around and went back. Running back down stratmore road to the beach was COMPLETELY outta control. Didn't realise just how severe the gradient was until the trip down.

Ignore the HRM for the entire journey, so nice to see I'm starting to intuitively learn the sweet spot.

Last km was actually 5m 29s at around the same HR and RPE. Dunno what happened but deffo felt "lighter" on it.

Nice start to the year there.

BeginnerRunner

Annie get your Run wrote: »

There has to be some advantages to #lockdown! Mine's not bad either, for an amateur . All I need to do is put everything to good use now!

Yup. Very little work I need to do for the next month so gonna take it as an opportunity to let my wife get out ahead of the year with her biz, and spend it trying to drop as much body fat as possible!

Annie get your Run

There has to be some advantages to #lockdown! Mine's not bad either, for an amateur

. All I need to do is put everything to good use now!

BeginnerRunner

A) Front Squat:
135kg 3x2

Pause Off The Floor Deadlift:
135kg 5x2

C) Comp Bench:
135kg x1 @8
137.5kg 5x1

D) Mid Grip Bench:
90kg x9
95kg x9
100kg x9
105kg x9 @7.5

OTHER: (done as supersets)
DB Curls 15kg 4x12
Concentration Curls 15kg 4x8

Good little sesh. Very happy to front squat the way I did.

Feeling pretty smug about having such a good home gym set up right now.

#sorrynotsorry

BeginnerRunner

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Crap sorry to hear you have been directly affected again. The yoyo must be driving people mental. Good to blow off steam on a run.

Fact. At least I've an unreal home gym set up to take advantage of

shotgunmcos

Crap sorry to hear you have been directly affected again. The yoyo must be driving people mental. Good to blow off steam on a run.

BeginnerRunner

3.41km @ 5m 29s avg
18m 50ish
83% MHR avg

This was an angry fartlek as a response to the latest lockdown. There was no real purpose to the run other than to avoid putting my first thru a wall.

I've had a lot of pleasant love filled runs the last few months which I'm very grateful for, but there was a lot of hate and anger in this one and I just wanted to suffer.

I run a business in an industry directly effected by today's announcement, so for the third time in 9 months we're closed, all our bills have to be paid, and I won't furlough any of our staff out of principle.

I said at the start of the second lockdown that if they close everything just so anto and tomo can have some cans in their ma's at xmas, and the kids can assemble on south william street, I'd be apoplectic. And I am. Furious.

But turns out a bit of anger is good for paces.

The break in the middle was so I could go into supervalu to buy myself a bottle of whiskey. Not joking.

BeginnerRunner

A) HB Squat, no belt:
140kg x2
145kg x2
150kg x3

Deadlift, no belt:
180kg x2
190kg x2
200kg x2

C) 3ct Bench:
125kg x1 @8
117.5kg x4 @9
112.5kg 2x4

D) Close Grip Bench:
110kg x4
115kg x4
120kg x4 @9
110kg 3x5

OTHER - done as supersets with benching:
Pull Ups 5x6
Chin Ups 5x6

First lifting session in a week went very very very well. Obviously MILES away from all time bests but to string together some reasonably heavy squats and my best deadlift performance since injury within 7 days of running a half marathon distance is something I'm REALLY frickin' happy with.

Pull Ups are feeling great to so will probably move to 7s from next week.

BeginnerRunner

10.05km @ 6m 20s
1hr 03min
76% MHR avg

Second attempt at this one today.

Went upstairs at 12ish to get changed, texted my wife from bed to say I was napping instead.

Got back out about 4.30 after some food and a lot of netflix.

Miles in the bank.

BeginnerRunner

5.05km @ 6m 08s
31m 02s
?% MHR

Christmas day run. Got the ham on in the coke, set an alarm for the oven pre heat and also turkey to go in, and told the wife what to do while I snagged a bit of a freshen up run.

We were up (as always) early with the baby so needed something to give me a jolt of energy.

Arrived home just as my folks arrived, the turkey was on and I'd a few hours of doing nothing before all the madness kicked off.

First xmas ever where we stayed at home and hosted. Great success.

BeginnerRunner

HALF MARATHON (distance) DAY

21.38km @ 6m 24s avg
2h 16min
75% MHR

Guess that's the half marathon distance checked off anyway, and concludes my first 12 weeks of running.

Today was... interesting. Baby's been sick the last 2 days so I've got maybe 4hrs sleep per night. Had a spice bag and 3 cans of Guinness last night (athlete!) and woke up to a text from my run buddy with a screenshot of the weather forecast asking if I fancied moving it to tomorrow.

(it was due to lash and be windy AF during our scheduled window this morning)

I couldn't.

So said how about we do a short run today and go for the half between stephen's day and NYE? We agreed that was sensible.

Then we also agreed to do a recce of a portion of the planned route, and we'd just go out for 5-8k and turn back at that point.
I think we both knew that we were making bargains with ourselves and as soon as we set off it was gonna turn in a 10k in one direction with no choice but to reverse the route to get home.

I was nervous enough coming into it after the 18km jaunt up and over Killiney Hill 10 days ago. It knocked lumps out of me, felt really hard on reflection and given my strava seemed to be 10% off, was prolly ACTUALLY closer to 16km.

Today's route was a bit more friendly and I hadn't run most of it before so I didn't know what parts to worry about, and since there was plenty to look at for distraction purposes it felt like a little running tour. We went Bray > Shankhill > Ballybrack Village > Killiney > Dalkey. Some gradual inclines but nothing long or severe.

We ran mostly into the wind AND uphill on the way out, though we didn't realise it at the time. It was a pleasant surprise at the turn around point to get some help from the elements and terrain. Checking back, the splits out were 6m 30s avg, and 6m 18s avg on the return leg.

I've no idea if it was psychological or not, but we took some gels with us and 10-15 mins after consuming we both felt like we were floating along.

The run back to Bray past Shanganah Park was unnerving. That's my traditional "I'm home now" point. Felt absolutely brand new. Super fresh. No aches. No real stress. HR way under control. And still chatting away. We were both saying we reckon we coulda easily tipped along to 30k (and then probably died). It was so nice to still feel in a rhythm at that point.

My only battle wound's a small blister on one toe on my right foot. I wore my peg trail 2 goretex cos of the rain and returned with dry feet, fresh calves and a little bit of bubble wrap on my second toe of the right foot.

After a couple of nights of very little sleep (in weird positions) and the day after a fairly heavy lifting sesh in adverse weather conditions when neither of us REALLY fancied it, I think we can considerate that a nice little start to getting into running and hopefully putting up some respectable times in the future.

It'd probably be easier if I wasn't 95ish kg, but that's a task for 2021

Next step will probably be to work on improving our 5k time for the first quarter of the year and see where that brings us next.

BeginnerRunner

Annie get your Run wrote: »

For what it's worth, you might want to consider getting a proper running watch, I'm a Garmin fan but your friends Polar is probably really good too. Apple and Samsung smart watches are more 'jack of all trades' pieces of tech AFAIK where as Garmin and Polar are specifically made with running and sports in mind.

Yah I think it might be, esp since the apple app crashed on todays run

I'll push it to my birthday next year and make a call then

Hannibal_Smith wrote: »

Hope your son is better soon and last night wasn't as bad as you expected!

Thank you!

It wasn't. It was worse

...ah tbf he jus slept on me as I sat upright in our bed in a pillow fort all night. Could be worse!

Annie get your Run

For what it's worth, you might want to consider getting a proper running watch, I'm a Garmin fan but your friends Polar is probably really good too. Apple and Samsung smart watches are more 'jack of all trades' pieces of tech AFAIK where as Garmin and Polar are specifically made with running and sports in mind.

Hannibal_Smith

Hope your son is better soon and last night wasn't as bad as you expected!

BeginnerRunner

A) Pin Squat
110kg 5x4

Deficit Dealift:
125kg 6x3

C) Comp Bench:
130kg x1 @7
132.5kg 9x1

D) Long Pause Bench:
127.5kg x1 @8
120kg 3x4

OTHER - done as superset thru session:
Seated DB Curl @ 15kg 5x10
Concentration Curl @ 12.5kg 5x12
21s @ 20kg 3x21

Baby has croup. Got about 4 hours sleep last night. All of it wrapped in a duvet on a yoga mat, on the floor of his room.

Apparently the second night is meant to be worse. F*ck that.

At least I'm done with work (for the most part) this year, so all I have to do is keep the kid alive, keep myself alive, and cook xmas dinner in a couple of days

BeginnerRunner

5.08km @ 6m 18s
32m 03s
approx. 78% MHR avg

Forgot my HRM belt today so was relying on the dubious ability of my apple watch to read HR. Figured since I was using it for HR, I may as well just go balls deep and use the run tracker too over strava.

Interesting results.

I've been skeptical of strava's accuracy since I got the watch 8 weeks ago. It always seemed to be 10% longer in distance terms than my run buddies polar, but his watch was a few years older so we reckoned GPS tech must have moved on...

However after today, where I ran about 30s "slower" per km than the same relative effort tracking with strava, I'm 99% strava is just wrong. And I know theoretically strava only reads what the GPS chip in the watch tells it, but this is a hill I'll die on.

The big PITA is that it calls into question the last 8+ weeks of logging on strava and the distances / splits - so I assume I'm gonna see a big drop off in total mileage over the coming weeks as I switch to the apple run app (it'll import directly to strava after so at least I'll be able to keep an automated record somewhere).

I guess the good thing about the switch is that it happened early in my running "career", and unlike strava, I can set the apple app to give a live km pace as opposed to average so it'll make tempo work easier.

Was planned to be a shorter run today anyway as we're gonna attempt Bray to Dalkey and back to round out the year with an ill-advised but all too tempting half marathon distance long run.