Welcome to the Running Commentary forum. I get emails from time to time from people making comments or asking advice on various aspects of running - particularly from new runners or people thinking about starting to run.

If you think your questions or comments might be of general interest, please post them here.

To start a new thread, just click the New Thread button on the top right.

To reply to an existing thread, click Post Reply.

This messageboard software, vBulletin, is the best around. There are no pop-up ads, and no spam. In fact you don't have to register to post a message. But you are encouraged to register, as this will bestow upon you a large number of wonderful benefits.

Like what? Er, ask me again in... in a while.

---------

One of the things we can do on this forum is easily set up complete new forums. If you think there is scope for a new forum, let me know.

We can also have 'invisible' forums ie forums of which you have to be a member, and that cannot even be seen by non-members. If you are in a running club that needs a forum, let me know and I'll set that up for you.

The forum will change and improve as time goes on. Please do use it.

Regards

Andy

Nice idea Andy.

Can't wait 'til I go running tomorrow to see the promised 30 second improvement now that I've registered. Is it 30 seconds per mile or just overall?

I've been meaning to email you to ask if the pain that you had in your knee during Chicago just disappeared or whether you ever figured out what the problem was. But this forum is much simpler!

Thoroughly enjoying following your continuing exploits.

Good luck with the half,
Liz

It's 30 seconds a mile, Liz. You made a good decision.

The knee has been fine - thanks for asking. While I was still in Chicago, I went for a very gentle jog along Lakeshore Drive, about 4 days after the race. After a mile or so the knee started hurting again, so I packed it away for a few weeks. When I eventually got it out again, it seemed to have repaired itself, and (touch wood) have had no trouble since then.

I never really found out what it was. Just recently I was looking through my training for Chicago and realised that I'd missed out quite a lot of long runs. I think it was just a reflection of that. Undertraining.

How's your own running going? Whereabouts in the US are you? Any races on the horizon? Or closer than that?

30 seconds per mile?? Excellent. I'm going to be SO fast now!

That's great about your knee - and a nice warning to all of us not to undertrain!

I'm in Randolph, NJ - about 35 miles due west of New York.

My running is going surprisingly well. I took a week off after Chicago and then started on Runner's World's 10 week "Learn to Run for 30 minutes" plan which has worked for thousands of people. I was positive that I was special and that I would be the one person that it didn't work for since I could barely run for 5 minutes straight. But seeing as I was claiming to have run a marathon I decided that I ought to be able to run a whole mile. I say claiming - I ran for 1 3/4 minutes and walked for 1 1/4 and repeated that 3 minutes over and over (and over) so there was more time spent running than walking. A big improvement over walking the marathon the previous year. Anyway the plan worked - and on Jan 1st I ran for 30 minutes. Slowly. But who cares? I'm never going to be fast - my dream is 3 miles in under 30 minutes - your 30 seconds are going to be very helpful. :p

I was lucky enough to get a place in the London marathon and am following Hal's novice plan again. I try to run the short runs totally and use walking and running for the longer ones since that is what will happen in the marathon. This week I ran FOUR miles without walking which, for me, is totally unbelievable - and I could have kept going. I think. But unfortunately I got a stinker of a 2 week cold in late January and barely ran for 3 weeks and the fitness suffered. Then I discovered that my green card notification is unlikely to arrive in time and if I leave the states I won't get back in, so I'm deferring my entry to next year.

I'm probably going to do the NJ Shore marathon on April 27th since that gives me a couple of extra training weeks (and it's very close), although I DO fancy the Cincinnati Flying Pig on May 4th (the medal's adorable - and what a great name!!) and I have a friend doing Pittsburgh. So I'm training but not 100% sure what for!

Apart from that, I'm contemplating Chicago again this year. I really need goals to keep me running, so marathons are good in that they make me run for 18 weeks, but the training IS rather invasive. I'm considering your half marathon plan... I'm probably considering it because tomorrow I have to run 15 miles and the longest I've done so far is 12 (been building the miles up slowly after being off sick) so it seems rather a long way.

Great news about the improving running. It's a bit weird that you've already 'run' various races at this stage.

So was the plan to run London or walk it? And if you have to defer till 2004, are you planning to run it then? With this length of time available, it would definitely be possible. Once you get past that 3 mile barrier, it's quite straightforward for most people to improve steadily.

My sister, who lives in Dublin, wants to do the Dublin marathon in October 2003, and has only just started her run-walking this week. She's done a mile so far which is... quite a milestone.

It's a good idea to schedule some other races in. It keeps you motivated, and allows you to measure your progress. And most important, who wouldn't want to add to the medal collection?

Keep us informed, and good luck.

You're right, it is weird. I find it hilarious that I run at all! As would any PE teacher that I ever had - 200 metres was about my limit.

I know that conventional wisdom is to start with a short race and work up, but I started my "racing" career with the Chicago marathon in 2001 and walked the entire way apart from maybe 100 yards and yes, it takes a long time. 6:47:32 to be precise. It was quite an experience, but lonely as my buddy and I trailed through almost empty streets with what felt like just a handful of other walkers. In 2002 I strolled/jogged a 5K with a friend and then something odd happened. My marathon friend said that we should do the marathon again but faster - I resisted since this meant running, but somehow I got talked into doing an 8K and peculiarly I started off by running and it was FUN - and that's how it all started. After last year's marathon I did a 5 miler and a couple of 5Ks - what a totally different experience, they were finished almost before breakfast and there was no soreness the next day.

I'm not really sure how to fit short races into marathon training and the longer ones never seem to be at the right time. I definitely could do with more medals of course Or did you mean more races in between the marathons? I'm sure that short races would help with my "speed" (if I can call it that, when my best per mile pace for a multi-mile run is 10:59 over 4 miles). At least being slow I have LOTS of goals to achieve - 3 miles in 30 minutes, then a 5K in 30 just to start with...

As far as run/walking goes, the plan is always to run/walk marathons I think - I can't get my head around trying to run 26.2, plus so far I'm faster when I take walk breaks. The furthest I've run without walking is 4 miles and it was 30 seconds / mile slower than if I have some walk breaks. I push along a bit faster if I know I have a rest coming up. I focus on the next walk break and the time drifts by without feeling overwhelmed by the distance to go. But I'm also working on continuous running - 2 runs a week are continuous.

This focus on the upcoming walk breaks is how I did Chicago - if you only run for 1.75 minutes the next break isn't far away! Walk breaks are surprisingly effective for me - I was overtaking a lot of people in the last 5 miles of Chicago - and although I walked for around 2 hours and 20 in total I still finished in 5:35 which isn't bad with all that walking. For the NJ marathon, I'm going to go with run 3 mins and walk 1 (as long as the longer runs don't show problems with that) and hopefully will continue to increase the running portion with each marathon - maybe one day that WILL mean running all the way. One advantage is that I'm virtually guaranteed PBs each time as my running portion increases.

I think it's great that you have inspired your sister so much that she's now becoming a marathoner.

Depends where you live and how far you can travel to races I guess, Liz. In Britain there seems to be a lot going on. You could do a half marathon almost every weekend of the year if you wanted to, and there are even more 10Ks. Quite a few marathons too.

I agree that being slow has its advantages. I read somewhere the other day that regardless of your age when you start running, the tendency is to keep improving for seven years. So my London marathon victory has to happen before 2010, or I've missed my chance.

As for run-walking, Hal Higdon has often mentioned that his son did a marathon in something like 2:25 by walking for one minute each mile. So you know the time you have to aim for...

2:25? ROFL. Actually I nearly fell off my bed I laughed so much. Wow assuming walking around 2 miles in the 26 minutes, that's under 5 minute miles. That's an awful lot of improving I have to do in the next 6 years.

New Jersey is cold and inhospitable at this time of the year - my father is visiting and had to call my mother in disbelief when we assured him that the thermometer wasn't broken and it really was -21 degrees C. Admittedly that's a little unusual, but there aren't any races around that I've seen after the excitement of Jan 1st until later this month - and 5Ks seem to be the most popular.

I'm finding more and more web sites so maybe the races are out there and I just haven't found them yet...

Liz - did you say -21 C??

As Hal would say, "Yikes!"

The weather here is definitely moving away from winter. More sunshine and more daylight. Last year was my first full year of running, but I found this time of year - March and April - to be probably the best time of all to get out there.

Not that I'm doing a whole lot at the moment. With these three halfs, I'm doing fairly minimal training. I've had two rest days, so will do a bit tomorrow.

Cheers,

Andy