Advice Request Please

BiscuitRunner

Feb 2019

8:05pm, 27 Feb 2019

First-time poster!!

0

BiscuitRunner

Hi all

I'm new here, so if this is on the wrong thread my apologies - also for book like length of this post. I could really do with some advice. I'm 46 about 6' 3 and around 15 stone. About a 5 years ago I used to run with a club (slowly) but built up from scratch to being able to run 10km fairly easily. I got my 5k time down to 22mins which isn't setting the world alight but was good for me since I'd started at 32 mins.

Then I lost my wife about 4 years ago and pretty much everything went out the window - including the running.Things have picked up since and last spring I was determined to get back into running as I enjoyed it (mostly). I took on the couch to 5k but was surprised at how much fitness I'd lost - it was genuinely garbage, barely able to run the length of my drive. It took what felt like an eternity to build up to 4k, at which point I got stuck...

For weeks on end I just couldn't get passed 4k - it was like a monumental mental hurdle. Even if I went out feeling good and confident, I'd get to around 4k and just feel like all motivation and energy had been sapped out me and had to stop. I finally managed to run 5k outdoors on the 31st December last year, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

So I headed down the gym - and basically ran on the treadmill, at a slower pace than I might normally run but upped the distances, which I thought would be a good way of getting better outdoors. I gave myself the goal of running 10k in the gym by the end of January. Considering I'd taken 6 months to get to 5k it felt a steep curve. But, I basically did 3 or 4 days in January of straight back to back increases in distance from 5k to 6k to 7k, and straight on to 10k on the treadmill. The 10k time was appalling (1hr 12mins) but it felt like I'd broken the mental barrier that had been holding me back running further and faster. I felt freer in my running too.

There after things seemed to go really well - I could run 5k's outdoor regularly and more quickly and extended my distance to 6k Then in February I missed two weeks of doing anything and had a brief bug that made me feel sick, but lasted only a couple of days.

And here's where I need the advice. Because since those two weeks, I've been out for a run twice and feel like I'm back at Week 1 of Couch to 5k - I'm terrible! I've had to stop at only 3k, both times. I can't even run 5k anymore. It's like the mentally block of last year, but physically I'm knackered too. My legs feel like lead, my back and stomach feel rigid and not flexible and my feet just seem to slap the pavement rather than having any bounce. In other words, the running is torturous. It's made me extremely demoralised, that I saw improvement and seem to be back at a place where I'm ridiculously slow and can't run any kind of distance at all.

I was wondering whether with all your experience someone could pick through the bits of this and see some obvious school boy errors I'm making? I've wondered whether the treadmill 10k was an unrealistic method of thinking I was improving - in other words I've deluded myself in terms of my fitness and need to approach it from a different angle? Am I just at that age where feeling comfortable running is not very realistic? Is this a mental issue in terms of lack of belief in my ability? Do I need to take a break from it and focus on other exercise down the gym to get me over the block? In a nutshell, I feel too young to be this bad at running and fed up I can't seem to just push through whatever it is that's hampering me.

If you've got to here, thank you for your patience and your thoughts are most welcome
Cheers
R

*PS for running read jogging.

Serendippily

Feb 2019

8:25pm, 27 Feb 2019

11,491 posts

0

Serendippily

Hi Biscuit Runner welcome aboard *waves cheerily*

You’re certainly not too old to run. It seems like you want to run longer and faster but I’m not sure why. Is it so you can feel like a proper runner? ;-)

because there is all sorts here and we’re all runners. Well some of us are cyclists and swimmers and climbers and kayakers and knitters too ...

I’m a big fan of who squares wins on here, search under games, that’s a fun way to get out and about because you can and find routes you didn’t know existed and find you are upping your mileage without trying. That I think is better than pushing a pace. In fact, I’m of the opinion that quite a lot of running should feel easy and that means also feeling like you have a nice smooth action going. Unless you are jogging about in the pitch black by the light of a torch or trailing up a hill. That’s good too :-)

By the time you’ve done that find a parkrun, be a walker at the back and then run the whole thing again. And then run a race :-)

good luck

.B.

Feb 2019

8:26pm, 27 Feb 2019

39,387 posts

0

.B.

Hiya well done for getting back to running. It’s always a bit of a slog after a break. Maybe you are not over the virus or have post-viral fatigue? If though it’s more mental then maybe making some changes to your running would help.
Do you do parkrun? Parkrun is amazing for running mojo. What about rejoining a club? It’s always easier to run with others and the speed doesn’t matter, that will naturally pick up as you get back. Other ideas - different routes, off-road instead od road/treadie, run with a purpose e.g. to post a parcel, go to a shop, or get a bus/lift somewhere and run or run-walk home just for time on feet rather than with any speed in mind.
I’m not running at present and just enjoying gym classes. I know I will have that tough bit to get back, but you are over the hardest bit, keep going.

Serendippily

Feb 2019

8:26pm, 27 Feb 2019

11,492 posts

0

Serendippily

(Ps there is lots of threads here I’m on the thread targeting 700 miles a year but there is every variant plus threads for specific races if you want to target a 10k and find others also doing it)

Dvorak

Feb 2019

8:42pm, 27 Feb 2019

17,280 posts

0

Dvorak

Hello Biscuit Runner. Hmm. Maybe it's the bug? I've done a bit of running but last Autumn came down with something which knocked me back more than anything (including a bike crash with a broken arm) ever had. There seems to have been an unusual amount of that kind of thing around this time. Maybe your just not really over it yet?

Aside from that, consider run walking to get you back into it, and stretch out the distances a bit There are as many variations as times you can set on a watch, but I reckon if you tried 1:15 run 0:45 walk you would breeze past the 3 km barrier. There's even a thread. Good luck luck

fetcheveryone.com/forum__56059__1__run_walk_run

Sweetie

Feb 2019

9:40pm, 27 Feb 2019

3,878 posts

0

Sweetie

Welcome aboard Biscuit Runner! Lots of wise advice from the Fetchies above. As Dvorak says, I would consider giving run-walking a try, it seems counter-intuitive when you are trying to get faster but it will help you to push through that distance barrier which will increase your fitness and confidence.

Do you have someone you can run with at a conversational pace? Having someone to chat to can distract you from focussing on how the run is feeling. I sometimes dread going out for long runs, but if I go with a friend, we have a good natter and I often find the run is almost over before I think about how tired my legs are feeling.

You seem a bit time/distance obsessive. It might be an idea to put the sports watch aside for a couple of runs and just go out for the pure enjoyment of it, try to remember why you like running so much. If you can recapture that then the rest will fall into place.
Best of luck!

GimmeMedals

Feb 2019

10:12pm, 27 Feb 2019

15,816 posts

0

GimmeMedals

Hi BR. I was also going to suggest run/walking. It can really help with building up distance if that is what you are aiming to do, then gradually increase the amount of running between walk breaks until you find your happy pace.
Alternatively, try running slightly slower than your current pace so the run is less demanding - this might also help you to run further.
Good luck luck

.

BiscuitRunner

Feb 2019

6:42pm, 28 Feb 2019

2 posts

0

BiscuitRunner

Hi all

Thanks very much for taking the time to wade through my post - there's a lot of really useful suggestions there. A couple of you have spotted that I am a bit obsessed with speed and or distance - and having pointed that out I'm not sure why either other than I feel that I have to evidence that I'm improving every time I go out, which very quickly becomes impossible because I can't get quicker or run further EVERY time I run.

Maybe getting rid of that mental barrier of having to improve and just going out to enjoy it will help, but I'll certainly try your other suggestions. Thanks for the welcome and your help,

R

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BiscuitRunner Feb 2019 8:05pm, 27 Feb 2019 First-time poster!!	0 BiscuitRunner Hi all I'm new here, so if this is on the wrong thread my apologies - also for book like length of this post. I could really do with some advice. I'm 46 about 6' 3 and around 15 stone. About a 5 years ago I used to run with a club (slowly) but built up from scratch to being able to run 10km fairly easily. I got my 5k time down to 22mins which isn't setting the world alight but was good for me since I'd started at 32 mins. Then I lost my wife about 4 years ago and pretty much everything went out the window - including the running.Things have picked up since and last spring I was determined to get back into running as I enjoyed it (mostly). I took on the couch to 5k but was surprised at how much fitness I'd lost - it was genuinely garbage, barely able to run the length of my drive. It took what felt like an eternity to build up to 4k, at which point I got stuck... For weeks on end I just couldn't get passed 4k - it was like a monumental mental hurdle. Even if I went out feeling good and confident, I'd get to around 4k and just feel like all motivation and energy had been sapped out me and had to stop. I finally managed to run 5k outdoors on the 31st December last year, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't a fluke. So I headed down the gym - and basically ran on the treadmill, at a slower pace than I might normally run but upped the distances, which I thought would be a good way of getting better outdoors. I gave myself the goal of running 10k in the gym by the end of January. Considering I'd taken 6 months to get to 5k it felt a steep curve. But, I basically did 3 or 4 days in January of straight back to back increases in distance from 5k to 6k to 7k, and straight on to 10k on the treadmill. The 10k time was appalling (1hr 12mins) but it felt like I'd broken the mental barrier that had been holding me back running further and faster. I felt freer in my running too. There after things seemed to go really well - I could run 5k's outdoor regularly and more quickly and extended my distance to 6k Then in February I missed two weeks of doing anything and had a brief bug that made me feel sick, but lasted only a couple of days. And here's where I need the advice. Because since those two weeks, I've been out for a run twice and feel like I'm back at Week 1 of Couch to 5k - I'm terrible! I've had to stop at only 3k, both times. I can't even run 5k anymore. It's like the mentally block of last year, but physically I'm knackered too. My legs feel like lead, my back and stomach feel rigid and not flexible and my feet just seem to slap the pavement rather than having any bounce. In other words, the running is torturous. It's made me extremely demoralised, that I saw improvement and seem to be back at a place where I'm ridiculously slow and can't run any kind of distance at all. I was wondering whether with all your experience someone could pick through the bits of this and see some obvious school boy errors I'm making? I've wondered whether the treadmill 10k was an unrealistic method of thinking I was improving - in other words I've deluded myself in terms of my fitness and need to approach it from a different angle? Am I just at that age where feeling comfortable running is not very realistic? Is this a mental issue in terms of lack of belief in my ability? Do I need to take a break from it and focus on other exercise down the gym to get me over the block? In a nutshell, I feel too young to be this bad at running and fed up I can't seem to just push through whatever it is that's hampering me. If you've got to here, thank you for your patience and your thoughts are most welcome Cheers R *PS for running read jogging.
Serendippily Feb 2019 8:25pm, 27 Feb 2019 11,491 posts	0 Serendippily Hi Biscuit Runner welcome aboard waves cheerily You’re certainly not too old to run. It seems like you want to run longer and faster but I’m not sure why. Is it so you can feel like a proper runner? because there is all sorts here and we’re all runners. Well some of us are cyclists and swimmers and climbers and kayakers and knitters too ... I’m a big fan of who squares wins on here, search under games, that’s a fun way to get out and about because you can and find routes you didn’t know existed and find you are upping your mileage without trying. That I think is better than pushing a pace. In fact, I’m of the opinion that quite a lot of running should feel easy and that means also feeling like you have a nice smooth action going. Unless you are jogging about in the pitch black by the light of a torch or trailing up a hill. That’s good too By the time you’ve done that find a parkrun, be a walker at the back and then run the whole thing again. And then run a race good luck
.B. Feb 2019 8:26pm, 27 Feb 2019 39,387 posts	0 .B. Hiya well done for getting back to running. It’s always a bit of a slog after a break. Maybe you are not over the virus or have post-viral fatigue? If though it’s more mental then maybe making some changes to your running would help. Do you do parkrun? Parkrun is amazing for running mojo. What about rejoining a club? It’s always easier to run with others and the speed doesn’t matter, that will naturally pick up as you get back. Other ideas - different routes, off-road instead od road/treadie, run with a purpose e.g. to post a parcel, go to a shop, or get a bus/lift somewhere and run or run-walk home just for time on feet rather than with any speed in mind. I’m not running at present and just enjoying gym classes. I know I will have that tough bit to get back, but you are over the hardest bit, keep going.
Serendippily Feb 2019 8:26pm, 27 Feb 2019 11,492 posts	0 Serendippily (Ps there is lots of threads here I’m on the thread targeting 700 miles a year but there is every variant plus threads for specific races if you want to target a 10k and find others also doing it)
Dvorak Feb 2019 8:42pm, 27 Feb 2019 17,280 posts	0 Dvorak Hello Biscuit Runner. Hmm. Maybe it's the bug? I've done a bit of running but last Autumn came down with something which knocked me back more than anything (including a bike crash with a broken arm) ever had. There seems to have been an unusual amount of that kind of thing around this time. Maybe your just not really over it yet? Aside from that, consider run walking to get you back into it, and stretch out the distances a bit There are as many variations as times you can set on a watch, but I reckon if you tried 1:15 run 0:45 walk you would breeze past the 3 km barrier. There's even a thread. Good luck fetcheveryone.com/forum__56059__1__run_walk_run
Sweetie Feb 2019 9:40pm, 27 Feb 2019 3,878 posts	0 Sweetie Welcome aboard Biscuit Runner! Lots of wise advice from the Fetchies above. As Dvorak says, I would consider giving run-walking a try, it seems counter-intuitive when you are trying to get faster but it will help you to push through that distance barrier which will increase your fitness and confidence. Do you have someone you can run with at a conversational pace? Having someone to chat to can distract you from focussing on how the run is feeling. I sometimes dread going out for long runs, but if I go with a friend, we have a good natter and I often find the run is almost over before I think about how tired my legs are feeling. You seem a bit time/distance obsessive. It might be an idea to put the sports watch aside for a couple of runs and just go out for the pure enjoyment of it, try to remember why you like running so much. If you can recapture that then the rest will fall into place. Best of luck!
GimmeMedals Feb 2019 10:12pm, 27 Feb 2019 15,816 posts	0 GimmeMedals Hi BR. I was also going to suggest run/walking. It can really help with building up distance if that is what you are aiming to do, then gradually increase the amount of running between walk breaks until you find your happy pace. Alternatively, try running slightly slower than your current pace so the run is less demanding - this might also help you to run further. Good luck .
BiscuitRunner Feb 2019 6:42pm, 28 Feb 2019 2 posts	0 BiscuitRunner Hi all Thanks very much for taking the time to wade through my post - there's a lot of really useful suggestions there. A couple of you have spotted that I am a bit obsessed with speed and or distance - and having pointed that out I'm not sure why either other than I feel that I have to evidence that I'm improving every time I go out, which very quickly becomes impossible because I can't get quicker or run further EVERY time I run. Maybe getting rid of that mental barrier of having to improve and just going out to enjoy it will help, but I'll certainly try your other suggestions. Thanks for the welcome and your help, R