Recent Long Distance Runner

skiddymo

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to get some opinions and make some new friends. A little back ground info on me. I have been in the Air Force for 13 years. After I was in for a couple of years, the Air Force went from a ergo bike test that measured your heart rate to an actual fitness test that involved running, pushups, situps and a waist measurement. This proved difficult for me even though I was young (19 to 21). Over the past few years, the test has changed some and I was able to squeak by with a passing score. I was running the 1.5 miles in 12:30ish. 3 years ago, i had a few good people help me get better at the run. We were running about 3 miles at a time and doing some other strength training. With their help I was able to get my best time ever of 10:39 on the 1.5 mile run. Over the past few years, I have been able to keep up within a few seconds of that time all by myself.

About a month ago, a friend asked me to train with him to do a half marathon. We both use Runkeeper and decided to do a sub 2:15 half marathon training program. We have been doing well and only had to skip a few runs do to some minor injuries/blisters. Our training should be finished mid-December. Neither of us have run this far so it is all new to us. If anyone can give us any pointers, please let me know.

Also, will these long runs help my short 1.5 mile run time. We are supposed to be running at a "slow" pace of 13 mins a mile, but we cannot seem to run at such a slow pace. We average about a 8:45 pace. We really haven't even hit the intervals yet, so i know that we will have to run those faster. I know that I am burning calories on these long runs and I have been eating right (with a few exceptions) but the scale doesn't seem to reflect it. Does this usually take a while to happen? I have some fat to burn off, mostly around my waist.

Thanks for reading this and if you have any advice, please let me know. Thanks.

KathleenMurry

Welcome! You might want to chat with SonicDeathMonkey - he's also in the AF and just ran his first marathon a few weeks ago.

Long runs will definitely make you faster with your short runs. I've been increasing weekly mileage and the mileage of my weekly long run and that (couple with speed training and weight loss) has helped my 5 km time a lot. Enter CarsonRuns for the science behind that if you want to know why. (I have a hard time understanding how/why everything works...I just do what I'm told and it turns out pretty well!)

The weight loss happens when you get your calorie deficit. There is no other way around it. Unless you have a legitimate disorder/disease, there is no reason you wouldn't lose weight if you are truly creating a deficit every day. I don't know your stats, but on average, you can expect a pound a week with solid diet and lots of running. If you're a heavier dude and you bring in big deficits, you'll lose more.

Good luck with the HM training!

SonicDeathMonkey80

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to get some opinions and make some new friends. A little back ground info on me. I have been in the Air Force for 13 years. After I was in for a couple of years, the Air Force went from a ergo bike test that measured your heart rate to an actual fitness test that involved running, pushups, situps and a waist measurement. This proved difficult for me even though I was young (19 to 21). Over the past few years, the test has changed some and I was able to squeak by with a passing score. I was running the 1.5 miles in 12:30ish. 3 years ago, i had a few good people help me get better at the run. We were running about 3 miles at a time and doing some other strength training. With their help I was able to get my best time ever of 10:39 on the 1.5 mile run. Over the past few years, I have been able to keep up within a few seconds of that time all by myself.

About a month ago, a friend asked me to train with him to do a half marathon. We both use Runkeeper and decided to do a sub 2:15 half marathon training program. We have been doing well and only had to skip a few runs do to some minor injuries/blisters. Our training should be finished mid-December. Neither of us have run this far so it is all new to us. If anyone can give us any pointers, please let me know.

Also, will these long runs help my short 1.5 mile run time. We are supposed to be running at a "slow" pace of 13 mins a mile, but we cannot seem to run at such a slow pace. We average about a 8:45 pace. We really haven't even hit the intervals yet, so i know that we will have to run those faster. I know that I am burning calories on these long runs and I have been eating right (with a few exceptions) but the scale doesn't seem to reflect it. Does this usually take a while to happen? I have some fat to burn off, mostly around my waist.

Thanks for reading this and if you have any advice, please let me know. Thanks.

Hey, sent you a FR. 15 year AF person here, and I totally get the PT change thing.

1) Miles incurred in your training will absolutely help you shave time off your 1.5. Back in 2009/2010, I was running (run/walking) my 1.5 at a lousy 13/14 minutes and scoring 75's on my test. The biggest mistake I see my peers and those under me doing is sprints about a month prior to their test. They usually just end up getting sore and suffering from shin splints. Anyhoo, with lots of slow miles under my belt, dropping to 10min on the 1.5 was easy, but now the challenge is the incremental grind to 9:35.

2) If you're getting blisters, reevaluate your shoe and sock situation. I'm guessing your shoes are too small and your socks are not fancy running socks. If you're getting injuries, I would reevaluate your training plan, and keep your goal at "to finish" rather than try to peg a time - save your time goal for your subsequent marathons.

3) I had the same problem with not being able to just slow down. But you gotta. You're squandering your training and begging for injury if you run at a LT pace every time you go out. There's a time to perform, and there's a time to train. 80-90% of my training is at 10:30-11:00 pace, and that is above my full marathon pace. Running fast doesn't make you faster. Running more easy miles makes you faster.

4) I lost the majority of my weight prior to regular running. Running ain't gonna help none if you over/undereat. Play with your calories/macros until you find the right number and stick to that. I'm in maintenance now, and eat 2000-2500 per day and haven't budged on the scale in 4 months.

skiddymo

Thanks for the info. It is helpful. Not to throw anyone under the bus but my buddy had blisters the size of Texas on both feet. It happened because it was raining when we started a 10 mile run. He was not wearing the right shoes and was wearing regular cotton socks. We continued our training over the next few days, even though he got new shoes, he was still wearing regular socks. He took the shoes back and got new ones because they were hurting his feet and bought some running socks. My injury was from doing hill sprints during flight PT. I pulled a muscle in my right quad, but it only hurt when I sprinted or played soccer. That is why we decided to skip a few days.

I will talk to him about slowing down. We have a 4 and a 6 this weekend before we start intervals. Our 4 and 6 are supposed to be at a slow pace so hopefully we can scale it back about 30 to 45 seconds a mile. I am sure we will make it work.

I am glad to see that I am not the only one in the same boat. I had a meeting with the command chief a few months back and he was glad to see seem one that had a success story from pt test failures. I had a few of them. Last one was for not meeting the push-up minimum. That was in 2009. I have been working hard on improving those as well.

As far as the diet goes, my wife is helping me a lot with that. I am really getting back on track and making sure that I log everything. That will really help me figure out exactly what I am eating and how it is affecting my weight. I would like to drop another 10 pounds before I start a maintenance program. I am confident that I will figure it out and see the scale move little by little and I know that my wife will make sure that I stick with it.

Thanks again for the advice. I will pass it on to my buddy as well.

CarsonRuns

Enter CarsonRuns for the science behind that if you want to know why. (I have a hard time understanding how/why everything works...I just do what I'm told and it turns out pretty well!)

Sorry, just noticed this call out.

The monkey pretty much covered the basics. Run more, run easy. That's where it starts.

davemunger

I agree with everything that's been said about running slow, but I'd also suggest that you consider re-evaluating your half marathon pace. Go to mcmillanrunning.com and enter your 1.5-mile pace there; it will suggest a goal for your half marathon. I wouldn't suggest going quite as fast as McMillan suggests (1:49 based on your 1.5 mile time), but maybe 2 hours would be a better goal for you.

You'll still need to slow down on your long runs, but not quite so much -- maybe about a 10-minute pace for the long runs.

skiddymo

Thanks for the advice everyone. It looks like the current pace we are running is at the 2 hour mark for the HM. I know that I could keep up that pace but my buddy is a tad slower than me. He asks me a lot if he is holding me back and I keep telling him to not worry about it. To me this is about us BOTH achieving a goal of finishing a half marathon and ultimately improving our 1.5 mile time. We are running 12 miles tomorrow morning and will be sure to pull it back so we don"t kill ourselves. Thanks again.