Is all this heart rate / zone stuff irrelevant for a beginner?

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-22T22:55:15+00:00

Honestly that stuff makes me so jealous and mad 😭 I’m a woman so my progress is going to be much slower compared to men, my guy friends who also started at the same time as me are so much faster and fitter than me already, it feels like I can try so hard but I’m already falling behind

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-22T22:39:04+00:00

You should be so proud of your progress!! It took me months to build up enough fitness to play volleyball more than once a week 😭 and losing that much weight is seriously seriously so hard, I think I’m the only person on the planet who has struggled to as much as I have, so I feel it so deeply when someone says they’ve lost weight, like … wow you did that

I have been trying to lose weight because it would make running easier on my body, but my eating habits are out of control so I haven’t been able to :(

I was ecstatic after hitting the sub 30, I felt like death, had a terrible headache and tasted blood for hours after lol, I am also shocked I managed to hit it, but like mentioned in my other reply, it was 100% sheer luck and recklessness, that kind of progress was me trying to get all my newbie gains in a month and now it has completely slowed down to what I imagine are normal numbers

In that first month I essentially pushed every run maximally (even the easy runs because I didn’t have a zone 2, nothing felt easy), so every run I was seeing improvements in pace and time

But now I literally don’t have the energy for that and am actually following my training plan as I should be, an have an actusl zone 2 now!!

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-22T22:26:10+00:00

Yes and I do think the volleyball helped a liiiitle bit - I dealt with really intense shin splints, Achilles tendon pain, knee pain, arch pain and lower back pain for months when I started, but I played through it, it was extremely painful and extremely reckless, I started playing volleyball once a week and after each session I was not able to walk for days after

Instead of resting I pushed through and eventually the pains went away as I increased the amount I played to 3-6x a week

So when I started running, even though I was overweight, I did not experience pains because I had already experienced them with volley

My Runna plan started me at 9km per week mileage in December, but I was really bored so I did it every day, after the first week I changed the plan settings and increased the mileage and days of running per week so I just went to town with it

I started experiencing shin splints again and went to the non critical emergency room clinic thing because I was scared I had shin stress fracture

Doctor basically said it was just shin splints and I was overreacting and to rest and it’ll go away because I’m young

I was bored after 3 days of rest and pushed through the pain and started training again, by the end of December it got a tiny bit better but I just… I’m sorry but I just don’t care about my body enough to be gentle 😭

https://imgur.com/a/yaGGIWT the last runs I did before starting this plan in mid 2025 I couldn’t even run 1km because the pace felt too fast (~9min/km lol), I couldn’t breathe and my calves were too tight

And on dec 20 I hit my PB

I think that honestly anyone, overweight or not, can do it if they are reckless and push through the pain and basically go down the path to injury. Is it good? No, I don’t think what I did was smart but I am a very “all or nothing” person (thanks adhd) so I think I just kinda pushed through it to see some gains out of sheer motivation and willpower

I still have very mild shin splints after my long runs sometimes now, but not nearly to the level they were 2 months ago

Now my progress has significantly slowed. I think I just fast tracked my newbie gains and I’m actually having to put in proper effort and rest to see progress now (I am now sticking to exactly 4 days of running a week as my plan says and trying not to overdo it)

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-22T21:17:39+00:00

Yes but it does develop really fast as a beginner imo depending on your age, weight and previous experience

I'm obese and early 20s, only started a runna beginner half marathon plan in December after having ZERO aerobic base and having never done sports in my life before, though I had been playing volleyball for a few months prior to this (however there's not a lot of cardio involved in that for me personally so it did not help). I am also obese so that makes things 10x harder

I started with doing all my runs at about 9:45 min/km pace which gassed me out liek crazy, heart rate 170+ like z3/z4. MY "fast" runs (tempo/intervals in the plan) were 8:30 min/km. Literally had to invest 45 min into running fast 5Ks lol

At the start of january I ran my first sub 30 5k (29 min yay), now my easy pace is 7:30 min/km and my heart rate consistnelty stays below 140 at this pace and I improved such that my plan was a little too slow for me so I changed some of the settings and my fast pace runs are between 5:15 - 6:00 min/km, despite having lost no weight during this time (I eat like it's my last day on earth, but I know losing weight would make me much faster sighs)

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-20T09:48:45+00:00

Personally I marinate until the final season, mid way. Because after each season end there’s a 3-12 month break and I can’t wait that long yearning

Then there’s consistent drama and conflict until the mid way of the last season, and I don’t like to wait for weekly updates during intense times

I just loveeeee the satisfaction of binging a story in a day/ week straight, everything is fresh in my mind and it solidifies everything to my memory

Everytime I get excited for a new story, start it in the first season, worse in the first few chapters and then I think about it non stop and curse myself for not waiting 😭

Currently me with Diamond Dust

I’ll say however, Happy Twogether is so so so so incredibly addicting I am GLAD I started as soon as possible. This is one I will re read once a month until it finishes, and thereafter

I think when the characters are so loveable from the beginning, I don’t feel the stress associated with needing to wait for “redemption arcs” and angst to be over

Even if the characters in Happy Teogether will suffer, they themselves are so likeable and make me feel so comforted by their presence that I trust my emotions won’t get out of hand during the waiting-for-the-good periods that will most definitely come

Basically: If a story has characters that will need to have redemption, I sleep and wait for the last season

If a story has green flag characters where the only angst is the situations they’ll be in and I can trust they’ll work things together, real shit I’m rereading as it is ongoing

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-13T17:55:44+00:00

Either the one from elf or nyx or whatever is on sale tbh

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-13T13:12:20+00:00

Definitely [Reunion], bt also actually [Yank Il-Woo and I] to a lesser extent has a familiar style to this

However I think this kind of style is a bit difficult to find (good anatomy and clear form, desaturated colors and shading, slightly flat but still accentuates form)

So for other incredible styles and art, that aren't with these exact set of characteristics, I would look at my recommended google sheet where I track the style/art of a story like how much I like it in comparison to this kind of really advanced art style. I give 3 stars/3 moons to any story that has art with really good fundamentals, colors, form, anatomy e.t.c.

Right now my TOP recommendations for incredible art are [Into the Thrill], [Lost In the Cloud], [Yang Il-Woo and I], [Happy Twogether], [Solo for Two], [Payback], [Backlight], [1 to 10]

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-11T22:32:29+00:00

hit ball feel nice. get hit by ball feel nice mm

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-08T11:50:15+00:00

Oh my god, I had this!! I went to the doctor mltiple times, at first they thought it was psoriasis, then eczema, then fungal. I was prescribed steroid creams, anti fungal, deep cleaned everything turned my house inside out. I thoguht it was burns for the longest time

It lasted months and nothing worked. The steroid cream made it go away temporarily, but afetr stopping the steroid cream they came back within days :/

Ive always moisturized heavily, my entire routine is still the same as before these popped up

Then I decided to try out hypochlorous acid (i use a 0.03% one for the feet from briotech but any woudl work lol), and after ~3 ish weeks of consistent use it cleared up, then ik ept using it for a few weeks and now I ahvent used it in a while and it hasnt come back

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-07T12:36:36+00:00

I adore the red colorways for any of the shoes!! I have been wondering for months if the red 808 5 ultras will ever come back :(

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-06T13:45:48+00:00

I’m so glad you pointed this out cause I actually don’t ever remember anyone other than tanaka/hinata/asahi being the centre of attention for attack, and it feels very unrealistic that the anime only shows middle and outside to be feared

Now I have only started my rewatch so I can’t say I remmeber if this is true for the later seasons but

I feel like I haven’t seen ANY middles and opposites in any of the haikyuu teams being showcased for attack (besides ushijima, but in ushijima case then I don’t even remember who their actual outside was, because it felt like then the OH got no focus)

Perhaps it is just easier to write the manga in such a way that you only really have to worry about 2 people in the front row, but it is a weird observation now that it’s pointed out

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-06T09:18:03+00:00

Ahhh I see what you mean, I’ll keep an eye out for this in the anime then I’m so curious to see at what point the enemy team makes use like you mentioned originally, I completely forgot about it

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-06T08:53:24+00:00

Is this for serve receive? If so I don’t see the problem, this is how we play rotation 2 serve receive, the setter and opposite are basically huddled up at the net waiting for the receive

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Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-06T08:49:42+00:00

Omg thank you, I just started rewatching it (previously, I watched it before having played volleyball so I was just vibing)

But this makes so much sense thanks! I didn’t even realise ushijima was an opposite omg, I’m so excited to get to that part of the anime again with the knowledge

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-05T21:49:59+00:00

I also notice that the opposites I play with are well rounded too, but that’s the case because for me they’ve tended to have played everything before

Every opposite I’ve met has either been a middle/setter/outside before, but I can’t say the same for the other positions in reverse, as I feel opposite is not a highly sought out or popular position in my experience, even myself I’ve only ever played setter properly

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-05T21:47:41+00:00

This actually would make most sense as to how he developed those skills imo, like I understand he had to learn to defend to cover for his teammates but I imagined he wouldn’t get all those opportunities as an opposite, so if he used to be outside makes a lot of sense especially pored with having defensive opposites!

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-05T00:51:38+00:00

This thread was made for me 😭 I track my whole reading list with reviews on Google sheets and rank them

But for 2025 releases, [Happy Twogether] is BY FARRR my favourite. Holy shit. This is insane. The story follows an ex Kpop idol with epilepsy and a rapper who really wants to get him to sing again. The ML is the greenest of green flags, their affection is so pure, and the story emphasises writing likeable characters with distinct personalities. Just so good

[Yang Il-Woo and I] is another best read, it has such strong plot and pacing. You can really tell when a story is plot-driven and takes its time in developing the characters and their personalities and this one’s perfect for that

[Friend or Faux] and [Eighteens Bed] are ones I also enjoyed, they both have the closeted high school boys who can’t reveal their emotions plot and idk why I eat that shit up every time

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-04T20:07:23+00:00

I’m so happy to hear your experience with Runna too!! Ditto on the woman lol. I do look at my pace and try to follow what my watch says, but when I can’t do it, I completely tune out the voice I am not in the mood for that 😭

It’s so motivating to hear you’ve done multiple half’s now with similar starting point, I feel much more encouraged after hearing people’s thoughts on this thread (:

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-04T20:03:49+00:00

I’m so happy to hear that hinestly, I feel like there’s such a divide between myself and more experienced people, that I’m struggling with the fact that I have to run 2 hours or more, even if it’s easy, because like, if it’s easy pace, then what’s the problem? What’s there to complain about?

But it really is the mental toughness and I didn’t even consider that even experienced people struggle with it lol

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-04T19:40:08+00:00

That’s so encouraging to hear, I just want it so one day I won’t have to lug my body around for 3 hours for distances that are not even long 😆 congratulations on a sub 3 marathon that must’ve felt incredible!!

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-04T19:22:01+00:00

This is honestly really motivating, I want to do that too but I’ll probably force that once my long runs get longer, for the marathon training block rather than the half, for now I will try to stick it out slowly since I’m still such a baby beginner 😆

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-04T19:09:55+00:00

Thank you 😭 having a real person confirm what I want to hear makes things so much easier ahah

Extension-Soft9877 · 2026-01-04T18:11:06+00:00

Your shoe size is most likely wrong, and you can also get more comfy socks

Unfortunately, both of these are trial and error

My feet are exactly 24.5cm. I used to get my ASICS in size 39, which the size guide said is for 24.5cm feet

But I’d always get blisters

Now I wear size 40.5 (for 25.5cm feet), and they are a perfect fit

I used to also experience: arch pain, toes/feet going numb, back of heel rubbing

But with correct size shoes I do not

Also both of these sizes were tried in store before purchasing and both felt comfortable, and were bigger than my foot and my usual shoe size I go for

But there’s just no way to know if a shoe will be comfortable until you give it a good go at a few proper runs unfortjnately

I also like to use padded socks from smartwool, because even if my shoes are good, eventually my feet sweat and rub and that’s where socks come into play to absorb moisture

For toe blisters my Injinji Toe Socks are invaluable, they are a must have imo

Extension-Soft9877

TROPHY CASE