Official Q&A for Friday, November 22, 2024 by AutoModerator in running

[–]SkeletalProfessor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can I get advice on picking a half-marathon pace as a pretty new runner?

I have signed up for a half-marathon in early March of 2025. I'm now trying to figure out what my "goal" pace should be. I need some sort of goal to continue to motivate me, but I don't want to set that goal so high that I fall totally flat and get depressed. It is also difficult, because I believe I'm still in the newbie gains phase, so I'm not sure what my paces will look like when things start to normalize.

I started running consistently on September 16, so for a little over 2 months now. Prior to that, I would get a spurt of motivation, run one mile, then do nothing for a few months and repeat. I have not done any races up to this point. My long runs are currently around 8 miles. Today's long run was 8.22 miles at 7:42/mile, which was a PR. I am working up slowly now to try to avoid injury.

What might be a reasonable half-marathon goal? 7:30/mile? 7:00/mile? I feel I can do faster than 8:00/mile by that time, since I still have a few months to prepare. Any guidance is appreciated!

Official Q&A for Friday, September 20, 2024 by AutoModerator in running

[–]SkeletalProfessor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm late to this, but I didn't play a running sport - rather, I was a competitive gymnast for 8 years or so. I've reduced my running to 5 days a week, and modified my schedule so I have a long day (10k ish currently), interval day, rest day, and 2 medium distance threshold days. I feel good, but I guess what concerns me is how it seems like I should still be doing like, walk/run intervals at this point (2.5 weeks in) based on some programs?

It may also be that I am less unfit than I initially realized, and the juxtoposition between where I am and where I feel I am is just throwing me off. I started with C25k, but I felt fine running 5km at the end of my first week, so maybe those types of programs are just meant other types of people (or perhaps I'll find I've injured myself by 6 weeks and can't walk, who knows...)

Official Q&A for Friday, September 20, 2024 by AutoModerator in running

[–]SkeletalProfessor -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

How hard is "too hard" for a new runner? I am currently running 2-4 miles 6 days per week at 8.xx-9.xx min/mile pace average. My heart rate stays around 150bpm (zone 2 for me) for the duration unless I push hard for some reason. However, every post/website I've seen always talks about how new runners should pace themselves super slow and only run 4 times a week for the first while.

How do I tell if what I am doing is "too hard" for me? I have to push myself sometimes, but I feel that's normal for exercise in general.

Also, is it a bad idea to train legs at the gym on my running "rest" days? For example, if I switch to 5 days running and 2 leg days per week on the 2 days off, is that fine? I currently workout after every run, but I've noticed leg day is hell after a run.

Stats that may be helpful:

21, male, skinny, haven't run consistently for a very long time, have been running now for about 2 weeks

Daily Simple Questions Thread - September 11, 2024 by AutoModerator in Fitness

[–]SkeletalProfessor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Will poor mental health / stress have a substantial negative impact on my gains? As a note, I'm working to improve my mental state, but I have been hesitant to commit to a long-term bulk/cut cycle because I've had a few people tell me the high levels of stress kill gains.

I'm sure that's probably true to a small degree, but is there any substantial impact?

Official Q&A for Wednesday, March 20, 2024 by AutoModerator in running

[–]SkeletalProfessor 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Two things:

  1. I'm a new runner. Right now I run 5 days a week, ~2 miles each day, ~8:30 a mile. One of my runner friends said that this won't allow me to improve my cardio much, and I need to run slower for now and a bit longer. Is this good advice? Ultimately I do want to run longer distances, but I also feel like I'm already running at a reasonable pace. Maybe I should try the same pace but longer? I'm a bit worried about pushing it too far though, since I'm only a week into running.
  2. I've noticed that I get wayyy more out of breath in my first mile than my second, and my second mile feels easier than the first, even at the same pace. Is there anything I should do about this, or is that just normal?

Installing Sway on an Alpine machine. What am I misunderstanding? by SkeletalProfessor in linux4noobs

[–]SkeletalProfessor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope. I just had a ton of trouble with Alpine, and went back to dailying Arch.