The Barnya Half-Marathon Challenge (on again)
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The challenge: turning a worthless, inert pile of blubbery shit into a sleek long distance runner capable of matching Dunedin's best over 21km.<br />
<br />
The event takes place on September 12, two months from today.<br />
<br />
Many of you will no doubt think it an impossible task to pull off, but I have been a long distance runner in the past and I know what it takes to get back in the groove.<br />
<br />
6 x 10km runs per week at 8am<br />
90mins a week speed bursts on the treadmill<br />
90mins a week on the cross trainer<br />
90mins a week leg weights<br />
<br />
Limit binging to one night per week<br />
Healthy diet, three meals a day with no snacking except fruit and muesli bars<br />
In bed by midnight every night and up at 8 for a run.<br />
<br />
I'd like to hear from marathon and long distance runners other ways to turn it around in time for the big run. I have money and honour riding on this one and I want to make it happen.<br />
<br />
Any advice at all would be much appreciated.<br />
<br />
Cheers<br />
Barnya -
up by 8am, Barn? Fark...go easy mate! Don't want to overdo it. <br />
<br />
Seems like you biting off a little more than you can chew, but all I'll add is that perhaps don't start off with such a heavy workload, or you'll be fucked by the time the event comes around. Build up slowly is the take-home message. -
You may have been a long distance runner in the past, but you would be risking overtraining going from nothing to that workload.<br />
<br />
Your body needs time to recover from exercise as well, so you need more than one day off. Start with smaller distances and alternate with the weights/cross trainer stuff then build up the distance. -
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Hmmmm, these are all good responses and have been taken on board. Bear in mind that I am still young and hence don't break down every time I crack a sprint
but obviously there needs to be a some building up.<br />
<br />
There was a time when I was running every day for about six months and never had a niggle, granted I was pretty fit at the time but I have been pretty lucky with injuries.<br />
<br />
Nick I will consider the no-binging thing but it may not be realistic, sometimes you get offers that are just too good to refuse.<br />
<br />
I will take two days off but with the time frame I have to work with, I'm going to have to work damn hard to be ready. I'm under no illusions about how I'll fare on the day...my aim is merely to finish the damn thing, not to win it
<br />
<br />
I should've mentioned in my original post that the goal is two-fold...I've got a massive workload this semester culminating in handing in my thesis so I thought pushing myself physically would improve my overall well-being and discipline, also my ex-girlfriend is coming to town in the new year and I can't let her see what a fat lazy bastard I've become. -
[quote name='Barnya']<br />
Nick I will consider the no-binging thing but it may not be realistic, sometimes you get offers that are just too good to refuse.<br />
[/quote]<br />
<br />
At your age Barn, the only offer too good to refuse is pussy. Plenty of time for drinking when you're old and married - plenty of reason too :whistle: -
You start off with six 10km runs, you will be in bits by the end of the week. Worse, you can cop and injury and that's you proper farked.<br />
<br />
I completed the New York marathon last November and yet six months later I couldn't run three miles without almost passing out. Your body loses fitness at an alarming rate and legs lose tone and strength just as quick.<br />
<br />
However, training for a half marathon can be completed in the timescale if you are diligent.<br />
<br />
Best thing to do is walk the course beforehand and find out where the hills are and other features. For some reason, it makes a helluva lot of difference knowing what's round the nexdt bend and where you are going. -
[quote]I completed the New York marathon last November and yet six months later I couldn't run three miles without almost passing out. Your body loses fitness at an alarming rate and legs lose tone and strength just as quick.[/quote]<br />
<br />
Thats quite an accomplishment.. I would like to do a marathon one day.. but I know I never will. I get to bored doing exercise, unless its involved in a sport. -
Don't listen to them Barnya. Going hammer is what fatbusters was built on. Go full tit from the beginiing old chap; it worked for me. Fatbusting is about fighting fat, and we do not fight fat by "building up slowly". We fight fat by putting our bodies through such pain that the fat no longer wants to live there :happy: <br />
<br />
We are waging a war, and wars are not fought every second Tuesday afternoon.<br />
<br />
MvJ admires your spunk. <br />
<br />
MvJ also wishes he had put that last sentence better. -
Barnya has a history of setting himself some high risk task, asking for advice, not listening to it and failing miserably (cooking duck anyone?).<br />
<br />
I hope this isn't to be a repeat. <br />
<br />
Bring us triumph Barnya, not disaster. <br />
<br />
Oh and pictures too. But leave the spunk out of it. -
i agree with kirwan, 6 * 10 km runs is far too much starting from naught<br />
<br />
my thoughts:<br />
<br />
more rests - if theres one thing every book i have read on long distance running training has stated, its that enthusiatic runners always underestimate how essential rest is. skipping it is a big no no. having said that, i also dont follow their advice and tend to rest only one day a week but i dont feel guilty if i take 2 days off in a given week.<br />
<br />
dont limit urself to 3 meals - do the whole eating all day routine. lots of complex carbs obviously, but i think u will need to up your intake if you want make it through the 8 weeks.<br />
<br />
do one longish run each week that gets longer each week but tapers the weekend before the big race. use these to experiment with food, digestion, hydration etc. take a rest the next day. i dont think running 10km 48 times is going to make you as competitive as you can be on a 21km course.<br />
perhaps do something like<br />
<br />
7-4-6-r-5-10-r <br />
5-8-5-r-6-12-r<br />
6-9-6-r-5-14-r<br />
8-6-9-r-6-16-r<br />
7-5-10-r-7-18-r<br />
9-7-11-r-6-20-r<br />
8-6-9-r-5-16-r<br />
<br />
r = rest , distance in km... <br />
<br />
so the big run is on a saturday, rest on sunday, the days with the smaller runs double as your weights/speedburst/cross trainger days.<br />
total distance increases gradually over the 8 weeks and tapers towards the end<br />
bear in mind, the longer the training runs get, the higher the likelihood of getting injured. -
Thanks Bart, my friends just laughed at me so it's nice to have some support and I look forward to proving you wrong.Â
<br />
<br />
[quote name='Luigi']<br />
Barnya has a history of setting himself some high risk task, asking for advice, not listening to it and failing miserably (cooking duck anyone?). [/quote]<br />
<br />
Well at least you didn't mention the gnocchi.<br />
<br />
I've copied all that down phonetia, good work chief.<br />
<br />
MvJ, thanks for your stirring words of encouragement. When I stopped running in 2003 I quickly put on 10kg then have been stuck there ever since, so there's no reason why I can't get rid of those 10kg in swift order once I get back into it.<br />
<br />
I did 8km this morning, it took an hour but I ran at a steady pace and didn't stop once. The hardest part is definitely getting out of bed and the first kilometre or so, but once I got into my rhythm I felt like I could run all day, the only thing stopping me was the searing burning pain in my lower legs and feet. That fucking hurt.<br />
<br />
I do love running though, I feel like a man on a mission and no one can stop me. Fit birds smile and say hello as they pass you, instead of palming off your drunken attempts to get in their pants on a Saturday night. <br />
<br />
Therefore I have to ask myself, why the hell did I wait until yesterday to start again?!?! -
[quote name='Barnya']<br />
6 x 10km runs per week at 8am<br />
[/quote]<br />
<br />
Hi Barnya. I'm 'training' for a half marathon at the moment (Taupo next month), but I'm CERTAINLY no expert. However, I don't think 6 x 10km is sustainable, and I think you'll regret trying. I just don't think there is enough rest period inbetween - and 10km is quite a bit.<br />
<br />
I looked into training schedules a little bit (wish I'd followed them), and most maintain you should gradually up your distance. So once or twice a week go for a longer run (12km or something), and up it each week, so by the final week you are close to the 21km. Oh, and another thing, don't do a lot of running in the last 1 or 2 weeks apparently as you should be resting your legs.<br />
<br />
I see you are trying to have a few 'smaller' runs a week - which is probably a good idea. However, in my opinion 10km is too much to do 6 times a week. Good luck! -
[quote name='Barnya']<br />
The challenge: turning a worthless, inert pile of blubbery shit into a sleek long distance runner capable of matching Dunedin's best over 21km.<br />
<br />
The event takes place on September 12, two months from today.<br />
<br />
Many of you will no doubt think it an impossible task to pull off, but I have been a long distance runner in the past and I know what it takes to get back in the groove.<br />
<br />
6 x 10km runs per week at 8am<br />
90mins a week speed bursts on the treadmill<br />
90mins a week on the cross trainer<br />
90mins a week leg weights<br />
<br />
Limit binging to one night per week<br />
Healthy diet, three meals a day with no snacking except fruit and muesli bars<br />
In bed by midnight every night and up at 8 for a run.<br />
<br />
I'd like to hear from marathon and long distance runners other ways to turn it around in time for the big run. I have money and honour riding on this one and I want to make it happen.<br />
<br />
Any advice at all would be much appreciated.<br />
<br />
Cheers<br />
Barnya<br />
[/quote]<br />
<br />
errmm are you trying to win the damn thing?!<br />
<br />
are you going to do 90min speedwork on the treadmill as well as the 6 x 10k's?<br />
<br />
sweet baby jesus i'd love to see that..<br />
<br />
one thing i reckon you should do early on in your training in go for a long run.. around 20 k's.. no need to run the whole way, you can walk bits of it etc, and take it super easy -Â it'll only be like 2 1/2 hours and shouldn't be too hard on the body.<br />
<br />
big fan of getting the base miles in early so your legs get used to the distance etc, then start on the speed work.<br />
<br />
also - after doing a longer harder run try out an ice bath.. fark i couldn't beleive the difference they made to the speed of the muscle recovery. -
[quote name='WillieTheWaiter']<br />
also - after doing a longer harder run try out an ice bath.. fark i couldn't beleive the difference they made to the speed of the muscle recovery.<br />
[/quote]<br />
<br />
It also aids in the "testicles in your midsection" recovery <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='B)' />
