Comment by kashyapc | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kashyapc | Hacker News Reader

I don't know about creative thinking ... but consistent walking sure as hell helped jump-start my running life. Here's my little story. I'm 37 and was never a runner, but last October a friend dragged me out for a run. We ran a 5K straight-up (at ~6m:30s/KM). It's not a "couch to 5K", as I'm lean and bicycle a lot ("zone 2" cardio) as part of my daily life, eat healthy, and put in many walks and some hikes over the past 3 years. So the "infrastructure" is in place.

This year I ran two half marathons (one in Bruges last month), and went for another "half-marathon forest hike" last weekend:

I had no idea I could run these longer distances, and was not even planning to run. I activated this "latent" potential by a happy accident. Earlier this February, when talking about running with a friend of a friend, she casually said "why don't you register for the half-marathon at this gorgeous nature trail[1]?" I said, "hmm, I never ran more than 7K, and the half-marathon is only 50 days away." "Just register, you'll do fine!", she said. I did register, and diligently trained for exactly about 45 days.

Lo and behold! I completed the first half marathon in April in 2h:12m; and the second one last month in 2h:9m. Both of them without stopping. I'm still surprised by myself. If that acquaintance hadn't pushed me a little bit, I wouldn't have bothered with half-marathons. Now I'm hooked. I'm calling my next half-marathon "cracking 2" (running it under 2 hours). Some runners here might recognize the term "breaking 2" ;-)

Edit: added the missing crucial word "half" (!) at the beginning of the fourth paragraph - thanks, vanilla_nut

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonian_Forest

> I had no idea I could run these longer distances, and was not even planning to run.

I know I can't run. Never could. My lungs just close up after even a short run and the rest of my body promptly follows.

I could walk though but despite walking few kilometers each day this summer best I could do was squeeze a minute or two of running into my walking.

And even walking ended when my feet arches began to hurt from overuse. Since then I stopped walking regularly and switched to 'barefoot' shoes and my left foot pretty much healed but the overuse injury in the right one pops back up when I walk for about an hour. I am not overweight and have high feet arches.

I hear you. The first rule is: "don't injure yourself". On feet: try out "Superfeet" insoles (not affiliated). I recently learnt about 'em and been trying for a month; they're working well for me. I have a flat left-foot, and it starts paining after 18K. And I limp a little bit for a day with pain, and it goes away. I hate this, and have lived with it for too long. Finally, I began with a specialist (podiatrist) to see if I can find a long-term fix.

Be aware of the dangers that cortison can do to your bones though. Defeat asthma today, wrestle with a half disolved spine tomorrow..

> I completed the first marathon in April in 2h:12m; and the second one last month in 2h:9m.

Fyi: you might want to add the "half" word from earlier in your post into this sentence as well. 2 hours is a very respectable half marathon pace. For a full marathon, it's Olympian!

Glad to hear you're enjoying running. I also transitioned from "long walks almost every day" to "wow i can actually run pretty well" and I have just one piece of advice...

Don't get too into the stats. It's much more fun if you don't agonize over the optimizations, IMO.

Oh, and if you normally trail run with headphones and listen to music or podcasts, every once in a while try going without the headphones. I find I have my best ideas on runs where all I can hear is nature.

(Oops! Added the crucial missing word, "half". I thought I checked carefully, bad me. Sorry for the sloppiness. Yes, full marathon is something else! )

Nice work yourself on your transition, go you! :-)

Two hours for a full marathon was the "Breaking 2" project[1] that Eliud Kipchoge finally achieved [in Vienna, a separate event]. It's inhumanly lung-busting. I wouldn't get there in a million lifetimes!

On stats: totally! I'm not at all obsessing over it; just using high-level stats as a moderate motivation. I also don't look at my watch (only use it for running) at every lap or anything like that. Headphones: I have a rule of "no music at all" for running. It's my way to tame the inner dragons. (For walks, I do use the headphones, though. And you're totally right on mixing it up; neuroscience backs up your suggestion too.)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking2

Inspiring! I am on a similar journey as well.

I haven't heard the term "zone 2" cardio -- can you expand on that?

Zones refer to heart rate zones. You run at different intensities (in different zones) to achieve different things.

Zone 2 is your easy pace. The pace you do most of your running at. It's not so fast where you need much recovery but it's fast enough to achieve the adaptations you need.

Here's part of a talk by famed running coach Jack Daniels on the benefits of easy running: https://youtu.be/veAQ73OJdwY

Subtract your age from 180. Run at that heart rate. Another formula 0.7*(HR max — HR at rest) + HR at rest

If you don't believe in formulas, run at a pace in which you can hold a conversation or speak a few sentences without losing your breath.

Read up on heart-rate zones; this is a decent post[1]. Basically, you should be able to comfortably hold a conversation throughout the run. I learnt that many serious athletes train a lot for it. Improving zone-2 fitness apparently contributes in a non-trivial way to zone 3-5 fitness! But don't get too hung up on these stats (I didn't bother at all for the first 5 months of running), but follow that golden rule of "listen to your body" to differentiate "good pain" vs. "bad pain".

[1] https://www.polar.com/blog/running-heart-rate-zones-basics/

Jesus. I thought breaking 3 was crushing it for amateurs. Congrats. What sort of training do you do to progress? I’m relatively fit (swim/ride/squash) but haven’t run much for a long time. Now doing 1-2 10ks a week but no idea how to move further

Breaking 3 hours is crushing it for a full marathon. The post you're replying to is talking about a half-marathon.

Yes, indeed. At a crucial place I missed the word "half"; corrected it. Sorry for the sloppiness, once again.

Firstly, sorry for the bad thinko at a crucial occurrence in my first comment; I was talking about half marathons all along. I'm still a novice runner; only one year in. :-). For both the half marathons, I implemented the below bog-standard rough plan (no fancy high-interval training or anything like that—it helps, though!):

- "Rest" on Mondays - walk 6K or bike 10K

- 7K run on Tuesdays

- "Rest" on Wednesdays - 10K biking

- 7K run on Thursdays

- Rest on Friday; just daily life walking/bicycling

- 5K run on Saturdays

- 10K run on Sundays[1]

Most importantly, pay attention to diet (a whole another beast). As the saying goes, "you can't out-run a bad diet!"

And here's[2] my silly 'retro' of my most recent half marathon.

[1] When training for a race, I gradually increase the Sunday distance to 13K, 15K, and 18K; reserve the best for the race day. "Taper off" the intensity of running in the last week before the race. (Specific to my situation, in retrospect, all the city bicycling I was doing as part of daily life here must've contributed to my running too. So take that "hidden training" into account too.)

[2] https://kashyapc.fedorapeople.org/half-m-Bruges-retro.html

Thanks so much for your plan! Much appreciated! I'll give it a bit of a whirl!

Glad to be useful. If you're putting in 1-2 10Ks/week, you can absolutely train for a half marathon—assuming no existing serious injuries. Also try coming up with your own bespoke plan (including experimenting with diet - keep an informal log) that's based on your unique needs and situation; it can be empowering.

You mean, you ran HALF-marathons in 2:12, 2:09, right? (a big difference there)

Yes, I mentioned the words "half-marathon" and "half marathon" combined seven times in my original post. :-) (Only the first occurrence in the last para had an unfortunate thinko, I acknowledged it and fixed it immediately.)

FWIW, I shared the story because going from "no runner" a year ago to "finishes half marathons without stopping" with a modest pace might still be interesting (sorry for bragging :-)).

Well done

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