Hello,

If you are reading this then I am truly humbled. I mean to take the time to read on this particular branch of your forum where no doubt you see people come and go.

But anyway my name is John but my family call me Jay. I'm 28 and a student Occupational Therapist. I've been training in martial arts for a total of 2.5 years but up until July I hadn't trained in anything really in almost a year.

So I got back into my Martial Arts (Tae Kwon Do and Thai Boxing at the moment). I wanted something extra to improve my cardio fitness and I thought I'd give running another try. I'd given it a go in years gone by somewhat half heartedly. I didn't really know what I wanted from it and I wasn't properly informed (I find the internet a tremendous help as it gives access to things like this for example).

So I started running just over a month ago. The first time I managed 34 minutes which I was quite pleased with. My ambition was to manage to run for 60 mintues-that for me sounded like a real achivement.

Well I've stuck at it and aim for training 2-3 times per week. Along with 4-6 hours of Martial Arts training. I reached my 60 minute goal in just over 3 weeks and I managed it again tonight comparatively easy.

So I've suprised myself with my own progress really and I'm really enjoying it. I vary my route going out by myself with my i-pod. It really makes me feel good and I am suprised just how much I look forward to it now.

I don't like the gym really and running compares well to anything else economically (being a student thats important!).

I got a lovely pair of Asics Kayanos yesterday which really make a difference with comfort. A friend used to work in a specialist running store so I was lucky to have his advise.

I read to drink half a pint of water half an hour before a run. Also I read on this site someone mentioning eating two bananas before a run to help with energy-is this accepted commonly as a good idea? Any other tips?

I'm doing this for cardio fitness to help me basically when Im sparring having the fitness really makes a difference giving the edge. But along the way have found many, many other benefits as I mentioned!

I am going to phase in some interval running to help with the explosive nature of sparring so that I'm less likely to be tired. As Im required to do 3 x 2 minute rounds for a competition I was thinking maybe 4 or 5 two minute intervals changing the pace. To get results how often would I need to do this-twice a week?

So as a plan how does this sound:

2 x interval running (15 minutes)

2x longer distance running (60 minutes-maybe more)

Other thing is Im finding 60 minutes is getting easier and feel I can keep going-should I start thinking about going upto 90 minutes? Or is that likely to be too much? Maybe I could run faster but I do go at a decent pace I think.

Also Im thinking about doing some kind of run say 10km. Just to finish and not be last would be an achievement I think. How often are these kind of things staged in the London area?

Any advice would be gratefully recieved,

Regards,


Jay

Hi Jay

Welcome to the forum, hope you do stick around...

Sounds like you are doing great with your training so far, the only thing I would suggest is that you only need to do one lot of speed work a week, hill work is always a great fitness improver as well, some of the other forum members on here swear by it, so it may be worth considering that as well but don't do both in the same week.

As for increasing running time the general rule of thumb is not to increase mileage/time by more than 10% each week.

I don't like to mention it but runnersworld can give you details of races in your local area (washing mouth out now).

Entering into a race is a great idea, not only will it give you a bench mark of your fitness, you will also enjoy it immensely and the feeling you get when you have completed a race is fantastic especially when you know you gave it everything you had :eek:

Glad to hear also that you have fitted yourself out with a proper pair of running shoes so very important.

Hope you find this useful, and keep us posted with how you get on.

TT

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Bird in Boots

Welcome Jay

Twinks forgot to mention that there is also a 'Races' section to this site

Welcome Jay.

Increasing from 60 to 90 minutes is ok... But if running/racing over long distances is not your goal, you will probably not need that.
Mind your weight as well. You probably compete in a certain weight category and running longer will make you lose some pounds (which you may or may not b willing to do).

Instead, you can run the 60 minute runs a bit faster and once in a while go for a PB over your usual route(s).

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