[RockyTiger]

Hi All,
Been lurking around these forums for a few days and looks a great place for advice and friendly support. So in light of my recent 'new leaf' decision thought I'd register and say hi!

A bit about me - I'm a 30 year old guy living in sunny Brighton. I've always been fairly fit and athletic but since I started a new job earlier in the year, I've let myself go big time over eating, drinking and even reverting back to smoking at one point (a habit I kicked years ago). This is mainly due to stress in my job. Three weeks ago I hit a brick wall and just couldn't function at all at work and ultimately had to be signed off. Since then, I have been basically lying on the couch eating rubbish and feeling sorry for myself.

Enough is enough. I've come to the realisation that nothing is going to change unless I make positive changes to my life and part of this is to take pride in myself physically again. Abusing my body is not going to help with my problems at work. In fact it is probably making it far worse.

It has been a long standing ambition of mine to complete a marathon - something I just never got round to. Therefore in order to help turn my life around and at least get me focused and back in shape, I have decided to get back into running with the ultimate aim being a marathon. I appreciate that this cannot be achieved overnight and is going to take a lot of work and commitment. I plan to start small - training for a 10k initially then work up 10 mile, a few half marathons and then the biggie! Can anyone advise a reasonable timescale for each stage? I want to push myself, but not overdo it and end up giving up or injured. I have run sporadically in the past but only ever done one race (Great North Run 10 years ago!), so whilst I'm not perhaps a total beginner its going to be a long hard slog before I'm anywhere near prepared for a race. I'm unfortunately not 20 anymore!

Anyway, I am about to lace up and go out for my first run (aiming to complete 4 miles at an easy pace). Look forward to talking to you all and updating my progress in the future!

Thanks for reading!

 

[Hrun]

Welcome.

Timescale will become apparent once you get going and you might want to shorten that first run a bit. It will be a shock to your body if you haven't run for a while.

Good luck!

 

[hot foot]

Well done for making the decision to get out there in the first place RT.

I would perhaps start off running 3 or 4 times a week for about 30-40 minutes to get my body used to moving again, at a comfortable coversational pace.

maybe increase the time or mileage slightly after a few weeks to get a good base built up.

After say 4-6 weeks find yourself a schedule for a 10k that will suit you. There are lots of schedules out there to suit all levels.

from the 10k schedule you could move upto the other distances when you felt ready to do so.

It's good to have a consistant base mileage in place for about 4 weeks before starting a schedule.

Good luck.

 

[richardsimkiss]

That's a great first post and a joy to read RockyTiger... welcome to the forum, I'm sure you'll find all the help and motivation you need :d

 

[Steve]

Lurking Tiger....watch out everyone!!

 

[twinkle toes]

Good for you RT, hope your 4 miler goes well.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Welcome by the way to RF

TT:d

 

[RockyTiger]

Well I made it round the four miles.... and lived to tell the tale (barely).Seriously though I loved it.It felt great to get onto the first rung of the ladder. Was very very tricky though. There are some monstrous hills up here in the South Downs... was more or less crawling at one point! About to reward myself with a warm bath (God I'm such a girl!)!

Made it round in just under 48mins which I'm reasonably pleased with in the circumstances.

Wow! 5 replies in the time it took for my run. This really is a great forum. Thank you all for your kind words of advice and support.Great to be here!

 

[Steve]

Well that's a good start...keep a diary of your runs and how you feel.

Nothing wrong with a warm bath!

 

[vaughan]

Well done on your first run mate. Thats the hardest bit out of the way. Thats a good distance to be able to do straight away, Im jealous !!

 

[RockyTiger]

Thanks Steve. Good idea. I have started my blog and will try and keep up to date. Hopefully will be amusing to look back on in a couple of months to see how I struggled to start with.

Cheers Vaughan. It was touch and go for a time as to whether I'd just quit. Especially on the up
hill but I feel totally fired up at the minute! I'll be falling back on you guys when my beginners enthusiasm starts to wain!

 

[Steve]

We all struggle Sam....you think it's getting easier when wham something comes along to make it hard again!!...By that I mean injury, a faster running partner, a race, an attempt at a new race distance/pb.

A blog...here on RF...or at home keeps you focused I reckon.

 

[Grant]

Welcome to the forum Sam and well done on your four-miler!

 

[RockyTiger]

Good point Steve. I guess there will always be some struggle to overcome. The challenge in overcoming them is a major reason for running in the first place. What I meant to say is it will be great to hopefully see some good progress when i look back in a month or two. It will then all seem worth it!

 

[Hrun]

I should try timing my runs based on the number of posts while out It would make my times look respectable

 

[Steve]

I should try timing my runs based on the number of posts while out It would make my times look respectable

They already are more than respectable Hrun.