I am a really terrible swimmer, to kick things off. I've never done a whole lot of it.

I do 100m freestyle, 150m breaststroke, 100m freestyle & then 50m of running in the water. All at a leisurely pace. The goal is to be able to do all that "easy" and then ramp it up. 

I did swimming squad when I was about 12-14 and was part of the local surf club until halfway through high school. I have no idea how I managed to swim so far back then but I do remember having absolutely no energy left in the afternoons.

When I started swimming again a few months ago I was at about where you are. Every day I tried to do one lap 50m more than the day before. I was surprised how quickly I got from doing 300m total to doing 1.5+km freestyle. The distances got a bit much so for now I'm focusing more on getting quicker and more consistent at swimming 1km.

At Bulli beach there are pools at either end. I want to eventually build up the strength and stamina to start at one end swim 200m, run to the other, swim 200m, run back, swim 200m and so forth. I tried it at the end of summer last year, when I hadn't really swum much at all, and end up giving up on the second run as I could feel that I was going to fall flat on my face.

Team

I need some ideas and input.

I'm getting foot surgery and have been told I can't run for a month. But I want to keep my cardio up. Currently running... 20-30km @ roughly 6min/km a week at a guess. 

Can't run for a month. Can't put pressure on my foot for a month. 

AND I can't swim for a few weeks because stitches and whatnot.

I have slim-to-none access to equipment. 

Thoughts... GO!

Note: I have already enquired about marathon sex sessions with the mrs :lol:

Mate, there are are Zap gyms in Tassie for 11 bucks a week. Join a cheap gym near you.

Cardio workout with a bad foot.

Do a circuit like I do, except I avoid throwing gym body weight around, because if I pull a muscle I'm out of action for a long time at 60!



1. Body weight exercises for a bad foot.

Dips, chin ups.


2. Core, sit up exercises, such as crunches, planks, side planks.


3. Weight machines, free weights, eta of 15 plus, taking four seconds to for a negative. Negatives are slowing down the reverse movement as one returns to the lift.

 Lat pull downs, bench presses, rowing (reverse bench press), seated dumbbell presses, dumbbell flies, seated curl machines, seated curls (free weights).


4. I'm assuming  you cannot use cross trainers, exercise bikes, running machines or rowing machines with your bad foot?


Try this. Do 1 exercises from 1 or 3, interspersed with 2 exercises between every 1 and 3 exercise. If you can also slip in a rowing machine or exercise bike from 4,  substitute either instead of 2 exercises at times.

If you never stop in this workout, with no rests between sets, it should be very hard work if you keep this up for 35 - 60 minutes with no rests or stops.

At my age I'm always  managing some injury, but I can train nearly every day of the week. I'm pretty weak in the core and legs, relatively, but  my upper body strength is getting close to what it was 25 years ago.

Doing negatives with weights has really increased my bench pressing strength. At age 60 I'm getting back into the vicinity of what I could bench press from 18-30 years of age, if Nautilus  equipment transfers kilo to kilo with free weights.

 When I was younger and used free weights exclusively, I found the Nautilus machine equipment tough. This is  because it pushed back creating a negative.

Because  this strength gain, through doing 4 second negatives  has been achieved in a high repetition 12 - 20 rep circuit workouts,  has also increased my fitness, I'm pretty pleased with the progress from the advice and tutelage of an Aussie highly ranked powerlifter.

.

Alright after a couple of years of fucking around I'm going to really work my ass off this year.

Current Weight: 56.7KG
Current Deadlift: 125KG - 1 Rep (PR) - 5x 110KG
Current Benchpress: 70KG - 1 Rep (PR) - 5x 65KG
Current Squat: 80KG - 2 Reps 

Toot toot! All aboard the exercise hype train again!

I am currently in Week 4 of a 20 week Marathon training plan. I'm doing a Marathon abroad at the end of April! 

I'm already feeling some amazing results, lost a few kgs with consistent running and on Xmas Day I beat my 18-month-old parkrun PB. 

The heat is absolutely killing me, but long runs in particular I'm just leaving home at 5am, really early. 

I am yet to delve into the realm of nutrition related to run planning, and havne't investigated too much into gels, bars, etc. Anyone got things they swear by? 

Gels are pretty essential (or some type of in race energy). Test a few out but as silly as it sounds get one that you like he taste of, and have it sorted what you will be taking well before the race. That includes shoes, clothes, sleeping pattern as well pretty much. You shouldn't be doing or using anything for the first time on race day or even in that last week or two of training. Even try and time your training around race start time when possible. From what you've posted here before you will have no issue at all with a marathon, the only challenge is mental, so the main rule is to just enjoy it.

Thanks pal. I don't think I've ran enough km's to demand nutrition yet, but those kms are approaching quickly! 

Furthest I've run so far was in August I did a Half Marathon in just over 2 hours. I'm aiming to do this marathon in 4:15-4:30, hopefully. It is a flat and "easy" marathon, picked specifically because of that! I'm honestly not worried about how quick I run it - I just want to run at a pace that I enjoy it and don't need to walk multiple kms etc. a 6:15-6:30min/km pace seems the best to achieve this for me.

But the next 4 long run Sundays I have on the training plan are: 16k, 19k, 8k, 24k so I'm going to need some sustenance pretty quickly. I've got a "Cliff Bar" in my pantry so thought I'd give that a go this wkend, plus I just ordered a few Hammer Gels which most people have said are worth a try. 

The 20 week plan is exactly to do what you say - get ourselves used to our routine etc. 

Here's a question re shoes in particular - currently I'm at roughly 30km per week running as per the plan, but that is building into the 40s and 50s pretty quickly. My current shoes are at least half a year old and are fantastic, but I highly doubt with the kms I'm putting into them that they'll last until April. What's the recommendation of amount of kms before the Marathon that I should change shoes? I'm planning 200km in the last 5 weeks before the race - should I change for then, or sooner, or later? Is there a rough recommended time/km mark to change shoes?

Last time I think I got a new pair about 6-8 weeks out from race day. If you like the shoes you're wearing now and you were happy to get them again you can probably leave it til even later. I've always had trouble finding comfortable shoes though which is whats most important, and again plays into the mental side of things. 

That plan looks good with the km breakdown. My one bit of advice with plans is don't feel the need to follow them strictly. If you're scheduled to do 24km but aren't feeling up for it, do a shorter distance and try the longer run the next day you have enough time free. You will be buzzing race morning so won't have to worry about feeling up for it on the day. Also try and run the same pace on any scheduled 'long run', whether it is 8km or 30km. It's all about finding a rhythm.

Same, I went to the gym on and off last year but I really fucked around with my diet so I didn't make much progress. I'll start a lean bulk to mid year until I hate myself in the mirror enough to cut lmao

Goals for 2018 are 120kg squat x10 (currently 90kg x10), 4 x 10 pullups (currently at about 30 in 5 sets total), 55g OHP x10 (currently at 38kg), then cut to 12% which I've never been that lean before. 

I think I may use this thread as my Run Diary. Sorry not sorry.

There may or may not be a/many long posts to come, but for starters I want to list my goals for this year so I can hold myself accountable:

#pv4runs

Goals for 2018:
1. Run a marathon
2. Run a Half Marathon in less than 1 hour 55 mins.
3. Run a 10km Event in less than 50minutes
4. Run a sub 22min parkrun

Where I am currently at, or how I'll get to those goals:
1. I have registered for the Hamburg Marathon in late April and am currently in Week 6 of my 20 week training plan to achieve this. Also I'm thinking about doing the Blackmores Marathon later in the year. This goal is priority one, and I'm gonna fxxxing do it! The furthest I've run to date is a Half Marathon in the recent August. If all goes to plan, I will have run further not this upcoming Sunday but the one after. The kms are escalating!! Pace is not an issue with this, I don't care how quick or slow I do it as long as I do it. But the rough aim is 4hours 30mins. Some people have commented that my training plan isn't pace-orientated enough etc, but I couldn't care less. I'm just trying to clock kms as injury-free and comfortable as I can.
2. I have run one Half to date, in the previously mentioned August. I hit a time of 2:04:11. My knee blew out hard after 15.5km, and I basically walked the last section. If no injury, I'm confident I could have cracked the 2 hours. I know I would have. I'm doing a few Halfs this year, and will head back to the August one to hopefully defeat it. I nearly wrote sub 2 hours as my goal, but I feel like I could achieve that now so have knocked 5 minutes off. 
3. I haven't run a whole lot of 10km events, but the best I've had to date was 57:50 and was quite hilly. I think based off times of some 12 and 14km events I've done that it should be pretty reasonable to get sub 50, but still it gives me some events to aim for and crack that time.
4. My current PB is 23:51, which I hit on the recent Xmas Day. I think with the weight loss and routine running I'm doing for marathon training, that time will naturally come each Saturday when I parkrun. After my marathon training is complete, my main aim is to get my parkrun pace down. The long term goal is sub 20, but I don't think I have the body shape etc to achieve this. If I can knock 22mins down this year, I'll genuinely be happy. 

#pv4runs

MY SHOES!! 

Basically the main thing you actually have to invest coin into, for running. Don't get me wrong, I sink my money into clothes, hats, gps watches, etc... :lol: but the shoes are the one big ticket item.

We have a shop in Newy, there's three locations, called Pure Performance whom claim to specialize in all things Running Shoes. They host once a week a "Pure Run" at night and are generally on the lips of most runners when talking running needs around town. They do the whole make you run on a treadmill, video your gait, pick shoes to your running style etc. I got it done, for s&g's. And the dude whom "assessed" me I still claim isn't trained or whatever, and was just saying buzz words he'd been told. And when he offered me a few shoes as options that would "scientifically suit my style" I could have easily just walked out for nothing and bought them cheaper online. But I decided to just support the local place, pay the extra $50-100 for them, and at least give them a whirl. And I still claim it was all a bit of BS, they weren't THAT scientific etc. BUT....... the shoes have been fxxxing perfect! :lol::lol::lol:

New Balance 1080's, my champions!

So... I went into Pure again the other day and said look I love them, they're perfect, but they're not going to last me the whole training plan + marathon. What you got that's as similar as possible. And the answer - the same shoes! Uncharacteristically I didn't do the savvy thing, and bought them then and there. Could have got them cheaper online, but I just couldn't be bothered, and have the nice little support local business thing going on.

I love those fxxxing shoes.

#pv4runs

And here is the training plan I'm working with, if anyone is interested (note: no idea if this will page stretch, be readable, etc):



Some people I've shown have been totally into it. Others find it offensive, that I'm doing this or that wrong. Honestly I just googled training plans until I found one simple enough for me to work to. Particularly because pace isn't the big concern for me, so much of the shit I read online just seemed annoying and hard to keep routine. If I keep things simple, I can make it my routine pretty easily. This is the closest I could find to that. The Wednesday "Cross" day is just any exercise that isn't running. So far I've honestly kept it pretty basic and easy, but depending on my mood for upcoming Wednesdays may skip it or may make some really intense sessions out of it. To date for Cross I've done swimming, kayaking, Stationary Bike and Cross Trainer. All pretty leisurely but all for a minumum 30 minutes. The Cross days in the program I googled was meant to be Tuesdays, I assume to break up the days after your long runs. But my lifestyle and commitments makes it much easier for me to achieve my Cross activities on a Wednesday. I haven't noticed any bad effects from Tuesday running after a Sunday long day.. yet..

Could I find a better plan? Undoubtedly. Could I find one more suited to my lifestyle? I highly doubt it. 

#pv4runs

A fair bit of inspiration I've been getting recently, and honestly half the reason I am trying to type my own running thoughts out, is reading about this chick:

http://26marathons.com/

A pal of mine worked with her in the past and put me onto her site after she heard I had signed up for a marathon. 

I've been loving reading thru her reports of the marathons she has done. 

I've never met her but noticed she's doing the Hamburg Marathon too so if I do see her there I'm definitely waving hello! 

I think it is too hot in Tassie on many days for running in summer, so It must be awful for you.

I swim in the sea on most days - this year from late October onwards.

#pv4runs

Week 6 Diary:

2018-01-14 Sunday - On Sunday I did a 19km run at what I guess you can say my Marathon Pace (MP) is of 6:20min/km. It was the longest I've run so far in my training plan, and the 2nd longest I'd ever run. Drove 15mins away from home to get this nice lovely flat path along the lake to make it easy. My marathon is meat to be fast, easy & flat and part of the reason it was picked was because of that. 19kms is a long distance for me, but it's good to get some long runs in each Sunday. I had a Hammer Gel (Tropical) at 8.5km which I've only just begun investigating into gels/bars/etc and I didn't honestly notice a positive effect, but I definitely didn't notice a negative one! Got home and mrs v4 decided I should renovate for the rest of the day, and that really did not help my recovery at all :lol:
2018-01-15 Monday - Rest, and my body needed it! I was sore from the day before still!
2018-01-16 Tuesday - 6.5km run. I usually do my midweek runs by running TO work, and getting a lift home. But I wanted to give my body as much rest as I could, so planned to do it that night. Talked myself into taking it easy the entire day, particularly because it'd be around my local suburb which has some hills. But I put my shoes on and my body apparently didn't listen to my mind and set a blistering pace for the entire run! I ended up averaging 5:02min/km which is fast for me in my local area. But I felt good!
2018-01-17 Wednesday - Cross Train. Hit the stationary bike for 20mins and my legs were sore. Couldn't be bothered doing much more, I think I managed a dozen ab exercises but really nothing. Pretty week cross train, arguably my weakest to date.
2018-01-18 Thursday - 10km run. Was feeling tired because of things so decided to do a night run again. Went with my Dad and we did a 10km loop we've done before around home. Hit roughly 6min/km and it felt like a good run. Before it I wasn't really feeling energetic so had a HighFive Gel, which is the brand gel they give out at our marathon so I think I'm going to attempt to use these when I come. Again, no noticeable bad effect but couldn't tell if it gave me a buzz or not.
2018-01-19 Friday - Rest Day! Woohoo!
2018-01-20 Saturday - 5km. My plan said 8km but it's #parkrunday and I couldn't be bothered doing extra after parkrun :lol: and honestly I reckon every Saturday I'm just going to do 5km regardless of what the plan says. Pushing the double pram is hard work, but I love it!
2018-01-21 Sunday - Long run day! But this week was an easy one, only 8km. I ended up doing 8.6km but it was nice, easy, local. The main issue I had/have though is my goddamn body being super unpredictable when it does and doesn't want to poop :lol: I think I'm blaming my lack of consistent diet for this, and will almost definitely need to address my diet and my body as the kms build up. Not looking forward to this upcoming wkend - 24km! The most I will have ever run!

You need a few beers to cool down after all this exercise!

A geratric's routine

Gym


* Regular Day

@Circuit training.

Every second set is upper body weights -  Bench Press ( machine and dumbells on Fitball), Lat Pull Downs, Under Grasp Triceps Pull Downs, Tricep Push Downs, Curls (dumbells and barbells - very strict standing form), Reverse Flys, Seated Rowing,  Standing Fitball Horizontal Press, Dumbell Tricep Extensions, Forearm Curls.

High reps 12 - 25, mostly performing  negatives. 

The alternate set to upper body weights (every second set ) is  Exercise Bike ( low resistance set), or Pilates Sit Ups, or standing for balance and core strength  on Bosu,  or Calf Raises.

 Circuit Training Duration 30 - 45 minutes



@Warm Down Pilates and Yoga stretching

Duration 25 minutes

Total duration 55 - 70 minutes. 








*Alternate Day


@ Instead of upper body weights, lower body with weights - Lunges with weights, Lunge on Bosu,  Glute Machine, Pilates Sit Ups, all alternated with Exercise Bike at a higher level of difficulty to pedal.

Circuit Training  Duration - 25 minutes.



@ The same as the last sentence of Regular Day workout - Pilates stretching.

Duration - 15 minutes



Total Duration 35 - 40 minutes.




Visit gym 7 days per week




* Walk dog on beach for 1 - 2 hours - daily



*Swim in the sea most days, 50 - 300 metres from late October to March, as late as early June on the East Coast.



I've seen and read a lot in recent times that quality of life for geriatrics depends a lot on volume of, and ratio of muscle to fat. 

 

#pv4runs

I haven't played football in many months. On purpose. I don't want to get injured for my running ffs! I've even planned on not training or playing football until I get back from my marathon, which will be roughly a month into the season.

BUT I can't help myself, and when my 5 a side team were desperate for fillins last night I caved to the pressure and strapped the boots on. 

I don't think I've had this kind of layoff from football before, or at least not for many years. It felt weird. And man was I rusty! Also it was concerning how SLOW I was! I'm not used to running that quick! :lol: but overall was fun. I was WAY more reserved than I usually am, barely went in for challenges and took everything easier on purpose. 

I did manage one sneaky solo run, walking thru the team and scoring. Watch the throne, yall. 

Was great fun to be back involved, but I know if I made it a routine I'd get too competitive and get injured, almost definitely my own fault! 

Back to the joggers for me, I think!

Shame to give football away early, PV4.

You can jog at almost any age, but one's football career only lasts for a while.

I  remember a lay off many moons ago, then returned  to indoor football and found myself slower, and unfortunately, accidentally flattened people all the time.

Oh don't worry, I'll play this year. I just won't train or play until mid-May, after my marathon is done. Then I'll come back, probably fit but with no stop/start ability and be slower off the mark than I ever have been (which tbf has been slow for a fair few years now!).

I don't plan on giving football away for many years! Just prioritising for this big run.

#pv4runs

Week 7 diary:

2018-01-22 Monday - rest day.
2018-01-23 Tuesday - no run. Was meant to be a 5k run but home life got in the way and I just didn't get around to it. Bugger!
2018-01-24 Wednesday - 5aside football. What fun, but what a mistake! Never am I training or playing football until this marathon is over. I really enjoyed it but man was I sore from it, arguably still am!
2018-01-25 Thursday - 8km run. Idiot me decided to do the run around my in-laws place as we were there for dinner. Idiot me was like "the hills aren't that bad". Idiot me was incorrect. The hills was naaaaasty! The absolute worse way to treat my body after that 5aside session! My body is not accustomed to running gradients in the double digits percentage! 
2018-01-26 Friday - rest day. And I used every damn minute of that rest! My body was in a world of pain from the two days prior. 
2018-01-27 Saturday - 5km run. I was Run Director at parkrun so had to do my run beforehand, so did what I usually do and ran the gear out and setup on the run. Multi-tasking! That morning was farking hot and muggy. But parkrun went well, no majors, and enjoyable as always!
2018-01-28 Sunday - 24km run. WOOF! My longest ever run! I've only ran over 20km twice now, once for my Half Marathon and then this run. Wait, I mean I routinely run over 20km each football game, right? :lol: went to our nice flat course, did the 17km loop, and then doubled back 3.5km out and back to get the extra 7km. These long runs are growing in distance! And every fortnight are only getting bigger now! On this run itself, I handled it OK except that my body was still pretty wrecked from Wed&Thur. Definitely reassured me that I shouldn't be busting myself in training. Averaged 6:27min/km for this run which is almost exactly what I planned to! 

This week the long run is a "short" one of 11km, but the midweek runs are decent length. And this Sunday for my long run I actually have an official 10km event on in Newcastle, which will be my first competitive run inside this training plan!

I don't do squats and dead lifts, due to a dodgy back, but I've recently bench pressed:

12 reps at 75kg

15 reps at 68kg

18 reps at 63.5k kg.

25 reps at 52kg.


I'm not willing to lift bigger weights, due to possibility of injury and slow injury recovery at 61 years of age, so I do very high reps. 

I have been running 7-8km at lunchtimes whenever I've been in the office. Still get problems with stiffness around the ankle that I ripped ligaments in at the end of last season but as my legs are get stronger the pain is slowly starting to go away.

I competed in the Australia Day Aquathon in Wollongong. 900m swim into a 7km run. First time I'd done anything like it competitively. Seeing how quick professional triathletes are even when they are cruising was an eye opener. My goal was to finish under an hour but constantly being pummeled in the pack during the swim leg took it out of me and I took about 10 minutes longer in the swim than I expected. In the end I was just happy to finish without stopping and not be lapped.

On Sunday I wanted to show myself that I could get under the hour and ended up swimming 1km in 19:50, the lack of other people trying to drown you and ocean currents made a big difference, and had run 8km on hard sand by the time the hour was up. The goal this year is to do that distance at least once a week to slowly decrease the time.

Interesting post, Chilbilly.

I train in the gym with  a number of triathletes. Because  of the swimming, and possibly cycling, they need to do more resistance training than I'd assume long distance runners need to do.

I swim a lot in the sea, but really struggle to swim well when it is choppy. Interesting to read about your difficulty when swimming  in a pack of racing swimmers adversely effecting your time.

I married an athlete, now a personal trainer...  My fitness regime consists of watching her work-out, then playing a couple of games of FIFA.  

I wonder why I'm not fit any more...

LOL!  

You must be a big disappointment to her!

#pv4runs

Week 8 diary:

2018-01-29 - rest day. 
2018-01-30 - rest day. Was meant to be an 8km run but had a lot of bullshit in my personal and work life happen and just couldn't be arsed running!
2018-01-31 - 8km run. Was meant to be my Cross train day but had to make up for the missed day previous. Was stitched up by mrs v4, she told me if I ran to one of the local set of shops it was 4km exactly away and so i could do there and back. But they're only 3km away, so had to make an extra km up haha! That was morally deflating :lol: I ended up setting a pace far quicker than I expected to.
2018-02-01 - rest day. Was meant to be a 10km run but due to previously mentioned home&work issues I was once again deflated. 
2018-02-02 - 10.8km run. I made up for the missed day previously. I set a pretty decent pace, particularly with the hills on the course I chose. 
2018-02-03 - 5km parkrun! Touristed to a parkrun I hadn't done before (Fingal Bay), and it is actually the second last on my list to becoming a Newcastle Regionaire! The course was great, people lovely, and to top it all off I got disturbingly close to my global PB! Really had a great day driving all the way there and back for it!
2018-02-04 - 10km run. Well, actually a 9.7km run! My first official running event during my training program, the Summer Run City in Newcastle. The organisers of this event are notorious around town for being disorganised. I hadn't experienced anything noticeably bad in the 2-3 runs I'd done under them though. But this one pissed some people off - the course was short, the running bib numbers were all out of whack, and it ended up on a shared course which for an actual event I'm not used to. Highlight of the day for me though was Olympic Marathon runner & Novocastrian Scott Westcott was the Lead Bike, and yelled at me at one stage :lol: 

This week is going to be interesting. Thursdays midweek run is 11km, which is the longest midweek I've had planned to date. And this upcoming Sunday I have the 29km run, which I'm planning to actually do 30km by doing the Fernleigh Track out-and-back. There's not too many weeks I'm running less than 40km in the near future! 

Oh and it's 12 weeks until my marathon! Woohoo!

Almost pushing 50kg again at the gym. Going again tonight after work. Hope all goes well.