First fail ...

[melindes]

Oh dear, on my first attempt at Stepping Stone I made the unfortunate and very inopportune discovery that 155 beats is an effective laxative... I tried to continue after a brief pit stop but had to give up. Will try again when I get over the embarrassment...

[Oldfloss Administrator 60minGraduate]

Oops!

Yes.. see where you are coming from on that... So many of us, me included, found Stepping Stones a bit odd! I used to do a sort of soft-shoe shuffle dance type move.. very peculiar.. but it entertained anyone passing by !

Next time

PS

( We don't use the f**l word on here either... ) Just a small set back x

[davelinks Graduate10 in reply to Oldfloss]

Would like to see that floss! Ha Ha! I'm trying to imagine it!😁

[Oldfloss Administrator 60minGraduate in reply to davelinks]

I looked even funnier than I normally do Dave x

[melindes in reply to Oldfloss]

The thing is, I'm now terrified about continuing. Should I maybe skip Stepping Stone and try Stamina or Speed? Or maybe go back to week 6 and build up again?

And I was feeling so proud that I'd even completed (albeit with the incredibly poor time of 44:11:01) my first official 5k!

Thank you for replying.

[Oldfloss Administrator 60minGraduate in reply to melindes]

No such thing as a poor time You did it

I ditched Stepping Stones podcast, after I had given it a go... not for me...Speed is short and sweet and Stamina is great for longer runs.

Thing is you just give them a go.. Speed has the slower and faster pace, but you don't have to keep up with it... Likewise Stamina... you can walk in the faster sections or just find a rhythm of your own...( no podcast police hiding anywhere :))

Try anything you fancy now to build up speed and distance... try Strides... and intervals.. walk/run; set yourself mini targets maybe... and enjoy the exploration

I tried Strides and really enjoyed the whole thing

blog.mapmyrun.com/why-you-n...

This is your journey... and you do it your way, and then when you are ready, maybe do a 10K programme

Be kinder to yourself...you are doing brilliantly...

[melindes in reply to Oldfloss]

Thank you, that's very encouraging. I'll follow your advice and let you know how I get on.

[Oldfloss Administrator 60minGraduate in reply to melindes]

Enjoy the journey.. every run is different...

[PippiRuns in reply to melindes]

Don't worry about it. I ditched Stepping Stone after one try. Really didn't work out for me.

[MarkyD Graduate10]

First

Attempt

In

Learning

Learn from your experience, and move on.

[melindes in reply to MarkyD]

Thank you, I'll bear that in mind.

[AncientMum Graduate10]

I hated stepping stones with a passion, but loved speed and stamina. Don't get hung up on completing it, just move on to the others. The c25k+ podcasts aren't like the c25k programme, you don't have to do them all - you can pick and choose which ones you want and what order you want to do them in. Speed and Stamina still get an outing every now and then, but I've never once gone back to Stepping Stones.

[melindes in reply to AncientMum]

Thank you for those words of encouragement. I confess the experience made me wonder whether I should quit altogether, but I will try out the other two first.

[Oldfloss Administrator 60minGraduate in reply to AncientMum]

Me neither... did one week of three runs to see if I liked it..I didn't...

[atomicpiper Graduate10]

I tried stepping stones twice and each time ended up with the same awful pain in my lower leg that I've never had at any other time and took me at least a week to recover from, so I've decided that me and stepping stones are not meant to be...speed and stamina on the other hand seem to be ok! Don't be put off, you still went out and did it and you've got loads of options of what you do now that might suit you better!

[sarah469 Graduate10]

Don't worry! Don't overthink it and don't let it put you off. X

[mfamilias Graduate10]

I haven't tried any of them yet. I may try the slow shuffle doo-dah that Floss suggests, though- right up my street

[Oldfloss Administrator 60minGraduate in reply to mfamilias]

Tee hee.. it was comical, but the pace, well, I could not get it at all... jigging around and changing which foot went first...mind, I have done some odd things on this running journey, so I suppose a soft shoe shuffle was not that much out of the ordinary!