Celebrated a promotion...with my first 10k - Bridge to 10K

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Celebrated a promotion...with my first 10k

Gabby08 profile image
Gabby08Graduate10
16 Replies

What has happened to me?! I got promoted at work today and instead of celebrating with beer and pizza, I did my first 10k run. This can't be right. It was painfully slow - painful being the operative word since the route was basically through fields of stinging nettles - but I *ran* the whole way!

My husband thinks it's weird that I'm more excited about my run than my huge promotion - but the running still feels like more of a challenge 😂

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Gabby08 profile image
Gabby08
Graduate10
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16 Replies
Joy57 profile image
Joy57Graduate10

That's great Gabby. Have you worked up to it though? Plenty of advice on here about not doing too much too soon (in order to avoid the dreaded I C) 😐

Gabby08 profile image
Gabby08Graduate10 in reply toJoy57

I went from 5 to 8 but then 8 to 8.5 and then 10 tonight. I wasn't planning to do 10 tonight - I was aiming for 8.5 but got a bit lost along the way! My next run won't be until parkrun on Saturday now so I'm hoping I'll be ok.

IannodaTruffe profile image
IannodaTruffeGraduate10

Well done Gabby, on both accounts.

I see from your previous posts that you only graduated a couple of weeks ago. To move to 10k quite so quickly is a risky strategy.

The normal pattern is to continue to run three times per week and increase one of those runs as your long run, by no more than 10% of your weekly total distance. If you are young and fit and used to this level of physical exercise you may well be fine, but the 10% rule is a sensible guideline to prevent all that post graduation enthusiasm being dampened by ending up not running at all because of injury.

Those of us who are a bit long in the tooth and have been on here a while are cautious, for the most part, because of our own experiences of injury, which can nearly always be traced back to doing too much too soon.

Gabby08 profile image
Gabby08Graduate10 in reply toIannodaTruffe

Thank you for the advice. I'll start trying out the 10 percent rule. Is there a simple way to calculate your routes so that they end up being the distance you intended? I'm new to the area where I live and have so far struggled with routes. Is there an app or website to help with this?

I'm 36 so possibly younger than many on here and I swim, cycle and play football at least once a week so I'd like to think I'm relatively fit. One of the reasons I started running was in the hope of being able to do a triathlon one day as it was the only one of the three I couldn't do! That said, running for extended periods of time is still new to me and I certainly don't want to risk injury.

Bazza1234 profile image
Bazza1234Graduate10 in reply toGabby08

Simplest way is to just use Google Maps - just measure the distance between one point and another and then double it for an "out and back" run . You can do this using your home as a starting point - with different other points around you as a turning point

IannodaTruffe profile image
IannodaTruffeGraduate10 in reply toGabby08

Google Earth allows you to draw tracks and you can see the distance.

Maverick is an Android app which can show you a whole range of maps, including Ordnance Survey Explorer maps. These have footpaths marked and also a useful 1k grid, so estimating distances is relatively easy. It can also track you and you can save/import/export the tracks as .gpx files.

AdamB profile image
AdamBGraduate10 in reply toIannodaTruffe

As an alternative on a computer I use BikeHike bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php. It allows me to choose my map source and shows the route on 2 alternative maps at the same time (e.g. OS and OpenStreetMap). Just remember to unclick the "follow road" option when laying out your route. If you end up on the home page and are faced with a mountain of text, click the course creator tab at the top of the page to get to the useful maps page instead. There are lots of other alternative web mapping tools as well (e.g. gpsies.com) if you don't like bikehike.

ancientrunner profile image
ancientrunnerGraduate10

Well done. I'm sure stinging nettles have got more painful.

Mapmyrun has routes on but not always the easiest to navigate. Running is a great way to discover a new area

Bazza1234 profile image
Bazza1234Graduate10

This is a secret - only known by some members of the Intelligence Community. Some graduates of C25K are visited by the Martians during the night and their bodies are stolen and replaced. These new bodies behave in ways that their families and friends cannot understand or comprehend!! Most people don't believe this - but those of us who have the experience know it to be true!

IannodaTruffe profile image
IannodaTruffeGraduate10 in reply toBazza1234

Schmeezoo krepto ploonsjat, Bazza.

Bazza1234 profile image
Bazza1234Graduate10 in reply toIannodaTruffe

I agree!!

Tomas profile image
TomasGraduate10

Yay! Congratulations with the promotion Gabby, that is wonderful to hear, I'm sure it is well deserved.

And what better way to celebrate than with an exhausting long run through nettles? I still don't understand why people think we runners are weird lol

Bluerockdragon profile image
BluerockdragonGraduate10

Congratulations on the promotion :-) :-) I use MapMyRun to virtually run a new route and I've a friend who does their routes in Endomondo. I've just discovered MapOmeter which gives gradients of hills which I quite like... though its better to look at the gradients after running up the hill rather than before.

Gabby08 profile image
Gabby08Graduate10 in reply toBluerockdragon

I've tried Endomondo but I'm having terrible trouble with it dropping out mid-run so I might try MapMyRun instead.

misswobble profile image
misswobbleGraduate10

I use goodrunguide. I like their little running man figure 😃 You can toggle him between footpath and satellite view. He represents you obviously 🏃‍♀️ I use it to plot my routes. It measures everything too

trying2persist profile image
trying2persist

Well done and congrats on both events!

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