So here we have a couple of phenomenally fit and talented athletes trying really really hard. I think I pulled that face today, only it wasn’t after three rounds of swimbikerun in tropical temperatures, or in the last 200m of running a 3km race in 8 minutes and 30 seconds. Nope. I pulled that face less than 5 minutes into perhaps 800m of running.
I’m trying to see the positives: I started running, check; despite feeling pretty terrible for the majority of the time, I didn’t walk home, check; I am unhurt, check; perhaps my fitness improved by a milllionth of VO2 capacity or however we measure fitness, check. But really, it just felt like a very bad run.
I must have stopped half a dozen times, if not more. I couldn’t keep my mouth closed, I was gasping from the start. It was like the wind was coming in and scooping the oxygen out of my mouth before I could suck it in. 2km in I stood at a literal crossroads; my mind was like tumbleweed rolling down the road... should I just go home or carry on? The wind blew me in the direction of the longer journey and I just went with it.
The whole run was clueless, directionless, almost. I set out without a plan, optimistically thinking I’d just go with the flow. I had meant to go out straight after the school run, so I didn’t eat, but my mum phoned and wanted to meet, and it was past 11am when I managed to lace up the shoes. It did occur to me as I set out that I didn’t eat a massive amount the day before, either; a couple of eggs for lunch, a banana in the afternoon and a cheesy jacket potato for dinner. Fiona Oakes (ultra-marathoner) may be able to eat just one vegan meal a day and run 50 miles, but I can’t even run 5k.
I was knackered.
Another unhelpful factor was the fact I had overdressed again. A few of you may remember one notable run when for some reason I donned half my running wardrobe on a mild day and ended up slumped and broken hanging over a fence? I wasn’t wearing quite so much today, but I had put on a hat and gloves, a base layer and a mid layer (I know, I know). I felt I had one of those thermal packs on my chest; I was running along at one point pulling my top down trying to put out the fire. Heaven knows what’s going to happen in the summer; I may need to tape an ice pack to my chest. I stopped and stripped at 2.5km and did recover for a bit; another lesson relearned.
Clearly a ‘long run’ was out of the question today, so I decided to turn it into ‘intervals’ and pretend I was stopping because I was putting in extra effort, as opposed to just having zero stamina. So I put in 1/2k runs, then stopped, then did another 1/2k, achieving an average pace (whilst running) of 5’48”. I ran 6’16”, 6’19” and 6’24” kms on my graduation run without stopping, so this was a pretty good indicator of just how bad it felt today.
I keep seeing you guys running further and further, it’s really wonderful. I really do feel I’m going backwards sometimes though. Maybe a quarter of a century of smoking means my lungs won’t function at the level they should... who knows. Maybe it was just a bad run. Ach well.
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ktsok
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It just sounds like a bad run to me, I get them sometimes where no matter how well I feel I've done with eating and getting enough fluids, once I start my legs can feel like they're full of lead.
On the upside, this rarely happens on consecutive runs. I feel your pain with overdressing, I've done it a couple of times recently and it's awfully uncomfortable once you get warm 😩
But you got out there Yay! And you got some intervals practise in too! Double yay! So there's 2 positives right there 🤗 Each run is a run, every run is unique and if I was still tracking my progress against that of my VRB's I would have jacked it in months ago 😂 Be kind to yourself, you're doing great ☺👌
Thanks UTS. Yes, I was chatting to E27 the other day and we were saying how a goal/structure might be useful at this stage. I’m bouncing around in limbo a bit at the moment and there’s more pong than ping going on. That didn’t come out right... 🙄
ktsok ....this is like reading about me!! ...I know EXACTLY what you mean and how you feel....and when does it get better?? There will always be bad runs...but really, do they out weigh the good ones?? Nope...but do they make us feel worse compared to the elation we feel on a good run? They flipping well do. They make us feel useless...have us asking ourselves what and why are we actually doing this? Are we actually capable?? The answer is yes...yes we are capable....crikey, I’ve been on the forum for going on 2 years and have seen people go from strength to strength in no time, running like gazelles while I feel like I’m running through treacle...and whilst it’s fab to read about their amazing achievements it’s also disheartening when you don’t feel you’re doing so well yourself.........BUT....and I mean BUT...we are all different...you have had a bad run, they happen....these are your runs...nobody’s judging you, only yourself. Try setting off without a plan...just run until you can’t run anymore, even if it’s only 1-2k...finish a run feeling good instead of pushing yourself and ending your run feeling like you haven’t really completed what you set out to do....this might only have to be for a couple of weeks until you get you’re enthusiasm back and your belief in your ability. You are a runner.....remember how far you’ve come...don’t let a bad run beat you...we’ve all had them, some more than others, so you’re in good company xxx
Thanks mummycav. I guess we all get these runs, but perhaps we don’t post about them quite so much! Yes, we are so good at beating ourselves up aren’t we?
The plan vs no plan advice. Some people are saying just see how it goes, others say a structure and a plan is best. I guess I haven’t been running long enough to figure out what works for me; and perhaps what works changes from day to day anyway!
The only solution is to get back out there and keep trying; just as we are doing 🙂
Exactly...some days we feel more capable of a long run than others but when we get out there it’s a completely different tale....whatever you’re doing should be enjoyable xx
this soooo sounds like me too....and how I'm feeling at the moment, good advice already given. Mummycav you are doing great! yep as you say we are all different, but its hard not to look how great others are doing and wonder what happened to yourself, well it is for me sometimes!
anyways ktsok you still got out there and did something, you weren't on the couch! so well done.
PS i'm sat here having my coffee, when the plan was to run before work! Now, where has that gremlin bashing stick gone?!
When I did C25k I did a mood chart, which ranged from despair to buzzing. But perhaps the fact we have got ourselves off the couch and actually hit the road means the runs should always be in the positive zone, even when they feel awful? 🙂
When I have had runs like this (there have been many) I have just stopped and walked home!.
I tried the walking and restarting, and just didn't have it in me.
There doesn't always have to be a reason.
You mention the wind taking the oxygen out of your mouth, yes running in the wind is awful, for a long time I simply didn't, recently that's not been an option, as that seems to be the default setting for weather at the moment.
I'm sure the next run will be better.
Who can make sense of it. I've just come in from a 7 k run, feeling less tired than after a 4 k last week, what was different, maybe an extra 500mls of fluid yesterday, maybe because it is 3°C.
I think that you should try JuJu's plan, you have done the consolidation runs, I think maybe getting your focus on building up your distance, rather than speed will be a more positive experience for you.
You can't expect to be getting faster and faster.
Out of interest I just compared today's 7 k with my first 7k in January. The difference was.....I averaged 1 second per km faster today.
The real difference was, it felt a hell of a lot better🤗
Really? You stopped and walked home? In my mind you run effortlessly, gazelle-like and serene, into the far distance, not needing to concern yourself with petty questions like; will I have the energy to get home if I run any further? 😉
I would take feeling better and running 1 second faster! Sounds like a result to me 🙂
You got out and you ran, which is more than I did! 😳 I'm just shaking off a few remaining gremlins, and I'll be heading out this morning. I'm not expecting this to be great though but hey. A year ago I couldn't run for a minute 😁. Be proud!!
Hi kt, yes I got out there and had a lovely run -( I've posted about it) which just goes to show, sometimes there's no rhyme or reason to when a run will be good or bad.
What was it with yesterday? I can't even blame mine on the weather, wasn't at all wuthery inside! I had in my head I was aiming for 40 minutes (at my speed that's the only way I'm going to get comfortable doing anything like 5k!), and had the full-on running through treacle from the start. Ended up agreeing with myself that 30 minutes would still be ok as I'm still technically consolidating, and actually stopped at 30 minutes and 30 seconds (to make the distance a roundish number dontcha know!) Felt a bit disappointed with myself at first, then thought about it and had a chuckle at the idea that "only 30 minutes" was anything to be disappointed about - how soon we forget how far we've come! You're still doing fab, don't ever doubt it ☺
Seems there are quite a few of us in the same boat! 30 minutes of running sounds pretty darn excellent to me Ethelbert. I think I folded at 12 minutes and was dragging myself round thereafter. I’ll give it another bash in the next couple of days...
Sorry you are feeling a bit down about it. Some runs are just hard. Re-read Ian’s post about post grad running, I’m sure there is something about the fitness and improvement plateaus at some point.
I’m sure it’s still doing you good and you are still a new runner so maybe just take off some of the self imposed pressure, just go out and enjoy x
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week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
How did your parkrun or (not)parkrun go?
