I have been reading but not posting here recently, always a sign that things are not going too well! I had about six weeks from mid December until late January on the injury couch with sore knee followed by awful chest infection. When I started back again about three weeks ago it was so hard!! I really worried that I had lost all my very hard won fitness but I have managed a couple of times a week since then despite the weather and today I ran 6k and am starting to feel I have got my mojo back. It was still hard today and I haven't yet managed that sense of 5k as quite comfortable which was the way I was feeling in November and early December but maybe that is out there somewhere!
So now I have to decide about the Chester 10k which is in three weeks time. I registered for this back in the golden days of autumn when the running was going well and I thought it would be great to have something to aim for. I had already done JuJu's plan running to time and I started again running the distances. I had just got to 7k when my knee went and I haven't quite got back there. I am aiming for 7k sometime this week. So I think I might have managed 8k by the time of the run on the 8th March but I am pretty sure I won't have run 10k. I was expecting anyway to be right at the back as I am slow as a slow thing. I thought I might do it in an hour and a half and I suspect I could do that even if I walked some of it.
What do you think, my more experienced running friends? My husband is really keen for me to have a go and says he will run with me and is fine if I want to walk some, but, he says, he reckons I can do it. I am pretty sure I will find it hard and I don't want to be so hopeless that I put myself off trying another one but while I am slow I am also persistent and I don't usually wimp out. Should I say that the injury and illness have just derailed this one and let it go or should I have a try?
Gulp. What do you think?
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Gwenllian1
Graduate10
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Hi Gwen. You're actually a more experienced runner than I am - but I agree with your husband particularly if he is going to be running with you to provide moral support. I spent 3 weeks on the IC from mid November and it took me a month or so after I started running again before I felt I was back to where I was before getting injured. But I got there - and I'm sure you will too.
Thanks for the reply FP! It is good to hear from someone who has had to have time out and got back to it. To be honest it would have been so easy to gently slide away and give up when the chest infection and the weather just made it so hard to get out. But I do know that running, however slowly, over this last year has really made an impact on my blood pressure so I am determined to hang onto the health benefits. mmm, maybe I will give it a go..
Hi Gwenllian, if I were you, I would take it as a test run. If it doesn't go too well, you know you can do better if you get the right time to train, and you also get the experience of race day... I was really nervous today, not sure where to go, where to stand...
I am sure I will be nervous too. I was never a sporty one at school and it is amazing how these things hang on. I was into my thirties before I discovered that I really liked hill walking and was amazed to find that I enjoy running in my sixties. I have managed to acquire the mindset that runs are a run not a race, handy because I am always at the back, but this is meant to be a race I suppose so it might be harder to not care if I am hopeless! But I think your idea of a test run is great! Nice way of thinking about it.
Great that you’re back running and back on here too Gwenllian! 👏👏
You could always run/walk your race if you think 10k is stretching it couldn’t you? Plenty did that at the races I did last year.
You might not need to anyway. You’ll probably be swept along by the incredible race atmosphere on the day. But obviously that’s up to you. You don’t want to risk re-injury, so do what feels right. 👍🏃♀️😀
I've always had a bit of a thing about running every step of the way! Certainly when I've done park run I've really wanted to run. But I'm thinking that it would be good to do what you suggest and actually intend to combine walk and run. That way I could run it all off I get carried away but if I walk and run, we'll I'm just keeping to the plan!!
Sorted then! But I know what you mean - I’m a run every step kind of person too. But I think I’d relax that self imposed rule in your situation - if necessary! 😀
Welcome back! So glad things are now improving. 😊👍 I would say take your lovely husband up on his offer, and go out and enjoy the run. Check if there is a cut-off time - a few have them, and if it feels very short, it might spoil the sense of fun. But the only ones I’ve heard of around here have been 90 minutes or more, and I wouldn’t think that would be a bother even with some walking. And Chester is lovely so I bet the course will be very fun. Do people do charity runs with costumes? That would slow the pace! Anyway if you investigate a bit you’ll know more what to expect, and then you & OH can just enjoy setting a nice steady PB that will be easy to improve on next time! 😄👍🎉
Go and enjoy and as some of the others have said, if you need to walk a bit.. do it
I am coming back from hamstring injury and currently have been doing 5 minute run I minute walk runs... they work and weirdly my ordinary runs have got speedier... so maybe you could have a try before the 10K... see how it feels.... I tried it as an experiment but with missing a lot of my HM training, I may well use it in some bits if needed.
You just find a time pattern of walk run that suits you. it is weird at first but fun
Thanks oldfloss! That's an interesting idea about the walk run balance. I might give it a go on one of my outings. I think that because it was such a commitment when I did c25k to run for a longer period of time I've become quite fixated on the idea that it's not running if you don't run all the time, which is clearly rubbish! I bet my run /walk time would be around the same as my running all the time time!
I think as somebody has already said a test run would be a good idea. If you feel OK on the day give it a go, you can always stop if you feel its too much too soon. It does take a while to get back, I know that, I spent most of January off with a cold/virus thing, I've still yet to back to what I call any real distances (longer than 5k).
Sorry you have been unwell but interesting to hear that its taken you a while to get back to your previous fitness. I had no idea really of how long it would take to recover from knee followed by chest infection but the answer is a bit longer than I expected! But it sounds as though we do get there in the end!!
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Getting back into running!
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Gremlins, Get off my back 😡!!!
Getting back out there
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